1890 United States House of Representatives elections

1890 United States House of Representatives elections

← 1888 June 3, 1890 – November 4, 1890 1892 →
All 332 seats in the United States House of Representatives 167 seats needed for a majority
Majority party Minority party Third party   Leader Charles Frederick Crisp Thomas Brackett Reed Jerry Simpson Party Democratic Republican Populist Leader's seat Georgia 3rd Maine 1st Kansas 7th Last election 152 seats 179 seats 0 seats Seats won 238[1][a] 86[1][a] 8[1][a] Seat change 86 93 8 Popular vote 4,945,756 4,173,605 182,797 Percentage 50.71% 42.80% 1.87% Swing 2.03% 4.56% New
Results:      Democratic gain      Republican gain      Democratic hold      Republican hold      Populist gain
Speaker before election Thomas Reed Republican Elected Speaker Charles Crisp Democratic

The 1890 United States House of Representatives elections were held for the most part on November 4, 1890, with five states holding theirs early in between June and October. They occurred in the middle of President Benjamin Harrison's term. Elections were held for 332 seats of the United States House of Representatives, representing 44 states, to serve in the 52nd United States Congress. Special elections were also held throughout the year.

A stagnant economy which became worse after the Panic of 1890, combined with a lack of support for then-Representative William McKinley's (defeated in the election) steep tariff act, which favored large industries at the expense of consumers, led to a sharp defeat for Harrison's Republican Party, giving a large majority to the Democratic Party and presaging Harrison's defeat in the 1892 United States presidential election. The Republican-controlled Congress was highly criticized for its lavish spending, and it earned the unflattering nickname of The Billion Dollar Congress. The Democrats promised to cut the outlandish budget.

Furthermore, aggressive Republican promotion of controversial English-only education laws enacted by Wisconsin and Illinois in 1889, accompanied by a surge in nativist and anti-Catholic sentiment within the state parties, had greatly hollowed out the party's support base in these former strongholds. A rare multi-confessional alliance of mainly German clergy rallied their flocks in defense of language and faith to the Democratic Party, which tore through incumbent Republican majorities in both states, capturing a total of 11 formerly Republican seats between them alone.^[2] Bitterly divisive struggles over temperance laws had also been alienating immigrants from the increasingly prohibitionist Republican Party across the Midwest more broadly. Dramatic losses in the previous year's gubernatorial elections in Iowa and Ohio (which would lose another 14 Republican congressional seats between them during this election) were due in no small part to wet immigrant communities, especially Germans, expressing their resentment toward Republican efforts to ban or otherwise curtail alcohol consumption by throwing their support behind the Democratic candidates.^[3]

This election also saw the Populist Party, a coalition of farmers and laborers who wanted to overhaul the nation's financial system, make a small mark on Congress.

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• Kentucky 6: June 21, 1890: William W. Dickerson (D) elected to finish the term of John G. Carlisle (D), who had resigned May 26, 1890 when elected U.S. senator. Democratic hold. Dickerson: 8,412 (63.95%), Wesley M. Rardin (R) 4,742 (36.05%).^[4]
• California 1: December 9, 1890: Thomas J. Geary (D) elected to finish the term of John J. De Haven (R), who had resigned October 1, 1890. Democratic gain.
• Iowa 7
• Missouri 14: James P. Walker (D) died July 19, 1890, and Robert H. Whitelaw (D) was elected November 4, 1890. Democratic hold.

State	Type	Total seats	Democratic		Populist		Republican
			Seats	Change	Seats	Change	Seats	Change
Alabama	District	8	8	1	0		0	1
Arkansas	District	5	5	2	0	1[b]	0	1
California	District	6	2		0		4
Colorado	At-large	1	0		0		1
Connecticut	District	4	3	2	0		1	2
Delaware	At-large	1	1		0		0
Florida	District	2	2		0		0
Georgia	District	10	10		0		0
Idaho[c]	At-large	1	0		0		1
Illinois	District	20	14	7	0		6	7
Indiana	District	13	11	1	0		2	1
Iowa	District	11	6	5	0		5	5
Kansas	District	7	0		5	5	2	5
Kentucky	District	11	10	1	0		1	1
Louisiana	District	6	6	1	0		0	1
Maine[c]	District	4	0		0		4
Maryland	District	6	6	3	0		0	3
Massachusetts	District	12	7	5	0		5	5
Michigan	District	11	8	6	0		3	6
Minnesota	District	5	3	3	1	1	1	4
Mississippi	District	7	7		0		0
Missouri	District	14	14	4	0		0	4
Montana	At-large	1	1	1	0		0	1
Nebraska	District	3	1	1	2	2	0	3
Nevada	At-large	1	0		0		1
New Hampshire	District	2	2	2	0		0	2
New Jersey	District	7	5	2	0		2	2
New York	District	34	23	8	0		11	8
North Carolina	District	9	8	2	0		1	2
North Dakota	At-large	1	0		0		1
Ohio	District	21	14	9	0		7	9
Oregon[c]	At-large	1	0		0		1
Pennsylvania	District	28	11	4	0		17	4
Rhode Island	District	2	2	2	0		0	2
South Carolina	District	7	7		0		0
South Dakota	At-large	2	0		0		2
Tennessee	District	10	8	1	0		2	1
Texas	District	11	11		0		0
Vermont[c]	District	2	0		0		2
Virginia	District	10	10	4	0		0	4
Washington	At-large	1	0		0		1
West Virginia	District	4	4	2	0		0	2
Wisconsin	District	9	8	6	0		1	6
Wyoming[c]	At-large	1	0		0		1
Total		332	238[5] 71.7%	74	8[5] 2.4%	9	86[5] 25.9%	83

The previous election of 1888 saw the election of one Labor Party representative in Arkansas.

In 1890, five states, with 9 seats among them, held elections early:

• June 3 Oregon
• September 2 Vermont
• September 8 Maine
• September 11 Idaho
• October 1 Wyoming

Idaho and Wyoming held elections for both the outgoing 51st Congress and the incoming 52nd Congress in 1890, having been admitted that year, and held future elections on the standard election day.

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (January 2020)

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There were two elections to the new state of Idaho.

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The Ohio Legislature redistricted the state between censuses. Coupled with other Democratic gains, this redistricting gave the Democrats a nine-seat net gain.

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (January 2020)

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See Non-voting delegates below.

Wisconsin elected nine members of congress on Election Day, November 4, 1890.^[39][40]

Republican Clarence D. Clark was elected over Democrat George T. Beck in a single ballot both to finish the current term (ending 1891) and the next term (beginning 1891).^[41]

• 1890 United States elections
  • 1890–91 United States Senate elections
• 51st United States Congress
• 52nd United States Congress

• 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.

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