Rubuta ci gaba ga wannan sakin layi - Bayan nasarar da ya samu a zaben 1946, Warren ya fara shirin yin takarar shugaban kasa a zaben 1948. Manyan 'yan takara biyu don takarar sun kasance Dewey da Robert Taft, amma Warren, Harold Stassen, Arthur Vandenberg, da Janar Douglas MacArthur kowannensu yana da goyon baya mai yawa. Kafin taron Jam'iyyar Republican na 1948
, Warren yayi kokarin sanya kansa a matsayin dan takarar doki mai duhu wanda zai iya fitowa a matsayin dan takarar sulhu. Duk da haka, Dewey ya lashe zaben a zagaye na uku na taron. Dewey ya sake tambayar Warren ya zama mataimakinsa, kuma a wannan lokacin Warren ya yarda. A gaba a cikin kuri'un da aka yi a kan Shugaba Harry S. Truman, dan takarar Democrat, Dewey ya gudanar da yakin neman zabe wanda ya fi mayar da hankali kan maganganu maimakon batutuwa. Warren ya yi yakin neman zabe a duk fadin kasar a madadin tikitin, amma ya yi takaici da rashin iyawarsa don tallafawa takamaiman manufofi. Ga mamakin masu sa ido da yawa, Truman ya lashe zaben, kuma wannan ya zama zaben da Warren ya rasa.