The 1794âÂÂ95 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 1794 and 1795, 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 3.
This was the first election cycle with organized political parties in the United States, with the Federalist Party emerging from the Pro Administration coalition, and the Democratic-Republican Party emerging from the Anti-Administration coalition.
Senate party division, 4th Congress (1795âÂÂ1797)
Note: There were no political parties in the 3rd Congress. Members are informally grouped here into factions of similar interest, based on an analysis of their voting record.
After the March 31, 1794 special election in Pennsylvania.
Seven senators who were considered "Anti-Administration" became Democratic-Republicans and eleven "Pro-Administration" became Federalists.
Except if/when noted, the number following candidates is the whole number vote(s), not a percentage.
In these special elections, the winner was seated before March 4, 1795; ordered by election date.
In these regular elections, the winner was seated on March 4, 1795; ordered by state.
All of the elections involved the Class 3 seats.
There were no elections in 1795 after March 4.
The Delaware special election was held February 7, 1795. Incumbent Senator George Read had resigned to take the position of Chief Justice of the Delaware Supreme Court. Henry Latimer defeated the former Governor of Delaware, Governor of Pennsylvania and Continental Congressmen from Delaware and Pennsylvania by one vote.
John Henry won election over James Lloyd by an unknown number of votes for the Class 3 seat.
Incumbent Federalist Robert Morris, who was elected in 1788, was not a candidate for re-election to another term. The Pennsylvania General Assembly convened on February 26, 1795, to elect a senator for the term beginning March 4, 1795.
Even though neither of Virginia's incumbent's terms were up, both resigned in 1794, leading to two special elections.
Future-president James Monroe resigned March 27, 1794 to become U.S. Minister to France.
Stevens Thomson Mason was elected November 18, 1794 and would become a Democratic-Republican in the next Congress.
Incumbent John Taylor of Caroline resigned May 11, 1794.
Henry Tazewell was elected November 18, 1794 and would become a Democratic-Republican in the next Congress.