United States House of Representatives elections, 1884

United States House of Representatives elections, 1884

November 4, 1884[Note 1]

All 325 seats to the United States House of Representatives 163 seats were needed for a majority   Majority party Minority party Third party   Leader John G. Carlisle Thomas Brackett Reed James B. Weaver Party Democratic Republican Greenback Leader's seat Kentucky-6th Maine-1st Iowa-6th Last election 199 seats[Note 2] 118 seats[Note 3] 2 seats Seats won 183[1][Note 4][Note 5] 141[1][Note 4] 1[1][Note 4] Seat change 16 23 1

Speaker before election John G. Carlisle Democratic Elected Speaker John G. Carlisle Democratic Party (United States) Map of U.S. House elections results from 1884 elections for 49th Congress

Elections to the United States House of Representatives were held in 1884 for Representatives in the 49th Congress. These election coincided with the election of President Grover Cleveland.

In spite of Cleveland's victory, the opposition Republican Party gained back some of the seats lost in 1882, but the Democratic Party retained a majority in the House. Republicans were able to make these slight gains by connecting their pro-business and industry message with progress. The Democrats were also hindered by the Panic of 1884, but were not greatly affected by it since the depression ended quickly.

Election summaries

↓

183	1	141
Democratic	Gb	Republican

State	Type	Total seats	Democratic	Republican	Others
			Seats	Change	Seats	Change	Seats	Change
Alabama	District	8	8		0		0
Arkansas	District[Note 6]	5	5		0		0
California	District[Note 6]	6	1	5	5	5	0
Colorado	At-large	1	0		1		0
Connecticut	District	4	2	1	2	1	0
Delaware	At-large	1	1		0		0
Florida	District	2	2	1	0	1	0
Georgia	District[Note 6]	10	10		0		0
Illinois	District	20	10	1	10	1	0
Indiana	District	13	9		4		0
Iowa	District	11	3	1	7	1	1[Note 7]
Kansas	District[Note 6]	7	0		7		0
Kentucky	District	11	10	1	1	1	0
Louisiana	District	6	5		1		0
Maine[Note 8]	District[Note 9]	4	0		4		0
Maryland	District	6	5	1	1	1	0
Massachusetts	District	12	2	1	10	1	0
Michigan	District	11	7	1	4	1	0
Minnesota	District	5	0		5		0
Mississippi	District	7	7	2	0	1	0	1[Note 10]
Missouri	District	14	12	2	2	2	0
Nebraska	District	3	0		3		0
Nevada	At-large	1	0	1	1	1	0
New Hampshire	District	2	0		2		0
New Jersey	District	7	3		4		0
New York	District[Note 6]	34	17[Note 5]	4	17	4	0
North Carolina	District[Note 6]	9	8	1	1	1	0
Ohio[Note 8]	District	21	11	2	10	2	0
Oregon[Note 8]	At-large	1	0		1		0
Pennsylvania	District + at-large	28	8	4	20	5	0	1[Note 7]
Rhode Island	District	2	0		2		0
South Carolina	District	7	6		1		0
Tennessee	District	10	7	1	3	1	0
Texas	District	11	11	1	0		0	1[Note 10]
Vermont[Note 8]	District	2	0		2		0
Virginia	District[Note 6]	10	8	2	2	2	0	4[Note 11]
West Virginia	District	4	3		1		0
Wisconsin	District	9	2	4	7	4	0
Total		325	183[1][Note 5] 56.3%	12	141[1] 43.4%	19	1[1] 0.6%	7

House seats
Democratic			56.31%
Republican			43.38%
Greenback			0.31%

[[Image:49 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:49 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 1884, four states, with 28 seats among them, held elections early:

• June 2 Oregon
• September 2 Vermont
• September 13 Maine
• October 14 Ohio

Complete returns

Party abbreviations

• D: Democratic
• I: Independent
• IR: Independent Republican
• Pop: Populist
• Pr: Prohibition
• R: United States

California

Two new districts were created for the seats gained in the 1882 reapportionment, eliminating the at-large district that had been created for them.

District	Incumbent	Party	First elected	Result	Candidates
California 1	Barclay Henley Redistricted from 2nd district	Democratic	1882	Re-elected	Barclay Henley (D) 49.7% Thomas L. Carothers (R) 49.3% C. C. Bateman (Pr) 1%
California 2	Charles A. Sumner Redistricted from the at-large district	Democratic	1882	Lost re-election Republican gain	James A. Louttit (R) 49.4% Charles A. Sumner (D) 49.1% Joshua B. Webster (Pr) 1.5%
California 3	John R. Glascock Redistricted from the at-large district	Democratic	1882	Lost re-election Republican gain	Joseph McKenna (R) 55.8% John R. Glascock (D) 42.3% Joshua B. Wills (Pr) 1% A. B. Burns (Pop) 0.9%
California 4	William Rosecrans Redistricted from 1st district	Democratic	1880	Retired Republican gain	William W. Morrow (R) 58.8% R. P. Hastings (D) 40.7% H. S. Fitch (Pop) 0.5% George Babcock (Pr) 0.0%
California 5	Pleasant B. Tully Redistricted from 4th district	Democratic	1882	Retired Republican gain	Charles N. Felton (R) 48.8% Frank J. Sullivan (D) 48.4% C. Henderson (Pr) 1.4% A. E. Redstone (I) 1.4%
California 6	None (District created)			New seat Republican gain	Henry H. Markham (R) 49.1% R. F. Del Valle (D) 47.9% Will D. Gould (Pr) 2.3% Isaac Kinley (Pop) 0.7%

Florida

District	Incumbent	Party	First elected	Result	Candidates
Florida 1	Robert H. M. Davidson	Democratic	1876	Re-elected	Robert H. M. Davidson (D) 55.1% Eugene O. Locke (R) 44.9%
Florida 2	Horatio Bisbee, Jr.	Republican	1880	Lost re-election Democratic gain	Charles Dougherty (D) 51.8% Horatio Bisbee, Jr. (R) 47.6% Josiah T. Walls (IR) 0.6%

South Carolina

District	Incumbent	Party	First elected	Result	Candidates
South Carolina 1	Samuel Dibble	Democratic	1882	Re-elected	Samuel Dibble (D) 73.5% W. N. Taft (R) 26.5%
South Carolina 2	George D. Tillman	Democratic	1878	Re-elected	George D. Tillman (D) 84.4% E. J. Dickerson (R) 14.2% Others 1.4%
South Carolina 3	D. Wyatt Aiken	Democratic	1876	Re-elected	D. Wyatt Aiken (D) 93.5% John R. Tolbert (R) 6.5%
South Carolina 4	Previous incumbent John H. Evins (D) died on October 20, 1884			Democratic hold	William H. Perry (D) 99.4% Others 0.6%
South Carolina 5	John J. Hemphill	Democratic	1882	Re-elected	John J. Hemphill (D) 74.5% C. C. Macoy (R) 21.8% Others 3.7%
South Carolina 6	George W. Dargan	Democratic	1882	Re-elected	George W. Dargan (D) 74.0% Edmund H. Deas (R) 23.3% Others 2.7%
South Carolina 7	Robert Smalls	Republican	1884 (special)	Re-elected	Robert Smalls (R) 63.6% William Elliott (D) 34.6% Others 1.8%

See also

• United States elections, 1884
  • United States presidential election, 1884
  • United States Senate elections, 1884
• 48th United States Congress
• 49th United States Congress

Notes

1. Four states held early elections between June 2 and October 14.
2. Included 3 Independent Democrats.
3. Included 1 Independent Republican.
4. Dubin (p. 271) counts 182 Democrats, 142 Republicans, and 1 Greenback at the start of the 49th United States Congress.
5. Includes 1 Independent Democrat, Truman A. Merriman of NY-11.
6. At-large seats eliminated in redistricting.
7. Greenback Party
8. Elections held early.
9. Changed from at-large.
10. Independent in previous election.
11. Readjuster Party

References

1. Martis, pp. 138–139.

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)