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   Leader James Mann Champ Clark Party Republican Democratic Leader's seat Illinois-2nd Missouri-9th Last election 197 seats 230 seats Seats won 216[Note 2] 214[Note 3] Seat change 19 16   Third party Fourth party Fifth party   Party Progressive Socialist Prohibition Last election 5 seats 1 seat 1 seat Seats won 3 1 1 Seat change 2

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 the 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

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

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.

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

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.

South Carolina

See also

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

Notes

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)