United States House of Representatives elections, 1880

United States House of Representatives elections, 1880

November 2, 1880
All 293 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives 147 seats were needed for a majority
Majority party Minority party   Leader J. Warren Keifer Samuel J. Randall Party Republican Democratic Last election 132 seats 148 seats Seats won 151 131 Seat change 19 17   Third party Fourth party   Leader Nicholas Ford Party Greenback Independent Last election 13 seats 0 Seats won 10 1 Seat change 3 1
Speaker before election Samuel Randall Democratic Elected Speaker Joseph Keifer Republican

Elections to the United States House of Representatives were held in 1880 for Representatives to the 47th Congress, coinciding with the election of President James A. Garfield.

Garfield's Republican Party managed to gain an outright majority of seats from the opposition Democratic Party. The Democratic loss of control in the House is historically seen as somewhat surprising, since no major issue played a role in their defeat. The end of Reconstruction and the pro-business nature of the Republicans were both minor factors. The ability of the Republican Party to paint several key Democratic leaders as corrupt also helped to alter the composition of the part just enough so that the Republicans gained a majority. The Greenback Party, which promoted the use of the paper currency and was seen as a pro-farmer party, also lost several seats due to national economic recovery, which aided the Republicans.

Election summaries

↓

151	10	131
Republican	Gb	Democratic

State	Type	Total seats	Republican		Democratic		Greenback
			Seats	Change	Seats	Change	Seats	Change
Alabama	District	8	1	1	6	1	1
Arkansas	District	4	0		4		0
California	District	4	2	1	2	1	0
Colorado	At-large	1	1		0		0
Connecticut	District	4	3		1		0
Delaware	At-large	1	0		1		0
Florida	District	2	1		1		0
Georgia	District	9	0		9		0
Illinois	District	19	13	1	6		0	1
Indiana	District	13	8	2	5	1	0
Iowa	District	9	8	1	1	1	0	2
Kansas	District	3	3		0		0
Kentucky	District	10	1	1	9	1	0
Louisiana	District	6	1	1	5	1	0
Maine	District	5	3		0		2
Maryland	District	6	1		5		0
Massachusetts	District	11	10		1		0
Michigan	District	9	9		0		0
Minnesota	District	3	3	1	0	1	0
Mississippi	District	6	1	1	5	1	0
Missouri	District	13	2	2	7	5	4	3
Nebraska	At-large	1	1		0		0
Nevada	At-large	1	0	1	1	1	0
New Hampshire	District	3	3		0		0
New Jersey	District	7	4		3		0
New York	District	33	20	4	12	3	0
North Carolina	District	8	1		7	1	0	1
Ohio	District	20	15	6	5	6	0
Oregon	At-large	1	1	1	0	1	0
Pennsylvania	District	27	18	1	7	1	2
Rhode Island	District	2	2		0		0
South Carolina	District	5	1	1	4	1	0
Tennessee	District	10	3	2	7	2	0
Texas	District	6	0		5		1
Vermont	District	3	3	1	0		0	1
Virginia	District	9	2	1	7	1	0
West Virginia	District	3	0		3		0
Wisconsin	District	8	6	1	2	1	0
Total		293	151 51.5%	16	131 44.7%	13	10 3.4%	4

House seats
Republican			51.54%
Democratic			44.71%
Greenback			3.41%

House seats by party holding plurality in state   80.1-100% Democratic   80.1-100% Republican   60.1-80% Democratic   60.1-80% Republican   Up to 60% Democratic   Up to 60% Republican

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

Early election dates

In 1845, Congress passed a law providing for a uniform nationwide date for choosing Presidential electors. This law did not affect election dates for Congress, which remained within the jurisdiction of State governments, but over time, the States moved their Congressional elections to this date as well.

In 1880, no states held their elections after Election Day for the first time (California was the last state to hold late elections, in 1878). But 5 states, with 35 seats among them, held their elections before the rest of the states:

• June 1 Texas
• June 7 Oregon
• September 7 Vermont
• September 13 Maine
• October 12 Ohio

All races

California

District	Incumbent	Party	First elected	Result	Candidates
California 1	Horace Davis	Republican	1876	Lost re-election Democratic Gain	William Rosecrans (D) 51% Horace Davis (R) 47.3% Stephen Maybell (GB) 1.7%
California 2	Horace F. Page	Republican	1872	Re-elected	Horace F. Page (R) 53.6% John R. Glascock (D) 45.7% Benjamin Todd (GB) 0.7%
California 3	Campbell P. Berry	Democratic	1879	Re-elected	Campbell P. Berry (D) 51.1% George A. Knight (R) 48.2% A. Musselman (GB) 0.6%
California 4	Romualdo Pacheco	Republican	1876	Re-elected	Romualdo Pacheco (R) 45.8% Wallace Leach (D) 45.3% J. F. Godfrey (GB) 8.9%

Florida

District	Incumbent	Party	First elected	Result	Candidates
Florida 1	Robert H. M. Davidson	Democratic	1876	Re-elected	Robert H. M. Davidson (D) 57.2% George W. Witherspoon (R) 42.3% Livingston W. Bethel (I) 0.5%
Florida 2	Noble A. Hull	Democratic	1878	Retired Democratic hold	Jesse J. Finley (D) 52.3% Horatio Bisbee, Jr. (R) 47.7%

In the 2nd district, Horatio Bisbee, Jr. (R) successfully challenged the election of Jesse J. Finley (D) and was seated June 1, 1882.

South Carolina

District	Incumbent	Party	First elected	Result	Candidates
South Carolina 1	John S. Richardson	Democratic	1878	Re-elected	John S. Richardson (D) 63.3% Samuel J. Lee (R) 36.7%
South Carolina 2	Michael P. O'Connor	Democratic	1878	Re-elected	Michael P. O'Connor (D) 58.8% Edmund W. M. Mackey (R) 41.2%
South Carolina 3	D. Wyatt Aiken	Democratic	1876	Re-elected	D. Wyatt Aiken (D) 74.1% C. J. Stollbrand (R) 25.9%
South Carolina 4	John H. Evins	Democratic	1876	Re-elected	John H. Evins (D) 69.7% A. Blythe (R) 29.3% J. Hendrix McLane (GB) 1.0%
South Carolina 5	George D. Tillman	Democratic	1878	Re-elected	George D. Tillman (D) 60.4% Robert Smalls (R) 39.6%

See also

• United States presidential election, 1880
• United States Senate elections, 1880
• 47th United States Congress

External links

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