1802–03 United States Senate elections

The 1802–03 United States Senate elections were held on various dates in various states. 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 1802 and 1803, and a seat may have been filled months late or remained vacant due to legislative deadlock.^[1] In these elections, terms were up for the senators in Class 1.

1802–03 United States Senate elections

← 1800 & 1801 Dates vary by state 1804 & 1805 →
← 1796 & 1797 1808 & 1809 →
11 of the 32 seats in the United States Senate (plus special elections) 17 seats needed for a majority
Majority party Minority party   Party Democratic-Republican Federalist Seats before 17 15 Seats after 22 9 Seat change 5 6 Seats up 2 9 Races won 7 3
Results:      Dem-Republican hold      Dem-Republican gain      Federalist hold      Legislature failed to elect
Majority Party before election Democratic-Republican Elected Majority Party Democratic-Republican

The Democratic-Republican Party maintained and greatly expanded their majority of seats to over two-thirds of the Senate.

Change in composition

Before the elections

Accounting for the 1802 special elections in New York, Rhode Island, and South Carolina.

DR6	DR5	DR4	DR3	DR2 S.C. (sp) Hold	DR1 N.Y. (sp) Hold
DR7	DR8	DR9	DR10	DR11	DR12	DR13	DR14	DR15	DR16 Va. (reg) Ran
Majority →									DR17 Tenn. Unknown
F7 Conn. Ran	F8 Del. Ran	F9 Md. Ran	F10 N.J. (reg) Ran	F11 N.Y. (reg) Ran	F12 Vt. Ran	F13 R.I. Retired	F14 Pa. Retired	F15 Mass. Retired
F6	F5	F4	F3	F2	F1 R.I. (sp) Hold

Result of the regular elections

DR6	DR5	DR4	DR3	DR2	DR1
DR7	DR8	DR9	DR10	DR11	DR12	DR13	DR14	DR15	DR16 Md. Re-elected
Majority →									DR17 N.Y. (reg) Gain
F7 Conn. Re-elected	F8 Del. Re-elected	F9 Mass. Hold	V1 N.J. (reg) Fed loss	V2 Tenn. DR loss	DR21 Va. (reg) Gain	DR20 Vt. Gain	DR19 R.I. Gain	DR18 Pa. Gain
F6	F5	F4	F3	F2	F1

Beginning of the first session, October 17, 1803

DR7	DR6	DR5	DR4	DR3	DR2	DR1
DR8	DR9	DR10	DR11	DR12	DR13	DR14	DR15	DR16	DR17
Majority →									DR18
F8	F9	DR25 Ohio New state	DR24 Ohio New state	DR23 N.J. (reg) Appointee elected	DR22 Tenn. Re-elected	DR21	DR20	DR19
F7	F6	F5	F4	F3	F2	F1

Key:	DR# Democratic-Republican F# Federalist V# Vacant

Race summaries

Unless noted, the number following candidates is the whole number vote(s), not a percentage.

Special elections during the 7th Congress

In these special elections, the winner was seated before March 4, 1803; ordered by election date.

State	Incumbent			Results	Candidates
	Senator	Party	Electoral history
New York (Class 3)	John Armstrong Jr.	Democratic- Republican	1800 (special)	Incumbent resigned February 5, 1802. Winner elected February 11, 1802. Democratic-Republican hold.	▌Y DeWitt Clinton (Democratic-Republican) 82 ▌Matthew Clarkson (Federalist) 45[2]
New Hampshire (Class 3)	James Sheafe	Federalist	1800	Incumbent resigned June 14, 1802. Winner elected June 17, 1802. Federalist hold.	▌Y William Plumer (Federalist) 86 ▌Nicholas Gilman (Democratic-Republican) 70 ▌Nahum Parker (Democratic-Republican) 2[3]
South Carolina (Class 3)	John E. Colhoun	Democratic- Republican	1800	Incumbent died October 26, 1802. Winner elected November 4, 1802. Democratic-Republican hold.	▌Y Pierce Butler (Democratic-Republican) 103 ▌Thomas Edwards (Unknown) 3 ▌R. Anderson (Unknown) 1 ▌John Douglass (Unknown) 1 ▌E. More (Unknown) 1 ▌[FNU] Pickens (Unknown) 1 ▌A. B. Stark (Unknown) 1 ▌[FNU] Tucker (Unknown) 1 ▌B. Waring (Unknown) 1 Nothing 1 Blank 11[4]

Races leading to the 8th Congress

In these regular elections, the winner was seated on March 4, 1803; ordered by state.

All of the elections involved the Class 1 seats.

State	Incumbent			Results	Candidates
	Senator	Party	Electoral history
Connecticut	James Hillhouse	Federalist	1796	Incumbent re-elected October 27, 1802.	▌Y James Hillhouse (Federalist) 117 ▌Ephraim Kirby (Democratic-Republican) 53 ▌Oliver Ellsworth (Federalist) 2 ▌Nathaniel Smith (Federalist) 1[5]
Delaware	Samuel White	Federalist	1801 (appointed)	Incumbent re-elected January 11, 1803.	▌Y Samuel White (Federalist) 20 ▌George Read (Democratic-Republican) 9[6]
Maryland	John E. Howard	Federalist	1796 (special) 1796	Incumbent lost re-election. New senator elected November 17, 1802. Democratic-Republican gain.	▌Y Samuel Smith (Democratic-Republican) 46 ▌John Eager Howard (Federalist) 30[7]
Massachusetts	Jonathan Mason	Federalist	1800 (special)	Incumbent retired. New senator elected February 7, 1803, on the fourth ballot. Federalist hold.	▌Y John Quincy Adams (Federalist) 105 ▌Thompson J. Skinner (Democratic-Republican) 70 ▌Nicholas Tillinghast (Federalist) 9 ▌Timothy Pickering (Federalist) 6[8]
New Jersey	Aaron Ogden	Federalist	1801 (special)	Incumbent lost re-election. Legislature failed to elect. Federalist loss.	▌Joseph Bloomfield (Democratic-Republican) 26 ▌Aaron Ogden (Federalist) 26[9]
New York	Gouverneur Morris	Federalist	1800 (special)	Incumbent lost re-election. New senator elected February 1, 1803, on the 2nd ballot. Democratic-Republican gain.	▌Y Theodorus Bailey (Democratic-Republican) 59 ▌John Woodworth (Democratic-Republican) 57 ▌Gouverneur Morris (Federalist) eliminated on 1st ballot[10]
Pennsylvania	James Ross	Federalist	1794 (special) 1797	Incumbent retired. New senator elected December 14, 1802. Democratic-Republican gain.	▌Y Samuel Maclay (Democratic-Republican) 59.46% ▌Isaac Weaver Jr. (Democratic-Republican) 25.23% ▌William Maclay (Democratic-Republican) 9.91% Not voting 5.41%
Rhode Island	Theodore Foster	Federalist	1796	Incumbent retired. New senator elected in 1802. Democratic-Republican gain.	▌Y Samuel J. Potter (Democratic-Republican) Unopposed[11]
Tennessee	Joseph Anderson	Democratic- Republican	1799 (special)	Legislature did not elect until September 22, 1803, after the term began; see below. Democratic-Republican loss.	None.
Vermont	Nathaniel Chipman	Federalist	1797 (special)	Incumbent lost re-election. New senator elected in 1802. Democratic-Republican gain.	▌Y Israel Smith (Democratic-Republican), 111 ▌Abel Spencer (Federalist), 79 Scattering 6[12]
Virginia	Stevens Mason	Democratic- Republican	1794 (special) 1796	Incumbent re-elected in 1803.	▌Y Stevens Mason (Democratic-Republican) [data missing]

Special elections during the 8th Congress

In this special election, the winner was seated in 1803 after March 4.

State	Incumbent			Results	Candidates
	Senator	Party	Electoral history
Ohio (Class 1)	None (new state)			Ohio joined the Union in 1803. Winner elected April 1, 1803. Democratic-Republican gain.	▌Y John Smith (Democratic-Republican)
Ohio (Class 3)	None (new state)			Ohio joined the Union in 1803. Winner elected April 1, 1803. Democratic-Republican gain.	▌Y Thomas Worthington (Democratic-Republican)
Tennessee (Class 1)	Vacant			Legislature had failed to elect. Predecessor re-elected late September 22, 1803 on the 4th ballot. Democratic-Republican gain.	▌Y Joseph Anderson (Democratic-Republican) 19 ▌Daniel Smith (Democratic-Republican) 17[13]
New Jersey (Class 1)	John Condit	Democratic- Republican	1803 (appointed)	Legislature failed to elect. Condit was appointed September 1, 1803, to continue the term. He was then elected November 3, 1803.	▌Y John Condit (Democratic-Republican) Unanimous[14][15]
Virginia (Class 1)	John Taylor	Democratic- Republican	1792 (special) 1793	Predecessor Stevens T. Mason (DR) had died May 10, 1803, having just begun the new term. Interim appointee served from June 4, 1803, and did not seek election to finish the term. Winner elected December 7, 1803. Democratic-Republican hold.	▌Y Abraham B. Venable (Democratic-Republican) Unanimous[16]

Early race leading to the Congress-after-next

In this regular election, the winner was seated on March 4, 1805; ordered by state.

This election involved a Class 2 seat.

State	Incumbent			Results	Candidates
	Senator	Party	Electoral history
Tennessee	William Cocke	Democratic- Republican	1799 (special)	Incumbent retired. New senator elected early September 23, 1803. Democratic-Republican hold.	▌Y Daniel Smith (Democratic-Republican) 35 ▌Jenkin Whiteside (Democratic-Republican) 1[17]

Connecticut

See also: List of United States senators from Connecticut

Federalist incumbent James Hillhouse (originally elected in 1796) was re-elected.

Delaware

See also: List of United States senators from Delaware

Maryland

See also: List of United States senators from Maryland

1802 United States Senate election in Maryland

← 1796 November 17, 1802 1809 →
80 members of the Maryland General Assembly
Candidate Samuel Smith John Eager Howard Party Democratic-Republican Federalist Legislative vote 46 30 Percentage 60.53% 39.47%

Samuel Smith won election over John Eager Howard by a margin of 21.05%, or 16 votes, for the Class 1 seat.^[18]

Massachusetts

See also: List of United States senators from Massachusetts

New Hampshire (special)

See also: List of United States senators from New Hampshire

New Jersey

Senator John Condit

See also: List of United States senators from New Jersey

There were two elections to the class 1 seat.

New Jersey (regular)

The New Jersey legislature failed to elect by the March 4, 1803, beginning of the term.

New Jersey (special)

The governor appointed Democratic-Republican John Condit September 1, 1803, to continue the term. Condit was then unanimously elected November 3, 1803, to finish the term. No vote totals were recorded.^[19]

New York

See also: List of United States senators from New York

New York (special)

Senator DeWitt Clinton

Democratic-Republican John Armstrong Jr., who had held the class 3 seat since 1801, resigned February 5, 1802, and Democratic-Republican DeWitt Clinton was elected February 23, 1802, to finish the term. Clinton, however, resigned November 4, 1803, and Armstrong was appointed December 8, 1803, to his old seat.

New York (regular)

Senator Theodorus Bailey

Federalist Gouverneur Morris lost re-election to the class 1 seat to Democratic-Republican Theodorus Bailey in 1803.

Ohio

See also: List of United States senators from Ohio

Ohio joined the Union in 1803. New Democratic-Republican senators were elected April 1, 1803. Official records indicate that John Smith and Thomas Worthington were elected, and that Smith received the "long" term, while Worthington received the "short" one. They do not indicate if there were other candidates, or what the vote totals were.^[20]

Pennsylvania

See also: List of United States senators from Pennsylvania

Rhode Island

See also: List of United States senators from Rhode Island

South Carolina (special)

See also: List of United States senators from South Carolina

Tennessee

See also: List of United States senators from Tennessee

Vermont

See also: List of United States senators from Vermont

Federalist Senator Nathaniel Chipman lost re-election to Democratic-Republican Israel Smith. Smith received 102 votes in the Vermont House of Representatives and 9 from the Governor and Council.^[12] Spencer received 75 votes from the House and 4 from the Governor and Council.^[12]

Virginia

See also: List of United States senators from Virginia

There were two elections to the same seat as the newly-re-elected senator died at the beginning of the next term.

Virginia (regular)

Two-term Democratic-Republican Stevens Mason was re-elected in 1803.

Virginia (special)

Senator Abraham B. Venable

Mason died May 10, 1803, having just begun the new term. Democratic-Republican John Taylor was appointed but chose not to run to finish the term. Democratic-Republican Abraham B. Venable was elected December 7, 1803, as the unanimous choice of the Virginia General Assembly. No vote totals were recorded.^[16]

See also

• 1802 United States elections
  • 1802–03 United States House of Representatives elections
• 7th United States Congress
• 8th United States Congress