United States Senate elections, 1838 and 1839

United States Senate elections, 1838 and 1839

Dates vary by state

17 of the 52 seats in the United States Senate (plus special elections) 27 seats needed for a majority   Majority party Minority party   Party Democratic Whig Last election 35 (67.3%) 17 (33.0%) Seats before 35 (67.3%) 17 (33.0%) Seats won 28 (58.3%) 20 (41.7%) Seat change 7 3 Seats up 10 7

Majority party before election Democratic Elected Majority party Democratic

The United States Senate elections of 1838 and 1839 were elections which had the Democratic Party lose seven seats in the United States Senate, but still retain a majority.

As this election was prior to ratification of the seventeenth amendment, Senators were chosen by State legislatures.

Results

26th Congress (1839–1841)

• Majority Party: Democratic (29)
• Minority Party: Whig (21, later increased to 23)
• Total Seats: 52

Change in Senate composition

Before the elections

After the January 4, 1838 special election in Maryland.

Result of the elections

Beginning of the next Congress

Race summaries

Special elections during the 25th Congress

In these special elections, the winners were seated during 1838 or before March 4, 1839; ordered by election date.

Races leading to the 25th Congress

In these general elections, the winners were elected for the term beginning March 4, 1839; ordered by state.

All of the elections involved the Class 1 seats.

Special election during the 26th Congress

In this special election, the winner was seated in 1839 after March 4.

Complete list of races

New York

The New York election was held February 5, 1839 by the New York State Legislature. Nathaniel P. Tallmadge had been elected as a Jacksonian Democratic in 1833 to this seat, and his term would expire on March 3, 1839.

On February 4, 1839, the State Legislature elected on joint ballot Spencer, Cooke, Hall and Haight to the offices they were nominated for, but on the next day they could not agree on a U.S. Senator.

The Assembly nominated Nathaniel P. Tallmadge "by the votes of all the Whig members." (see Hammond, page 512)

Although the Democratic State Senate majority did not object to be outvoted on joint ballot for the election of Whigs to State offices, they rejected the idea of electing a renegade Democratic to the U.S. Senate, and took refuge to the only means to defeat Tallmadge: They did not nominate anybody, following the precedents of 1819-1820 and 1825-1826, so that a joint ballot could not be held. On the first ballot, Tallmadge received 13 votes out of 31 cast, all Whigs.^[1] The Democratic vote was scattered among many men, nobody receiving more than 2. Four more ballots were held with a similar result.^[2] On the sixth ballot, all Whigs and two Democrats voted for Samuel Beardsley, who received 16 votes, one short of the necessary number for a nomination. The Democrats then abandoned further balloting, fearing that the Whigs would vote for anybody who received by chance three Democratic votes, just to force any nomination, thus enabling the Legislature to proceed to the joint ballot.

No further action was taken by this Legislature, and the seat became vacant on March 4, 1839. Tallmadge would later be elected in 1840.

See also

• United States House of Representatives elections, 1838
• 26th United States Congress

References

• Party Division in the Senate, 1789-Present, via Senate.gov