With the renomination of Buchanan/Breckinridge and a strongly pro-slavery platform, a faction of Democrats supporting a popular sovereignty approach and thus calling themselves the "People's Democrats" nominate Sen. Stephen Douglas and Rep. John Bussing Haskin, and are able to win the support of a few state Democratic parties in the North. The Constitutional Union Party nominates Sam Houston and Edward Everett, winning the support of those who see in Houston hope for a more unifying leader, as well as the formerly Whig communities of the South. Buchanan's is widely seen as a failure, and Lincoln takes the election, but with the PD and CU cutting slightly into the Republicans' more moderate support.
Fmr. Rep. Abraham Lincoln (R-IL) / Sen. Hannibal Hamlin (R-ME) 36% 172
Pres. James Buchanan (D-PA) / VP John Breckenridge (D-KY) 26% 68
Sen. Stephen Douglas (PD-IL) / Rep. John Bussing Haskin (PD-NY) 21% 7
Gov. Sam Houston (CU-TX)/ Fmr. Sen. Edward Everett (CU-MA) 17% 56