United States House of Representatives elections, 1870

June 6, 1870 –
October 6, 1871^{[Note 1]}

All 243 seats to the United States House of Representatives 122 seats needed for a majority

	Majority party	Minority party

Leader	James Blaine	Fernando Wood
Party	Republican	Democratic
Leader's seat	Maine-3rd	New York-9th
Last election	171 seats	67 seats
Seats won	139^{[Note 2]}	104^{[Note 3]}
Seat change	32	37

Speaker before election

James Blaine
Republican

Elected Speaker

James Blaine
Republican Party (United States)

Map of U.S. House elections results from 1870 elections for 42nd Congress

Elections to the United States House of Representatives were held in 1870 and 1871 to elect Representatives for the 42nd Congress, and were held in the middle of President Ulysses S. Grant's first term.

With Grant's administration rocked by a number of scandals (including a shady deal for gold speculation that led to a crash in the market and several business deals that saw high-ranking governmental officials gain kickbacks) and Reconstruction winding down, his Republican Party lost seats to the opposition Democratic Party but retained an overall majority. Also, since the Democratic Party controlled governments were reestablishing themselves in some portions of the South, the Democrats were able to make huge gains in this election.

Election summaries

↓
139	104
Republican	Democratic

State	Type	Total seats	Republican	Democratic
State	Type	Total seats	Seats	Change	Seats	Change
Mississippi^{[Note 4]}^{[Note 5]}	District	5	5		0
Alabama	District	6	3	1	3	1
Arkansas	District	3	2		1
California^{[Note 6]}	District	3	3	2	0	2
Connecticut^{[Note 6]}	District	4	3		1
Delaware	At-large	1	0		1
Florida	At-large	1	0	1	1	1
Georgia	District	7	3		4
Illinois	District + 1 at-large	14	8	2	6	2
Indiana^{[Note 4]}	District	11	6	1	5	1
Iowa^{[Note 4]}	District	6	6		0
Kansas	At-large	1	1		0
Kentucky	District	9	0		9
Louisiana	District	5	5		0
Maine^{[Note 4]}	District	5	5		0
Maryland	District	5	0		5
Massachusetts	District	10	10		0
Michigan	District	6	5	1	1	1
Minnesota	District	2	2	1	0	1
Missouri	District	9	5^{[Note 7]}	2	4	2
Nebraska^{[Note 4]}	At-large	1	1		0
Nevada	At-large	1	0	1	1	1
New Hampshire^{[Note 6]}	District	3	0	3	3	3
New Jersey	District	5	3	1	2	1
New York	District	31	15	3	16	3
North Carolina^{[Note 4]}	District	7	2	4	5	4
Ohio^{[Note 4]}	District	19	14	1	5	1
Oregon^{[Note 4]}	At-large	1	0		1
Pennsylvania^{[Note 4]}	District	24	13^{[Note 8]}	3	11	3
Rhode Island	District	2	2		0
South Carolina^{[Note 4]}	District	4	4		0
Tennessee	District	8	2	6	6	6
Texas^{[Note 6]}	District	4	0	3	4	3
Vermont^{[Note 4]}	District	3	3		0
Virginia	District	8	3		5	5^{[Note 9]}
West Virginia^{[Note 4]}	District	3	1	2	2	2
Wisconsin	District	6	4	1	2	1
Total		243	139^{[Note 10]} 57.2%	32	104 42.8%	37

House seats

Republican			57.20%
Democratic			42.80%

The previous election included 5 Conservatives

Election dates

In 1845, Congress passed a law providing for a uniform nationwide date for choosing Presidential electors.^[1] This law did not affect election dates for Congress, which remained within the jurisdiction of State governments, but over time, the States moved their Congressional elections to this date as well. In 1870, there remained 12 States that held elections before Election Day, and 4 that held it after at this time:

Early elections:
- December 1, 1869 Mississippi
  - Mississippi was a special case, having held elections for both the 41st Congress upon readmission and for the 42nd Congress on the same day
- June 6 Oregon
- August 4 North Carolina
- September 6 Vermont
- September 12 Maine
- October 11 Indiana, Iowa, Nebraska, Ohio, Pennsylvania
- October 25 West Virginia
- November 1 South Carolina
Late elections:
- March 14, 1871 New Hampshire
- April 4, 1871 Connecticut
- September 6, 1871 California
- October 6, 1871 Texas

All Races

California

District	Incumbent	Party	Elected	Status	Opponent
California 1	Samuel Beach Axtell	Democratic	1867	Incumbent retired. Republican Gain	√ Sherman O. Houghton (Republican) 51.6% Lawrence Archer (Democratic) 48.4%
California 2	Aaron Augustus Sargent	Republican	1868	Incumbent re-elected	√ Aaron Augustus Sargent (Republican) 54% James W. Coffroth (Democratic) 46%
California 3	James A. Johnson	Democratic	1867	Incumbent retired. Republican gain	√ John M. Coghlan (Republican) 51.7% George Pearce (Democratic) 48.3%

Florida

District	Incumbent	Party	First elected	Result	Candidates
Florida at-large	Charles M. Hamilton	Republican	1868	Incumbent retired. Republican hold	√ Josiah T. Walls (Republican) 51.3% Silas L. Niblack (Democratic) 48.7%

Niblack subsequently successfully challenged Walls' election, and took Florida's at-large seat on January 29, 1873.^[2]

Ohio

District	Incumbent	Party	First elected	Result	Candidates^[3]
Ohio 1	Peter W. Strader	Democratic	1868	Incumbent retired. Republican gain	√ Aaron F. Perry (Republican) 52.4% Milton Sayler (Democratic) 47.6%
Ohio 2	Job E. Stevenson	Republican	1868	Incumbent re-elected.	√ Job E. Stevenson (Republican) 54.5% Samuel F. Cary (Democratic) 45.5%
Ohio 3	Robert C. Schenck	Republican	1862	Incumbent lost re-election. Democratic gain	√ Lewis D. Campbell (Democratic) 50.1% Robert C. Schenck (Republican) 49.9%
Ohio 4	William Lawrence	Republican	1864	Incumbent retired. Democratic gain	√ John F. McKinney (Democratic) 50.5% William B. McClung (Republican) 49.5%
Ohio 5	William Mungen	Democratic	1866	Incumbent retired. Democratic hold	√ Charles N. Lamison (Democratic) 57.4% John B. Clark (Republican) 42.6%
Ohio 6	John Armstrong Smith	Republican	1868	Incumbent re-elected.	√ John Armstrong Smith (Republican) 50.8% James W. Denver (Democratic) 49.2%
Ohio 7	James J. Winans	Republican	1868	Lost renomination Republican hold	√ Samuel Shellabarger (Republican) 52.8% Hugh J. Jewett (Democratic) 47.2%
Ohio 8	John Beatty	Republican	1868 (s)	Incumbent re-elected.	√ John Beatty (Republican) 52.9% James Randolph Hubbell (Democratic) 47.1%
Ohio 9	Edward F. Dickinson	Democratic	1868	Incumbent lost re-election. Republican gain	√ Charles Foster (Republican) 51.5% Edward F. Dickinson (Democratic) 48.5%
Ohio 10	Erasmus D. Peck	Republican	1870 (s)	Incumbent re-elected.	√ Erasmus D. Peck (Republican) 52.5% William F. Lockwood (Democratic) 47.5%
Ohio 11	John Thomas Wilson	Republican	1866	Incumbent re-elected.	√ John Thomas Wilson (Republican) 52.4% Ralph Leete (Democratic) 47.6%
Ohio 12	Philadelph Van Trump	Democratic	1866	Incumbent re-elected.	√ Philadelph Van Trump (Democratic) 57.9% Charles Elwood Brown (Republican) 42.1%
Ohio 13	George W. Morgan	Democratic	1868	Incumbent re-elected.	√ George W. Morgan (Democratic) 54.1% Charles W. Potwin (Republican) 45.9%
Ohio 14	Martin Welker	Republican	1864	Incumbent retired. Republican hold	√ James Monroe (Republican) 51.5% Lyman R. Critchfield (Democratic) 48.5%
Ohio 15	Eliakim H. Moore	Republican	1868	Incumbent retired. Republican hold	√ William P. Sprague (Republican) 51.6% John Cartwright (Democratic) 48.4%
Ohio 16	John Bingham	Republican	1864	Incumbent re-elected.	√ John Bingham (Republican) 52.4% Robert A. Chambers (Democratic) 47.6%
Ohio 17	Jacob A. Ambler	Republican	1868	Incumbent re-elected.	√ Jacob A. Ambler (Republican) 55.1% John Ball (Republican) 44.9%
Ohio 18	William H. Upson	Republican	1868	Incumbent re-elected.	√ William H. Upson (Republican) 62.2% John M. Coffinberry (Democratic) 37.8%
Ohio 19	James A. Garfield	Republican	1862	Incumbent re-elected.	√ James A. Garfield (Republican) 65.1% William Howard (Democratic) 34.9%

Notes

↑ Majority of states held elections on November 8, 1870 (i.e. Election Day).
↑ Includes 2 Liberal Republicans and 1 Independent Republican.
↑ Note that Dubin (p. 221) records 9–10 "Conservatives", and approximately 94 Democrats, as being elected to the 42nd Congress. This contrasts with Martis (pp. 124–125) which offers no separate accounting of "Conservatives" from Democrats and thus records a total of 104 Democratic members of the 42nd Congress.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Elections held early.
↑ Elections held at the same time as elections for 41st Congress.
1 2 3 4 Elections held late.
↑ Includes 2 Liberal Republicans: Gustavus A. Finkelnburg elected to Missouri's 2nd district, and James G. Blair elected to Missouri's 8th district.
↑ Includes 1 Independent Republican, John V. Creely, elected to Pennsylvania's 2nd district.
↑ Previous election had 5 Conservatives.
↑ Includes 2 Liberal Republicans and 1 Independent Republican.

References

↑ Statutes at Large, 28th Congress, 2nd Session, p. 721.
↑ Forty-Second Congress (membership roster)
↑ Smith, Joseph P, ed. (1898). History of the Republican Party in Ohio. I. Chicago: the Lewis Publishing Company. pp. 277, 278.

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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