1910 United States House of Representatives elections explained

Election Name:	1910 United States House of Representatives elections
Country:	United States
Flag Year:	1908
Type:	legislative
Ongoing:	no
Previous Election:	1908 United States House of Representatives elections
Previous Year:	1908
Next Election:	1912 United States House of Representatives elections
Next Year:	1912
Majority Seats:	196
Election Date:	November 8, 1910
Party1:	Democratic Party (US)
Image1:	Champ Clark, head-and-shoulders portrait, facing left (cropped).jpg
Leader Since1:	March 4, 1909
Last Election1:	172 seats
Seats1:	227^[1] ^[2]
Seat Change1:	55
Popular Vote1:	5,700,035
Percentage1:	46.69%
Swing1:	1.31%
Party2:	Republican Party (US)
Leader Since2:	March 4, 1911
Last Election2:	218 seats
Seats2:	161
Seat Change2:	57
Popular Vote2:	5,680,628
Percentage2:	46.53%
Swing2:	3.52%
Party4:	Socialist Party of America
Last Election4:	0 seats
Seats4:	1
Seat Change4:	1
Popular Vote4:	527,968
Percentage4:	4.32%
Swing4:	1.94%
Party5:	Independent (US)
Last Election5:	1 seat
Seats5:	2
Seat Change5:	1
Popular Vote5:	57,938
Percentage5:	0.47%
Swing5:	0.04%

Before Party:	Republican Party (US)
After Party:	Democratic Party (US)

The 1910 United States House of Representatives elections were held for the most part on November 8, 1910, while Maine and Vermont held theirs early in September, in the middle of President William Howard Taft's term. Elections were held for all 391 seats of the United States House of Representatives, representing 46 states, to the 62nd United States Congress.

The conservative Taft contended with major factional splits within his Republican Party. Instead of using his position as president to bridge compromise, Taft alienated the progressive wing of the party, which had championed his predecessor, Theodore Roosevelt. While conservatives controlled the largest number of elected positions for Republicans, progressive politics had been what brought many voters to the polls. The clash of these units of the Republican Party, combined with the message of unity from the Democratic Party, was enough to allow the Democrats to take control of the House, ending 16 years in opposition. This was the first time that the Socialist Party won a seat.

Issues

Protection was the ideological cement holding the Republican coalition together. High tariffs were used by Republicans to promise higher sales to business, higher wages to industrial workers, and higher demand for their crops to farmers. Progressive insurgents said it promoted monopoly. Democrats said it was a tax on the little man. It had greatest support in the Northeast, and greatest opposition in the South and West. The Midwest was the battleground.^[3] The great battle over the high Payne–Aldrich Tariff Act in 1910 ripped the Republicans apart and set up the realignment in favor of the Democrats.^[4]

Election summaries

↓
230	2	162
Democratic		Republican

State	Type	Total seats	Republican
State	Type	Total seats	Seats	Change	Seats	Change	Seats	Change
Alabama	Districts	9	9		0		0
Arkansas	Districts	7	7		0		0
California	Districts	8	1	1	7	1	0
Colorado	Districts + at-large	3	3		0		0
Connecticut	Districts + at-large	5	1	1	4	1	0
Delaware	At-large	1	0		1		0
Florida	Districts	3	3		0		0
Georgia	Districts	11	11		0		0
Idaho	At-large	1	0		1		0
Illinois	Districts	25	11	5	14	5	0
Indiana	Districts	13	12	1	1	1	0
Iowa	Districts	11	1		10		0
Kansas	Districts	8	0		8		0
Kentucky	Districts	11	9	1	2	1	0
Louisiana	Districts	7	7		0		0
Maine	Districts	4	2	2	2	2	0
Maryland	Districts	6	5	2	1	2	0
Massachusetts	Districts	14	4	1	10	1	0
Michigan	Districts	12	2	2	10	2	0
Minnesota	Districts	9	1		8		0
Mississippi	Districts	8	8		0		0
Missouri	Districts	16	14	4	2	4	0
Montana	At-large	1	0		1		0
Nebraska	Districts	6	3		3		0
Nevada	At-large	1	0	1	1	1	0
New Hampshire	Districts	2	0		2		0
New Jersey	Districts	10	7	4	3	4	0
New York	Districts	37	22	11	15	11	0
North Carolina	Districts	10	10	3	0	3	0
North Dakota	Districts	2	0		2		0
Ohio	Districts	21	16	8	5	8	0
Oklahoma	Districts	5	3	1	2	1	0
Oregon	Districts	2	0		2		0
Pennsylvania	Districts	32	9	4	23	4	0
Rhode Island	Districts	2	1	1	1	1	0
South Carolina	Districts	7	7		0		0
South Dakota	At-large	2	0		2		0
Tennessee	Districts	10	8		2		0
Texas	Districts	16	16		0		0
Utah	At-large	1	0		1		0
Vermont	Districts	2	0		2		0
Virginia	Districts	10	9		1		0
Washington	Districts	3	0		3		0
West Virginia	Districts	5	4	4	1	4	0
Wisconsin	Districts	11	2	1	8	2	1	1
Wyoming	At-large	1	0		1		0
Total		391	228	56	162	57	1	1

Election dates

In 1910, two states, with 6 seats between them, held elections early:

September 6, Vermont
September 12, Maine

Two newly admitted states held elections late: New Mexico and Arizona held their first elections in 1911.

Special elections

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Alabama

Incumbent	First elected	Result	Candidates^[5]
George W. Taylor	Democratic	1896	Incumbent re-elected.	nowrap
S. Hubert Dent	Democratic	1908	Incumbent re-elected.	nowrap
Henry D. Clayton	Democratic	1896	Incumbent re-elected.	nowrap
William B. Craig	Democratic	1906		Incumbent retired. New member elected. Democratic hold.	nowrap
J. Thomas Heflin	Democratic	1904	Incumbent re-elected.	nowrap
Richmond P. Hobson	Democratic	1906	Incumbent re-elected.	nowrap
John L. Burnett	Democratic	1896	Incumbent re-elected.	nowrap
William Richardson	Democratic	1900	Incumbent re-elected.	nowrap
Oscar W. Underwood	Democratic	1896	Incumbent re-elected.	nowrap

Arkansas

California

See main article: 1910 United States House of Representatives elections in California.

Incumbent	First elected	Result	Candidates
William F. Englebright	Republican	1906		Incumbent lost re-election. New member elected. Democratic gain.	nowrap
Duncan E. McKinlay	Republican	1904		Incumbent lost renomination. New member elected. Republican hold.	nowrap
Joseph R. Knowland	Republican	1904	Incumbent re-elected.	nowrap
Julius Kahn	Republican	1898	Incumbent re-elected.	nowrap
Everis A. Hayes	Republican	1904	Incumbent re-elected.	nowrap
James C. Needham	Republican	1898	Incumbent re-elected.	nowrap
James McLachlan	Republican	1900		Incumbent lost renomination. New member elected. Republican hold.	nowrap
Sylvester C. Smith	Republican	1904	Incumbent re-elected.	nowrap

Colorado

Connecticut

Delaware

Florida

Incumbent	First elected	Result	Candidates
Stephen M. Sparkman	Democratic	1894	Incumbent re-elected.	nowrap
Frank Clark	Democratic	1904	Incumbent re-elected.	nowrap
Dannite H. Mays	Democratic	1908	Incumbent re-elected.	nowrap

Georgia

Idaho

Illinois

Indiana

Iowa

Kansas

District	Incumbent			This race
District	Member	Party	First elected	Results	Candidates
	Daniel R. Anthony Jr.		Republican	1907	Incumbent re-elected.	nowrap
	Charles F. Scott		Republican	1900		Incumbent lost re-election. New member elected. Republican hold.	nowrap
	Philip P. Campbell		Republican	1902	Incumbent re-elected.	nowrap
	James Monroe Miller		Republican	1898		Incumbent lost renomination. New member elected. Republican hold.	nowrap
	William A. Calderhead		Republican	1894 1896 1898		Incumbent lost re-election. New member elected. Republican hold.	nowrap
	William A. Reeder		Republican	1898		Incumbent lost renomination. New member elected. Republican hold.	nowrap
	Edmond H. Madison		Republican	1900	Incumbent re-elected.	nowrap
	Victor Murdock		Republican	1902	Incumbent re-elected.	nowrap

Kentucky

Louisiana

Maine

Maryland

District	Incumbent			This race
District	Member	Party	First elected	Results	Candidates
	James Harry Covington		Democratic	1908	Incumbent re-elected.	nowrap
	J. Frederick C. Talbott		Democratic	1902	Incumbent re-elected.	nowrap
	John Kronmiller		Republican	1908		Incumbent retired. New member elected. Democratic gain.	nowrap
	John Gill Jr.		Democratic	1904		Incumbent retired. New member elected. Democratic hold.	nowrap
	Sydney Emanuel Mudd I		Republican	1888 1890 1896		Incumbent retired. New member elected. Republican hold.	nowrap
	George A. Pearre		Republican	1898		Incumbent retired. New member elected. Democratic gain.	nowrap

Massachusetts

Michigan

Minnesota

Mississippi

Missouri

Montana

Nebraska

Nevada

New Hampshire

New Jersey

New York

North Carolina

North Dakota

Ohio

Oklahoma

Bird S. McGuire (Republican) 49.2%
Neil E. McNeill (Democratic) 44.7%
W. L. Reynolds (Socialist) 6.1%^[6]

Dick T. Morgan (Republican) 46.0%
Elmer L. Fulton (Democratic) 44.1%
H. I. Bryant (Socialist) 9.9%^[7]

James S. Davenport (Democratic) 50.6%
Charles E. Creager (Republican) 43.5%
G. M. Snyder (Socialist) 5.9%^[8]

Charles D. Carter (Democratic) 55.6%
Charles M. Campbell (Republican) 30.4%
J. N. Gilmore (Socialist) 14.0%^[9]

Scott Ferris (Democratic) 58.9%
J. H. Franklin (Republican) 27.6%
H. H. Stallard (Socialist) 13.5%^[10]

Oregon

Willis C. Hawley (Republican) 48.58%
R. G. Smith (Democratic) 33.74%
C. W. Sherman (Socialist) 9.20%
W. P. Elmore (Prohibition) 8.48%^[11]

Walter Lafferty (Republican) 51.79%
John Manning (Democratic) 32.92%
William A. Crawford (Socialist) 9.44%
George B. Pratt (Prohibition) 5.86%^[12]

Pennsylvania

Rhode Island

South Carolina

See main article: 1910 United States House of Representatives elections in South Carolina.

Incumbent	First elected	Result	Candidates
George Swinton Legaré	Democratic	1902	Incumbent re-elected.	nowrap
James O. Patterson	Democratic	1904		Incumbent lost renomination. New member elected. Democratic hold.	nowrap
Wyatt Aiken	Democratic	1902	Incumbent re-elected.	nowrap
Joseph T. Johnson	Democratic	1900	Incumbent re-elected.	nowrap
David E. Finley	Democratic	1898	Incumbent re-elected.	nowrap
J. Edwin Ellerbe	Democratic	1904	Incumbent re-elected.	nowrap
Asbury F. Lever	Democratic	1901 (special)	Incumbent re-elected.	nowrap

South Dakota

Tennessee

Texas

Utah

Vermont

Virginia

Washington

West Virginia

Wisconsin

See also: List of United States representatives from Wisconsin. Wisconsin elected eleven members of congress on Election Day, November 8, 1910.^[13] ^[14]

Wyoming

Non-voting delegates

Alaska Territory

See also: List of United States representatives from Alaska. Alaska Territory elected its non-voting delegate August 9, 1910.

Arizona Territory

See also: List of United States representatives from Arizona. Arizona Territory elected its non-voting delegate sometime in 1910, but did not serve out the complete term as statehood was granted in 1912.

New Mexico Territory

See also: List of United States representatives from New Mexico. New Mexico Territory elected its non-voting delegate sometime in 1910, but did not serve out the complete term as statehood was granted in 1912.

Bibliography

Baker, John D. “The Character of the Congressional Revolution of 1910.” Journal of American History 60#3 (1973), pp. 679–691. online on the revolt against Cannon
Coletta, Paolo E. The Presidency of William Howard Taft (1973) pp 101–120.
Book: Dubin, Michael J. . 1788 United States Congressional Elections-1997: The Official Results of the Elections of the 1st Through 105th Congresses . McFarland and Company . 1998 . 978-0786402830 . none.
Gould, Lewis L. The William Howard Taft Presidency (2009) pp 107–120.
Hechler, Ken. Insurgency; personalities and politics of the Taft era (1964) online
Book: Martis, Kenneth C. . The Historical Atlas of Political Parties in the United States Congress, 1789-1989 . Macmillan Publishing Company . 1989 . 978-0029201701 . none.
Book: Congressional Quarterly's Guide to U.S. Elections . 1994 . Congressional Quarterly Inc. . 978-0871879967 . Moore . John L. . Third . none.
Rubin, Ruth Bloch. "Organizing for Insurgency: Intraparty Organization and the Development of the House Insurgency, 1908–1910." Studies in American Political Development 27.2 (2013): 86-110 online.
Solvick, Stanley D. "William Howard Taft and the Payne-Aldrich Tariff." Mississippi Valley Historical Review 50.3 (1963): 424-442 online.

External links

Web site: Party Divisions of the House of Representatives* 1789–Present . January 21, 2015 . Office of the Historian, House of United States House of Representatives.
Book: Secretary of State . Maryland Manual 1911 . 1911 . John Murphy Co. . Baltimore . July 23, 2020.
Office of the Historian (Office of Art & Archives, Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives)

Notes and References

Web site: Party Divisions of the House of Representatives* 1789–Present . May 18, 2015 . Office of the Historian, United States House of Representatives.
Martis, pp. 164–165.
Howard R. Smith, and John Fraser Hart, "The American tariff map." Geographical Review 45.3 (1955): 327-346 online.
Stanley D. Solvick, "William Howard Taft and the Payne-Aldrich Tariff." Mississippi Valley Historical Review 50.3 (1963): 424-442 online
Book: Dubin, Michael J.. 1998. United States Congressional Elections, 1788–1997: The Official Results of the Elections of the 1st through 105th Congresses. Jefferson, North Carolina, and London. McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. 375. 0-7864-0283-0.
Web site: OK District 01 Race - Nov 08, 1910 . Our Campaigns . April 25, 2008 . February 20, 2022 .
Web site: OK District 02 Race - Nov 08, 1910 . Our Campaigns . April 25, 2008 . February 20, 2022 .
Web site: OK District 03 Race - Nov 08, 1910 . Our Campaigns . April 25, 2008 . February 20, 2022 .
Web site: OK District 04 Race - Nov 08, 1910 . Our Campaigns . April 28, 2008 . February 20, 2022 .
Web site: OK District 05 Race - Nov 08, 1910 . Our Campaigns . April 28, 2008 . February 20, 2022 .
Web site: OR - District 01 Race - Nov 08, 1910 . Our Campaigns . 3 December 2021 .
Web site: OR - District 02 Race - Nov 08, 1910 . Our Campaigns . 3 December 2021 .
Web site: Wisconsin U.S. House Election Results . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120405132933/http://www.hhh.umn.edu/centers/cspg/research/election_data_archive/pdf/WI_US_House_Election_Results.pdf . April 5, 2012 . Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs . March 8, 2022 . .
The Blue Book of the State of Wisconsin . 1911 . Wisconsin Bureau of Labor and Industrial Statistics . Beck . J. D. . Biographical Sketches . 728–731 . June 9, 2024 .