List of members-elect of the United States House of Representatives who never took their seats

Some people who were elected to the United States House of Representatives died before taking their seats. In other cases, they failed to qualify; were rejected by the House; their credentials were successfully challenged; or they were somehow otherwise unable to become members.

This list only includes people who never served in the House. Re-elected incumbents are not included.

Member-elect	Party	District	Election date	Congress	Reason for non-seating
Augustus F. Allen	Democratic	NY-33	November 3, 1874	44th	Died on January 22, 1875
William M. Brown	Republican	PA-24	November 3, 1914	64th	Died on January 31, 1915
Andrew J. Campbell	Republican	NY-10	November 5, 1894	54th	Died on December 6, 1894[1]
John Cantine	Democratic-Republican	NY-7	April 27 to 29, 1802	8th	elected, but declined to take office
Thomas Child, Jr.	Whig	NY-7	November 7, 1854	34th	elected, but never took his seat due to illness
James J. Davidson	Republican	PA-15	November 3, 1896	55th	Died on January 2, 1897
William Dowse	Federalist	NY-15	December 15 to 17, 1812	13th	Died on February 18, 1813
John S. Edwards	Federalist	OH-6	October 13, 1812	13th	Died on February 22, 1813.
Francis Gehon	?	Iowa Territory	1839	?	William W. Chapman's term was extended to October 1840, invalidating Gehon's election.[2]
Richard P. Giles	Democratic	MO-1	November 3, 1896	55th	Died on November 17, 1896
James Reed Hallowell	Republican	KS-AL	November 5, 1878	46th	Congress refused to seat him because Kansas was not entitled to a fourth representative
John W. Head	Democratic	TN-4	November 3, 1874	44th	Died on November 9, 1874
Andrew S. Herron	Democratic	LA-4	November 7, 1882	48th	Died on November 27, 1882
Henry B. Lee	Democratic-Republican	NY-4	April 23 to 25, 1816	15th	Died on February 18, 1817
Samuel Marx	Democratic	NY-19	November 7, 1922	68th	Died on November 30, 1922[3]
Garnett McMillan	Democratic	GA-9	November 3, 1874	44th	Died on January 14th, 1875
Samuel Peters	Republican	LA-4	November 5, 1872	43rd	Died before taking office
Washington Poe	Whig	GA-3	November 5, 1844	29th	Resigned before taking office[4]
B. H. Roberts	Democratic	UT-AL	November 8, 1898	56th	Congress refused to seat him because he was a bigamist
John Simpson	Democratic-Republican	KY-8	August 3, 1812	13th	Died on January 22, 1813
Alexander Smith	Republican	NY-12	November 5, 1878	46th	Died on November 5, 1878
Jack Swigert	Republican	CO-6	November 2, 1982	98th	Died before taking office
Thomas Tillotson	Democratic-Republican	NY-5	April 29 to May 1, 1800	7th	Resigned on August 10, 1801, to become Secretary of State of New York
James Townsend	Federalist	NY-1	April 27 to 29, 1790	2nd	Died on May 24, 1790.
Lyman Trumbull	Democratic	IL-8	November 7, 1854	34th	He was elected to the U.S. Senate prior to the first session
Charles F. Van de Water	Republican	CA-9	November 2, 1920	67th	Died in a car crash on November 20, 1920
Ambrose R. Wright	Democratic	GA-8	November 5, 1872	43rd	Died on December 21, 1872

See also

• Unseated members of the United States Congress

References

1. nytimes.com
2. On the last day of the 25th Congress, Chapman's term, which began in September 1838, was extended past its expected expiration on March 4, 1839. The next term was to commence after Chapman's and expire at the end of the 26th Congress, with terms lasting for the regular term of a Congress thereafter.
3. Google
4. The Macon Telegraph and Register