1820–21 United States House of Representatives elections

← 1818 & 1819 July 3, 1820 – August 10, 1821 1822 & 1823 →
All 187[a] seats in theUnited States House of Representatives 94 seats needed for a majority
Majority party Minority party   Leader Philip P. Barbour Louis McLane Party Democratic-Republican Federalist Leader's seat Virginia 11th Delaware at-large Last election 160 seats 26 seats Seats won 155[a] 32 Seat change 5 6
Speaker before election John W. Taylor Democratic-Republican ElectedSpeaker Philip P. Barbour Democratic-Republican

The1820–21 United States House of Representatives elections were held on various dates in various states between July 3, 1820, and August 10, 1821. Each state set its own date for its elections to theHouse of Representatives before the first session of the17th United States Congress convened on December 3, 1821. They coincided with PresidentJames Monroe winning reelection unopposed.

In March 1820, seven House seats transferred from Massachusetts to Maine after the latter seceded from the former to become a separate state. The size of the House then increased to 187 seats after Missouri achieved statehood in 1821.

The virtually nonpartisanEra of Good Feelings, a period of national political dominance by theDemocratic-Republican Party, continued. Despite small gains, theFederalist Party remained relegated to limited state and local influence.

One seat was added during this Congress for the new State ofMissouri^[1]

State	Type	↑ Date	Total seats	Democratic-Republican		Federalist
				Seats	Change	Seats	Change
Louisiana	At-large	July 3–5, 1820	1	1		0
Illinois	At-large	August 7, 1820	1	1		0
Indiana	At-large	August 7, 1820	1	1		0
Kentucky	Districts	August 7, 1820	10	10		0
Mississippi	At-large	August 7–8, 1820	1	1		0
New Hampshire	At-large	August 18, 1820	6	6		0
Missouri	At-large	August 28, 1820	1	1	1	0
Rhode Island	At-large	August 29, 1820	2	2		0
Vermont	District	September 5, 1820[b]	6	6		0
Georgia	At-large	October 2, 1820	6	6		0
Maryland	Districts	October 2, 1820	9	6		3
Delaware	At-large	October 3, 1820	2	1		1
South Carolina	Districts	October 9–10, 1820	9	9		0
Ohio	Districts	October 10, 1820	6	6	1	0	1
Pennsylvania	Districts	October 10, 1820	23	15	4	8	4
Massachusetts	Districts	November 6, 1820[c]	13[d]	6	1[e]	7	1[e]
Maine[f]	Districts	November 7, 1820[g]	7	5	1[h]	2	1[h]
New Jersey	At-large	November 7, 1820	6	6		0
Late elections (after the March 4, 1821, beginning of the term)
Virginia	Districts	April 1821	23	21	1	2	1
Connecticut	At-large	April 2, 1821	7	7		0
New York	Districts	April 24–26, 1821	27	19	2	8	2
Alabama	At-large	August 5–6, 1821	1	1		0
North Carolina	Districts	August 9, 1821	13	12	2	1	2
Tennessee	Districts	August 9–10, 1821	6	5[i]	1	0
Total[a]			187	155 82.9%	5	32 17.1%	6

There were special elections in 1820 and 1821 to the16th United States Congress and17th United States Congress.

Special elections are sorted by date then district.

Alabama elected its member August 5–6, 1821, after the term began but before the new Congress convened.

SeeNon-voting delegates, below.

Connecticut elected its members April 2, 1821, after the term began but before the new Congress convened.

Delaware elected its members October 3, 1820.

Georgia elected its members October 2, 1820.

Illinois elected its member August 7, 1820.

Indiana elected its member August 7, 1820.

Kentucky elected its members August 7, 1820.

Louisiana elected its member July 3–5, 1820.

This was the first election inMaine since its separation fromMassachusetts. In the previous election, Massachusetts had had 20 representatives. Seven seats (representing the14th-20th districts) were reassigned from Massachusetts to Maine. In addition, under the terms of the law which admitted Maine to the union, any vacancies in the 16th Congress by Representatives elected to represent Massachusetts but residing in the new states of Maine would be filled by a resident of Maine.^[2]John Holmes, who had been elected to the House for the former14th district of Massachusetts was elected as one of the first two senators for Maine. The vacancy was filled ina special election byJoseph Dane (Federalist). Dane was the only Representative officially considered as representing Maine in the 16th Congress. The Representatives from the 15th-20th districts were still classified as being from Massachusetts for the remainder of the 16th Congress.

Maine elected its members on November 7, 1820. State law required a majority to win an election, necessitating additional ballots if a majority was not received. And, in fact, additional ballots were held on January 22, 1821, and September 10, 1821, after the term began but before the new Congress convened.

Maryland elected its members October 2, 1820.

This was the first election in Massachusetts after the separation of the formerDistrict of Maine as the new State of Maine, taking the old14th –20th districts with it.

Massachusetts elected its members November 6, 1820. Massachusetts had a majority requirement for election, which was not met in the2nd district necessitating two additional elections on January 8, 1821, and April 16, 1821, after the term began but before the new Congress convened.

District numbers differed between source used and elsewhere on Wikipedia; district numbers used elsewhere on Wikipedia used here.

SeeNon-voting delegates, below.

Mississippi elected its member August 7–8, 1820.

Missouri was admitted to the union on August 10, 1821,^[13] but elections had been held August 28, 1820.

New Hampshire elected its members August 18, 1820.

New Jersey elected its members November 7, 1820. There were an unusually large number of candidates, 119 candidates according to one contemporary newspaper.^[20] Some candidates ran under an "Anti-Caucus" ticket. Only 1 of the 6 six incumbents would serve in the next term, as 4 retired and 1 died after re-election.

New York elected its members April 24–26, 1821, after the term began but before the new Congress convened. The21st district, previously aplural district with two seats, was divided into two single-member districts for the 17th Congress, the 21st and22nd.

The Democratic-Republican party in New York was divided between "Bucktails" and "Clintonians". The Clintonians ran on a joint ticket with the remaining Federalists. In a few cases, marked as "Clintonian/Federalist" below, it is unclear whether a candidate on the joint ticket was Democratic-Republican or Federalist.

Only five of the twenty-seven incumbents were re-elected to the next term. Sixteen incumbents retired and five lost re-election. Despite this high turnover of membership, there was only a one-seat net gain for the Federalists.

North Carolina elected its members August 9, 1821, after the term began but before the new Congress convened.

Ohio elected its members October 10, 1820.

Pennsylvania elected its members October 10, 1820.

Rhode Island elected its members August 29, 1820.

South Carolina elected its members October 9–10, 1820.

Tennessee elected its members August 9–10, 1821, after the term began but before the new Congress convened.

In 1820, Vermont returned to using districts. This would be the only election in which the6th district would be used.

Vermont elected its members September 5, 1820. A majority was required for election, which was not met in the 2nd or 3rd district, requiring additional ballots to achieve a majority. The 2nd district required 7 ballots. The 3rd district required two additional ballots. The additional ballots were held December 11, 1820, and February 19, May 1, July 2, September 4, and October 22, 1821.

Virginia elected its members in April 1821, after the term began but before the new Congress convened.

There were four territories that had the right to send adelegate to at least part of the 17th Congress, only three of which actually sent delegates.Missouri Territory's seat remained vacant, as the territory was admitted as the State of Missouri early in the 17th Congress.

• 1820 United States elections
  • List of United States House of Representatives elections (1789–1822)
  • 1820 United States presidential election
  • 1820–21 United States Senate elections
• 16th United States Congress
• 17th United States Congress