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26 of the 76 seats in the United States Senate (with special elections) 39 seats needed for a majority | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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![]() Results of the elections: Democratic gain Democratic hold Republican gain Republican hold Legislature failed to elect | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The 1878–79 United States Senate elections were held on various dates in various states. As these U.S. Senate elections were prior to the ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment in 1913, senators were chosen by state legislatures. Senators were elected over a wide range of time throughout 1878 and 1879, and a seat may have been filled months late or remained vacant due to legislative deadlock.[1] In these elections, terms were up for the senators in Class 3.
The Democratic Party re-captured control of the Senate for the first time since before the Civil War.
Results summary
[edit]Senate party division, 46th Congress (1879–1881)
- Majority party: Democratic (42)
- Minority party: Republican (31)
- Other parties: Independent (1), Anti-Monopoly (1)
- Total seats: 76
Change in composition
[edit]Before the elections
[edit]D8 | D7 | D6 | D5 | D4 | D3 | D2 | D1 | ||
D9 | D10 | D11 | D12 | D13 | D14 | D15 | D16 | D17 | D18 |
D28 | D27 | D26 | D25 | D24 | D23 | D22 | D21 | D20 | D19 |
D29 Ran |
D30 Ran |
D31 Ran |
D32 Ran |
D33 Unknown |
D34 Unknown |
D35 Retired |
D36 Retired |
AM1 | I1 |
Plurality → | R38 Retired | ||||||||
R29 Unknown |
R30 Unknown |
R31 Retired |
R32 Retired |
R33 Retired |
R34 Retired |
R35 Retired |
R36 Retired |
R37 Retired | |
R28 Ran |
R27 Ran |
R26 Ran |
R25 Ran |
R24 Ran |
R23 Ran |
R22 Ran |
R21 | R20 | R19 |
R9 | R10 | R11 | R12 | R13 | R14 | R15 | R16 | R17 | R18 |
R8 | R7 | R6 | R5 | R4 | R3 | R2 | R1 |
After the elections
[edit]D8 | D7 | D6 | D5 | D4 | D3 | D2 | D1 | ||
D9 | D10 | D11 | D12 | D13 | D14 | D15 | D16 | D17 | D18 |
D28 | D27 | D26 | D25 | D24 | D23 | D22 | D21 | D20 | D19 |
D29 Re-elected |
D30 Re-elected |
D31 Hold |
D32 Hold |
D33 Hold |
D34 Hold |
D35 Hold |
D36 Gain |
D37 Gain |
D38 Gain |
Majority → | D39 Gain | ||||||||
R29 Hold |
R30 Hold |
R31 Gain |
V1 R loss |
AM1 | I1 | D42 Gain |
D41 Gain |
D40 Gain | |
R28 Hold |
R27 Re-elected |
R26 Re-elected |
R25 Re-elected |
R24 Re-elected |
R23 Re-elected |
R22 Re-elected |
R21 | R20 | R19 |
R9 | R10 | R11 | R12 | R13 | R14 | R15 | R16 | R17 | R18 |
R8 | R7 | R6 | R5 | R4 | R3 | R2 | R1 |
Key |
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Race summaries
[edit]Special elections during the 45th Congress
[edit]In these elections, the winners were seated in 1879 before March 4; ordered by election date.
State | Incumbent | Results | Candidates | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Senator | Party | Electoral history | |||
Missouri (Class 3) |
David H. Armstrong | Democratic | 1877 (Appointed) | Interim appointee retired when successor elected. Winner elected January 27, 1879. Democratic hold. Winner did not run for the next term, see below. |
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Indiana (Class 3) |
Daniel W. Voorhees | Democratic | 1877 (Appointed) | Interim appointee elected January 31, 1879. Winner was also elected to the next term, see below. |
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Michigan (Class 1) |
Isaac P. Christiancy | Republican | 1874 | Incumbent resigned February 10, 1879, due to ill health. Winner elected February 22, 1879. Republican hold. |
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Races leading to the 46th Congress
[edit]In these regular elections, the winners were elected for the term beginning March 4, 1885; ordered by state.
All of the elections involved the Class 3 seats.
State | Incumbent | Results | Candidates | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Senator | Party | Electoral history | |||
Alabama | George E. Spencer | Republican | 1868 (special) 1872 |
Incumbent retired. New senator elected in August 1878. Democratic gain. |
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Arkansas | Stephen W. Dorsey | Republican | 1872 or 1873 | Incumbent retired. New senator elected in 1878. Democratic gain. |
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California | Aaron A. Sargent | Republican | 1872 or 1873 | Incumbent retired. New senator elected in 1878. Democratic gain. |
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Colorado | Jerome B. Chaffee | Republican | 1876 | Incumbent retired. New senator elected in 1879. Republican hold. |
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Connecticut | William Henry Barnum | Democratic | 1876 (special) | Unknown if incumbent retired or lost re-election. New senator elected in 1879. Republican gain. |
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Florida | Simon B. Conover | Republican | 1872 or 1873 | Incumbent retired. New senator elected January 21, 1879.[2] Democratic gain. |
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Georgia | John Brown Gordon | Democratic | 1873 | Incumbent re-elected in 1879. |
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Illinois | Richard J. Oglesby | Republican | 1873 | Incumbent retired. New senator elected Jan 22, 1879. Republican hold. |
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Indiana | Daniel W. Voorhees | Democratic | 1877 (Appointed) 1879 (special) |
Incumbent re-elected in 1879. |
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Iowa | William B. Allison | Republican | 1872 | Incumbent re-elected January 23, 1878.[4] |
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Kansas | John Ingalls | Republican | 1873 | Incumbent re-elected in 1879. |
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Kentucky | Thomas C. McCreery | Democratic | 1872 | Incumbent retired. New senator elected in 1879. Democratic hold. |
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Louisiana | James B. Eustis | Democratic | 1876 (special) | Incumbent lost re-election. New senator elected in 1879. Democratic hold. |
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Maryland | George R. Dennis | Democratic | 1872 or 1873 | Incumbent retired. New senator elected January 19, 1878. Democratic hold. |
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Missouri | James Shields | Democratic | 1849 (Illinois) 1849 (Illinois–election voided) 1849 (Illinois–Special) 1855 (Illinois–Lost) 1858 (Minnesota) 1859 (Minnesota–Lost) 1879 (Missouri–Special) |
Incumbent retired. New senator elected in 1879. Democratic hold. |
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Nevada | John P. Jones | Republican | 1873 | Incumbent re-elected in 1879. |
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New Hampshire | Bainbridge Wadleigh | Republican | 1872 | Unknown if incumbent retired or lost re-election. Legislature failed to elect. Republican loss. |
[data missing] |
New York | Roscoe Conkling | Republican | 1867 1873 |
Incumbent re-elected January 22, 1879. |
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North Carolina | Augustus Merrimon | Democratic | 1872 | Incumbent lost re-election. New senator elected in 1879. Democratic hold. |
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Ohio | Stanley Matthews | Republican | 1877 (special) | Incumbent retired. New senator elected in 1878 or 1879. Democratic gain. |
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Oregon | John H. Mitchell | Republican | 1872 | Incumbent retired. New senator elected in 1878 or 1879. Democratic gain. |
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Pennsylvania | J. Donald Cameron | Republican | 1877 (special) | Incumbent re-elected January 20, 1879. |
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South Carolina | John J. Patterson | Republican | 1872 or 1873 | Unknown if incumbent retired or lost re-election. New senator elected in 1878. Democratic gain. |
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Vermont | Justin S. Morrill | Republican | 1866 1872 |
Incumbent re-elected in 1878. |
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Wisconsin | Timothy O. Howe | Republican | 1861 1866 1872 |
Incumbent lost re-election. New senator elected January 22, 1879.[6] Republican hold. |
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Elections during the 46th Congress
[edit]In this election, the winner was elected in 1879 after March 4.
State | Incumbent | Results | Candidates | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Senator | Party | Electoral history | |||
New Hampshire (Class 3) |
Charles H. Bell | Republican | 1879 (Appointed) | Legislature had failed to elect, see above. Interim appointee retired when successor elected. Winner elected June 17, 1879. Republican hold. |
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Maryland
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80 members of the Maryland General Assembly | ||||||||||||||||
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James Black Groome was elected by a margin of 60.22%, or 56 votes, for the Class 3 seat.[7]
New York
[edit]![](Https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/27/Hon._Roscoe_Conkling%2C_N.Y_-_NARA_-_527412_%28cropped%29.jpg/125px-Hon._Roscoe_Conkling%2C_N.Y_-_NARA_-_527412_%28cropped%29.jpg)
In New York, the election was held on January 21, 1879, by the New York State Legislature. Republican Roscoe Conkling had been re-elected in January 1873 to this seat, and his term would expire on March 3, 1879. At the State election in November 1877, 19 Republicans and 13 Democrats were elected for a two-year term (1878–1879) in the State Senate. At the State election in November 1878, 97 Republicans, 28 Democrats and 3 Greenbackers were elected for the session of 1879 to the Assembly, and Republican Thomas Murphy was elected to fill the vacancy in the State Senate caused by the death of Democrat John Morrissey. The 102nd New York State Legislature met from January 7 to May 22, 1879, at Albany, New York.
The caucus of Republican State legislators met on January 20, Temporary President of the State Senate William H. Robertson presided. Present were all Republican legislators except State Senator Louis S. Goebel[8] (6th D.) and Assemblyman James W. Wadsworth. They re-nominated the incumbent U.S. Senator Conkling unanimously. The caucus of the Democratic State legislators met also on January 20. State Senator Thomas C. E. Ecclesine (8th D.) offered to adopt a prostest against the senatorial election proceedings, claiming that the senatorial and assembly districts were incorrectly apportioned and thus the State Legislature did not represent the wish of the people of the State. The protest was substituted by a resolution to appoint a committee which would elaborate an address on the apportionment at a later date. Ecclesine then marched out, and the remaining legislators nominated Lieutenant Governor William Dorsheimer for the U.S. Senate.
Candidate | First ballot | Second ballot |
---|---|---|
William Dorsheimer | 11 | 18 |
James F. Starbuck | 8 | 8 |
DeWitt C. West[9] | 8 | 6 |
Elijah Ward | 2 |
The two Greenback assemblymen John Banfield (Chemung Co.) and George E. Williams (Oswego Co.) voted for 87-year-old Peter Cooper, a New York City inventor, industrialist and philanthropist who had run for U.S. president in 1876 on the Greenback ticket.
Roscoe Conkling was the choice of both the Assembly and the State Senate, and was declared elected.
Republican | Democrat | Greenback | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
State Senate (32 members) |
Roscoe Conkling | 20 | William Dorsheimer | 12 | ||
State Assembly (128 members) |
Roscoe Conkling | 95 | William Dorsheimer | 23 | Peter Cooper | 2 |
Note: The votes were cast on January 21, but both Houses met in a joint session on January 22 to compare nominations, and declare the result.
Pennsylvania
[edit]![](Https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/84/James_Donald_Cameron_Brady-Handy.jpg/125px-James_Donald_Cameron_Brady-Handy.jpg)
In Pennsylvania, the election was held January 20, 1879. J. Donald Cameron was re-elected by the Pennsylvania General Assembly to the United States Senate.[10]
After Sen. Simon Cameron resigned from office, his son J. Donald Cameron was elected by the General Assembly, consisting of the House of Representatives and the Senate, in 1877 to serve the remainder of the unexpired term, which was to expire on March 4, 1879. The Pennsylvania General Assembly convened on January 20, 1879, to elect a Senator to serve the term beginning on March 4, 1879. The results of the vote of both houses combined are as follows:
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Republican | J. Donald Cameron (Inc.) | 135 | 53.78 | |
Democratic | Hiester Clymer | 92 | 36.65 | |
Greenback | Daniel Agnew | 16 | 6.37 | |
Republican | Edward McPherson | 3 | 1.20 | |
Republican | Russell Thayer | 1 | 0.40 | |
Republican | Galusha A. Grow | 1 | 0.40 | |
N/A | Not voting | 3 | 1.20 | |
Totals | 251 | 100.00% |
See also
[edit]Notes
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "17th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Direct Election of U.S. Senators (1913)". National Archives and Records Administration. February 8, 2022.
- ^ "THE FLORIDA SENATORSHIP". The New York Times. January 22, 1879. p. 1.
- ^ "IL US Senate". OurCampaigns.com. December 4, 2009. Retrieved October 31, 2019., citing Chicago Tribune.
- ^ a b Clark, p. 185.
- ^ "Our Campaigns - MD US Senate Race - Jan 19, 1878". www.ourcampaigns.com. Retrieved October 31, 2019.
- ^ Thompson, p. 262.
- ^ "Our Campaigns - MD US Senate Race - Jan 19, 1878". www.ourcampaigns.com. Retrieved November 5, 2022.
- ^ State Senator Goebel refused to caucus with any of the parties, but voted for Conkling at the election.
- ^ DeWitt Clinton West (1824-1880), of Lowville, assemblyman 1853
- ^ a b "U.S. Senate Election - 20 January 1879" (PDF). Wilkes University. Retrieved December 22, 2013.
Further reading
[edit]- Clark, Dan Elbert (1913). "History of Senatorial Elections in Iowa". Iowa City, Iowa.
- Thompson, E. Bruce (1954). Matthew Hale Carpenter, Webster of the West. Madison, WI: State Historical Society of Wisconsin.
- Party Division in the Senate, 1789-Present, via Senate.gov
- "VICTORIOUS REPUBLICANS" (PDF). The New York Times. November 6, 1878., gives 1 Greenbacker elected, but Williams of Oswego is not in the list; this seems to have been a preliminary result which was later amended
- "NEW-YORK'S NEXT SENATOR; ROSCOE CONKLING RENOMINATED" (PDF). The New York Times. January 21, 1879.
- "THE DEMOCRATIC CAUCUS.; A REMARKABLE PROTEST OFFERED AND TABLED; LIEUT.-GOV. DORSHEIMER TENDERED THE EMPTY HONOR OF A NOMINATION" (PDF). The New York Times. January 21, 1879.
- "CONKLING WINS THE SENATORSHIP" (PDF). The New York Times. January 22, 1879.
- "CHOOSING THEIR SENATORS.; ...LIEUT.-GOV. DORSHEIMER FORMALLY ANNOUNCES THE ELECTION" (PDF). The New York Times. January 23, 1879.
- Pennsylvania Election Statistics: 1682-2006. Wilkes University Election Statistics Project.