1894 United States House of Representatives elections

1894 United States House of Representatives elections

June 4, 1894[a] – November 6, 1894[b]
All 356 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives elections[c] 179 seats needed for a majority
Leader Thomas Brackett Reed Charles Frederick Crisp Party Republican Democratic Leader's seat Maine 1st Georgia 3rd Last election 124 seats 218 seats Seats before 143 seats[d] 198 seats[e] Seats won 253[f][g] 93[f][g] Seat change 110 105 Popular vote 5,442,266 4,252,292 Percentage 48.27% 37.72% Swing 7.45% 9.66% Party Populist Silver Last election 11 seats 1 seat Seats before 13 seats 1 seat Seats won 9[f][g] 1[f] Seat change 4 Popular vote 1,242,242 4,581 Percentage 11.02% 0.04% Swing 2.73% 0.02% Party Independent Last election 2 seats Seats before 2 seats Seats won 0 Seat change 2 Popular vote 82,148 Percentage 0.73% Swing 0.08%
Speaker before election Charles Crisp Democratic Elected Speaker Thomas Reed Republican

The 1894 United States House of Representatives elections were held from June 4, 1894 to November 6, 1894, with special elections throughout the year. Elections were held to elect representatives from all 356 congressional districts across each of the 46 U.S. states at the time, as well as non-voting delegates from the inhabited U.S. territories. The winners of this election served in the 54th Congress, with seats apportioned among the states based on the 1890 United States Census.

The elections comprised a significant political realignment, with a major Republican landslide that set the stage for the decisive election of 1896. The elections of members of the United States House of Representatives in 1894 came in the middle of Democratic President Grover Cleveland's second term. The nation was in its deepest economic depression at the time following the Panic of 1893 that pushed economic issues to the forefront. In the spring, a major coal strike damaged the economy of the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic. It was accompanied by violence; the miners lost and many joined the Populist Party. Immediately after the coal strike concluded, Eugene V. Debs led a nationwide railroad strike, called the Pullman Strike. It shut down the nation's transportation system west of Detroit for weeks, until President Cleveland's use of federal troops ended the strike. Debs went to prison for disobeying a court order. Illinois Governor John Peter Altgeld, a Democrat, broke bitterly with Cleveland.

The fragmented and disoriented Democratic Party was crushed everywhere outside of the South, losing more than 55% of its seats to the Republican Party. The Democrats did so poorly that even in the South, they lost seats to the Republican-Populist electoral fusion in Alabama, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas.^[2][3] The Democrats ultimately lost 127 seats in this election, with the Republicans gaining 130 seats after the resolution of several contested elections.

The 1894 election is the largest seat swing in the history of the House of Representatives. As of 2020, the only other occasion where a political party has suffered triple-digit losses was in 1932.

The main issues revolved around the severe economic depression, which the Republicans blamed on the conservative Bourbon Democrats led by Cleveland. Cleveland supporters lost heavily, weakening their hold on the party and setting the stage for an 1896 takeover by the free silver wing of the party. The Populist Party ran candidates in the South and Midwest, but generally lost ground outside of the South. The Democrats tried to raise a religious issue, claiming the GOP was in cahoots with the anti-Catholic American Protective Association; the allegations seem to have fallen flat as Catholics swung towards the GOP.^[4]

Election summaries

State	Type	Total seats	Democratic		Populist		Republican		Silver
			Seats	Change	Seats	Change	Seats	Change	Seats	Change
Alabama	District	9	5	4	2	2	2	2	0
Arkansas	District	6	6		0		0		0
California	District	7	1	2	0	1	6	3	0
Colorado	District	2	0		1	1	1	1	0
Connecticut	District	4	0	3	0		4	3	0
Delaware	At-large	1	0	1	0		1	1	0
Florida	District	2	2		0		0		0
Georgia	District	11	11		0		0		0
Idaho	At-large	1	0		0		1		0
Illinois	District	22	0	11	0		22	11	0
Indiana	District	13	0	11	0		13	11	0
Iowa	District	11	0	1	0		11	1	0
Kansas	District +at-large	8	0		1	4	7	4	0
Kentucky	District	11	5	5	0		6	5	0
Louisiana	District	6	6		0		0		0
Maine[i]	District	4	0		0		4		0
Maryland	District	6	3	3	0		3	3	0
Massachusetts	District	13	1	3	0		12	3	0
Michigan	District	12	0	5	0		12	5	0
Minnesota	District	7	0	2	0	1	7	3	0
Mississippi	District	7	7		0		0		0
Missouri	District	15	4	9	0		11	9	0
Montana	At-large	1	0		0		1		0
Nebraska	District	6	0	1	1	1	5	2	0
Nevada	At-large	1	0	1	0		0		1	1
New Hampshire	District	2	0		0		2		0
New Jersey	District	8	0	6	0		8	6	0
New York	District	34	4	16	0		30	16	0
North Carolina	District	9	2	6	4	4	3	2	0
North Dakota	At-large	1	0		0		1		0
Ohio	District	21	2	9	0		19	9	0
Oregon[i]	District	2	0		0		2		0
Pennsylvania	District +2 at-large	30	2	8	0		28	8	0
Rhode Island	District	2	0	2	0		2	2	0
South Carolina	District	7	6		0		1		0
South Dakota	At-large	2	0		0		2		0
Tennessee	District	10	6	2	0		4	2	0
Texas	District	13	12	1	0		1	1	0
Vermont[i]	District	2	0		0		2		0
Virginia	District	10	8	2	0		2	2	0
Washington	At-large	2	0		0		2		0
West Virginia	District	4	0	4	0		4	4	0
Wisconsin	District	10	0	6	0		10	6	0
Wyoming	At-large	1	0	1	0		1	1	0
Total[c]		356	93[f] 26.1%	107	9[f] 2.5%	4	253[f] 71.1%	110	1[f] 0.3%	1

House seats by party holding plurality in state  80+% Democratic  80+% Republican  60+ to 80% Democratic  60+ to 80% Republican  Up to 60% Democratic  Up to 60% Populist  Up to 60% Republican

Net gain in party representation  6+ Democratic gain  6+ Republican gain  3 to 5 Democratic gain  3 to 5 Republican gain  1 to 2 Democratic gain  1 to 2 Populist gain  1 to 2 Republican gain  no net change

Special elections

15 special elections took place in 1894 leading up to and following the general election. They are listed below in order of election date then by state and district. Republicans flipped 3 seats in the special elections in New York's 14th, Kentucky's 9th, and Maryland's 5th congressional districts.

Early election dates

In 1894, three states, with 8 seats among them, held elections early:

• June 4 Oregon
• September 4 Vermont
• September 10 Maine

Alabama

Arkansas

California

Colorado

Connecticut

Delaware

Florida

Georgia

Idaho

Illinois

Indiana

Iowa

Kansas

Kentucky

Louisiana

Maine

Maryland

Massachusetts

Michigan

Minnesota

Mississippi

Missouri

Montana

Nebraska

Nevada

New Hampshire

New Jersey

New Mexico

New York

North Carolina

North Dakota

Ohio

Oregon

Pennsylvania

Rhode Island

South Carolina

South Dakota

Tennessee

Texas

Vermont

Virginia

Washington

West Virginia

Wisconsin

Wyoming

Non-voting delegates

Oklahoma Territory

See also

• 1894 United States elections
  • 1894 and 1895 United States Senate elections
• 53rd United States Congress
• 54th United States Congress

Notes

References

Bibliography

• Republican Congressional Committee, Republican Campaign Text Book: 1894 (1894).
• Jensen, Richard. The Winning of the Midwest: Social and Political Conflict, 1888–1896 (1971).
• Dubin, Michael J. (March 1, 1998). United States Congressional Elections, 1788–1997: The Official Results of the Elections of the 1st Through 105th Congresses. McFarland and Company. ISBN 978-0786402830.
• Martis, Kenneth C. (January 1, 1989). The Historical Atlas of Political Parties in the United States Congress, 1789-1989. Macmillan Publishing Company. ISBN 978-0029201701.
• Moore, John L., ed. (1994). Congressional Quarterly's Guide to U.S. Elections (Third ed.). Congressional Quarterly Inc. ISBN 978-0871879967.
• "Party Divisions of the House of Representatives 1789–Present". Office of the Historian, House of United States House of Representatives. Retrieved January 21, 2015.

External links

• Office of the Historian (Office of Art & Archives, Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives)