King then returned to elected politics, for a long time with little success, but later he returned to the Senate. In April 1804, King ran unsuccessfully for the Senate from New York. Later that year, and again in 1808, King and fellow-signer Charles Cotesworth Pinckney were the candidates for Vice President and President of the declining Federalist Party, respectively, but had no realistic chance against Democratic Republican Thomas Jefferson with only 27.2% of the popular vote, losing by 45.6%, marking the highest recess in Presidential election history. In 1808 both candidates were renominated and lost against James Madison, gaining 32.4% this time.