The 1802–03 United States Senate elections were held on various dates in various states. 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 1802 and 1803, and a seat may have been filled months late or remained vacant due to legislative deadlock. In these elections, terms were up for the senators in Class 1.

The Democratic-Republican Party maintained and greatly expanded their majority of seats to over two-thirds of the Senate.

Change in composition

Before the elections Accounting for the 1802 special elections in New York, Rhode Island, and South Carolina.

DR DR DR DR DR DR DR DR DR DR DR DR DR DR DR DR Majority → DR F F F F F F F F F F F F F F F

Result of the regular elections

DR DR DR DR DR DR DR DR DR DR DR DR DR DR DR DR Majority → DR F F F V V DR DR DR DR F F F F F F

Beginning of the first session, October 17, 1803 DR DR DR DR DR DR DR DR DR DR DR DR DR DR DR DR DR Majority → DR F F DR DR DR DR DR DR DR F F F F F F F

Key: DR Democratic-Republican F Federalist V Vacant

Race summaries Unless noted, the number following candidates is the whole number vote(s), not a percentage.

Special elections during the 7th Congress In these special elections, the winner was seated before March 4, 1803; ordered by election date.

State Incumbent Results Candidates Senator Party Electoral history Delaware(Class 1) Samuel White Federalist 1801 Interim appointee elected January 14, 1802. New York(Class 3) John Armstrong Jr. Democratic-Republican 1800 Incumbent resigned February 5, 1802.Winner elected February 11, 1802.Democratic-Republican hold. New Hampshire(Class 3) James Sheafe Federalist 1800 Incumbent resigned June 14, 1802.Winner elected June 17, 1802.Federalist hold. South Carolina(Class 3) John E. Colhoun Democratic-Republican 1800 Incumbent died October 26, 1802.Winner elected November 4, 1802.Democratic-Republican hold.

Races leading to the 8th Congress

In these regular elections, the winner was seated on March 4, 1803; ordered by state.

All of the elections involved the Class 1 seats. State Incumbent Results Candidates Senator Party Electoral history Connecticut James Hillhouse Federalist 1796 Incumbent re-elected October 27, 1802. Delaware Samuel White Federalist 1801 1802 Incumbent re-elected January 11, 1803. Maryland John E. Howard Federalist 1796 1796 Incumbent lost re-election.New senator elected November 17, 1802.Democratic-Republican gain. Massachusetts Jonathan Mason Federalist 1800 Incumbent retired.New senator elected February 7, 1803, on the fourth ballot.Federalist hold. New Jersey Aaron Ogden Federalist 1801 Incumbent lost re-election.Legislature failed to elect.Federalist loss. New York Gouverneur Morris Federalist 1800 Incumbent lost re-election.New senator elected February 1, 1803, on the 2nd ballot.Democratic-Republican gain. Pennsylvania James Ross Federalist 1794 1797 Incumbent retired.New senator elected December 14, 1802.Democratic-Republican gain. Rhode Island Theodore Foster Federalist 1796 Incumbent retired.New senator elected in 1802.Democratic-Republican gain. Tennessee Joseph Anderson Democratic-Republican 1799 Legislature did not elect until September 22, 1803, after the term began; see below.Democratic-Republican loss. None. Vermont Nathaniel Chipman Federalist 1797 Incumbent lost re-election.New senator elected in 1802.Democratic-Republican gain. Virginia Stevens Mason Democratic-Republican 1794 1796 Incumbent re-elected in 1803.

Special elections during the 8th Congress In this special election, the winner was seated in 1803 after March 4. State Incumbent Results Candidates Senator Party Electoral history Massachusetts(Class 2) Dwight Foster Federalist 1800 Incumbent resigned March 2, 1803.Winner elected March 2, 1803, on the second ballot.Federalist hold. Ohio(Class 1) None (new state) Ohio joined the Union in 1803.Winner elected April 1, 1803.Democratic-Republican gain. Ohio(Class 3) None (new state) Ohio joined the Union in 1803.Winner elected April 1, 1803.Democratic-Republican gain. Tennessee(Class 1) Vacant Legislature had failed to elect.Predecessor re-elected late September 22, 1803 on the 4th ballot.Democratic-Republican gain. New Jersey(Class 1) John Condit Democratic-Republican 1803 Legislature failed to elect.Condit was appointed September 1, 1803, to continue the term.He was then elected November 3, 1803. Virginia(Class 1) John Taylor Democratic-Republican 1792 1793 Predecessor Stevens T. Mason (DR) had died May 10, 1803, having just begun the new term.Interim appointee served from June 4, 1803, and did not seek election to finish the term.Winner elected December 7, 1803.Democratic-Republican hold.

Early race leading to the Congress-after-next In this regular election, the winner was seated on March 4, 1805; ordered by state.

This election involved a Class 2 seat.

State Incumbent Results Candidates Senator Party Electoralhistory Tennessee William Cocke Democratic-Republican 1799 Incumbent retired.New senator elected early September 23, 1803.Democratic-Republican hold.

Connecticut

Federalist incumbent James Hillhouse (originally elected in 1796) was re-elected.

Delaware

Delaware (regular)

Delaware (special)

Maryland

Samuel Smith won election over John Eager Howard by a margin of 21.05%, or 16 votes, for the Class 1 seat.

Massachusetts

Massachusetts (regular)

Massachusetts (special)

New Hampshire (special)

New Jersey

There were two elections to the class 1 seat.

New Jersey (regular)

The New Jersey legislature failed to elect by the March 4, 1803, beginning of the term.

New Jersey (special)

The governor appointed Democratic-Republican John Condit September 1, 1803, to continue the term. Condit was then unanimously elected November 3, 1803, to finish the term. No vote totals were recorded.

New York

New York (special)

Democratic-Republican John Armstrong Jr., who had held the class 3 seat since 1801, resigned February 5, 1802, and Democratic-Republican DeWitt Clinton was elected February 23, 1802, to finish the term. Clinton, however, resigned November 4, 1803, and Armstrong was appointed December 8, 1803, to his old seat.

New York (regular)

Federalist Gouverneur Morris lost re-election to the class 1 seat to Democratic-Republican Theodorus Bailey in 1803.

Ohio

Ohio joined the Union in 1803. New Democratic-Republican senators were elected April 1, 1803. Official records indicate that John Smith and Thomas Worthington were elected, and that Smith received the "long" term, while Worthington received the "short" one. They do not indicate if there were other candidates, or what the vote totals were.

Pennsylvania

Rhode Island

South Carolina (special)

Tennessee

Vermont

Federalist Senator Nathaniel Chipman lost re-election to Democratic-Republican Israel Smith. Smith received 102 votes in the Vermont House of Representatives and 9 from the Governor and Council. Spencer received 75 votes from the House and 4 from the Governor and Council.

Virginia

There were two elections to the same seat as the newly-re-elected senator died at the beginning of the next term.

Virginia (regular)

Two-term Democratic-Republican Stevens Mason was re-elected in 1803.

Virginia (special)

Mason died May 10, 1803, having just begun the new term. Democratic-Republican John Taylor was appointed but chose not to run to finish the term. Democratic-Republican Abraham B. Venable was elected December 7, 1803, as the unanimous choice of the Virginia General Assembly. No vote totals were recorded.

See also 1802 United States elections 1802–03 United States House of Representatives elections 7th United States Congress 8th United States Congress

References

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