1884–1885 United States Senate elections

← 1882 & 1883 Dates vary by state 1886 & 1887 →
27 of the 76 seats in theUnited States Senate (as well as special elections) 39 seats needed for a majority
Majority party Minority party Third party   Leader John Sherman[a] George H. Pendleton[b] (Lost re-election) William Mahone[c] Party Republican Democratic Readjuster Leader since March 4, 1883 March 4, 1881 March 4, 1881 Leader's seat Ohio Ohio Virginia Seats before 38 36 2 Seats won 10 12 0 Seats after 37 34 2 Seat change 1 2 Seats up 11 14 0
Results of the elections:      Republican gain     Republican hold      Democratic hold     Legislature failed to elect
Majority Party before election Republican[1] Elected Majority Party Republican[1]

The1884–85 United States Senate elections were held on various dates in various states, coinciding with thepresidential election of 1884. As theseU.S. Senate elections were prior to the ratification of theSeventeenth Amendment in 1913, senators were chosen bystate legislatures. Senators were elected over a wide range of time throughout 1884 and 1885, and a seat may have been filled months late or remained vacant due tolegislative deadlock.^[2] In these elections, terms were up for the senators inClass 3.

With three state legislatures failing to elect their senators in time, bothRepublicans andDemocrats lost seats. Republicans, nevertheless, retained majority control and theReadjusters joined their caucus. By the beginning of the first session, in December 1885, Republicans had won all three vacant seats, increasing their majority.

Senate party division,49th Congress (1885–1887)

• Majority party: Republican (42)
• Minority party: Democratic (34)
• Other parties: (0)
• Total seats: 76

In this election, the winner was seated in 1885 before March 4.

State	Incumbent			Results	Candidates
	Senator	Party	Electoral history
Rhode Island (Class 2)	William P. Sheffield	Republican	1884(appointed)	Interim appointee retired when successor elected. New senatorelected January 20, 1885. Republican hold.	▌YJonathan Chace (Republican) [data missing]

In these regular elections, the winners were elected for the term beginning March 4, 1885; ordered by state.

All of the elections involved the Class 3 seats.

State	Incumbent			Results	Candidates
	Senator	Party	Electoral history
Alabama	James L. Pugh	Democratic	1880(special)	Incumbentre-elected in August 1884.	▌YJames L. Pugh (Democratic) [data missing]
Arkansas	James D. Walker	Democratic	1878	Incumbent retired. New senatorelected in 1885. Democratic hold.	▌YJames K. Jones (Democratic) [data missing]
California	James T. Farley	Democratic	1878	Incumbent retired. New senatorelected in 1885. Republican gain.	▌YLeland Stanford (Republican) [data missing]
Colorado	Nathaniel P. Hill	Republican	1879	Incumbent lost renomination. New senatorelected in 1885. Republican hold.	▌YHenry M. Teller (Republican) [data missing]
Connecticut	Orville H. Platt	Republican	1879	Incumbentre-elected in 1885.	▌YOrville H. Platt (Republican) [data missing]
Florida	Wilkinson Call	Democratic	1879	Incumbentre-elected January 20, 1885.[3]	▌YWilkinson Call (Democratic) [data missing]
Georgia	Joseph E. Brown	Democratic	1880(special)	Incumbentre-elected in 1885.	▌YJoseph E. Brown (Democratic) [data missing]
Illinois	John A. Logan	Republican	1879	Incumbent retired or lost re-election. Legislature failed to elect. Republican loss. Incumbent was later elected to continue the vacant term; see below.	None.
Indiana	Daniel W. Voorhees	Democratic	1877(appointed) 1879(special)	Incumbentre-elected in 1885.	▌YDaniel W. Voorhees (Democratic) [data missing]
Iowa	William B. Allison	Republican	1872 1878	Incumbentre-elected January 23, 1884.[4]	▌YWilliam B. Allison (Republican) 90 ▌Benton J. Hall (Democratic) 48 ▌David M. Clark (Greenback) 10 ▌La Vega G. Kinne (Unknown) 1[4]
Kansas	John J. Ingalls	Republican	1873 1879	Incumbentre-elected in 1885.	▌YJohn J. Ingalls (Republican) [data missing]
Kentucky	John Stuart Williams	Democratic	1878	Incumbent lost re-election. New senatorelected February 6, 1884. Democratic hold.	▌YJ. C. S. Blackburn (Democratic) 100 ▌ John Bennett (Republican) 9
Louisiana	Benjamin F. Jonas	Democratic	1879	Incumbent lost re-election. New senator elected in 1884 or 1885. Democratic hold.	▌YJames B. Eustis (Democratic) [data missing]
Maryland	James Black Groome	Democratic	1878–79	Incumbent retired or lost re-election. New senatorelected in 1884. Democratic hold.	▌YEphraim K. Wilson II (Democratic) [data missing]
Missouri	George G. Vest	Democratic	1879	Incumbentre-elected in 1885.	▌YGeorge G. Vest (Democratic) [data missing]
Nevada	John P. Jones	Republican	1873 1879	Incumbentre-elected in 1885.	▌YJohn P. Jones (Republican) [data missing]
New Hampshire	Henry W. Blair	Republican	1879	Legislature failed to elect. Republican loss. Incumbent was later appointed, then elected, to continue the vacant term; see below.	[data missing]
New York	Elbridge G. Lapham	Republican	1881(special)	Incumbent retired. New senatorelected January 20, 1885. Republican hold.	▌YWilliam M. Evarts (Republican) 92 ▌Edward Cooper (Democratic) 65
North Carolina	Zebulon Vance	Democratic	1879	Incumbentre-elected in 1884.	▌YZebulon Vance (Democratic)
Ohio	George H. Pendleton	Democratic	1878–79	Incumbent lost renomination. New senatorelected January 15, 1884.[5] Democratic hold.	▌YHenry B. Payne (Democratic) [data missing]
Oregon	James H. Slater	Democratic	1878–79	Incumbent retired. Legislature failed to elect. Democratic loss.	[data missing]
Pennsylvania	J. Donald Cameron	Republican	1877(special) 1879	Incumbentre-elected January 20, 1885.	▌YJ. Donald Cameron (Republican) 64.94% ▌William A. Wallace (Democratic) 27.49% Others;see below
South Carolina	Wade Hampton III	Democratic	1878	Incumbentre-elected in 1884.	▌YWade Hampton III (Democratic) [data missing]
Vermont	Justin S. Morrill	Republican	1866 1872 1878	Incumbentre-elected in 1884.	▌YJustin S. Morrill (Republican) [data missing]
Wisconsin	Angus Cameron	Republican	1881	Incumbent retired. New senatorelected January 27, 1885. Republican hold.	▌YJohn C. Spooner (Republican) 61.29% ▌Edward S. Bragg (Democratic) 38.71%

In these elections, the winners were elected in 1885 after March 4, sorted by election date.

State	Incumbent			Results	Candidates
	Senator	Party	Electoral history
Delaware (Class 1)	Thomas F. Bayard	Democratic	1869 1875 1881	Incumbent resigned March 6, 1885, to becomeU.S. Secretary of State. New senatorelected March 18, 1885. Democratic hold.	▌YGeorge Gray (Democratic) [data missing]
Arkansas (Class 2)	Augustus Garland	Democratic	1876 1883	Incumbent resigned March 6, 1885, to becomeU.S. Attorney General. New senatorelected March 20, 1885. Democratic hold.	▌YJames H. Berry (Democratic) [data missing]
Illinois (Class 3)	Vacant			Legislature had failed to elect. New senatorelected May 19, 1885. Republican gain.	▌YJohn A. Logan (Republican) 50.49% ▌Lambert Tree (Democratic) 47.06% ▌John C. Black (Democratic) 0.98% ▌John R. Hoxie (Democratic) 0.49% ▌William Ralls Morrison (Democratic) 0.49% ▌Charles J. Schofield (Democratic) 0.49%
New Hampshire (Class 3)	Henry W. Blair	Republican	1879 1885(appointed)	Interim appointeeelected June 17, 1885.	▌YHenry W. Blair (Republican) [data missing]
Oregon (Class 3)	Vacant			Legislature had failed to elect. New senatorelected November 18, 1885. Republican gain.	▌YJohn H. Mitchell (Republican) [data missing]

This sectionneeds expansion. You can help byadding to it.(November 2022)

1884 United States Senate election in Maryland

← 1878 January 1884 1890 →
80 members of theMaryland General Assembly
Candidate Ephraim King Wilson II Party Democratic Legislative vote - Percentage -% %

Ephraim King Wilson II was elected by an unknown margin of votes, for the Class 3 seat.^[6]

The New York election was held January 20, 1885, by theNew York State Legislature.

RepublicanElbridge G. Lapham had been elected to this seat in aspecial election in 1881 to succeedRoscoe Conkling who had resigned. Lapham's term would expire on March 3, 1885.

At theState election in November 1883, 19 Republicans and 13 Democrats were elected for a two-year term (1884–1885) in the State Senate. At theState election in November 1884, 73 Republicans and 55 Democrats were elected for the session of 1885 to the Assembly. The108th New York State Legislature met from January 6 to May 22, 1885, atAlbany, New York.

The caucus ofRepublican State legislators met on January 19, President pro tempore of the State SenateDennis McCarthy presided. 19 State senators and 73 assemblymen attended. The Evarts faction required the nomination to be made byviva voce vote, which was opposed by the Morton faction, but was carried by a vote of 64 to 28. The caucus nominated Ex-U.S. Secretary of StateWilliam M. Evarts on the first ballot.

The Democratic caucus nominated Ex-Mayor of New YorkEdward Cooper.

William M. Evarts was the choice of both the Assembly and the State Senate, and was declared elected.

Note: The votes were cast on January 20, but both Houses met in a joint session on January 21 to compare nominations, and declare the result.

In 1884, the Democrats held a majority in the Ohio legislature. In a caucus meeting to determine the party's choice for United States Senator, many Democratic legislators looked to replace the incumbent Senator, DemocratGeorge H. Pendleton, because they disagreed with his advocacy ofcivil service reform and low tariffs.^[7] Some of Pendleton's opponents, led by Oliver Payne, promotedHenry B. Payne for the Senate seat, recalling his opposition to both of those positions during his time in the House.^[8] After a secret ballot by the Democratic caucus,Henry B. Payne received 46 out of 80 votes.^[9] Because Oliver was a trustee and treasurer of theStandard Oil company, many of the Pendleton supporters immediately alleged that $100,000 from the oil trust had been used to bribe Democratic legislators, and claimed that an open ballot would not have favored Payne.^[10][11]

When the full legislature met,Henry B. Payne was elected with 78 votes out of 120.^[9] The Democratic legislature initially refused to investigate their members' alleged corruption, but when Republicans regained the majority in the next session, the legislature looked into the allegations and forwarded the results to the federal Senate.^[12] The evidence gathered was voluminous, but the Senate declined to expel Payne, who proclaimed his innocence.^[11] While there was never enough evidence for definitive proof of bribery, biographer Dewayne Burke wrote that the "circumstantial evidence seems to convict Payne" of the charge.^[13]

The Pennsylvania election was held January 20, 1885. The Pennsylvania General Assembly convened January 20, 1885. IncumbentRepublicanJ. Donald Cameron, who was elected in an1877 special election and re-elected in1879, was a successful candidate for re-election to another term.^[14] The results of the vote of both houses combined are as follows:

• 1884 United States elections
  • 1884 United States presidential election
  • 1884 United States House of Representatives elections
• 48th United States Congress
• 49th United States Congress

• Party Division in the Senate, 1789-Present, via Senate.gov
• Burke, Dewayne (1938).Henry B. Payne: His Congressional Career (M.A. thesis). Ohio State University. Archived fromthe original on August 26, 2016. RetrievedFebruary 20, 2016.
• Byrd, Robert C. (October 1, 1993). Wolff, Wendy (ed.).The Senate, 1789-1989: Historical Statistics, 1789-1992.United States Senate Historical Office (volume 4 Bicentennial ed.). Washington, DC:U.S. Government Printing Office.ISBN 9780160632563.
• Clark, Dan Elbert (1913)."History of Senatorial Elections in Iowa".Iowa City, Iowa.
• Cox, Harold (January 31, 2007)."Pennsylvania Election Statistics: 1682-2006".The Wilkes University Election Statistics Project. Wilkes University.
• Walker, Albert H. (1886).The Payne Bribery Case and the United States Senate. Hartford, Connecticut: Clark & Smith.OCLC 17693469.
• Weisenburger, Francis Phelps (1934)."Henry B. Payne".Dictionary of American Biography. Vol. XIV. New York, New York: C. Scribner's Sons. pp. 325–326.
• "MR. EVARTS TO BE SENATOR"(PDF).The New York Times. January 20, 1885.
• "EVARTS ELECTED SENATOR"(PDF).The New York Times. January 22, 1885.

• 1884 United States Senate elections
• 1885 United States Senate elections

• Pages with non-numeric formatnum arguments
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from June 2016
• All articles with lists with data missing
• Data missing from February 2020
• Articles to be expanded from November 2022
• All articles to be expanded