The 1842–43 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 1842 and 1843, and a seat may have been filled months late or remained vacant due to legislative deadlock.[1] In these elections, terms were up for the senators in Class 3.
The Whigs lost seats but maintained control of the Senate. Although they lost three seats in the regular elections, they gained two of them back by the start of the first session in special elections.
Incumbent had been appointed March 1, 1842, to continue the term of Franklin Pierce (D), who had resigned February 28, 1842. Incumbent appointee elected in June 1842. Democratic hold.
Incumbent had been appointed April 23, 1842, to continue the term of Samuel Prentiss (W), who had resigned April 11, 1842, to become judge of the U.S. District Court of Vermont. Incumbent appointee elected October 26, 1842. Whig hold.
Unknown if incumbent retired or lost re-election. New senator elected in 1842 but, due to ill health and a credentials challenge, was unable to serve until May 16, 1844; nevertheless, his term began March 4, 1843. Democratic hold.
Incumbent had been appointed October 14, 1843, when Lewis F. Linn (D) had died October 3, 1843. Incumbent was subsequently elected sometime in 1843 after October 14. Democratic hold.
The election was held February 7, 1843, by the New York State Legislature. Silas Wright Jr. had been elected in 1833 to this seat after the resignation of William L. Marcy, and had been re-elected in 1837. Wright's term would expire on March 3, 1843. At the State election in November 1842, Democrat William C. Bouck was elected Governor, 92 Democrats and 36 Whigs were elected to the Assembly, and 8 Democrats and 1 Whig were elected to the State Senate. The 66th New York State Legislature met from January 3 to April 18, 1843, at Albany, New York. The incumbent U.S. Senator Silas Wright Jr. was re-nominated unanimously by a Democratic caucus on the eve of the election. Congressman Millard Fillmore was the candidate of the Whig Party. Silas Wright Jr. was the choice of both the Assembly and the Senate, and was declared elected.
Wright continued in the U.S. Senate, and remained in office until November 1844 when he resigned after his election as Governor of New York. Henry A. Foster was appointed to fill the vacancy temporarily, but the State Legislature elected John A. Dix for the remainder of Wright's term.
In 1841, Spencer Jarnagin was nominated for U.S. Senator by the Whig caucus in the Tennessee General Assembly. However, some of the Democrats in the legislature decided that no Senator would be preferable to a Whig. Known as the "Immortal Thirteen" by Tennessee Democrats, they refused to allow a quorum on the issue. By the time Jarnagin was eventually elected to the seat and sworn in, over two and half years, almost half of the term, had elapsed. Jarnagin finally assumed office on October 17, 1843.
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