1910 United States House of Representatives elections

1910 United States House of Representatives elections

← 1908 November 8, 1910[a] 1912 →

All 391 seats in the United States House of Representatives[b]
196 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 9th Illinois 2nd
Last election 172 seats 218 seats
Seats won 227[1][2][c] 161[1][2][d]
Seat change Increase 55 Decrease 57
Popular vote 5,700,035 5,680,628
Percentage 46.69% 46.53%
Swing Increase 1.31% Decrease 3.52%

  Third party Fourth party
 
Party Socialist Independent
Last election 0 seats 1 seat[e]
Seats won 1[1][2] 2[f][g][h]
Seat change Increase 1 Increase 1
Popular vote 527,968 57,938
Percentage 4.32% 0.47%
Swing Increase 1.94% Increase 0.04%

Speaker before election

Joseph Cannon
Republican

Elected Speaker

Champ Clark
Democratic

The 1910 United States House of Representatives elections were held for the most part on November 8, 1910, while Maine and Vermont held theirs early in September, in the middle of President William Howard Taft's term. Elections were held for all 391 seats of the United States House of Representatives, representing 46 states, to the 62nd United States Congress.

The conservative Taft contended with major factional splits within his Republican Party. Instead of using his position as president to bridge compromise, Taft alienated the progressive wing of the party, which had championed his predecessor, Theodore Roosevelt. While conservatives controlled the largest number of elected positions for Republicans, progressive politics had been what brought many voters to the polls. The clash of these units of the Republican Party, combined with the message of unity from the Democratic Party, was enough to allow the Democrats to take control of the House, ending 16 years in opposition. This was the first time that the Socialist Party won a seat.


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  1. ^ a b c "Party Divisions of the House of Representatives* 1789–Present". Office of the Historian, United States House of Representatives. Retrieved May 18, 2015.
  2. ^ a b c Martis, pp. 164–165.

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