1910 United States House of Representatives elections

← 1908 November 8, 1910[a] 1912 →
All 391 seats in the United States House of Representatives[b] 196 seats needed for a majority
Majority party Minority party   Leader Champ Clark James Mann Party Democratic Republican Leader since March 4, 1909 March 4, 1911 Leader's seat Missouri 9th Illinois 2nd Last election 172 seats 218 seats Seats won 227[1][2] 161[1][2] Seat change 55 57 Popular vote 5,700,035 5,680,628 Percentage 46.69% 46.53% Swing 1.31% 3.52%   Third party Fourth party   Party Socialist Independent Last election 0 seats 1 seat[c] Seats won 1[1][2] 2[d][e][f] Seat change 1 1 Popular vote 527,968 57,938 Percentage 4.32% 0.47% Swing 1.94% 0.04%
Speaker before election Joseph Cannon Republican Elected Speaker Champ Clark Democratic

Elections to the United States House of Representatives in 1910 were held for members of the 62nd Congress, in the middle of President William Howard Taft's term.

The conservative Taft contended with major factional splits within his Republican Party. Instead of using his position as president to bridge compromise, Taft alienated the progressive wing of the party, which had championed his predecessor, Theodore Roosevelt. While conservatives controlled the largest number of elected positions for Republicans, progressive politics had been what brought many voters to the polls. The clash of these units of the Republican Party, combined with the message of unity from the Democratic Party, was enough to allow the Democrats to take control of the House, ending 16 years in opposition. This was the first time that the Socialist Party won a seat.

Issues

Protection was the ideological cement holding the Republican coalition together. High tariffs were used by Republicans to promise higher sales to business, higher wages to industrial workers, and higher demand for their crops to farmers. Progressive insurgents said it promoted monopoly. Democrats said it was a tax on the little man. It had greatest support in the Northeast, and greatest opposition in the South and West. The Midwest was the battleground.^[3] The great battle over the high Payne-Aldrich Tariff Act in 1910 ripped the Republicans apart and set up the realignment in favor of the Democrats.^[4]

Election summaries

State	Type	Total seats	Democratic		Republican		Socialist
			Seats	Change	Seats	Change	Seats	Change
Alabama	Districts	9	9		0		0
Arkansas	Districts	7	7		0		0
California	Districts	8	1	1	7	1	0
Colorado	Districts + at-large	3	3		0		0
Connecticut	Districts + at-large	5	1	1	4	1	0
Delaware	At-large	1	0		1		0
Florida	Districts	3	3		0		0
Georgia	Districts	11	11		0		0
Idaho	At-large	1	0		1		0
Illinois	Districts	25	11	5	14	5	0
Indiana	Districts	13	12	1	1	1	0
Iowa	Districts	11	1		10		0
Kansas	Districts	8	0		8		0
Kentucky	Districts	11	9	1	2	1	0
Louisiana	Districts	7	7		0		0
Maine[h]	Districts	4	2	2	2	2	0
Maryland	Districts	6	5	2	1	2	0
Massachusetts	Districts	14	4	1	10	1	0
Michigan	Districts	12	2	2	10	2	0
Minnesota	Districts	9	1		8		0
Mississippi	Districts	8	8		0		0
Missouri	Districts	16	14	4	2	4	0
Montana	At-large	1	0		1		0
Nebraska	Districts	6	3		3		0
Nevada	At-large	1	0	1	1	1	0
New Hampshire	Districts	2	0		2		0
New Jersey	Districts	10	7	4	3	4	0
New York	Districts	37	22	11	15[i]	11	0
North Carolina	Districts	10	10	3	0	3	0
North Dakota	Districts	2	0		2		0
Ohio	Districts	21	16	8	5	8	0
Oklahoma	Districts	5	3	1	2	1	0
Oregon	Districts	2	0		2		0
Pennsylvania	Districts	32	9	4	23	4	0
Rhode Island	Districts	2	1	1	1	1	0
South Carolina	Districts	7	7		0		0
South Dakota	At-large	2	0		2		0
Tennessee	Districts	10	8		2		0
Texas	Districts	16	16		0		0
Utah	At-large	1	0		1		0
Vermont[h]	Districts	2	0		2		0
Virginia	Districts	10	9		1		0
Washington	Districts	3	0		3		0
West Virginia	Districts	5	4	4	1	4	0
Wisconsin	Districts	11	2	1	8	2	1	1
Wyoming	At-large	1	0		1		0
Total[b]		394	230 58.4%	58	163[i] 41.4%	56	1 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% Republican

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

Election dates

In 1910, two states, with 6 seats between them, held elections early:

• September 6, Vermont
• September 12, Maine

Two newly admitted states held elections late: New Mexico and Arizona held their first elections in 1911.

Special elections

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California

Florida

Kansas

Louisiana

Maryland

South Carolina

Virginia

Non-voting delegates

Alaska Territory

Alaska Territory elected its non-voting delegate August 9, 1910.

Arizona Territory

Arizona Territory elected its non-voting delegate sometime in 1910, but did not serve out the complete term as statehood was granted in 1912.

New Mexico Territory

New Mexico Territory elected its non-voting delegate sometime in 1910, but did not serve out the complete term as statehood was granted in 1912.

See also

• 1910 United States elections
  • 1910 and 1911 United States Senate elections
• 61st United States Congress
• 62nd United States Congress

Notes

References

Bibliography

• Baker, John D. "The Character of the Congressional Revolution of 1910." Journal of American History 60#3 (1973), pp. 679-691. online on the revolt against Cannon
• Coletta, Paolo E. The Presidency of William Howard Taft (1973) pp 101-120.
• Dubin, Michael J. (1998). 1788 United States Congressional Elections-1997: The Official Results of the Elections of the 1st Through 105th Congresses. McFarland and Company. ISBN 978-0786402830.
• Gould, Lewis L. The William Howard Taft Presidency (2009) pp 107-120.
• Hechler, Ken. Insurgency; personalities and politics of the Taft era (1964) online
• Martis, Kenneth C. (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.
• Rubin, Ruth Bloch. "Organizing for Insurgency: Intraparty Organization and the Development of the House Insurgency, 1908-1910." Studies in American Political Development 27.2 (2013): 86-110 online.
• Solvick, Stanley D. "William Howard Taft and the Payne-Aldrich Tariff." Mississippi Valley Historical Review 50.3 (1963): 424-442 online.

External links

• "Party Divisions of the House of Representatives* 1789-Present". Office of the Historian, House of United States House of Representatives. Retrieved 2015.
• Secretary of State (1911). Maryland Manual 1911. Baltimore: John Murphy Co. Retrieved 2020.
• Office of the Historian (Office of Art & Archives, Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives)