Contents

1912 United States House of Representatives elections

1912 United States House of Representatives elections

← 1910 November 5, 1912[a] 1914 →
All 435 seats in the United States House of Representatives 218 seats needed for a majority
Majority party Minority party   Leader Champ Clark James Mann Party Democratic Republican Leader since March 4, 1909 March 4, 1911 Leader's seat Missouri 5th Illinois 2nd Last election 229 seats 162 seats Seats won 291[1][2] 134[1][2] Seat change 62 28 Popular vote 8,224,857 7,396,644 Percentage 43.12% 38.78% Swing 3.42% 7.62%   Third party Fourth party   Party Progressive Socialist Last election 0 seats 1 seat Seats won 10[1][2][b][c] 0[1][2] Seat change 10 1 Popular vote 1,896,446[d] 1,507,806 Percentage 9.94% 7.90% Swing New 3.61%   Fifth party   Party Independent Last election 2 seats [e] Seats won 0 Seat change 2 Popular vote 49,622 Percentage 0.26% Swing 0.21%
Results:      Democratic hold      Democratic gain      Republican hold      Republican gain      Progressive gain      Independent gain
Speaker before election Champ Clark Democratic Elected Speaker Champ Clark Democratic

The 1912 United States House of Representatives elections were elections for the United States House of Representatives to elect members to serve in the 63rd United States Congress. They were held for the most part on November 5, 1912, while Maine and Vermont held theirs in September. They coincided with the election of President Woodrow Wilson.

Wilson's victory was partly due to the division of the opposition Republican Party into conservative and progressive factions. While many progressives stayed within the party framework, they maintained lukewarm relationships with Republican leadership. Others formed a third party known as the Progressives and several switched allegiance to the Democrats. A message of unity was portrayed by the Democrats, allowing this group to present themselves as above the bickering and corruption that had become associated with the Republican internal feud. Many of the new seats that were added after the prior census ended up in Democratic hands. In addition, William Kent, who had been elected to the House as a Republican in 1908, was elected to California's 1st congressional district as an Independent.

This was the first election after the congressional reapportionment based on the 1910 Census. The Apportionment Act of 1911 also guaranteed that Arizona and New Mexico would have one seat each after those states joined the union in early 1912. Under this reapportionment, the number of representatives was increased to 435, where it currently stands (the 435-seat cap was later made permanent after the passage of the Reapportionment Act of 1929, with the exception of 1959 when Alaska and Hawaii were admitted as states).

Election summaries[edit]

Inreapportionment following the 1910 census,^{[citation needed]} 41 new seats were added, bringing the House to its modern size. This would be the last time the size of the House changed, except for a temporary addition of two seats in 1959 after the admission of Alaska and Hawaii and subsequent return to 435 in 1963. In the reapportionment, 1 state lost 1 seat, 22 states had no change in apportionment, 16 states gained 1 seat each, 5 states gained 2 seats each, 2 states gained 3 seats, 1 state gained 4 seats, and 1 state gained 6 seats. Twelve states used at-large seats in addition to districts to elect new seats.

Results of the 1912 United States House of Representatives elections

Political party		Leader	MOCs						Votes
			Contested	Total	Gained	Lost	Net	Of total (%)	Total	Of total (%)	Change (%)
	Democratic	Champ Clark	431	291	71	10	61	66.90%	8,210,137	43.29%	-
	Republican	James Mann	370	134	17	46	29	30.80%	7,377,514	38.90%	-
	Progressive		208	8	0	8	8	1.84%	1,761,545	9.29%	-
	Socialist		335	0	1	0	1	0%	1,505,576	7.94%	-
	Prohibition		209	0	0	0		0%	279,036	1.47%	-
	Washington		13	2	0	2	2	0.46%	130,073	0.69%	-
	Keystone		8	0	0	0		0%	85,278	0.45%	-
	Progressive Republican		2	0	0	0		0%	23,078	0.12%	-
	Independent		25	0	0	0		0%	12,670	0.07%	-
	Bull Moose		2	0	0	0		0%	10,460	0.06%	-
	Socialist Labor		21	0	0	0		0%	8,499	0.04%	-
	Independence		9	0	0	0		0%	7,470	0.04%	-
	Roosevelt Progressive		1	0	0	0		0%	5,891	0.03%	-
	National Progressive		2	0	0	0		0%	5,714	0.03%	-
	Taft for President		1	0	0	0		0%	2,269	0.01%	-
	Industrialist		1	0	0	0		0%	1,075	0.01%	-
	Jefferson		1	0	0	0		0%	73	0.00%	-
	Workingmen's		1	0	0	0		0%	15	0.00%	-
Total				435					18,967,165

State	Type	Total seats (After reapportionment)		Democratic		Republican		Progressive		Independent
		Seats	Change	Seats	Change	Seats	Change	Seats	Change	Seats	Change
Alabama	District +at-large[g]	10	1	10	1	0		0		0
Arizona	At-large	1		1		0		0		0
Arkansas	District	7		7		0		0		0
California	District	11	3	3	2	7		0		1	1
Colorado	District +2 at-large[g]	4	1	4	1	0		0		0
Connecticut	District	5		5	4	0	4	0		0
Delaware	At-large	1		1	1	0	1	0		0
Florida	District +at-large[g]	4	1	4	1	0		0		0
Georgia	District	12	1	12	1	0		0		0
Idaho	At-large	2	1	0		2	1	0		0
Illinois	District +2 at-large[g]	27	2	20	9	5	9	2	2	0
Indiana	District	13		13	1	0	1	0		0
Iowa	District	11		3	2	8	2	0		0
Kansas	District	8		5	5	3	5	0		0
Kentucky	District	11		9		2		0		0
Louisiana	District	8	1	8	1	0		0		0
Maine[h]	District	4		1	1	3	1	0		0
Maryland	District	6		6	1	0	1	0		0
Massachusetts	District	16	2	7	3	9	1	0		0
Michigan	District +at-large[g]	13	1	2		9	1	2	2	0
Minnesota	District +at-large[g]	10	1	1		9	1	0		0
Mississippi	District	8		8		0		0		0
Missouri	District	16		15	2	1	2	0		0
Montana	At-large	2	1	2	2	0	1	0		0
Nebraska	District	6		3		3		0		0
Nevada	At-large	1		0		1		0		0
New Hampshire	District	2		2	2	0	2	0		0
New Jersey	District	12	2	11	4	1	2	0		0
New Mexico	At-large	1	1	1		0	1	0		0
New York	District	43	6	31	8	11	3	1	1	0
North Carolina	District	10		10		0		0		0
North Dakota	District	3	1	0		3	1	0		0
Ohio	District +at-large[g]	22	1	19	3	3	2	0		0
Oklahoma	District +3 at-large[g]	8	3	6	3	2		0		0
Oregon	District	3	1	0		3	1	0		0
Pennsylvania	District +4 at-large[g]	36	4	12	4	22	2	2	2	0
Rhode Island	District	3	1	2	1	1		0		0
South Carolina	District	7		7		0		0		0
South Dakota	District	3	1	0		3	1	0		0
Tennessee	District	10		8		2		0		0
Texas	District +2 at-large[g]	18	2	18	2	0		0		0
Utah	At-large	2	1	0		2	1	0		0
Vermont[h]	District	2		0		2		0		0
Virginia	District	10		9		1		0		0
Washington	District +2 at-large[g]	5	2	0		3		2	2	0
West Virginia	District +at-large[g]	6	1	2	2	4	3	0		0
Wisconsin	District	11		3	1	8	[i]	0		0
Wyoming	At-large	1		0		1		0		0
Total		435	41	291 66.9%	61	134 30.8%	29	9 2.1%	9	1 0.2%	1

Early election dates[edit]

Two states, with 6 seats between them, held elections early in 1912:

• September 3, 1912: Vermont
• September 9, 1912: Maine

This was the last year that Vermont held early elections.

Special elections[edit]

There were four special elections in 1912 to the 57th United States Congress.

Special elections are sorted by date then district.

Alabama[edit]

Arizona[edit]

Arkansas[edit]

California[edit]

Colorado[edit]

District	Incumbent			This race
	Member	Party	First elected	Results	Candidates
Colorado 1	Atterson W. Rucker	Democratic	1908	Incumbent lost renomination. Democratic hold.	▌Y George Kindel (Democratic) 45.8% ▌W. J. Crank (Progressive) 25.33% ▌Rice W. Means (Republican) 20.93% ▌John W. Martin (Socialist) 5.68% ▌Otto A. Reinhardt (Prohibition) 2.22%[35]
Colorado 2	John Andrew Martin	Democratic	1908	Incumbent retired. New member elected. Democratic hold.	▌Y Harry H. Seldomridge (Democratic) 44.5% ▌Charles A. Ballreich (Republican) 28.8% ▌Neil N. McLean (Progressive) 19.7% ▌S. A. Van Buskirk (Socialist) 7.0%[36]
Colorado at-large	New seat			New member elected. Democratic gain.	▌Y Edward T. Taylor (Democratic) 22.45% ▌Y Edward Keating (Democratic) 21.55% ▌Clarence P. Dodge (Progressive) 12.64% ▌Samuel H. Kinsley (Republican) 12.42% ▌Jesse J. Laton (Republican) 12.11% ▌Charles E. Fisher (Progressive) 11.46% ▌Unknown (Socialist) 3.14% ▌F. W. Brainard (Socialist) 3.08% ▌Samuel S. Stutzman (Prohibition) 1.14%[37]
	New seat			New member elected. Democratic gain.

Connecticut[edit]

Delaware[edit]

Florida[edit]

Georgia[edit]

Idaho[edit]

District	Incumbent			This race
	Member	Party	First elected	Results	Candidates
Idaho at-large 2 seats on a general ticket	Burton L. French	Republican	1910	Incumbent re-elected.	▌Y Burton L. French (Republican) 27.52% ▌Y Addison T. Smith (Republican) 22.40% ▌Perry W. Mitchell (Democratic) 15.51% ▌Edward M. Pugmire (Democratic) 15.45% ▌P. Monroe Smock (Progressive) 6.20% ▌G. W. Belloit (Socialist) 5.86% ▌Edward L. Rigg (Socialist) 5.86% ▌John Tucker (Prohibition) 0.61% ▌Jonathan G. Carrick (Prohibition) 0.60%[58]
	None (New seat)			New seat. Republican gain.

Illinois[edit]