1842–43 United States House of Representatives elections

The 1842–43 United States House of Representatives elections were held on various dates in various states between August 1, 1842, and November 8, 1843. Each state set its own date for its elections to the House of Representatives before the first session of the 28th United States Congress convened on December 4, 1843. The exception was Maryland, who held theirs so late that they ran into February 1844. These elections occurred during President John Tyler's term. The congressional reapportionment based on the 1840 United States census unusually decreased the number of House seats, from 242 down to 223.

1842–43 United States House of Representatives elections

August 1, 1842 – November 8, 1843

All 223 seats in the United States House of Representatives
112 seats needed for a majority
  Majority party Minority party
 
Leader John Jones John White
Party Democratic Whig
Leader's seat Virginia 6th Kentucky 6th
Last election 98 seats 142 seats
Seats won 147 72
Seat change 49 70
Popular vote 1,051,561 905,910
Percentage 51.27% 44.17%
Swing 3.44% 6.89%

  Third party Fourth party
 
Party Law and Order Independent
Last election Pre-creation 2 seats
Seats won 2 2
Seat change 2
Popular vote 7,145 42,236
Percentage 0.35% 2.06%
Swing New Party 1.21%

Speaker before election

John White
Whig

Elected Speaker

John Jones
Democratic

After Whig President William Henry Harrison died within a month of taking office, his successor as president, John Tyler was only nominally a Whig who had not been properly validated for alignment to Whig policy. Effectively an independent, Tyler was disliked by politicians and was unpopular with voters of both parties, leaving the Whigs unexpectedly leaderless and in visible disarray.

Despite the improving economy, rural voters favored Democrats, again rejecting Whig economic nationalism. The Whig Party lost 69 seats and their sizeable majority from the 1840 election, almost half their House delegation (one of the Whigs who won re-election was William Wright of New Jersey, elected as an "Independent Whig" ).

The Democrats won a majority, flipping 48 Whig seats (this includes Henry Nes of Pennsylvania, elected as an Independent Democrat). In Rhode Island, the Law and Order Party, formed in response to the Dorr Rebellion, won both of Rhode Island's two seats.

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