While popular opinion in the North solidified behind Lincoln after he called for troops to quell the rebellion, the Republican Party failed to sustain its popular support when the North failed to win the war quickly. In the elections of 1862, the Speaker of the U.S. House was defeated for re-election, and the Democratic Party made great gains throughout the North.

The more radical Republicans feared that Lincoln was leading the Party to sure defeat. They called a national convention in 1864 and nominated John C. Fremont for President.

The Republican Party met in Baltimore and nominated Lincoln again. The delegates replaced VP Hamlin with the southern unionist Andrew Johnson of Tennessee, the only southern Senator who remained in Congress after 1861.

The Democrats chose George McClellan, former general of the Union forces who had been removed by Lincoln twice for failing to take the initiative against the South. For the vice presidential nod the Democrats chose U.S. Rep. George H. Pendleton of Ohio, a relative of Roger B. Taney and Francis Scott Key.

At the time of the Democratic convention, Republican editors were urging both Lincoln and Fremont to withdraw and call another convention to name a candidate who could win the election. Within a few weeks, however, news of dramatic Union victories at Atlanta and Mobile Bay proved that the war was quickly coming to an end. The Radical Republicans were ready to make a deal with Lincoln; they agreed to withdraw from the race if Lincoln would remove Montgomery Blair from the Cabinet. All of the parties involved agreed to the arrangement. By election day, the North was unified behind Lincoln. He carried all but three states in the election.

Congressional Quarterly states that in Kansas 543 votes were cast for an independent candidate named E. Cheeseborough and 112 "Unknown" votes were cast. William G. Cutler's History of the State of Kansas states that Ellsworth Cheeseborough was nominated for Presidential Elector on the Republican ticket on 9/8/1864 but died before the election. It appears that the 112 "Unknown" votes in Kansas were cast for another Republican candidate for Presidential Elector (Nelson McCracken), who also died before the election.