United States House of Representatives elections, 1890

United States House of Representatives elections, 1890

November 4, 1890[Note 1]

All 332 seats to the United States House of Representatives 167 seats needed for a majority   Majority party Minority party   Leader Charles Frederick Crisp Thomas Brackett Reed Party Democratic Republican Last election 152 seats 179 seats Seats won 238[1][Note 2] 86[1][Note 2] Seat change 86 93   Third party   Leader Thomas E. Watson Party Populist Last election 0 seats Seats won 8[1][Note 2] Seat change 8

Speaker before election Thomas Reed Republican Elected Speaker Charles Crisp Democratic

Elections to the United States House of Representatives were held in 1890 for members of the 52nd Congress, taking place in the middle of President Benjamin Harrison's term.

A stagnant economy which became worse after the Panic of 1890, combined with a lack of support for then Representative William McKinley's (defeated in the election) steep tariff act, which favored large industries at the expense of consumers, led to a sharp defeat for Harrison's Republican Party, giving a large majority to the Democratic Party and presaging Harrison's defeat in 1892. The Republican-controlled Congress was highly criticized for its lavish spending, and it earned the unflattering nickname of The Billion Dollar Congress. Democrats promised to cut the outlandish budget.

Furthermore, aggressive Republican promotion of controversial English-only education laws enacted by Wisconsin and Illinois in 1889, accompanied by a surge in nativist and anti-Catholic sentiment within the state parties, had greatly hollowed out the party's support base in these former strongholds. A rare multi-confessional alliance of mainly German clergy rallied their flocks in defense of language and faith to the Democratic Party, which tore through incumbent Republican majorities in both states, capturing a total of 11 formerly Republican seats between them alone.^[2] Bitterly divisive struggles over temperance laws had also been alienating immigrants from the increasingly prohibitionist Republican Party across the Midwest more broadly. Dramatic losses in the previous year's gubernatorial elections in Iowa and Ohio (which would lose another 14 Republican congressional seats between them during this election) were due in no small part to wet immigrant communities, especially Germans, expressing their resentment toward Republican efforts to ban or otherwise curtail alcohol consumption by throwing their support behind the Democratic candidates.^[3]

This election also saw the Populist Party, a coalition of farmers and laborers who wanted to overhaul the nation's financial system, make a small mark on Congress.

Election summaries

State	Type	Total seats	Democratic	Republican	Populist
			Seats	Change	Seats	Change	Seats	Change
Alabama	District	8	8	1	0	1	0
Arkansas	District	5	5	2	0	1	0	1[Note 3]
California	District	6	2		4		0
Colorado	At-large	1	0		1		0
Connecticut	District	4	3	2	1	2	0
Delaware	At-large	1	1		0		0
Florida	District	2	2		0		0
Georgia	District	10	10		0		0
Idaho[Note 4]	At-large	1	0		1		0
Illinois	District	20	14	7	6	7	0
Indiana	District	13	11	1	2	1	0
Iowa	District	11	6	5	5	5	0
Kansas	District	7	0		2	5	5	5
Kentucky	District	11	10	1	1	1	0
Louisiana	District	6	6	1	0	1	0
Maine[Note 4]	District	4	0		4		0
Maryland	District	6	6	3	0	3	0
Massachusetts	District	12	7	5	5	5	0
Michigan	District	11	8	6	3	6	0
Minnesota	District	5	3	3	1	4	1	1
Mississippi	District	7	7		0		0
Missouri	District	14	14	4	0	4	0
Montana	At-large	1	1	1	0	1	0
Nebraska	District	3	1	1	0	3	2	2
Nevada	At-large	1	0		1		0
New Hampshire	District	2	2	2	0	2	0
New Jersey	District	7	5	2	2	2	0
New York	District	34	23	8	11	8	0
North Carolina	District	9	8	2	1	2	0
North Dakota	At-large	1	0		1		0
Ohio	District	21	14	9	7	9	0
Oregon[Note 4]	At-large	1	0		1		0
Pennsylvania	District	28	11	4	17	4	0
Rhode Island	District	2	2	2	0	2	0
South Carolina	District	7	7		0		0
South Dakota	At-large	2	0		2		0
Tennessee	District	10	8	1	2	1	0
Texas	District	11	11		0		0
Vermont[Note 4]	District	2	0		2		0
Virginia	District	10	10	4	0	4	0
Washington	At-large	1	0		1		0
West Virginia	District	4	4	2	0	2	0
Wisconsin	District	9	8	6	1	6	0
Wyoming[Note 4]	At-large	1	0		1		0
Total		332	238[1] 71.7%	74	86[1] 25.9%	83	8[1] 2.4%	9

The previous election of 1888 saw the election of one Labor Party representative in Arkansas.

Early election dates

In 1890, five states, with 9 seats among them, held elections early:

• June 3 Oregon
• September 2 Vermont
• September 8 Maine
• September 11 Idaho
• October 1 Wyoming

Idaho and Wyoming held elections for both the outgoing 51st Congress and the incoming 52nd Congress in 1890, having been admitted that year, and held future elections on the standard election day.

Separate races

• December 9, 1890: Thomas J. Geary (D) elected to finish the term of John J. De Haven (R), who had resigned October 1, 1890.

Complete returns

California

Florida

Ohio

The Ohio Legislature redistricted the state between censuses. Coupled with other Democratic gains, this redistricting gave the Democrats a nine-seat net gain.

South Carolina

See also

• United States Senate elections, 1890
• 52nd United States Congress

Notes

References

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)