United States House of Representatives elections, 1908

November 3, 1908^{[Note 1]}

All 391 seats to the United States House of Representatives 196 seats were needed for a majority

	Majority party	Minority party

Leader	Joseph Cannon	Champ Clark
Party	Republican	Democratic
Leader's seat	Illinois-18th	Missouri-9th
Last election	224 seats	167 seats
Seats won	219^[1]^[2]	172^[1]^[2]
Seat change	5	5

Speaker before election

Joseph Cannon
Republican

Elected Speaker

Joseph Cannon
Republican

Elections to the United States House of Representatives in 1908 were held for members of the 61st Congress, coinciding with the 1908 presidential election, which William Howard Taft won.

Taft was not as popular as his predecessor, Theodore Roosevelt, but won with Roosevelt's backing, and his Republican Party lost only a handful of seats to the opposition Democrats. Without any striking national issues, the Republicans were able to remain in control. Regional issues led to some changes in House membership, but new Democrats who were elected by dissatisfied industrial workers were balanced out by new Republicans who gained seats in districts with a strong middle class presence.

Election summaries

↓
219	172
Republican	Democratic

State	Type	Total seats	Republican	Democratic
State	Type	Total seats	Seats	Change	Seats	Change
Alabama	District	9	0		9
Arkansas	District	7	0		7
California	District	8	8		0
Colorado	District +at-large	3	0	3	3	3
Connecticut	District +at-large	5	5		0
Delaware	At-large	1	1		0
Florida	District	3	0		3
Georgia	District	11	0		11
Idaho	At-large	1	1		0
Illinois	District	25	19	1	6	1
Indiana	District	13	2	7	11	7
Iowa	District	11	10		1
Kansas	District	8	8		0
Kentucky	District	11	3	1	8	1
Louisiana	District	7	0		7
Maine^{[Note 2]}	District	4	4		0
Maryland	District	6	3		3
Massachusetts	District	14	11		3
Michigan	District	12	12		0
Minnesota	District	9	8		1
Mississippi	District	8	0		8
Missouri	District	16	6	2	10	2
Montana	At-large	1	1		0
Nebraska	District	6	3	2	3	2
Nevada	At-large	1	0		1
New Hampshire	District	2	2		0
New Jersey	District	10	7	1	3	1
New York	District	37	26		11
North Carolina	District	10	3	3	7	3
North Dakota	District	2	2		0
Ohio	District	21	13	3	8	3
Oklahoma	District	5	3	2	2	2
Oregon^{[Note 2]}	District	2	2		0
Pennsylvania	District	32	27	2	5	2
Rhode Island	District	2	2	1	0	1
South Carolina	District	7	0		7
South Dakota	At-large	2	2		0
Tennessee	District	10	2		8
Texas	District	16	0		16
Utah	At-large	1	1		0
Vermont^{[Note 2]}	District	2	2		0
Virginia	District	10	1		9
Washington	District^{[Note 3]}	3	3		0
West Virginia	District	5	5		0
Wisconsin	District	11	10	1	1	1
Wyoming	At-large	1	1		0
Total		391	219 56.0%	5	172 44.0%	5

House seats

Republican			56.01%
Democratic			43.99%

[[Image:61 us house membership.png|thumb|left|350px|

House seats by party holding plurality in state
80.1-100% Democratic	80.1-100% Republican
60.1-80% Democratic	60.1-80% Republican
Up to 60% Democratic	Up to 60% Republican

]]

[[Image:61 us house changes.png|thumb|left|350px|

Net gain in party representation
6+ Democratic gain	6+ Republican gain
3-5 Democratic gain	3-5 Republican gain
1-2 Democratic gain	1-2 Republican gain
no net change

]]

Early election dates

In 1908, three states, with 8 seats among them, held elections early:

June 1 Oregon
September 1 Vermont
September 14 Maine

This was the last year that Oregon held its congressional elections early.

Complete returns

Party abbreviations

California

Main article: United States House of Representatives elections in California, 1908

District	Incumbent	Party	First elected	Result	Candidates
California 1	William F. Englebright	Republican	1906	Re-elected	William F. Englebright (R) 54.1% E. W. Holland (D) 36.8% D. N. Cunningham (S) 7.6% W. P. Fassett (Pro) 1.4%
California2	Duncan E. McKinlay	Republican	1904	Re-elected	Duncan E. McKinlay (R) 57.5% W. K. Hays (D) 38.5% A. J. Gaylord (S) 4%
California 3	Joseph R. Knowland	Republican	1904	Re-elected	Joseph R. Knowland (R) 64.1% George W. Peckham (D) 22.8% O. H. Philbrick (S) 9.3% John A. Sands (IL) 2.1% T. H. Montgomery (Pro) 1.7%
California 4	Julius Kahn	Republican	1898	Re-elected	Julius Kahn (R) 52.7% James G. Maguire (D) 42.9% K. J. Doyle (S) 4% William N. Meserve (Pro) 0.3%
California 5	Everis A. Hayes	Republican	1904	Re-elected	Everis A. Hayes (R) 49.1% George A. Tracy (D) 42.8% E. H. Misner (S) 6.3% Walter E. Vail (Pro) 1.8%
California 6	James C. Needham	Republican	1898	Re-elected	James C. Needham (R) 52% Fred P. Feliz (D) 38.7% W. M. Pattison (S) 5.6% James W. Webb (Pro) 3.7%
California 7	James McLachlan	Republican	1900	Re-elected	James McLachlan (R) 91.5% Jud R. Rush (D) 6.3% A. R. Holston (S) 1.1% Marshall W. Atwood (Pro) 1% F. G. Hentig (IL) 0.2%
California 8	Sylvester C. Smith	Republican	1904	Re-elected	Sylvester C. Smith (R) 55.7% W. E. Shepherd (D) 34.7% Noble A. Richardson (S) 9.6%

Florida

Main article: United States House of Representatives elections in Florida, 1908

District	Incumbent	Party	First elected	Result	Candidates
Florida 1	Stephen M. Sparkman	Democratic	1894	Re-elected	Stephen M. Sparkman (D) 75.2% George W. Allen (R) 15.0% C. C. Allen (S) 9.8%
Florida 2	Frank Clark	Democratic	1904	Re-elected	Frank Clark (D) 75.9% William R. O'Neal (R) 18.0% A. N. Jackson (S) 6.1%
Florida 3	William B. Lamar	Democratic	1902	Ran unsuccessfully for the Senate Democratic hold	Dannite H. Mays (D) 84.5% William Northrup (R) 15.5%

South Carolina

Main article: United States House of Representatives elections in South Carolina, 1908

District	Incumbent	Party	First elected	Result	Candidates
South Carolina 1	George Swinton Legaré	Democratic	1902	Re-elected	George Swinton Legaré (D) 90.1% Aaron P. Prioleau (R) 9.9%
South Carolina 2	James O'H. Patterson	Democratic	1904	Re-elected	James O'H. Patterson (D) 99.3% Isaac Myers (R) 0.7%
South Carolina 3	Wyatt Aiken	Democratic	1902	Re-elected	Wyatt Aiken (D) 100%
South Carolina 4	Joseph T. Johnson	Democratic	1900	Re-elected	Joseph T. Johnson (D) 100%
South Carolina 5	David E. Finley	Democratic	1898	Re-elected	David E. Finley (D) 100%
South Carolina 6	J. Edwin Ellerbe	Democratic	1904	Re-elected	J. Edwin Ellerbe (D) 100%
South Carolina 7	Asbury F. Lever	Democratic	1901 (special)	Re-elected	Asbury F. Lever (D) 90.9% AR. H. Richardson (R) 9.1%

Notes

↑ Three states held earlier elections between June 1 and September 14.
1 2 3 Elections held early
↑ Changed from at-large.

References

1 2 "Party Divisions of the House of Representatives* 1789–Present". Office of the Historian, United States House of Representatives. Retrieved May 18, 2015.
1 2 Martis, pp. 162–163.

Bibliography

Dubin, Michael J. (March 1, 1998). United States Congressional Elections, 1788-1997: The Official Results of the Elections of the 1st Through 105th Congresses. McFarland and Company. ISBN 978-0786402830.
Martis, Kenneth C. (January 1, 1989). The Historical Atlas of Political Parties in the United States Congress, 1789-1989. Macmillan Publishing Company. ISBN 978-0029201701.
Moore, John L., ed. (1994). Congressional Quarterly's Guide to U.S. Elections (Third ed.). Congressional Quarterly Inc. ISBN 978-0871879967.
"Party Divisions of the House of Representatives* 1789–Present". Office of the Historian, House of United States House of Representatives. Retrieved January 21, 2015.

External links

Office of the Historian (Office of Art & Archives, Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives)

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