| Election Name: | 1878–79 United States Senate elections |
| Country: | United States |
| Flag Year: | 1877 |
| Type: | legislative |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Previous Election: | 1876–77 United States Senate elections |
| Next Election: | 1880–81 United States Senate elections |
| Seats For Election: | 26 of the 76 seats in the United States Senate (with special elections) |
| Majority Seats: | 39 |
| Election Date: | Dates vary by state (And other dates for special elections) |
| 1Blank: | Seats up |
| Party1: | Democratic Party (US) |
| Leader1: | William A. Wallace |
| Image1: | William A. Wallace - Brady-Handy.jpg |
| Leader Since1: | March 4, 1877 |
| Leaders Seat1: | Pennsylvania |
| Seats Before1: | 36 |
| Seats1: | 14 |
| Seats After1: | 42 |
| Seat Change1: | 6 |
| 1Data1: | 8 |
| Party2: | Republican Party (US) |
| Leader2: | Henry B. Anthony |
| Leader Since2: | March 4, 1863 |
| Leaders Seat2: | Rhode Island |
| Seats Before2: | 38 |
| Seats2: | 10 |
| Seats After2: | 31 |
| Seat Change2: | 7 |
| 1Data2: | 17 |
| Party4: | Anti-Monopoly Party (US) |
| Seats Before4: | 1 |
| Seats4: | 0 |
| Seats After4: | 1 |
| 1Data4: | 0 |
| Party5: | Independent (US) |
| Seats Before5: | 1 |
| Seats5: | 0 |
| Seats After5: | 1 |
| 1Data5: | 0 |
| Majority Party | |
| Before Party: | Republican Party (US) |
| After Party: | Democratic Party (US) |
The 1878–79 United States Senate elections were held on various dates in various states. As these U.S. Senate elections were prior to the ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment in 1913, senators were chosen by state legislatures. Senators were elected over a wide range of time throughout 1878 and 1879, and a seat may have been filled months late or remained vacant due to legislative deadlock.[1] In these elections, terms were up for the senators in Class 3.
The Democratic Party re-captured control of the Senate for the first time since before the Civil War.
Senate party division, 46th Congress (1879–1881)
| D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | ||||||||||||
| width=10% | D | width=10% | D | width=10% | D | width=10% | D | width=10% | D | width=10% | D | width=10% | D | width=10% | D | width=10% | D | width=10% | D |
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| D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | AM | I | ||||||||||
| Plurality → | R | ||||||||||||||||||
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| R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | ||||||||||
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| width=10% | D | width=10% | D | width=10% | D | width=10% | D | width=10% | D | width=10% | D | width=10% | D | width=10% | D | width=10% | D | width=10% | D |
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| D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | D | ||||||||||
| Majority → | D | ||||||||||||||||||
| R | R | R | V | AM | I | D | D | D | |||||||||||
| R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | ||||||||||
| R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | ||||||||||
| R | R | R | R | R | R | R | R | ||||||||||||
| Key |
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In these elections, the winners were seated in 1879 before March 4; ordered by election date.
| State | Incumbent | Results | Candidates | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Senator | Party | Electoral history | |||||||
| Missouri (Class 3) | David H. Armstrong | Democratic | 1877 | Interim appointee retired when successor elected. Winner elected January 27, 1879. Democratic hold. Winner did not run for the next term, see below. | nowrap | ||||
| Indiana (Class 3) | Daniel W. Voorhees | Democratic | 1877 | Interim appointee elected January 31, 1879. Winner was also elected to the next term, see below. | nowrap | ||||
| Michigan (Class 1) | Isaac P. Christiancy | Republican | 1874 | Incumbent resigned February 10, 1879, due to ill health. Winner elected February 22, 1879. Republican hold. | nowrap | ||||
In these regular elections, the winners were elected for the term beginning March 4, 1885; ordered by state.
All of the elections involved the Class 3 seats.
| State | Incumbent | Results | Candidates | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Senator | Party | Electoral history | |||||||
| Alabama | George E. Spencer | Republican | 1868 1872 | Incumbent retired. New senator elected in August 1878. Democratic gain. | nowrap | ||||
| Arkansas | Stephen W. Dorsey | Republican | 1872 or 1873 | Incumbent retired. New senator elected in 1878. Democratic gain. | nowrap | ||||
| California | Aaron A. Sargent | Republican | 1872 or 1873 | Incumbent retired. New senator elected in 1878. Democratic gain. | nowrap | ||||
| Colorado | Jerome B. Chaffee | Republican | 1876 | Incumbent retired. New senator elected in 1879. Republican hold. | nowrap | ||||
| Connecticut | William Henry Barnum | Democratic | 1876 | Unknown if incumbent retired or lost re-election. New senator elected in 1879. Republican gain. | nowrap | ||||
| Florida | Simon B. Conover | Republican | 1872 or 1873 | Incumbent retired. New senator elected January 21, 1879.[2] Democratic gain. | nowrap | ||||
| Georgia | John Brown Gordon | Democratic | 1873 | Incumbent re-elected in 1879. | nowrap | ||||
| Illinois | Richard J. Oglesby | Republican | 1873 | Incumbent retired. New senator elected Jan 22, 1879. Republican hold. | nowrap | ||||
| Indiana | Daniel W. Voorhees | Democratic | 1877 1879 | Incumbent re-elected in 1879. | nowrap | ||||
| Iowa | William B. Allison | Republican | 1872 | Incumbent re-elected January 23, 1878. | nowrap | ||||
| Kansas | John Ingalls | Republican | 1873 | Incumbent re-elected in 1879. | nowrap | ||||
| Kentucky | Thomas C. McCreery | Democratic | 1872 | Incumbent retired. New senator elected in 1879. Democratic hold. | nowrap | ||||
| Louisiana | James B. Eustis | Democratic | 1876 | Incumbent lost re-election. New senator elected in 1879. Democratic hold. | nowrap | ||||
| Maryland | George R. Dennis | Democratic | 1872 or 1873 | Incumbent retired. New senator elected January 19, 1878. Democratic hold. | nowrap | ||||
| Missouri | James Shields | Democratic | 1849 1849 1849 1855 1858 1859 1879 | Incumbent retired. New senator elected in 1879. Democratic hold. | nowrap | ||||
| Nevada | John P. Jones | Republican | 1873 | Incumbent re-elected in 1879. | nowrap | ||||
| New Hampshire | Bainbridge Wadleigh | Republican | 1872 | Unknown if incumbent retired or lost re-election. Legislature failed to elect. Republican loss. | |||||
| New York | Roscoe Conkling | Republican | 1867 1873 | Incumbent re-elected January 22, 1879. | nowrap | ||||
| North Carolina | Augustus Merrimon | Democratic | 1872 | Incumbent lost re-election. New senator elected in 1879. Democratic hold. | nowrap | ||||
| Ohio | Stanley Matthews | Republican | 1877 | Incumbent retired. New senator elected in 1878 or 1879. Democratic gain. | nowrap | ||||
| Oregon | John H. Mitchell | Republican | 1872 | Incumbent retired. New senator elected in 1878 or 1879. Democratic gain. | nowrap | ||||
| Pennsylvania | J. Donald Cameron | Republican | 1877 | Incumbent re-elected January 20, 1879. | nowrap | ||||
| South Carolina | John J. Patterson | Republican | 1872 or 1873 | Unknown if incumbent retired or lost re-election. New senator elected in 1878. Democratic gain. | nowrap | ||||
| Vermont | Justin S. Morrill | Republican | 1866 1872 | Incumbent re-elected in 1878. | nowrap | ||||
| Wisconsin | Timothy O. Howe | Republican | 1861 1866 1872 | Incumbent lost re-election. New senator elected January 22, 1879. Republican hold. | nowrap | ||||
In this election, the winner was elected in 1879 after March 4.
See also: List of United States senators from Maryland.
| Election Name: | 1878 United States Senate election in Maryland |
| Popular Vote1: | 73 |
| Colour1: | B0CEFF |
| Percentage1: | 78.50% |
| Party1: | Democratic Party (United States) |
| Candidate1: | James Black Groome |
| Image1: | James Black Groome, sitting.jpg |
| Popular Vote2: | 17 |
| Colour2: | FFB6B6 |
| Percentage2: | 18.28% |
| Party2: | Republican Party (United States) |
| Candidate2: | Lewis Henry Steiner |
| Next Year: | 1884 |
| Next Election: | 1884 United States Senate election in Maryland |
| Previous Year: | 1872 |
| Previous Election: | 1872 United States Senate election in Maryland |
| Votes For Election: | 80 members of the Maryland General Assembly |
| Vote Type: | Legislative |
| Election Date: | January 19, 1878 |
| Type: | presidential |
James Black Groome was elected by a margin of 60.22%, or 56 votes, for the Class 3 seat.[3]
See main article: 1879 United States Senate election in New York.
See also: List of United States senators from New York.
In New York, the election was held on January 21, 1879, by the New York State Legislature. Republican Roscoe Conkling had been re-elected in January 1873 to this seat, and his term would expire on March 3, 1879. At the State election in November 1877, 19 Republicans and 13 Democrats were elected for a two-year term (1878–1879) in the State Senate. At the State election in November 1878, 97 Republicans, 28 Democrats and 3 Greenbackers were elected for the session of 1879 to the Assembly, and Republican Thomas Murphy was elected to fill the vacancy in the State Senate caused by the death of Democrat John Morrissey. The 102nd New York State Legislature met from January 7 to May 22, 1879, at Albany, New York.
The caucus of Republican State legislators met on January 20, Temporary President of the State Senate William H. Robertson presided. Present were all Republican legislators except State Senator Louis S. Goebel[4] (6th D.) and Assemblyman James W. Wadsworth. They re-nominated the incumbent U.S. Senator Conkling unanimously. The caucus of the Democratic State legislators met also on January 20. State Senator Thomas C. E. Ecclesine (8th D.) offered to adopt a prostest against the senatorial election proceedings, claiming that the senatorial and assembly districts were incorrectly apportioned and thus the State Legislature did not represent the wish of the people of the State. The protest was substituted by a resolution to appoint a committee which would elaborate an address on the apportionment at a later date. Ecclesine then marched out, and the remaining legislators nominated Lieutenant Governor William Dorsheimer for the U.S. Senate.
| Candidate | First ballot | Second ballot | |
|---|---|---|---|
| William Dorsheimer | 11 | 18 | |
| James F. Starbuck | 8 | 8 | |
| DeWitt C. West[5] | 8 | 6 | |
| Elijah Ward | 2 |
The two Greenback assemblymen John Banfield (Chemung Co.) and George E. Williams (Oswego Co.) voted for 87-year-old Peter Cooper, a New York City inventor, industrialist and philanthropist who had run for U.S. president in 1876 on the Greenback ticket.
Roscoe Conkling was the choice of both the Assembly and the State Senate, and was declared elected.
| Republican | Democrat | Greenback | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| State Senate (32 members) | Roscoe Conkling | 20 | William Dorsheimer | 12 | |||
| State Assembly (128 members) | Roscoe Conkling | 95 | William Dorsheimer | 23 | Peter Cooper | 2 | |
Note: The votes were cast on January 21, but both Houses met in a joint session on January 22 to compare nominations, and declare the result.
See main article: 1879 United States Senate election in Pennsylvania.
See also: List of United States senators from Pennsylvania. In Pennsylvania, the election was held January 20, 1879. J. Donald Cameron was re-elected by the Pennsylvania General Assembly to the United States Senate.[6]
After Sen. Simon Cameron resigned from office, his son J. Donald Cameron was elected by the General Assembly, consisting of the House of Representatives and the Senate, in 1877 to serve the remainder of the unexpired term, which was to expire on March 4, 1879. The Pennsylvania General Assembly convened on January 20, 1879, to elect a Senator to serve the term beginning on March 4, 1879. The results of the vote of both houses combined are as follows:
|-|-bgcolor="#EEEEEE"| colspan="3" align="right" | Totals| align="right" | 251| align="right" | 100.00%|}