1820–21 United States Senate elections

1820–21 United States Senate elections
15 of the 46 seats in the United States Senate (plus special elections); 24 seats needed for a majority
	Results:; Dem-Republican hold Dem-Republican gain; Federalist hold Legislature Failed To Elect
Majority Party before election; ; Democratic-Republican	Elected Majority Party ; ; Democratic-Republican

The 1820–21 United States Senate elections were held on various dates in various states, corresponding with James Monroe's landslide re-election. As these U.S. Senate elections were prior to the ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment in 1913, senators were chosen by state legislatures. Senators were elected over a wide range of time throughout 1820 and 1821, and a seat may have been filled months late or remained vacant due to legislative deadlock.^[1] In these elections, terms were up for the senators in Class 1.

The Democratic-Republican Party gain one-to-five seats (in the general and special elections), assuming almost complete control of the Senate.

Results summary

Senate party division, 17th Congress (1821–1823)

Majority party: Democratic-Republican (39–43)
Minority party: Federalist (4)
Vacant: (3–1)
Total seats: 46–48

Change in composition

Before the elections

Composition after the June 13 and 14, 1820 elections in Maine.

							DR₁ Maine New seat	DR₂	DR₃
DR₁₃	DR₁₂	DR₁₁	DR₁₀	DR₉	DR₈	DR₇	DR₆	DR₅	DR₄
DR₁₄	DR₁₅	DR₁₆	DR₁₇	DR₁₈	DR₁₉	DR₂₀	DR₂₁	DR₂₂	DR₂₃
Majority →									DR₂₄
DR₃₃ N.Y. Ran	DR₃₂ N.J. Ran	DR₃₁ Miss. Ran	DR₃₀ Md. Ran	DR₂₉ Maine New seat Ran	DR₂₈ Ind. Ran	DR₂₇	DR₂₆	DR₂₅	DR₂₄
DR₃₄ Ohio Ran	DR₃₅ Va. Ran	DR₃₆ Pa. Unknown	DR₃₇ Tenn. Unknown	F₉ Vt. Retired	F₈ Del. Retired	F₇ R.I. Unknown	F₆ Mass. Ran	F₅ Conn. Ran	F₄
							F₁	F₂	F₃

Result of the general elections

							DR₁	DR₂	DR₃
DR₁₃	DR₁₂	DR₁₁	DR₁₀	DR₉	DR₈	DR₇	DR₆	DR₅	DR₄
DR₁₄	DR₁₅	DR₁₆	DR₁₇	DR₁₈	DR₁₉	DR₂₀	DR₂₁	DR₂₂	DR₂₃
Majority →									DR₂₄
DR₃₃ Va. Re-elected	DR₃₂ Ohio Re-elected	DR₃₁ Miss. Re-elected	DR₃₀ Md. Re-elected	DR₂₉ Maine Re-elected	DR₂₈ Ind. Re-elected	DR₂₇	DR₂₆	DR₂₅	DR₂₄
DR₃₄ N.J. Hold	DR₃₅ N.Y. Hold	DR₃₆ Conn. Gain	DR₃₇ R.I. Gain	DR₃₈ Vt. Gain	V₁ Pa. DR loss	V₂ Tenn. DR loss	V₃ Del. F loss	F₅ Mass. Re-elected	F₄
							F₁	F₂	F₃

Result of the special elections in the next Congress

						DR₁ Mo. New seat	DR₂ Mo. New seat	DR₃	DR₄ Ga. Hold
DR₁₄	DR₁₃	DR₁₂	DR₁₁	DR₁₀	DR₉	DR₈	DR₇	DR₆	DR₅
DR₁₅	DR₁₆	DR₁₇	DR₁₈	DR₁₉	DR₂₀	DR₂₁	DR₂₂	DR₂₃	DR₂₄
Majority →									DR₂₅
DR₃₄	DR₃₃	DR₃₂	DR₃₁	DR₃₀	DR₂₉	DR₂₈	DR₂₇	DR₂₆	DR₂₅
DR₃₅	DR₃₆	DR₃₇	DR₃₈	DR₃₉	DR₄₀	DR₄₁ Pa. Gain	DR₄₂ Tenn. Gain	V₁	F₅
						F₁	F₂	F₃	F₄

Key:

DR_#	Democratic-Republican
F_#	Federalist
V_#	Vacant

Race summaries

Bold states link to specific election articles.

Special elections during the preceding Congress

In these special elections, the winner was elected during 1820 or before March 4, 1821; ordered by election date.

State	Incumbent			Results	Candidates
State	Senator	Party	Electoral history	Results	Candidates
New York (Class 3)	Vacant			Legislature had failed to elect in 1818/1819. Previous incumbent was elected January 8, 1820. Federalist gain.	▌Y Rufus King (Federalist) Unanimous
Massachusetts (Class 1)	Prentiss Mellen	Federalist	1820 (special)	Incumbent resigned to become Chief Justice of Maine. New senator elected June 12, 1820. Winner was also elected to the next term. Federalist hold.	▌Y Elijah H. Mills (Federalist) [data missing]
Maine (Class 1)	None (new state)			New senator elected June 13, 1820 on the second ballot. Winner was also elected to the next term. Democratic-Republican gain.	First ballot: ▌Y John Holmes (Democratic-Republican) 110 ▌Y John Chandler (Democratic-Republican) 93 ▌Y Joshua Wingate Jr. (Unknown) 84 ▌A. K. Parris (Democratic-Republican) 35 ▌Ezekiel Whitman (Federalist) 4 ▌James Neal (Unknown) 1 Second ballot: ▌Y John Holmes (Democratic-Republican) 95 ▌Joshua Wingate Jr. (Unknown) 79
Maine (Class 2)	None (new state)			New senator elected June 14, 1820. Democratic-Republican gain.	▌Y John Chandler (Democratic-Republican) [data missing]
Mississippi (Class 1)	Walter Leake	Democratic- Republican	1817	Incumbent resigned May 15, 1820. New senator elected August 30, 1820. Winner was also elected to the next term. Democratic-Republican hold.	▌Y David Holmes (Democratic-Republican) [data missing]
Kentucky (Class 3)	William Logan	Democratic- Republican	1818	Incumbent resigned May 28, 1820 to run for Governor of Kentucky. New senator elected October 19, 1820. Democratic-Republican hold.	▌Y Isham Talbot (Democratic-Republican) [data missing]
Rhode Island (Class 2)	James Burrill Jr.	Federalist	1816	Incumbent died December 25, 1820. New senator elected January 9, 1821. Democratic-Republican gain.	▌Y Nehemiah R. Knight (Democratic-Republican) [data missing]

Races leading to the next Congress

In these general elections, the winner was seated on March 4, 1821; ordered by state.

All of the elections involved the Class 1 seats.

State	Incumbent			Results	Candidates
State	Senator	Party	Electoral history	Results	Candidates
Connecticut	Samuel Dana	Federalist	1810 (special) 1814	Incumbent retired or lost re-election. New senator elected March 4, 1821. Democratic-Republican gain.	▌Y Elijah Boardman (Democratic-Republican) [data missing]
Delaware	Outerbridge Horsey	Federalist	1810 (special) 1815	Incumbent retired. Legislature failed to elect. Federalist loss. A Democratic-Republican was later elected in 1822.	[data missing]
Indiana	James Noble	Democratic- Republican	1816	Incumbent re-elected in 1821.	▌Y James Noble (Democratic-Republican) [data missing]
Maine	John Holmes	Democratic- Republican	1820	Incumbent re-elected January 31, 1821.	▌Y John Holmes (Democratic-Republican) [data missing]
Maryland	William Pinkney	Democratic- Republican	1819 (special)	Incumbent re-elected in 1820 or 1821.	▌Y William Pinkney (Democratic-Republican) [data missing]
Massachusetts	Elijah H. Mills	Federalist	1820 (special)	Incumbent re-elected in 1820.^[2]	▌Y Elijah H. Mills (Federalist) 65.3% ▌Benjamin W. Crowninshield (Democratic-Republican) 31.3% Scattering 3.3%^[2]
Mississippi	David Holmes	Democratic- Republican	1820 (special)	Incumbent re-elected in 1820 or 1821.	▌Y David Holmes (Democratic-Republican) [data missing]
New Jersey	James J. Wilson	Democratic- Republican	1815	Incumbent lost re-election. New senator elected November 11, 1820.^[3] Democratic-Republican hold. Incumbent then resigned January 8, 1821, and winner was appointed to finish the term.	▌Y Samuel L. Southard (Democratic-Republican) 55.6% ▌James J. Wilson (Democratic-Republican) 44.4%^[3]
New York	Nathan Sanford	Democratic- Republican	1809	Incumbent lost re-election. New senator elected February 6, 1821. Democratic-Republican hold.	▌Y Martin Van Buren (Democratic-Republican) ▌Nathan Sanford (Democratic-Republican)
Ohio	Benjamin Ruggles	Democratic- Republican	1815	Incumbent re-elected in 1820 or 1821.	▌Y Benjamin Ruggles (Democratic-Republican) [data missing]
Pennsylvania	Jonathan Roberts	Democratic- Republican	1814 (special) 1814	Legislature failed to elect. Democratic-Republican loss. New senator would later be elected in 1821.	[data missing]
Rhode Island	William Hunter	Federalist	1811 (special) 1814	Incumbent retired or lost re-election. New senator elected in 1820 or 1821. Democratic-Republican gain.	▌Y James DeWolf (Democratic-Republican) [data missing]
Tennessee	John H. Eaton	Democratic- Republican	1818 (appointed) 1819 (special)	Legislature failed to elect. Democratic-Republican loss. New senator would later be elected September 27, 1821; see below.^[4]	[data missing]
Vermont	Isaac Tichenor	Federalist	1796 (special) 1796 1797 (resigned) 1814	Incumbent retired. New senator elected in 1821. Democratic-Republican gain.	▌Y Horatio Seymour (Democratic-Republican) [data missing]
Virginia	James Barbour	Democratic- Republican	1814 (special) 1814	Incumbent re-elected in 1821.	▌Y James Barbour (Democratic-Republican) [data missing]

Special elections during the next Congress

In this special election, the winner was elected in 1821 after March 4; ordered by election date.

State	Incumbent			Results	Candidates
State	Senator	Party	Electoral history	Results	Candidates
Missouri (Class 1)	None (new state)			New senator elected August 10, 1821. Democratic-Republican gain.	▌Y Thomas H. Benton (Democratic-Republican) [data missing]
Missouri (Class 3)	None (new state)			New senator elected August 10, 1821. Democratic-Republican gain.	▌Y David Barton (Democratic-Republican) [data missing]
Tennessee (Class 1)	Vacant			Legislature had failed to elect. New senator re-elected late September 27, 1821.^[4] Democratic-Republican gain.	▌Y John H. Eaton (Democratic-Republican) [data missing]
Georgia (Class 2)	Freeman Walker	Democratic- Republican	1819 (special)	Incumbent resigned August 6, 1821. New senator elected November 10, 1821. Democratic-Republican hold.	▌Y Nicholas Ware (Democratic-Republican) [data missing]
Pennsylvania (Class 1)	Vacant			Legislature had failed to elect. New senator elected December 10, 1821. Democratic-Republican gain.	▌Y William Findlay (Democratic-Republican) [data missing]

Connecticut

Delaware

Georgia (special)

Indiana

Kentucky (special)

Maine

John Holmes (Democratic-Republican) was elected as one of the new states first pair of senators whose terms began with June 13, 1820, statehood. He was elected to the class 1 seat's short term, which ended March 3, 1821, and was re-elected January 31, 1821, to the term starting March 4, 1821.

John Chandler (Democratic-Republican) as elected to the class 2 seat's long term, and his term would end March 3, 1823.

Maryland

William Pinkney won election by an unknown number of votes, for the Class 1 seat.^[5]

Massachusetts

Massachusetts (regular)

Massachusetts (special)

Mississippi

Mississippi (regular)

Mississippi (special)

Missouri

New Jersey

New York

New York (regular)

New York (special)

Ohio

Pennsylvania

Rhode Island

Rhode Island (regular)

Rhode Island (special)

Tennessee

Tennessee (regular)

Tennessee (special)

Vermont

Virginia

Notes

References

^ "17th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Direct Election of U.S. Senators (1913)". National Archives and Records Administration. February 8, 2022.
^ ^a ^b "Massachusetts 1820 U.S. Senate". A New Nation Votes. Tufts University Digital Collections and Archives. November 11, 1820. Retrieved June 5, 2019.
^ ^a ^b "New Jersey 1820 U.S. Senate". A New Nation Votes. Tufts University Digital Collections and Archives. November 11, 1820. Retrieved June 9, 2015.
^ ^a ^b "EATON, John Henry, (1790 - 1856)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved June 9, 2015.
^ "Our Campaigns - MD US Senate Race - Dec 07, 1821". www.ourcampaigns.com. Retrieved 2022-11-05.

Party Division in the Senate, 1789-Present, via Senate.gov
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.

[1] "17th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution: Direct Election of U.S. Senators (1913)". National Archives and Records Administration. February 8, 2022.

[Massachusetts_general-2] "Massachusetts 1820 U.S. Senate". A New Nation Votes. Tufts University Digital Collections and Archives. November 11, 1820. Retrieved June 5, 2019.

[New_Jersey-3] "New Jersey 1820 U.S. Senate". A New Nation Votes. Tufts University Digital Collections and Archives. November 11, 1820. Retrieved June 9, 2015.

[bioguide.congress.gov-4] "EATON, John Henry, (1790 - 1856)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved June 9, 2015.

[5] "Our Campaigns - MD US Senate Race - Dec 07, 1821". www.ourcampaigns.com. Retrieved 2022-11-05.

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