United States Senate elections, 1904 and 1905

United States Senate elections, 1904 and 1905

February 4, 1904 – January 27, 1905
30 of the 90 seats in the United States Senate (as well as special elections) 46 seats needed for a majority
Majority party Minority party   Leader William B. Allison Arthur P. Gorman Party Republican Democratic Leader's seat Iowa Maryland Seats before 57 33 Seats won 22 5 Seats after 56 31 Seat change 1 2 Seats up 23 7
Majority Party before election Republican Elected Majority Party Republican

The United States Senate elections of 1904 and 1905 were elections that coincided with President Theodore Roosevelt's landslide election to a full term. Party share of seats remained roughly the same, when including vacancies and appointments, and the Republicans retained a significant majority over the Democrats.

As these elections were prior to ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment, senators were chosen by State legislatures.

This was the last election cycle until 1996 which featured a presidential candidate who won re-election without securing coattails in the Senate in either of his presidential runs.

Results summary

Senate Party Division, 59th Congress (1905–1907)

• Majority Party: Republican (58)
• Minority Party: Democratic (32)
• Other Parties: (0)
• Total Seats: 90

Change in Senate composition

Before the elections

At the beginning of 1904.

Result of the general elections

Beginning of the next Congress

Race summaries

Special elections during the 58th Congress

In these elections, the winners were seated during 1904 or in 1905 before March 4; ordered by election date.

In this election, the winner was seated March 4, 1905.

In these elections, the winners were seated March 4, 1907 in the 60th Congress; ordered by election date.

Races leading to the 59th Congress

In these general elections, the winners were elected for the term beginning March 4, 1905; ordered by state.

All of the elections involved the Class 1 seats.

Elections during the 59th Congress

In these elections, the winners were elected in 1905 after March 4; sorted by election date.

Complete list of races

New York

The 1905 election in New York was held on January 17, 1905, by the New York State Legislature. Republican Chauncey M. Depew had been elected to this seat in 1899, and his term would expire on March 3, 1905. At the State election in November 1904, large Republican majorities were elected for a two-year term (1905-1906) in the State Senate, and for the session of 1905 to the Assembly. The 128th State Legislature met from January 3, 1905, on at Albany, New York.

Late in 1904, Ex-Governor Frank S. Black tried to be nominated to succeed Depew. Black was supported by Governor Benjamin B. Odell, Jr., but after intense fighting behind the scenes, Odell finally dropped Black and accepted Depew's re-election which had been supported by his fellow Senator Thomas C. Platt and Speaker S. Frederick Nixon. The Republican caucus met on January 16. They re-nominated the incumbent U.S. Senator Chauncey M. Depew unanimously.

The Democratic caucus met also on January 16. They nominated again Smith M. Weed who had been the candidate of the Democratic minority in the U.S. Senate election of 1887.

Chauncey M. Depew was the choice of both the Assembly and the State Senate, and was declared elected.

Note: The votes were cast on January 17, but both Houses met in a joint session on January 18 to compare nominations, and declare the result.

Pennsylvania

The election in Pennsylvania was held on January 17, 1905. Incumbent Philander C. Knox was elected by the Pennsylvania State Assembly to his first full term in the United States Senate.^[11]

Republican Matthew Quay was elected by the Pennsylvania General Assembly to the United States Senate in the previous election in January 1901. He served until his death on May 28, 1904.^[12] In June 1904, Republican Philander C. Knox was appointed to serve out the remainder of Quay's term, ending on March 4, 1905, when he began a term in his own right.^[13]

The Pennsylvania General Assembly, consisting of the House of Representatives and Senate, convened on January 17, 1905, to elect a Senator to serve the term beginning on March 4, 1905. The results of the vote of both houses combined are as follows:

See also

• United States elections, 1904
  • United States presidential election, 1904
  • United States House of Representatives elections, 1904
• 58th United States Congress
• 59th United States Congress

Notes

References

• Party Division in the Senate, 1789-Present, via Senate.gov
• The Tribune Almanac and Political Register 1905. New York: The Tribune Association. 1905. pp. 233–234. 
• The Tribune Almanac and Political Register 1906. New York: The Tribune Association. 1906. pp. 244–246. 
• New York: "BLACK AND DEPEW SEE ODELL ON SENATORSHIP". The New York Times. November 23, 1904. 
• New York: "ODELL FOR BLACK; OPEN WAR BEGINS". The New York Times. December 16, 1904. 
• New York: "BLACK NOW A CANDIDATE, HIS ORGAN DECLARES". The New York Times. December 18, 1904. 
• New York: "ODELL YIELDS TO DEPEW; SENATORSHIP FIGHT ENDS". The New York Times. December 30, 1904. 
• New York: "DEPEW NAMED FOR SENATOR.; ...S.M. Weed Democratic Nominee". The New York Times. January 17, 1905. 
• New York: "ANOTHER TERM FOR DEPEW". The New York Times. January 18, 1905. 
• Pennsylvania: Cox, Harold (January 31, 2007). "Pennsylvania Election Statistics: 1682-2006". The Wilkes University Election Statistics Project. Wilkes University.