| Election Name: | United States House of Representatives elections in Pennsylvania, 1796 |
| Country: | Pennsylvania |
| Type: | legislative |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Previous Election: | United States House of Representatives elections in Pennsylvania, 1794 |
| Previous Year: | 1794 |
| Next Election: | United States House of Representatives elections in Pennsylvania, 1798 |
| Next Year: | 1798 |
| Seats For Election: | All 13 Pennsylvania seats to the United States House of Representatives |
| Election Date: | October 11, 1796 |
| Party1: | Democratic-Republican |
| Last Election1: | 9 |
| Seats1: | 7 |
| Seat Change1: | 2 |
| Party2: | Federalist Party (United States) |
| Last Election2: | 4 |
| Seats2: | 6 |
| Seat Change2: | 2 |
| Map Size: | 250px |
Elections to the United States House of Representatives were held in Pennsylvania on October 11, 1796, for the 5th Congress.
Thirteen Representatives (9 Democratic-Republicans and 4 Federalists) had been elected in 1794. One Representative, Daniel Hiester (DR) of the resigned on July 1, 1796. His seat was vacant at the time of the 1796 election, and was filled in a special election held at the same time.
Pennsylvania was divided into 12 districts, one of which (the) was a plural district, with 2 Representatives. These districts remained in use until redistricting after the census of 1800.
The counties that made up the 5th district did not border each other. That district was therefore made up of two separate pieces rather than being a single contiguous entity
Note: Many of these counties covered much larger areas than they do today, having since been divided into numerous counties
11 incumbents (7 Democratic-Republicans and 4 Federalists) ran for re-election. Frederick Muhlenberg (DR) of the did not run for re-election. Of the incumbents who ran for re-election, 9 (5 Democratic-Republicans and 4 Federalists) were re-elected. Overall, 7 Democratic-Republicans and 6 Federalists were elected, a net gain of 2 seats for the Federalists.
| District | colspan="3" | Democratic-Republican | colspan="3" | Federalist | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| John Swanwick (I) | 1,507 | 51.3% | Edward Tilgham | 1,432 | 48.7% | |||||
| Blair McClenachan | 1,182 | 60.2% | Robert Waln[1] | 795 | 39.8% | |||||
| William Gibbons | 1,143 | 47.1% | Richard Thomas | 1,282 | 52.9% | |||||
2 seats | Peter Muhlenberg | 1,148 | 13.0% | Samuel Sitgreaves (I) | 3,752 | 42.6% | ||||
| John Richards (I) | 1,081 | 12.3% | John Chapman | 2,214 | 25.2% | |||||
| Robert Lollar | 604 | 6.9% | ||||||||
| Joseph Hiester | 1,538 | 43.2% | George Ege | 2,028 | 56.8% | |||||
| John A. Hanna | 898 | 74.3% | John Carson | 255 | 21.1% | |||||
| Samuel Maclay (I) | 56 | 4.6% | ||||||||
| John W. Kittera (I) | 1,679 | 95.6% | ||||||||
| William Webb | 77 | 4.4% | ||||||||
| Thomas Hartley (I) | 1,502 | 100% | ||||||||
| Andrew Gregg (I) | 1,141 | 53.8% | James Wallace | 168 | 7.9% | |||||
| William Irvine | 678 | 32.0% | Thomas Kennedy | 49 | 2.3% | |||||
| Robert Whitehill | 86 | 4.1% | ||||||||
| David Bard | 1,581 | 45.1% | William M. Brown | 862 | 24.6% | |||||
| Abraham Smith | 1,062 | 30.3% | ||||||||
| William Findley (I) | 2,090 | 79.3% | James Findley | 546 | 20.7% | |||||
| Albert Gallatin (I) | 2,522 | 61.7% | John Woods | 1,079 | 26.4% | |||||
| Thomas Stokely | 486 | 11.9% | ||||||||
| (special) | Joseph Hiester | 1,553 | 43.2% | George Ege | 2,039 | 56.8% | ||||
George Ege (F) of the resigned in October, 1797 and was replaced in a special election held October 10, 1797
| District | colspan="3" | Democratic-Republican | colspan="3" | Federalist | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Joseph Hiester | 1,259 | 100% | ||||||||
With Hiester's election, the Democratic-Republicans gained 1 seat, increasing their majority to 8-5
John Swanwick (DR) of the died on August 1, 1798, and Samuel Sitgreaves (F) of the resigned on August 29, 1798. Special elections were held in those districts on October 9, 1798, the same day as the elections to the 6th Congress.
| District | colspan="3" | Democratic-Republican | colspan="3" | Federalist | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Samuel Miles | 380 | 30.5% | Robert Waln | 866 | 69.5% | |||||
| Robert Brown | 5,109 | 62.1% | Jacob Everly | 3,120 | 37.9% |
Both also won election to the 6th Congress. The 1st district changed from Democratic-Republican to Federalist while the 4th district changed from Federalist to Democratic-Republican, leaving no net change in seats for the remainder of the 5th Congress.