1884–85 United States Senate elections

1884–1885 United States Senate elections
27 of the 76 seats in the United States Senate (as well as special elections); 39 seats needed for a majority
	Results of the elections:; Republican gain Republican hold; Democratic hold Legislature failed to elect
Majority Party before election; ; Republican	Elected Majority Party ; ; Republican

The 1884–85 United States Senate elections were held on various dates in various states, coinciding with the presidential election of 1884. 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 1884 and 1885, and a seat may have been filled months late or remained vacant due to legislative deadlock.^[2] In these elections, terms were up for the senators in Class 3.

With three state legislatures failing to elect their senators in time, both Republicans and Democrats lost seats. Republicans, nevertheless, retained majority control and the Readjusters joined their caucus. By the beginning of the first session, in December 1885, Republicans had won all three vacant seats, increasing their majority.

Results summary

Senate party division, 49th Congress (1885–1887)

Majority party: Republican (42)
Minority party: Democratic (34)
Other parties: (0)
Total seats: 76

Change in Senate composition

Before the elections

R₂₉ Ran	R₃₀ Ran	R₃₁ Ran	R₃₂ Ran	R₃₃ Ran	R₃₄ Ran	R₃₅ Unknown	R₃₆ Unknown	R₃₇ Retired	R₃₈ Retired
D₈	D₇	D₆	D₅	D₄	D₃	D₂	D₁
D₉	D₁₀	D₁₁	D₁₂	D₁₃	D₁₄	D₁₅	D₁₆	D₁₇	D₁₈
D₂₈ Ran	D₂₇ Ran	D₂₆ Ran	D₂₅ Ran	D₂₄ Ran	D₂₃ Ran	D₂₂	D₂₁	D₂₀	D₁₉
D₂₉ Ran	D₃₀ Ran	D₃₁ Ran	D₃₂ Ran	D₃₃ Unknown	D₃₄ Retired	D₃₅ Retired	D₃₆ Retired	RA₁	RA₂
Majority, with Readjusters in caucus →									R₃₈ Retired
R₂₈ Ran	R₂₇	R₂₆	R₂₅	R₂₄	R₂₃	R₂₂	R₂₁	R₂₀	R₁₉
R₉	R₁₀	R₁₁	R₁₂	R₁₃	R₁₄	R₁₅	R₁₆	R₁₇	R₁₈
R₈	R₇	R₆	R₅	R₄	R₃	R₂	R₁

After the elections

R₂₉ Re-elected	R₃₀ Re-elected	R₃₁ Re-elected	R₃₂ Re-elected	R₃₃ Re-elected	R₃₄ Hold	R₃₅ Hold	R₃₆ Hold	R₃₇ Gain	RA₂
D₈	D₇	D₆	D₅	D₄	D₃	D₂	D₁
D₉	D₁₀	D₁₁	D₁₂	D₁₃	D₁₄	D₁₅	D₁₆	D₁₇	D₁₈
D₂₈ Re-elected	D₂₇ Re-elected	D₂₆ Re-elected	D₂₅ Re-elected	D₂₄ Re-elected	D₂₃ Re-elected	D₂₂	D₂₁	D₂₀	D₁₉
D₂₉ Re-elected	D₃₀ Hold	D₃₁ Hold	D₃₂ Hold	D₃₃ Hold	D₃₄ Hold	V₁ D Loss	V₂ R Loss	V₃ R Loss	RA₁
Majority due to three vacancies ↓									RA₂
R₂₈ Re-elected	R₂₇	R₂₆	R₂₅	R₂₄	R₂₃	R₂₂	R₂₁	R₂₀	R₁₉
R₉	R₁₀	R₁₁	R₁₂	R₁₃	R₁₄	R₁₅	R₁₆	R₁₇	R₁₈
R₈	R₇	R₆	R₅	R₄	R₃	R₂	R₁

Beginning of the first session, December 7, 1885

D₈	D₇	D₆	D₅	D₄	D₃	D₂	D₁
D₉	D₁₀	D₁₁	D₁₂	D₁₃	D₁₄	D₁₅	D₁₆	D₁₇	D₁₈
D₂₈	D₂₇	D₂₆	D₂₅	D₂₄	D₂₃	D₂₂	D₂₁	D₂₀	D₁₉
D₂₉	D₃₀	D₃₁	D₃₂	D₃₃	D₃₄	RA₁	RA₂	R₄₀ Gain	R₃₉ Gain
Majority →									R₃₉ Gain
R₂₉	R₃₀	R₃₁	R₃₂	R₃₃	R₃₄	R₃₅	R₃₆	R₃₇	R₃₈ Gain
R₂₈	R₂₇	R₂₆	R₂₅	R₂₄	R₂₃	R₂₂	R₂₁	R₂₀	R₁₉
R₉	R₁₀	R₁₁	R₁₂	R₁₃	R₁₄	R₁₅	R₁₆	R₁₇	R₁₈
R₈	R₇	R₆	R₅	R₄	R₃	R₂	R₁

Key:

D_#	Democratic
RA_#	Readjuster
R_#	Republican
V_#	Vacant

Race summaries

Special elections during the 48th Congress

In this election, the winner was seated in 1885 before March 4.

State	Incumbent			Results	Candidates
State	Senator	Party	Electoral history	Results	Candidates
Rhode Island (Class 2)	William P. Sheffield	Republican	1884 (appointed)	Interim appointee retired when successor elected. New senator elected January 20, 1885. Republican hold.	▌Y Jonathan Chace (Republican) [data missing]

Races leading to the 49th Congress

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
State	Senator	Party	Electoral history	Results	Candidates
Alabama	James L. Pugh	Democratic	1880 (special)	Incumbent re-elected in August 1884.	▌Y James L. Pugh (Democratic) [data missing]
Arkansas	James D. Walker	Democratic	1878	Incumbent retired. New senator elected in 1885. Democratic hold.	▌Y James K. Jones (Democratic) [data missing]
California	James T. Farley	Democratic	1878	Incumbent retired. New senator elected in 1885. Republican gain.	▌Y Leland Stanford (Republican) [data missing]
Colorado	Nathaniel P. Hill	Republican	1879	Incumbent lost renomination. New senator elected in 1885. Republican hold.	▌Y Henry M. Teller (Republican) [data missing]
Connecticut	Orville H. Platt	Republican	1879	Incumbent re-elected in 1885.	▌Y Orville H. Platt (Republican) [data missing]
Florida	Wilkinson Call	Democratic	1879	Incumbent re-elected January 20, 1885.^[3]	▌Y Wilkinson Call (Democratic) [data missing]
Georgia	Joseph E. Brown	Democratic	1880 (special)	Incumbent re-elected in 1885.	▌Y Joseph E. Brown (Democratic) [data missing]
Illinois	John A. Logan	Republican	1879	Incumbent retired or lost re-election. Legislature failed to elect. Republican loss. Incumbent was later elected to continue the vacant term; see below.	None.
Indiana	Daniel W. Voorhees	Democratic	1877 (appointed) 1879 (special)	Incumbent re-elected in 1885.	▌Y Daniel W. Voorhees (Democratic) [data missing]
Iowa	William B. Allison	Republican	1872 1878	Incumbent re-elected January 23, 1884.^[4]	▌Y William B. Allison (Republican) 90 ▌Benton J. Hall (Democratic) 48 ▌David M. Clark (Greenback) 10 ▌La Vega G. Kinne (Unknown) 1^[4]
Kansas	John J. Ingalls	Republican	1873 1879	Incumbent re-elected in 1885.	▌Y John J. Ingalls (Republican) [data missing]
Kentucky	John Stuart Williams	Democratic	1879	Incumbent lost re-election. New senator elected in 1884. Democratic hold.	▌Y J. C. S. Blackburn (Democratic) [data missing]
Louisiana	Benjamin F. Jonas	Democratic	1879	Incumbent lost re-election. New senator elected in 1884 or 1885. Democratic hold.	▌Y James B. Eustis (Democratic) [data missing]
Maryland	James Black Groome	Democratic	1878–79	Incumbent retired or lost re-election. New senator elected in 1884. Democratic hold.	▌Y Ephraim K. Wilson II (Democratic) [data missing]
Missouri	George G. Vest	Democratic	1879	Incumbent re-elected in 1885.	▌Y George G. Vest (Democratic) [data missing]
Nevada	John P. Jones	Republican	1873 1879	Incumbent re-elected in 1885.	▌Y John P. Jones (Republican) [data missing]
New Hampshire	Henry W. Blair	Republican	1879	Legislature failed to elect. Republican loss. Incumbent was later appointed, then elected, to continue the vacant term; see below.	[data missing]
New York	Elbridge G. Lapham	Republican	1881 (special)	Incumbent retired. New senator elected January 20, 1885. Republican hold.	▌Y William M. Evarts (Republican) 92 ▌Edward Cooper (Democratic) 65
North Carolina	Zebulon Vance	Democratic	1879	Incumbent re-elected in 1884.	▌Y Zebulon Vance (Democratic)
Ohio	George H. Pendleton	Democratic	1878–79	Incumbent lost renomination. New senator elected January 15, 1884.^[5] Democratic hold.	▌Y Henry B. Payne (Democratic) [data missing]
Oregon	James H. Slater	Democratic	1878–79	Incumbent retired. Legislature failed to elect. Democratic loss.	[data missing]
Pennsylvania	J. Donald Cameron	Republican	1877 (special) 1879	Incumbent re-elected January 20, 1885.	▌Y J. Donald Cameron (Republican) 64.94% ▌William A. Wallace (Democratic) 27.49% Others; see below
South Carolina	Wade Hampton III	Democratic	1878	Incumbent re-elected in 1884.	▌Y Wade Hampton III (Democratic) [data missing]
Vermont	Justin S. Morrill	Republican	1866 1872 1878	Incumbent re-elected in 1884.	▌Y Justin S. Morrill (Republican) [data missing]
Wisconsin	Angus Cameron	Republican	1881	Incumbent retired. New senator elected January 27, 1885. Republican hold.	▌Y John C. Spooner (Republican) [data missing]

Elections during the 49th Congress

In these elections, the winners were elected in 1885 after March 4, sorted by election date.

State	Incumbent			Results	Candidates
State	Senator	Party	Electoral history	Results	Candidates
Delaware (Class 1)	Thomas F. Bayard	Democratic	1869 1875 1881	Incumbent resigned March 6, 1885, to become U.S. Secretary of State. New senator elected March 18, 1885. Democratic hold.	▌Y George Gray (Democratic) [data missing]
Arkansas (Class 2)	Augustus Garland	Democratic	1876 1883	Incumbent resigned March 6, 1885, to become U.S. Attorney General. New senator elected March 20, 1885. Democratic hold.	▌Y James H. Berry (Democratic) [data missing]
Illinois (Class 3)	Vacant			Legislature had failed to elect. New senator elected May 19, 1885. Republican gain.	▌Y John A. Logan (Republican) 50.49% ▌Lambert Tree (Democratic) 47.06% ▌John C. Black (Democratic) 0.98% ▌John R. Hoxie (Democratic) 0.49% ▌William Ralls Morrison (Democratic) 0.49% ▌Charles J. Schofield (Democratic) 0.49%
New Hampshire (Class 3)	Henry W. Blair	Republican	1879 1885 (appointed)	Interim appointee elected June 17, 1885.	▌Y Henry W. Blair (Republican) [data missing]
Oregon (Class 3)	Vacant			Legislature had failed to elect. New senator elected November 18, 1885. Republican gain.	▌Y John H. Mitchell (Republican) [data missing]

Complete list of races

Maryland

Ephraim King Wilson II was elected by an unknown margin of votes, for the Class 3 seat.^[6]

New York

The New York election was held January 20, 1885, by the New York State Legislature.

Republican Elbridge G. Lapham had been elected to this seat in a special election in 1881 to succeed Roscoe Conkling who had resigned. Lapham's term would expire on March 3, 1885.

At the State election in November 1883, 19 Republicans and 13 Democrats were elected for a two-year term (1884–1885) in the State Senate. At the State election in November 1884, 73 Republicans and 55 Democrats were elected for the session of 1885 to the Assembly. The 108th New York State Legislature met from January 6 to May 22, 1885, at Albany, New York.

The caucus of Republican State legislators met on January 19, President pro tempore of the State Senate Dennis McCarthy presided. 19 State senators and 73 assemblymen attended. The Evarts faction required the nomination to be made by viva voce vote, which was opposed by the Morton faction, but was carried by a vote of 64 to 28. The caucus nominated Ex-U.S. Secretary of State William M. Evarts on the first ballot.

**1885 Republican caucus nominee**
Candidate	First ballot
William M. Evarts	61
Levi P. Morton	28
Chauncey M. Depew	3

The Democratic caucus nominated Ex-Mayor of New York Edward Cooper.

William M. Evarts was the choice of both the Assembly and the State Senate, and was declared elected.

**1885 United States Senator election result**
House	Republican		Democratic
State Senate (32 members)	William M. Evarts	19	Edward Cooper	13
State Assembly (128 members)	William M. Evarts	73	Edward Cooper	52

Note: The votes were cast on January 20, but both Houses met in a joint session on January 21 to compare nominations, and declare the result.

Ohio

In 1884, the Democrats held a majority in the Ohio legislature. In a caucus meeting to determine the party's choice for United States Senator, many Democratic legislators looked to replace the incumbent Senator, Democrat George H. Pendleton, because they disagreed with his advocacy of civil service reform and low tariffs.^[7] Some of Pendleton's opponents, led by Oliver Payne, promoted Henry B. Payne for the Senate seat, recalling his opposition to both of those positions during his time in the House.^[8] After a secret ballot by the Democratic caucus, Henry B. Payne received 46 out of 80 votes.^[9] Because Oliver was a trustee and treasurer of the Standard Oil company, many of the Pendleton supporters immediately alleged that $100,000 from the oil trust had been used to bribe Democratic legislators, and claimed that an open ballot would not have favored Payne.^[10]^[11]

When the full legislature met, Henry B. Payne was elected with 78 votes out of 120.^[9] The Democratic legislature initially refused to investigate their members' alleged corruption, but when Republicans regained the majority in the next session, the legislature looked into the allegations and forwarded the results to the federal Senate.^[12] The evidence gathered was voluminous, but the Senate declined to expel Payne, who proclaimed his innocence.^[11] While there was never enough evidence for definitive proof of bribery, biographer Dewayne Burke wrote that the "circumstantial evidence seems to convict Payne" of the charge.^[13]

Pennsylvania

The Pennsylvania election was held January 20, 1885. The Pennsylvania General Assembly convened January 20, 1885. Incumbent Republican J. Donald Cameron, who was elected in an 1877 special election and re-elected in 1879, was a successful candidate for re-election to another term.^[14] The results of the vote of both houses combined are as follows:

State Legislature Results^[14]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	J. Donald Cameron (Inc.)	163	64.94
	Democratic	William A. Wallace	69	27.49
	Republican	A. W. Acheson	1	0.40
	Republican	Charles N. Brumm	1	0.40
	Republican	George Shiras Jr.	1	0.40
	N/A	Not voting	14	5.58
Totals			251	100.00%

Notes

References

^ ^a ^b The Readjusters caucused with the Republicans.
^ "17th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Direct Election of U.S. Senators (1913)". National Archives and Records Administration. February 8, 2022.
^ "SELECTING NEW SENATORS". The New York Times. January 20, 1885. p. 1.
^ ^a ^b Clark 1913, p. 209.
^ Burke 1938, p. 28.
^ "Our Campaigns - MD US Senate Race - Jan 00, 1884". www.ourcampaigns.com. Retrieved November 5, 2022.
^ Burke 1938, p. 22.
^ Burke 1938, p. 23.
^ ^a ^b Walker 1886, p. 3.
^ Burke 1938, pp. 23–27.
^ ^a ^b Weisenburger 1934, p. 326.
^ Walker 1886, p. 4.
^ Burke 1938, p. 30.
^ ^a ^b "U.S. Senate Election - 20 January 1885" (PDF). Wilkes University. Retrieved December 22, 2013.