1820–21 United States House of Representatives elections

One seat was added during this Congress for the new State of Missouri[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[lower-alpha 2]	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[lower-alpha 3]	13[lower-alpha 4]	6	1[lower-alpha 5]	7	1[lower-alpha 5]
Maine[lower-alpha 6]	Districts	November 7, 1820[lower-alpha 7]	7	5	1[lower-alpha 8]	2	1[lower-alpha 8]
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[lower-alpha 9]	1	0
Total[lower-alpha 1]			187	155 82.9%	5	32 17.1%	6

There were special elections in 1820 and 1821 to the 16th United States Congress and 17th 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.

See Non-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 in Maine since its separation from Massachusetts. In the previous election, Massachusetts had had 20 representatives. Seven seats (representing the 14th-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.[3] John Holmes, who had been elected to the House for the former 14th district of Massachusetts was elected as one of the first two senators for Maine. The vacancy was filled in a special election by Joseph 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 former District of Maine as the new State of Maine, taking the old 14th – 20th districts with it.

Massachusetts elected its members November 6, 1820. Massachusetts had a majority requirement for election, which was not met in the 2nd 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.

See Non-voting delegates, below.

Mississippi elected its member August 7–8, 1820.

Missouri was admitted to the union on August 10, 1821,[14] 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. The 21st district, previously a plural district with two seats, was divided into two single-member districts for the 17th Congress, the 21st and 22nd.

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 the 6th 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 a delegate 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

• "A New Nation Votes: American Election Returns 1787-1825". Tufts Digital Library, Tufts University. Retrieved January 17, 2015.
• 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.
• "Party Divisions of the House of Representatives* 1789–Present". Office of the Historian, United States House of Representatives. Retrieved January 21, 2015.
• Cox, Harold (January 14, 2007). "17th Congress 1821-1823" (PDF). Pennsylvania Election Statistics: 1682-2006 The Wilkes University Election Statistics Project. Wilkes University.

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