1836–37 United States House of Representatives elections

← 1834 & 1835 July 4, 1836 – November 7, 1837[a] 1838 & 1839 →
All 242 seats in theUnited States House of Representatives 122 seats needed for a majority
Majority party Minority party   Leader James K. Polk John Bell Party Democratic Whig Leader's seat Tennessee 9th Tennessee 7th Last election 143 seats 75 seats Seats won 128 100 Seat change 15 25 Popular vote 801,767 731,627 Percentage 50.15% 45.77% Swing 1.26pp 2.89pp   Third party Fourth party   Party Anti-Masonic Nullifier Last election 16 seats 8 seats Seats won 7 6[b] Seat change 9 2 Popular vote 48,329 1,261 Percentage 3.02% 0.08% Swing 0.05pp 1.11pp   Fifth party   Party Independent Last election 1 seat Seats won 1[c] Seat change Popular vote 15,606 Percentage 0.98% Swing 2.23pp
Speaker before election James K. Polk Democratic ElectedSpeaker James K. Polk Democratic

The1836–37 United States House of Representatives elections were held on various dates in various states between July 4, 1836, and November 7, 1837. Each state set its own date for its elections to theHouse of Representatives, either before or after the first session of the25th United States Congress convened on September 4, 1837. With Arkansas and Michigan officially achieving statehood in 1836 and 1837, respectively, the size of the House was set at 242 seats.

Though DemocratMartin Van Buren was electedpresident in November 1836, Democrats lost seats. The newly organizing Whigs benefited from regional candidacies and issues and voter fatigue with outgoing two-term PresidentAndrew Jackson. Jackson, a flamboyant public personality with a record of high-profile leadership and historic military success, often clashed with Congress and the Supreme Court. By comparison, Van Buren, a brilliant partisan organizer and political operative, was less charismatic in looks and demeanor. Voter support for the minorAnti-Masonic andNullifier parties ebbed, but remained significant. OneIndependent,John Pope, was elected fromKentucky.^[1][2][3]

State	Type	↑ Date	Total seats	Anti-Masonic		Democratic[d]		Independent		Nullifier		Whig[e]
				Seats	Change	Seats	Change	Seats	Change	Seats	Change	Seats	Change
Louisiana	Districts	August 1, 1836	3	0		1		0		0		2
Illinois	Districts	August 1, 1836	3	0		3		0		0		0
Missouri	At-large	August 1, 1836	2	0		2	1	0		0		0	1
Vermont	Districts	September 6, 1836	5	0	2	1	1	0		0		4	1
Maine	Districts	September 12, 1836	8	0		6		0		0		2
Georgia	At-large	October 3, 1836	9	0		8	1	0		0		1	1
South Carolina	Districts	October 10–11, 1836	9	0		2		0		6	1	1	1
Ohio	Districts	October 11, 1836	19	0	1	8	1	0		0		11	2
Pennsylvania	Districts	October 11, 1836	28	7	1	18	1	0		0		3
Delaware	At-large	November 8, 1836	1	0		0		0		0		1
New York	Districts	November 7–9, 1836	40	0		30	1	0		0		10	1
Massachusetts	Districts	November 14, 1836	12	0	3	2	1	0		0		10	2
New Jersey	At-large	November 16, 1836	6	0		0	6	0		0		6	6
Late elections (after the March 4, 1837, beginning of the term)
New Hampshire	At-large	March 14, 1837	5	0		5		0		0		0
Connecticut	Districts	April 3, 1837	6	0		6		0		0		0
Virginia	Districts	April 27, 1837	21	0		15	1	0		0		6	1
Maryland	Districts	July 26, 1837	8	0		4		0		0		4
Tennessee	Districts	August 3, 1837	13	0		3	1	0		0		10	1
Indiana	Districts	August 7, 1837	7	0		1	5	0		0		6	5
Kentucky	Districts	August 7, 1837	13	0		1	3	1[f]	1	0		11	2
Alabama	Districts	August 8, 1837	5	0		3		0		0	1	2	1
North Carolina	Districts	August 10, 1837	13	0		5	2	0		0		8	2
Michigan	At-large	August 22, 1837	1	0		1		0		0		0
Rhode Island	At-large	August 29, 1837	2	0	2	0		0		0		2	2
Later elections (after the September 4, 1837, beginning of special session)
Arkansas	At-large	October 2, 1837	1	0		1		0		0		0
Mississippi	At-large	November 6–7, 1837[g]	2	0		0	2	0		0		2	2
Total[h]			242	7 2.9%	9	128 52.9%	15	1 0.4%	1	6 2.5%	2	100 41.3%	25

There were special elections in 1836 and 1837 to the24th United States Congress and25th United States Congress.

Special elections are sorted by date then district.

Note: In some sources, parties are listed as "Democrats" and "Whigs." However, they are listed here as "Jacksonian" and "Anti-Jacksonian" (respectively) to conform to the party names as they were regarded during the24th United States Congress.

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The new state of Arkansas was admitted to the Union on June 15, 1836, and elected its sole at-large member August 1, 1836. He was seated December 5, 1836,^[5] to finish the term that would end the following March.

Arkansas elected its member October 2, 1837, this time for a full term.

Connecticut went from six at-large seats to six districts for the first time. Elections were held April 3, 1837, after the new term began but before the Congress convened. All incumbents from theat-large district were re-elected in districts.

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SeeNon-voting delegates, below.

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Illinois elected its three members on August 1, 1834.

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Maine elected its members September 12, 1836, except one district went to multiple ballots later in the year.

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Elections were held November 14, 1836.

Michigan elected its sole member late on August 22, 1837.

A special election was held in Mississippi on July 17–18, 1837. Its winners were DemocratsJohn F. H. Claiborne andSamuel J. Gholson. The first session of the 25th Congress was a special session beginning on September 4, 1837, extending to October 16. In November, Mississippi, held the regular election.Seargent Smith Prentiss, a Vicksburg lawyer and Whig, unexpectedly launched a vigorous, partisan campaign. He and fellow WhigThomas J. Word won in an upset. Claiborne and Gholson then argued that the July result entitled them to serve full terms. With the Whig Party newly organizing, the closely divided House, in which Anti-Masons, Nullifiers, and the Independent tended to align more with Whigs and to oppose Democrats, agreed to hear Prentiss. He spoke for nine hours over three days, packing the gallery, drawing Senators, and earning a national reputation for oratory and public admiration from leading Whigs including Senators Clay and Webster. TheElections Committee then required a third election. Scheduled for April 1838, it confirmed the November result. Both Whigs were seated in May late in the second session, also serving for the third session.

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Elections held late, on August 3, 1837

SeeNon-voting delegates, below.

• 1836 United States elections
  • 1836 United States presidential election
  • 1836–37 United States Senate elections
• 24th United States Congress
• 25th United States Congress
• List of United States House of Representatives elections (1824–1854)

• 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. RetrievedJanuary 21, 2015.

• Office of the Historian (Office of Art & Archives, Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives)

• 1836 United States House of Representatives elections
• 1837 United States House of Representatives elections
• Richard Mentor Johnson

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