United States House of Representatives elections, 1858

United States House of Representatives elections, 1858

1856 ← → 1860

All 238 seats to the United States House of Representatives 120 seats were needed for a majority   Majority party Minority party   Leader William Pennington Thomas Bocock Party Republican Democratic Leader's seat New Jersey-5th Virginia-5th Last election 90 seats 132 seats Seats won 116 83 Seat change +26 -49

Speaker before election James Orr Democratic Elected Speaker William Pennington Republican

Following the U.S. House election of 1858, the Republicans gained control of the House for the first time, benefiting from the continued breakdown in the anti-immigration and anti-Catholic American Party of the Know Nothing Movement, and from strife within the Democratic Party.

The Republicans were actually several seats short of a numerical majority, but were able to exercise authority by mustering support from members of other parties. The deeply divided Democrats continued to fall apart due to the slavery issue, losing a number of seats, and the American Party all but collapsed. A number of former Whigs who were dissatisfied with their short membership in the Republican Party, as well as some former Know Nothings, formed the Opposition Party, which generally allied more with the Republicans than Democrats.

Overall results

Party	Total seats (change)		Seat percentage
Republican Party	116	+26	48.7%
Democratic Party	83	-49	34.9%
Opposition Party	19	+19	8.0%
Anti-Lecompton Democrat	8	+8	3.3%
Independent Democrats	7	+6	2.9%
American Party	5	-9	2.1%
Totals	238	+1	100%

California

Note: From statehood to 1864, California's representatives were elected at-large, with the top two vote-getters winning election from 1849 to 1858; in 1860 when California gained a seat in the House the top three vote-getters were elected.

District	Incumbents	Status	Candidates	Winners
California's 2 at-large seats	Charles L. Scott (Democratic)	Ran for re-election	John C. Burch (Democratic) 28.4% Charles L. Scott (Democratic) 28.1% Joseph C. McKibbin (Anti-Lecompton Democratic) 21.4% Edward D. Baker (Republican) 20.4% S. A. Booker (Anti-Lecompton Democratic) 1.5% P. H. Sibley (Republican) 0.1%	John C. Burch (Democratic)
	Joseph C. McKibbin (Anti-Lecompton Democratic)	Ran for re-election		Charles L. Scott (Democratic)

See also

• http://clerk.house.gov/histHigh/Congressional_History