Phelps was the candidate for the Anti-Masonic Party for president in 1880. His running mate was Samuel C. Pomeroy of Kansas who four years later in 1884 would seek the White House as the presidential candidate of the American Prohibition National Party. In the 1880 race, the Phelps/Pomeroy ticket garnered only 1,045 votes nationwide. They ran on an eleven-point platform calling for such things as the prohibition of alcoholic beverages, the prohibition of all secret lodges, justice for Indians, demanding the Bible be a required text in all educational institutions; and the abolition of the electoral college.