Yes, Roosevelt ran for president in 1912. He did not run in 1908, content to support his former cabinet member and friend William Howard Taft for president. However, Roosevelt became alarmed at the conservative direction of Taft’s administration. Roosevelt, the leader of the progressive wing of the Republican Party, sought the party’s nomination in 1912. This election marked the beginning of state primaries in which voters in respective states selected the candidate and party delegates would then cast the state’s votes for that candidate.

After Taft won the nomination, Roosevelt left the Republican Party and formed the Progressive Party, which later became known as the Bull Moose Party. Roosevelt came in second in the election, capturing eighty-eight electoral votes and more than four million popular votes. He even won the states of New York and California. However, the split between Taft and Roosevelt enabled Democrat Woodrow Wilson to win the nomination.