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 were needed for a majority

	Majority party	Minority party

Leader	James Blaine	George Morgan
Party	Republican	Democratic
Leader's seat	Maine-3rd	Ohio-13th
Last election	171 seats	67 seats
Seats won	137^{[Note 2]}	104^{[Note 3]}
Seat change	34	37
Popular vote	2,560,655	2,408,655
Percentage	48.2%	45.4%
Swing	4.1%	0.1%

	Third party

Party	Liberal Republican
Last election	0 seats
Seats won	2^{[Note 4]}
Seat change	2

Speaker before election

James Blaine
Republican

Elected Speaker

James Blaine
Republican

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.

Overall results

Party	Total seats	Seat change	Seat percentage	Vote percentage	Popular vote
Republican	139^{[Note 5]}	32	57.2%	48.2%	2,560,655
Democratic	104	37	42.8%	45.4%	2,408,655
Others	–	–	0.0%	6.4%	341,794
Totals	243		100.0%	100.0%	5,311,104

Election summaries

↓
137	2	104
Republican	LR	Democratic

State	Type	Total seats	Republican	Democratic
State	Type	Total seats	Seats	Change	Seats	Change
Mississippi^{[Note 6]}^{[Note 7]}	District	5	5		0
Alabama	District	6	3	1	3	1
Arkansas	District	3	2		1
California^{[Note 8]}	District	3	3	2	0	2
Connecticut^{[Note 8]}	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 6]}	District	11	6	1	5	1
Iowa^{[Note 6]}	District	6	6		0
Kansas	At-large	1	1		0
Kentucky	District	9	0		9
Louisiana	District	5	5		0
Maine^{[Note 6]}	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 9]}	2	4	2
Nebraska^{[Note 6]}	At-large	1	1		0
Nevada	At-large	1	0	1	1	1
New Hampshire^{[Note 8]}	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 6]}	District	7	2	4	5	4
Ohio^{[Note 6]}	District	19	14	1	5	1
Oregon^{[Note 6]}	At-large	1	0		1
Pennsylvania^{[Note 6]}	District	24	13^{[Note 10]}	3	11	3
Rhode Island	District	2	2		0
South Carolina^{[Note 6]}	District	4	4		0
Tennessee	District	8	2	6	6	6
Texas^{[Note 8]}	District	4	0	3	4	3
Vermont^{[Note 6]}	District	3	3		0
Virginia	District	8	3		5	5^{[Note 11]}
West Virginia^{[Note 6]}	District	3	1	2	2	2
Wisconsin	District	6	4	1	2	1
Total		243	139^{[Note 5]} 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	Retired Republican Gain	Sherman O. Houghton (R) 51.6% Lawrence Archer (D) 48.4%
California 2	Aaron Augustus Sargent	Republican	1868	Incumbent re-elected	Aaron Augustus Sargent (R) 54% James W. Coffroth (D) 46%
California 3	James A. Johnson	Democratic	1867	Retired Republican gain	John M. Coghlan (R) 51.7% George Pearce (D) 48.3%

Florida

District	Incumbent	Party	First elected	Result	Candidates
Florida at-large	Charles M. Hamilton	Republican	1868	Retired Republican hold	Josiah T. Walls (R) 51.3% Silas L. Niblack (D) 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	Retired Republican gain	Aaron F. Perry (R) 52.4% Milton Sayler (D) 47.6%
Ohio 2	Job E. Stevenson	Republican	1868	Re-elected	Job E. Stevenson (R) 54.5% Samuel F. Cary (D) 45.5%
Ohio 3	Robert C. Schenck	Republican	1862	Lost Re-election Democratic gain	Lewis D. Campbell (D) 50.1% Robert C. Schenck (R) 49.9%
Ohio 4	William Lawrence	Republican	1864	Retired Democratic gain	John F. McKinney (D) 50.5% William B. McClung (R) 49.5%
Ohio 5	William Mungen	Democratic	1866	Retired Democratic hold	Charles N. Lamison (D) 57.4% John B. Clark (R) 42.6%
Ohio 6	John Armstrong Smith	Republican	1868	Re-elected	John Armstrong Smith (R) 50.8% James W. Denver (D) 49.2%
Ohio 7	James J. Winans	Republican	1868	Lost Re-nomination Republican hold	Samuel Shellabarger (R) 52.8% Hugh J. Jewett (D) 47.2%
Ohio 8	John Beatty	Republican	1868 (s)	Re-elected	John Beatty (R) 52.9% James Randolph Hubbell (D) 47.1%
Ohio 9	Edward F. Dickinson	Democratic	1868	Lost Re-election Republican gain	Charles Foster (R) 51.5% Edward F. Dickinson (D) 48.5%
Ohio 10	Erasmus D. Peck	Republican	1870 (s)	Re-elected	Erasmus D. Peck (R) 52.5% William F. Lockwood (D) 47.5%
Ohio 11	John Thomas Wilson	Republican	1866	Re-elected	John Thomas Wilson (R) 52.4% Ralph Leete (D) 47.6%
Ohio 12	Philadelph Van Trump	Democratic	1866	Re-elected	Philadelph Van Trump (D) 57.9% Charles Elwood Brown (R) 42.1%
Ohio 13	George W. Morgan	Democratic	1868	Re-elected	George W. Morgan (D) 54.1% Charles W. Potwin (R) 45.9%
Ohio 14	Martin Welker	Republican	1864	Retired Republican hold	James Monroe (R) 51.5% Lyman R. Critchfield (D) 48.5%
Ohio 15	Eliakim H. Moore	Republican	1868	Retired Republican hold	William P. Sprague (R) 51.6% John Cartwright (D) 48.4%
Ohio 16	John Bingham	Republican	1864	Re-elected	John Bingham (R) 52.4% Robert A. Chambers (D) 47.6%
Ohio 17	Jacob A. Ambler	Republican	1868	Re-elected	Jacob A. Ambler (R) 55.1% John Ball (R) 44.9%
Ohio 18	William H. Upson	Republican	1868	Re-elected	William H. Upson (R) 62.2% John M. Coffinberry (D) 37.8%
Ohio 19	James A. Garfield	Republican	1862	Re-elected	James A. Garfield (R) 65.1% William Howard (D) 34.9%

Notes

↑ Majority of states held elections on November 8, 1870 (i.e. Election Day).
↑ Includes 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.
↑ Two Liberal Republicans were elected: Gustavus A. Finkelnburg elected to MO-02, and James G. Blair elected to MO-08.
1 2 Includes 2 Liberal Republicans and 1 Independent Republican.
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 MO-02, and James G. Blair elected to MO-08.
↑ Includes 1 Independent Republican, John V. Creely, elected to PA-02.
↑ Previous election had 5 Conservatives.

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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