1902 United States House of Representatives elections

1902 United States House of Representatives elections

← 1900 June 2, September 12, September 18, and November 4, 1902[a] 1904 →

All 386 seats in the United States House of Representatives
194 seats needed for a majority
  Majority party Minority party
 
Leader Joseph Cannon John Sharp Williams
Party Republican Democratic
Leader since March 4, 1903 March 4, 1903
Leader's seat Illinois 18th Mississippi 8th
Last election 200 seats 151 seats
Seats before 198 seats[b] 152 seats[c]
Seats won 206[1][2][d] 176[1][2]
Seat change Increase 6 Increase 25
Popular vote 5,470,468 4,942,208
Percentage 49.81% 45.00%
Swing Decrease 0.84% Increase 0.55%

  Third party Fourth party
 
Party Independent Populist
Last election 0 seats 5 seats
Seats before 0 seats 5 seats
Seats won 4 [d][e] 0
Seat change Increase 4 Decrease 5
Popular vote 61,629 151,192
Percentage 0.56% 1.38%
Swing Increase 0.23% Decrease 0.97%

Speaker before election

David Henderson
Republican

Elected Speaker

Joseph Cannon
Republican

The 1902 United States House of Representatives elections were held for the most part on November 4, 1902, with Oregon, Maine, and Vermont holding theirs early in either June or September. They occurred in the middle of President Theodore Roosevelt's first term, about a year after the assassination of William McKinley in September 1901. Elections were held for 386 seats of the United States House of Representatives, representing 45 states, to serve in the 58th United States Congress.

Due to the increased size of the House and the reapportionment that resulted from the 1900 U.S. census, the Republican Party and the Democratic Party both gained seats simultaneously, which has not occurred in any elections since. The Democrats increased their share of the House, but not by enough to regain control.

With a stable economy and no cornerstone issue, Democratic gains can mostly be linked to the effects of redistricting. Many of the new seats were in areas with high numbers of immigrants (mostly Eastern and Southern European industrial workers, and Northern European farmers), with new immigrants tending to vote Democrat. The Populist Party disappeared from the House, with its supporters almost unanimously switching to the Democratic Party.[citation needed]

This election marked the third and most recent time in American history where the incumbent president's party gained House seats in a midterm election while still losing seats in the Senate, the first two being in 1814 and 1822.


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  1. ^ a b "Party Divisions of the House of Representatives* 1789–Present". Office of the Historian, United States House of Representatives. Retrieved May 18, 2015.
  2. ^ a b Martis, pp. 156–157.