1868–69 United States House of Representatives elections

Mississippi, Texas, and Virginia were readmitted during this Congress, leaving Congress without vacant State delegations for the first time since 1860. Georgia had been partially readmitted in the previous Congress, but was not initially admitted to the 41st Congress. With Georgia's final readmission in 1870, all former Confederate states were once more represented in Congress.

State	Type	Total seats	Democratic		Conservative		Republican
			Seats	Change	Seats	Change	Seats	Change
Alabama[e]	District	6	2	2	0		4	2
Arkansas	District	3	1	1	0		2	1
California	District	3	2		0		1
Connecticut[e]	District	4	1	2	0		3	2
Delaware	At-large	1	1		0		0
Florida[f]	At-large	1	0		0		1
Georgia[g]	District	7[h]	4	2	0		3	1
Illinois	District + 1 at-large	14	4	1	0		10	1
Indiana[f]	District	11	4	1	0		7	1
Iowa[f]	District	6	0		0		6
Kansas	At-large	1	0		0		1
Kentucky	District	9[h]	9	2	0		0	1
Louisiana	District	5	0	1	0		5	1
Maine[f]	District	5	0		0		5
Maryland	District	5	5	2	0	1	0	1
Massachusetts	District	10	0		0		10
Michigan	District	6	0		0		6
Minnesota	District	2	1	1	0		1	1
Mississippi[g]	District	5	0		0		5	5
Missouri	District	9	2	1	0		7	1
Nebraska[f]	At-large	1	0		0		1
Nevada	At-large	1	0		0		1
New Hampshire[e]	District	3	0		0		3
New Jersey	District	5	3	1	0		2	1
New York	District	31	12	2	0		19	2
North Carolina	District	7	1	1	0	1	6
Ohio[f]	District	19	6	3	0		13	3
Oregon[f]	At-large	1	1	1	0		0	1
Pennsylvania[f]	District	24	6		0		18
Rhode Island	District	2	0		0		2
South Carolina	District	4	0		0		4
Tennessee	District	8	0		0		8
Texas[g]	District	4	1	1	0		3	3
Vermont[f]	District	3	0		0		3
Virginia[g]	District	8	0		5	5	3	3
West Virginia[f]	District	3	0		0		3
Wisconsin	District	6	1		0		5
Total[c]		243	67 27.6%	22	5 2.1%	3	171 70.4%	6

Mississippi held rejected elections on July 1, 1868. New (accepted) elections were held December 1, 1869.

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 that date. 1868 was the first year in which the majority of States (20 of 37) held their elections on that date. There were still 9 states which held elections before that date and 4 that held regular elections after that date, in addition to 4 readmitted states that held elections after that date.

• Early dates (1868):
  • June 1: Oregon
  • September 1: Vermont
  • September 14: Maine
  • October 13: Indiana, Iowa, Nebraska, Ohio, Pennsylvania
  • October 22: West Virginia
• ▌Late dates (regular elections):
  • December 29, 1868: Florida
  • March 9, 1869: New Hampshire
  • April 5, 1869: Connecticut
  • August 2, 1869: Alabama
• Readmitted states:
  • July 6, 1869: Virginia
  • December 1, 1869: Mississippi (also held elections to the 42nd Congress on the same day)
  • December 3, 1868: Texas
  • December 20–22, 1870: Georgia

There were special elections in 1868 and 1869 to the 40th United States Congress and 41st United States Congress.

Special elections are sorted by date then district.

40th Congress

Readmission of state are treated here as regular (late) elections, not special elections.

41st Congress

Readmission of state are treated here as regular (late) elections, not special elections.

1868 elections to finish the term

1869 elections to the next term

California elections

← 1867 November 3, 1868 1871 →
All 3 seats
Majority party Minority party   Party Democratic Republican Last election 2 1 Seats won 2 1 Seat change Popular vote 54,548 53,873 Percentage 50.3% 49.7%
Democratic hold   Republican hold

California's delegation remained at two Democrats and one Republican.

See non-voting delegates, below.

See non-voting delegates, below.

United States House of Representatives elections in Florida, 1868^[8]

← 1865 May 5, 1868 and December 29, 1868 1870 →
Florida's single seat in the U.S. House of Representatives
Majority party Minority party Third party   Party Republican Democratic Independent Seats won 1 0 0 Popular vote 14,108 7,915 2,276 Percentage 58.1% 32.6% 9.4%

Florida had been unrepresented in Congress since January 21, 1861, when its sole member and both senators withdrew from Congress following the secession of Florida from the Union. Following the end of the Civil War, an election had been held in 1865, but it was rejected by Congress. In 1868, Congress readmitted Florida following Reconstruction.

Election to the current term

The first election, for the duration of the 40th congress, was held May 5, 1868.^[9]

Hamilton was seated on July 1, 1868,^[10] during the 2nd session of the 40th Congress.

Election to the next term

Florida elected its one at-large member on December 29, 1868, re-electing Hamilton, who had just been elected in May to finish the current term.^[11]

See non-voting delegates, below.

1868 rejected elections

Mississippi elected its members July 1, 1868, but that election was later rejected by the House.

1869 accepted elections

Mississippi then held new elections December 1, 1869 both: to finish the term in the 40th Congress and to the next term (starting in 1871) in the 41st Congress. Both elections had the same vote totals and were accepted by the House. The new members were seated in 1870.

See non-voting delegates, below.

See non-voting delegates, below.

See non-voting delegates, below.

See non-voting delegates, below.

Wisconsin elected six members of congress on Election Day, November 3, 1868.^[41]

Colorado Territory

Montana Territory

The election date is speculative.^[43]

Idaho Territory

Wyoming Territory

On July 25, 1868, an act of Congress gave Wyoming Territory the authority to elect a congressional delegate, although the first delegate did not take his seat until 1869.^[45]

• 1868 United States elections
  • 1868 United States presidential election
  • 1868–69 United States Senate elections
• 40th United States Congress
• 41st United States Congress

• Ben. Perley Poore (1869). "Massachusetts". Congressional Directory for the First Session of the Forty-First Congress (2nd ed.). Washington DC: Government Printing Office. hdl:2027/nyp.33433081796686.
• 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)