Elections to the United States House of Representatives were held in Pennsylvania on October 12, 1802, for the 8th Congress.
Background In the previous election, 13 Representatives (10 Democratic-Republicans and 3 Federalists) had been elected to the 7th Congress. Two (both Democratic-Republicans) had resigned and were replaced in special elections by others of the same party.
Congressional districts Pennsylvania gained 5 seats in reapportionment following the 1800 census. In redistricting, the number of districts was reduced from 12 to 11, of which four were plural districts with 11 Representatives between them. Most of the new districts had borders that were very different from the previous districts. The new districts were as follows: The (3 seats) consisted of Delaware and Philadelphia counties (including the City of Philadelphia) The (3 seats) consisted of Bucks, Luzerne, Montgomery, Northampton, and Wayne Counties The (3 seats) consisted of Berks, Chester, and Lancaster Counties The (2 seats) consisted of Cumberland, Dauphin, Huntingdon, and Mifflin Counties The consisted of Centre, Lycoming, and Northumberland Counties The consisted of Adams and York Counties The consisted of Bedford and Franklin Counties The consisted of Armstrong, Somerset, and Westmoreland Counties The consisted of Fayette and Greene Counties The consisted of Washington County The consisted of Allegheny, Beaver, Butler, Crawford, Erie, Mercer, Venango, and Warren Counties
Numerous counties had been created between 1800 and 1802 split off from other counties, and several were still administratively attached to other counties.
Note: Many of these counties covered much larger areas than they do today, having since been divided into smaller counties
Election results Twelve incumbents (9 Democratic-Republicans and 3 Federalists) ran for re-election, many in new districts. William Jones (DR) of the did not run for re-election. Of those who ran for re-election, all 9 Democratic-Republicans were re-elected, and all 3 Federalists lost to Democratic-Republicans. The six open seats were all won by Democratic-Republicans, returning an all-Democratic-Republican delegation to the 8th Congress.
+1802 United States House election results District Democratic-Republican Federalist 3 seats Joseph Clay 4,363 20.2% George Latimer 2,895 13.4% Jacob Richards 4,316 20.0% Peter Brown 2,875 13.3% Michael Leib (I) 3,980 18.4% Jonas Preston 2,847 13.2% Elisha Gordon 304 1.4% 3 seats Robert Brown (I) 11,456 33.0% Samuel Sitgreaves 3,939 11.3% Isaac Van Horne (I) 10,697 30.8% Nathaniel Borleau 1,682 4.8% Frederick Conrad 6,205 17.9% Lord Butler 781 2.2% 3 seats John Whitehill 9,396 22.1% Jacob Bower 4,932 11.6% Isaac Anderson 9,365 22.0% Joseph Hemphill (I) 4,853 11.4% Joseph Hiester (I) 9,236 21.7% Thomas Boude (I) 4,829 11.3% 2 seats John A. Hanna (I) 6,110 50.5% David Bard 5,970 49.3% David Mitchell 28 0.2% Andrew Gregg (I) 4,258 100% John Stewart (I) 2,285 56.7% John Edie 1,748 43.3% John Rea 2,173 66.6% Henry Woods (I) 941 28.9% John McLene 147 4.5% William Findley 1,531 53.9% Jacob Painter 1,312 46.1% John Smilie (I) 2,718 100% William Hoge (I) 2,300 100% John Lucas 2,168 48.9% John Wilkins 1,624 36.7% Alexander Foster 638 14.4%
Special election William Hoge (DR) of the resigned October 15, 1804. A special election was held November 2, 1804 to fill the resulting vacancy
+1804 Special election results District Democratic-Republican Federalist John Hoge 477 52.1% Aaron Lyle 439 47.9%
John Hoge was William's brother.
References Electoral data are from the Wilkes University Election Statistics Project