United States House of Representatives elections, 1916

United States House of Representatives elections, 1916

November 7, 1916[Note 1]

All 435 seats to the United States House of Representatives 218 seats needed for a majority   First party Second party Third party   Leader James Mann Champ Clark Whitmell P. Martin Party Republican Democratic Progressive Leader's seat Illinois-2nd Missouri-9th Louisiana-3rd Last election 196 seats 230 seats 6 seats Seats won 216[Note 2] 214[Note 3] 3 Seat change 19 16 3   Fourth party Fifth party   Leader Meyer London Charles H. Randall Party Socialist Prohibition Leader's seat New York-12th California-9th Last election 1 seat 1 seat Seats won 1 1 Seat change

Speaker before election Champ Clark Democratic Elected Speaker Champ Clark Democratic

Elections to the United States House of Representatives in 1916 were held for members of the 65th Congress, coinciding with the re-election of President Woodrow Wilson.

Wilson eked out a narrow re-election, but his Democratic Party lost seats to the opposition Republican Party. Wilson's hybrid approach, which injected a progressive element into Democratic policies, had proved to be dissatisfying to much of the nation. International affairs also became important in the traditionally non-interventionist United States, as voters attempted to determine which party would be best served to keep the nation from entering The Great War.

Although the Republicans gained a plurality, the Democrats narrowly maintained control of the House with minor party support, forming an alliance with the remaining third-party Progressives and Socialist Meyer London. This is the last example (to date) of a type of coalition holding power in the House, rather than a single party winning a majority of seats. Specifically, this is also the only election in U.S. history when three different parties were able to form a coalition government instead of just two. Because of this, it was only the second Congress where the party with the most seats was in opposition (versus being part of the ruling government) in the House, the first being the 34th Congress elected in 1854. This rare occurrence may have been why the parties' plan to form a coalition backfired, as voters quickly rejected the Progressive and Socialist parties in the next election. Meanwhile, the Democrats also lost support afterwards and would not control the House again until after the 1930 elections.

Jeannette Rankin, a Republican from Montana was the first woman ever elected to congress.

Election summaries

↓

214	1	3	1	216
Democratic	S	P	Pn	Republican

State	Type	Total seats	Republican	Democratic	Progressive	Others
			Seats	Change	Seats	Change	Seats	Change	Seats	Change
Alabama	District[Note 4]	10	0		10		0		0
Arizona	At-large	1	0		1		0		0
Arkansas	District	7	0		7		0		0
California	District	11	5	1	4	1	1	1	1[Note 5]	1
Colorado	District	4	1		3		0		0
Connecticut	District	5	4	1	1	1	0		0
Delaware	At-large	1	0	1	1	1	0		0
Florida	District	4	0		4		0		0
Georgia	District	12	0		12		0		0
Idaho	At-large	2	2		0		0		0
Illinois	District +2 at-large	27	21	5	6	4	0	1	0
Indiana	District	13	9	7	4	7	0		0
Iowa	District	11	11	1	0	1	0		0
Kansas	District	8	3	1	5	1	0		0
Kentucky	District	11	2		9		0		0
Louisiana	District	8	0		7	1	1	1	0
Maine[Note 6]	District	4	4	1	0	1	0		0
Maryland	District	6	2	1	4	1	0		0
Massachusetts	District	16	12		4		0		0
Michigan	District	13	12	1	1	1	0		0
Minnesota	District	10	9		1		0		0
Mississippi	District	8	0		8		0		0
Missouri	District	16	2		14		0		0
Montana	At-large	2	1	1	1	1	0		0
Nebraska	District	6	3		3		0		0
Nevada	At-large	1	1		0		0		0
New Hampshire	District	2	2	2	0	2	0		0
New Jersey	District	12	9	1	3	1	0		0
New Mexico	At-large	1	0	1	1	1	0		0
New York	District	43	26	4	16	3	0	1	1[Note 7]
North Carolina	District	10	0	1	10	1	0		0
North Dakota	District	3	3		0		0		0
Ohio	District	22	9	4	13	4	0		0
Oklahoma	District	8	2	1	6	1	0		0
Oregon	District	3	3		0		0		0
Pennsylvania	District +4 at-large	36	29	1	6		1	1	0
Rhode Island	District	3	2		1		0		0
South Carolina	District	7	0		7		0		0
South Dakota	District	3	2		1		0		0
Tennessee	District	10	2		8		0		0
Texas	District +2 at-large	18	0		18		0		0
Utah	District	2	0	1	2	1	0		0
Vermont	District	2	2		0		0		0
Virginia	District	10	1		9		0		0
Washington	District	5	4	1	1	1	0	2	0
West Virginia	District[Note 4]	6	4	1	2	1	0		0
Wisconsin	District	11	11	3	0	3	0		0
Wyoming	At-large	1	1		0		0		0
Total		435	216[Note 2] 49.7%	19	214 49.2%	16	3 0.7%	2	2[Note 8] 0.5%	1

House seats
Republican			49.66%
Democratic			49.20%
Progressive			0.69%
Prohibition			0.23%
Socialist			0.23%

The Democrats retained control of the House by forming a coalition with the three Progressive members and the single Socialist member, combining to form a razor-thin majority of 218 Representatives.

[[Image:65 us house membership.png|thumb|450px| 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:65 us house changes.png|thumb|450px| 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 Progressive gain   1-2 Republican gain   no net change ]]

Early election date

Maine held its election early, on September 11, 1916. There had previously been multiple states with earlier elections, but between 1914 and 1958, Maine was alone in holding early elections.

Complete results

Party abbreviations

• D: Democratic
• I: Independent
• Prog: Progressive
• Proh: Prohibition
• R: Republican
• S: Socialist

A slash between two labels indicates a fusion ticket

California

District	Incumbent	Party	First elected	Result	Candidates
California 1	William Kent	Independent	1910	Retired Democratic gain	Clarence F. Lea (D) 48.8% Edward H. Hart (R) 42.8% Mary M. Morgan (S) 5.5% Jay Scott Ryder (Proh) 2.9%
California 2	John E. Raker	Democratic	1910	Re-elected	John E. Raker (D) 71% James T. Matlock (R) 29%
California 3	Charles F. Curry	Republican	1912	Re-elected	Charles F. Curry (R) 66.7% O. W. Kennedy (D) 23.4% Ben Cooper (S) 6.2% Edwin F. Van Vlear (Proh) 3.7%
California 4	Julius Kahn	Republican	1898	Re-elected	Julius Kahn (R) 77.2% J. M. Fernald (D) 15.7% Allen K. Gifford (S) 5.6% Henry W. Hutchinson (Proh) 1.5%
California 5	John I. Nolan	Republican	1912	Re-elected	John I. Nolan (R) 84.7% Charles A. Preston (S) 9.6% Frederick Head (Proh) 5.8%
California 6	John A. Elston	Progressive	1912	Re-elected	John A. Elston (Prog) 64.6% H. Avery Whitney (D) 22.6% Luella Twining (S) 8.7% Harlow E. Wolcott (Proh) 4.1%
California 7	Denver S. Church	Democratic	1912	Re-elected	Denver S. Church (D) 51% W. W. Phillips (R) 36.4% Harry M. McKee (S) 7.2% J. F. Butler (Proh) 5.3%
California 8	Everis A. Hayes	Republican	1904	Re-elected	Everis A. Hayes (R) 68.6% George S. Walker (Prog/D) 23.8% Cora Pattleton Wilson (S) 7.5%
California 9	Charles H. Randall	Prohibition	1914	Re-elected	Charles H. Randall (Proh.) 57.8% Charles W. Bell (I) 32.7% Ralph L. Criswell (S) 9.5%
California 10	Henry S. Benedict	Progressive	1916	Retired Republican gain	Henry Z. Osborne (R) 49.5% Rufus V. Bowden (D) 25.7% Henry Stanley Benedict (Prog) 11.1% James H. Ryckman (S) 7% Henry Clay Needham (Proh) 6.8%
California 11	William Kettner	Democratic	1912	Re-elected	William Kettner (D) 44.5% Robert C. Harbison (R) 35.7% James S. Edwards (Proh) 15.6% Marcus W. Robbins (S) 4.1%

Montana

This was the last time Montana used an at-large district until its representation was reduced to one in 1992. This was also the first time a woman was elected to Congress.

District	Incumbent	Party	First elected	Result	Candidates
Montana at-large 2 seats on a general ticket	John M. Evans	Democratic	1912	Re-elected	John M. Evans (D) 26.7% Jeannette Rankin (R) 24.3% Harry B. Mitchell (D) 22.3% George W. Farr (R) 21.2% John McGuffey (S) 2.8% Albert F. Meissner (S) 2.7%
	Tom Stout	Democratic	1912	Retired Republican gain

South Carolina

District	Incumbent	Party	First elected	Result	Candidates
South Carolina 1	Richard S. Whaley	Democratic	1913 (special)	Re-elected	Richard S. Whaley (D) 95.4% J. O. Ladd (R) 4.6%
South Carolina 2	James F. Byrnes	Democratic	1910	Re-elected	James F. Byrnes (D) 98.5% Isaac Myers (R) 1.5%
South Carolina 3	Wyatt Aiken	Democratic	1902	Lost primary Democratic hold	Frederick H. Dominick (D) 100%
South Carolina 4	Samuel J. Nicholls	Democratic	1915 (special)	Re-elected	Samuel J. Nicholls (D) 99.4% G. F. Mills (R) 0.6%
South Carolina 5	David E. Finley	Democratic	1898	Re-elected	David E. Finley (D) 100%
South Carolina 6	J. Willard Ragsdale	Democratic	1912	Re-elected	J. Willard Ragsdale (D) 99.1% W. L. McFarlan (R) 0.9%
South Carolina 7	Asbury F. Lever	Democratic	1901 (special)	Re-elected	Asbury F. Lever (D) 93.5% I. S. Leevy (R) 6.5%

See also

• United States elections, 1916
  • United States presidential election, 1916
  • United States Senate elections, 1916
• 64th United States Congress
• 65th United States Congress

Notes

1. Maine held early elections on September 11, 1916.
2. Includes 1 Independent Republican.
3. Democrats maintained control of the U.S. House after the 1916 elections by forming a 218-member coalition with the three Progressive members and the one Socialist member.
4. At-large seat eliminated in redistricting.
5. Prohibition
6. Elections held early.
7. Socialist
8. 1 Socialist and 1 Prohibition.

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)