1842–43 United States Senate elections

The 1842–43 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 1842 and 1843, 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 3.

1842–43 United States Senate elections

← 1840 & 1841 Various dates 1844 & 1845 →
17 of the 52 seats in the United States Senate (with special elections) 27 seats needed for a majority
Majority party Minority party   Party Whig Democratic Last election 29 seats 22 seats Seats before 30 20 Seats won 4 13 Seats after 27 23 Seat change 3 3 Seats up 7 10
Results:      Democratic gain      Democratic hold      Whig hold
Majority Party before election Whig Elected Majority Party Whig

The Whigs lost seats but maintained control of the Senate. Although they lost three seats in the regular elections, they gained two of them back by the start of the first session in special elections.

Results summary

Senate party division, 28th Congress (1843–1845)

• Majority party: Whig (27)
• Minority party: Democratic (22–23)
• Other parties: (0–1)
• Total seats: 52–54

Change in Senate composition

Before the elections

After July 1842 appointment in New Jersey.

				D1	D2	D3	D4	D5	D6
D16 Ran	D15 Ran	D14 Ran	D13 Ran	D12 Ran	D11 Ran	D10	D9	D8	D7
D17 Unknown	D18 Unknown	D19 Retired	D20 Retired	V2	V1	W30 Resigned	W29 Retired	W28 Unknown	W27 Unknown
Majority →									W26 Ran
W17	W18	W19	W20	W21	W22	W23	W24 Ran	W25 Ran
W16	W15	W14	W13	W12	W11	W10	W9	W8	W7
				W1	W2	W3	W4	W5	W6

Result of the elections

				D1	D2	D3	D4	D5	D6
D16 Re-elected	D15 Re-elected	D14 Re-elected	D13 Re-elected	D12 Re-elected	D11 Re-elected	D10	D9	D8	D7
D17 Re-elected	D18 Hold	D19 Hold	D20 Hold	D21 Hold	D22 Gain	D23 Gain	V2	V1	W27 Hold
Majority →									W26 Hold
W17	W18	W19	W20	W21	W22	W23	W24 Re-elected	W25 Re-elected
W16	W15	W14	W13	W12	W11	W10	W9	W8	W7
				W1	W2	W3	W4	W5	W6

Beginning of the next Congress

				D1	D2	D3	D4	D5	D6
D16	D15	D14	D13	D12	D11	D10	D9	D8	D7
D17	D18	D19	D20	D21	D22	V3 D Loss	V2	V1	W27
Majority →									W26
W17	W18	W19	W20	W21	W22	W23	W24	W25
W16	W15	W14	W13	W12	W11	W10	W9	W8	W7
				W1	W2	W3	W4	W5	W6

Beginning of the first session of the next Congress (December 4, 1843)

				D1	D2	D3	D4	D5	D6
D16	D15	D14	D13	D12	D11	D10	D9	D8	D7
D17	D18	D19	D20	D21 Hold	D22 Hold	D23 Gain	W29 Gain	W28 Gain	W27
Majority →									W26
W17	W18	W19	W20	W21	W22	W23	W24	W25
W16	W15	W14	W13	W12	W11	W10	W9	W8	W7
				W1	W2	W3	W4	W5	W6

Key:	D# Democratic W# Whig V# Vacant

Race summaries

Bold states link to specific election articles.

Special elections during the 27th Congress

In these elections, the winners were elected during 1842 or in 1843 before March 4; ordered by election date.

State	Incumbent			Results	Candidates
	Senator	Party	Electoral history
Rhode Island (Class 1)	Nathan F. Dixon	Whig	1838 or 1839	Incumbent died January 29, 1842. New senator elected February 18, 1842. Whig hold.	▌Y William Sprague (Whig) [data missing]
New Hampshire (Class 3)	Leonard Wilcox	Democratic	1842 (appointed)	Incumbent had been appointed March 1, 1842, to continue the term of Franklin Pierce (D), who had resigned February 28, 1842. Incumbent appointee elected in June 1842. Democratic hold.	▌Y Leonard Wilcox (Democratic) [data missing]
Vermont (Class 3)	Samuel C. Crafts	Whig	1842 (appointed)	Incumbent had been appointed April 23, 1842, to continue the term of Samuel Prentiss (W), who had resigned April 11, 1842, to become judge of the U.S. District Court of Vermont. Incumbent appointee elected October 26, 1842. Whig hold.	▌Y Samuel C. Crafts (Whig) [data missing]
South Carolina (Class 3)	William C. Preston	Whig	1833 (special) 1837	Incumbent resigned November 29, 1842. New senator elected December 23, 1842. Democratic gain.	▌Y George McDuffie (Democratic) [data missing]

Races leading to the 28th Congress

In these regular elections, the winners were elected for the term beginning March 4, 1843; ordered by state.

All of the elections involved the Class 3 seats.

State	Incumbent			Results	Candidates
	Senator	Party	Electoral history
Alabama	Arthur P. Bagby	Democratic	1841 (special)	Incumbent re-elected in 1842.	▌Y Arthur P. Bagby (Democratic) [data missing]
Arkansas	Ambrose Sevier	Democratic	1836 1837	Incumbent re-elected in 1843.	▌Y Ambrose Sevier (Democratic) [data missing]
Connecticut	Perry Smith	Democratic	1837	Unknown if incumbent retired or lost re-election. New senator elected in 1842 but, due to ill health and a credentials challenge, was unable to serve until May 16, 1844; nevertheless, his term began March 4, 1843. Democratic hold.	▌Y John M. Niles (Democratic) [data missing]
Georgia	Alfred Cuthbert	Democratic	1835 (special) 1837	Incumbent retired. New senator elected in 1843. Democratic hold.	▌Y Walter T. Colquitt (Democratic) [data missing]
Illinois	Richard M. Young	Democratic	1837	Incumbent retired. New senator elected in 1843. Democratic hold.	▌Y Sidney Breese (Democratic) [data missing]
Indiana	Oliver H. Smith	Whig	1836	Incumbent lost re-election. New senator elected in 1842. Democratic gain.	▌Y Edward A. Hannegan (Democratic) [data missing]
Kentucky	John J. Crittenden	Whig	1816 1819 (resigned) 1835 1841 (retired) 1842 (appointed) ? (special)	Incumbent re-elected January 7, 1843.	▌Y John J. Crittenden (Whig) 88 votes ▌Richard Mentor Johnson (Democratic) 43 votes[2]
Louisiana	Charles M. Conrad	Whig	1842 (appointed)	Interim appointee lost election. New senator elected in 1843 but, due to ill health, did not take the seat. Whig hold.	▌Y Alexander Porter (Whig) ▌Charles M. Conrad (Whig)
Maryland	John L. Kerr	Whig	1841 (special)	Incumbent retired or lost re-election. New senator elected in 1843. Whig hold.	▌Y James Pearce (Whig) [data missing]
Missouri	Lewis F. Linn	Democratic	1833 (appointed) ? (special) 1836	Incumbent re-elected in 1842.	▌Y Lewis F. Linn (Democratic) [data missing]
New Hampshire	Leonard Wilcox	Democratic	1842 (appointed) 1842 (special)	Incumbent retired or lost re-election. New senator elected in 1843. Democratic hold.	▌Y Charles G. Atherton (Democratic) [data missing]
New York	Silas Wright Jr.	Democratic	1833 (special) 1837	Incumbent re-elected February 7, 1843.	▌Y Silas Wright Jr. (Democratic) ▌Millard Fillmore (Whig) ▌John A. Collier (Whig) ▌Willis Hall (Whig) ▌George W. Patterson (Whig) ▌George A. Simmons (Whig) ▌Luther Bradish (Whig) ▌Gulian C. Verplanck (Whig)
North Carolina	William A. Graham	Whig	1840 (special)	Incumbent retired or lost re-election. New senator elected in 1843. Democratic gain.	▌Y William H. Haywood Jr. (Democratic) [data missing]
Ohio	William Allen	Democratic	1836	Incumbent re-elected in 1842.	▌Y William Allen (Democratic) [data missing]
Pennsylvania	James Buchanan	Democratic	1834 (special) 1836	Incumbent re-elected in 1843.	▌Y James Buchanan (Democratic) 56.06% ▌John Banks (Whig) 40.91% ▌Richard Brodhead (Democratic) 0.76% ▌John Gibons 0.76%
South Carolina	George McDuffie	Democratic	1842 (special)	Incumbent re-elected in 1842 or 1843.	▌Y George McDuffie (Democratic) [data missing]
Vermont	Samuel C. Crafts	Whig	1842 (special)	Incumbent retired. New senator elected in 1843. Whig hold.	▌Y William Upham (Whig) [data missing]

Elections during the 28th Congress

In these special elections, the winners were elected in 1843 after March 4; ordered by election date.

State	Incumbent			Results	Candidates
	Senator	Party	Electoral history
South Carolina (Class 2)	John C. Calhoun	Democratic	1832 (special) 1834 1840	Incumbent resigned March 3, 1843. New senator elected March 4, 1843. Democratic hold.	▌Y Daniel Elliott Huger (Democratic) [data missing]
Tennessee (Class 1)	Alfred O. P. Nicholson	Democratic	1840 (appointed)	Incumbent resigned February 7, 1842. New senator elected October 17, 1843. Whig gain.	▌Y Ephraim H. Foster (Whig) [data missing]
Tennessee (Class 2)	Vacant since 1841			Legislature had failed to elect since the 27th Congress. New senator elected October 17, 1843. Whig gain.	▌Y Spencer Jarnagin (Whig) [data missing]
Maine (Class 1)	Reuel Williams	Democratic	1837 (special)	Incumbent resigned February 15, 1843. Winner was elected December 4, 1843. Democratic hold.	▌Y John Fairfield (Democratic) [data missing]
Missouri (Class 3)	David Rice Atchison	Democratic	1843 (appointed)	Incumbent had been appointed October 14, 1843, when Lewis F. Linn (D) had died October 3, 1843. Incumbent was subsequently elected sometime in 1843 after October 14. Democratic hold.	▌Y David Rice Atchison (Democratic) [data missing]

Complete list of races

Maryland

See also: List of United States senators from Maryland

1843 United States Senate election in Maryland

← 1841 December 1841 1849 →
80 members of the Maryland General Assembly
Candidate James Pearce Party Whig Legislative vote - Percentage -%  %

James Pearce won election by an unknown margin of votes, for the Class 3 seat.^[3]

New York

Main article: 1843 United States Senate election in New York

The election was held February 7, 1843, by the New York State Legislature. Silas Wright Jr. had been elected in 1833 to this seat after the resignation of William L. Marcy, and had been re-elected in 1837. Wright's term would expire on March 3, 1843. At the State election in November 1842, Democrat William C. Bouck was elected Governor, 92 Democrats and 36 Whigs were elected to the Assembly, and 8 Democrats and 1 Whig were elected to the State Senate. The 66th New York State Legislature met from January 3 to April 18, 1843, at Albany, New York. The incumbent U.S. Senator Silas Wright Jr. was re-nominated unanimously by a Democratic caucus on the eve of the election. Congressman Millard Fillmore was the candidate of the Whig Party. Silas Wright Jr. was the choice of both the Assembly and the Senate, and was declared elected.

Candidate	Party	Senate (32 members)	Assembly (128 members)
Silas Wright Jr.	Democrat	17	77
Millard Fillmore	Whig	6	16
John A. Collier	Whig	1	6
Willis Hall	Whig		4
George W. Patterson	Whig		3
George A. Simmons	Whig		2
Luther Bradish	Whig	1
Gulian C. Verplanck	Whig		1

Wright continued in the U.S. Senate, and remained in office until November 1844 when he resigned after his election as Governor of New York. Henry A. Foster was appointed to fill the vacancy temporarily, but the State Legislature elected John A. Dix for the remainder of Wright's term.

Pennsylvania

Main article: 1843 United States Senate election in Pennsylvania

The election was held January 10, 1843. Future President of the United States James Buchanan was re-elected by the Pennsylvania General Assembly to the United States Senate.^[4] The Pennsylvania General Assembly, consisting of the House of Representatives and the Senate, convened on January 10, 1843, to elect a new Senator to fill the term beginning on March 4, 1843. Incumbent Democrat James Buchanan, who was elected in 1834 and re-elected in 1836, was a successful candidate for re-election to another term. The results of the vote of both houses combined are as follows:

State Legislature Results^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	James Buchanan (Incumbent)	74	56.06
	Whig	John Banks	54	40.91
	Democratic	Richard Brodhead	1	0.76
	Unknown	John Gibons	1	0.76
	N/A	Not voting	2	1.52
Totals			132	100.00%

Tennessee

Main article: 1843 United States Senate special elections in Tennessee

In 1841, Spencer Jarnagin was nominated for U.S. Senator by the Whig caucus in the Tennessee General Assembly. However, some of the Democrats in the legislature decided that no Senator would be preferable to a Whig. Known as the "Immortal Thirteen" by Tennessee Democrats, they refused to allow a quorum on the issue. By the time Jarnagin was eventually elected to the seat and sworn in, over two and half years, almost half of the term, had elapsed. Jarnagin finally assumed office on October 17, 1843.

See also

• 1842 United States elections
  • 1842–43 United States House of Representatives elections
• 27th United States Congress
• 28th United States Congress