1852–53 United States House of Representatives elections

The 1852–53 United States House of Representatives elections were held on various dates in various states between August 2, 1852, and November 8, 1853. Each state set its own date for its elections to the House of Representatives before the first session of the 33rd United States Congress convened on December 5, 1853. The size of the House increased to 234 seats following the congressional reapportionment based on the 1850 United States census.

1852–53 United States House of Representatives elections

August 2, 1852 – November 8, 1853

All 234 seats in the United States House of Representatives
118 seats needed for a majority
  Majority party Minority party
 
Leader Linn Boyd Joseph R. Chandler
Party Democratic Whig
Leader's seat Kentucky 1st Pennsylvania 2nd
Last election 120 seats 82 seats
Seats won 150 68
Seat change 30 14
Popular vote 1,566,004 1,308,031
Percentage 49.82% 41.61%
Swing 6.51% 0.28%

  Third party Fourth party
 
Party Free Soil Unionist
Last election 4 seats 15 seats
Seats won 4 5
Seat change 10
Popular vote 125,271 22,139
Percentage 3.99% 0.70%
Swing 0.87% 3.99%

  Fifth party Sixth party
 
Party Southern Rights Independent
Last election 8 seats 4 seats
Seats won 4 3
Seat change 4 1
Popular vote 20,326 87,826
Percentage 0.65% 2.79%
Swing 3.48%


Speaker before election

Linn Boyd
Democratic

Elected Speaker

Linn Boyd
Democratic

Democrats increased their House majority while electing national compromise candidate Franklin Pierce, a Northerner favorable to Southern interests, to the Presidency. Effects of the Compromise of 1850 temporarily had reduced sectional tensions, and both major parties, Democrats and Whigs, unified around the 1852 presidential campaign, with Whig unity more tenuous. Two small parties, the Constitutional Unionists and States' Rights parties, collapsed before this election, while the Free Soil Party, opposing slavery in the Western territories, retained four seats. One Independent, Caleb Lyon, was elected from New York.

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