He retired to Malone in March 1881 when his term as vice president was over. In May 1881, Platt and Roscoe Conkling resigned their U.S. Senate seats in a dispute with President James A. Garfield over control of patronage in New York, triggering two special elections. In the legislative election for Platt's seat, it took six weeks of balloting to elect a candidate; Wheeler's name was in consideration, and he received as many as 23 votes before Warner Miller was elected with 76 votes on the 46th ballot.