Yes, he sought the presidency in both 1844 and 1848. He toured much of the country in 1842, attempting to build support for another run for office. He expected to carry the Democratic Party nomination in 1844. At the party convention, Van Buren was in the lead after numerous votes but he could not garner the necessary two-thirds vote. Eventually, James K. Polk became the party’s nominee and then the president. Polk served only one term and Van Buren still held his presidential ambitions. In 1848, he ran as a third-party candidate for the Free Soil Party. He garnered 10 percent of the popular vote, but received no electoral votes. It was, however, the first real third-party in American political history.