1869 Texas Senate election
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The 1869 Texas Senate elections took place in tandem with the 1869 Texas gubernatorial election and the election for the ratification of a new state constitution as a part of Texas's readmission to the United States following the Civil War. Texas voters elected state senators in all 30 State Senate districts. The winners of this election served in the 12th Texas Legislature, holding staggered six-year terms. This was the first time the Republican Party had ever won a majority in the Texas Senate, and it would be the only time they would do so until 1996.
 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
November 30, 1869
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
All 30 seats in the Texas Senate 16 seats needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Republican win Democratic win Independent win Non-district territory | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Background
Texas underwent military occupation as a part of Reconstruction following the defeat of the Confederate States of America in the Civil War. The state adopted a new constitution in 1866 and held legislative elections, which were won primarily by conservative White Democrats. The legislature refused to adopt the Thirteenth Amendment and instead passed laws establishing "black codes" to attempt to maintain a system of white supremacy. This legislature was declared provisional after the passage of the First Reconstruction Act by Congress in 1867 as the state government underwent a full military takeover. Any elected official who had failed to take a "Test Oath" had been removed by April 1869.
A new constitutional convention was called in June 1868, but it did not adjourn until February 1869. A new election was initially planned for the Spring, but it was not held until the end of the year. Elections for governor and the legislature were held concurrently with the election to ratify the state's new constitution.[1]
Results
Republicans won a majority of seats, securing nineteen while Democrats won nine.[1] Two conservative independents also won seats.[2] Two African Americans, George Ruby and Matthew Gaines, were among the Republicans elected, the first to do so in the state's history.[3][4] Every elected Republican was considered a Radical Republican except for Andrew Evans, who was unseated in an election contest shortly after taking office and replaced by Radical Republican S.W. Ford.[5]
Detailed results by district
Candidates are not listed with political parties in the results. The parties of all victorious candidates are known, and the parties of others may be assumed by the presence of candidates running in the concurrent House election in the same district.[6]
District 1
Colonel Edward Bradford Pickett, a lawyer and veteran of the MexicanâAmerican War, was elected as a Democrat to represent the 1st district, based in the southeastern corner of the state. Pickett had previously been elected to the House of Representatives in 1860 before leading a volunteer company to fight for the Confederacy.[7]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Edward Bradford Pickett | 1,339 | 55.22% | ||
| Republican | J. H. Thomas | 653 | 26.19% | ||
| Republican | William Chambers | 235 | 9.69% | ||
| Independent | A. J. Harrison | 197 | 8.12% | ||
| Independent | C. H. Jones | 1 | 0.04% | ||
| Total votes | 2,425 | 100.0% | |||
| Democratic win | |||||
District 2
Democrat Amos Clark was elected to represent the 2nd district, based in Nacogdoches. Over 70 years old at the time of his election, he was one of the oldest members of the legislature. He later died in office in 1871.[8]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Amos Clark | 1,022 | 36.40% | ||
| Republican | D. S. Carnahan | 685 | 24.39% | ||
| Independent | W. A. Reeves | 629 | 22.40% | ||
| Independent | R. Waterhouse | 472 | 16.81% | ||
| Total votes | 2,808 | 100.0% | |||
| Democratic win | |||||
District 3
Republican Mijamin Priest, a Presbyterian pastor and former member of the Alabama House of Representatives, was elected to represent the 3rd district, covering Cherokee and Houston counties, in a highly contested race against Democrat James Eldrage Dillard. Priest had taken an amnesty oath following the Civil War, suggesting he had served in the Confederate military. Supporters of Dillard charged that the close election had been stolen by Priest, but Priest was nonetheless declared the victor.[9] Priest refused to take the Ironclad Oath required to qualify for his seat initially and was declared ineligible for his office by the military government, but he would eventually qualify for the following called session in April 1870.[10]
Priest resigned in late 1870, and Dillard would be elected to fill his seat in the ensuing special election.[9] The highly public and controversial battle between Priest and Dillard over the results of the election deteriorated the public's perception of the Radical Republicans.[10]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Mijamin Priest | 1,259 | 51.49% | ||
| Democratic | James Eldrage Dillard | 1,186 | 48.51% | ||
| Total votes | 2,445 | 100.0% | |||
| Republican win | |||||
District 4
Republican Elisha Pettit, the former president of Marshall University, was elected to represent the 4th district.[11]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Elisha Pettit | 1,201 | 50.63% | ||
| Democratic | W. H. Tucker | 1,171 | 49.37% | ||
| Total votes | 2,372 | 100.0% | |||
| Republican win | |||||
District 5
Republican Webster Flanagan, the son of J. W. Flanagan, who was concurrently elected lieutenant governor, was elected to represent the 5th district, based in Rusk and Panola counties. Flanagan was a Unionist prior to the Civil War, but he served in the Confederate army until he contracted tuberculosis. A Radical Republican, Flanagan was a delegate to the convention which produced the Constitution of 1869. He became popular in his district by preventing the stationing of federal troops there during the Union occupation.[12]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Webster Flanagan | 1,263 | 50.80% | ||
| Democratic | W. B. Ector | 1,223 | 49.20% | ||
| Total votes | 2,486 | 100.0% | |||
| Republican win | |||||
District 6
Major James Postell Douglas was elected to represent the 6th district, based in Tyler. Having served in the Confederate army, he partially owned and edited the Tyler Reporter and facilitated the construction of multiple railroads in the region.[13]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | James Postell Douglas | 1,274 | 47.10% | ||
| Republican | Z. Norton | 997 | 36.86% | ||
| Republican | L. P. Harris | 433 | 16.01% | ||
| Independent | Van Hamilton | 1 | 0.04% | ||
| Total votes | 2,705 | 100.0% | |||
| Democratic win | |||||
District 7
Radical Republican Henry Rawson was elected to represent the 7th district, composed solely of Harrison County. He had held no other political office prior to his election.[14]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Henry Rawson | 1,830 | 75.62% | ||
| Democratic | J. M. Nascomb | 590 | 24.38% | ||
| Total votes | 2,420 | 100.0% | |||
| Republican win | |||||
District 8
Republican Donald Campbell, a staunch Unionist before the Civil War, was elected to represent the 8th district. He was elected president pro tempore of the Senate after lieutenant governor J. W. Flanagan was elected to the United States Senate, giving Campbell the office ex officio.[15]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Donald Campbell | 1,490 | 52.91% | ||
| Democratic | W. L. Crawford | 1,326 | 47.09% | ||
| Total votes | 2,816 | 100.0% | |||
| Republican win | |||||
District 9
Democrat Henry R. Latimer, a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence, was elected to represent the 9th district, based in Red River County.[16]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Henry R. Latimer | 1,078 | 52.97% | ||
| Republican | W. H. Fleming | 953 | 46.83% | ||
| Independent | A. J. Harrison | 3 | 0.15% | ||
| Independent | C. H. Jones | 1 | 0.05% | ||
| Total votes | 2,035 | 100.0% | |||
| Democratic win | |||||
District 10
Democrat David W. Cole, one of the first White settlers in the area, was elected to represent the 10th district, covering Lamar and Hopkins counties. One of very few conservatives present at the constitutional convention, Cole was arrested for refusing to vote on the controversial issue of dividing the state, though he was later released and voted to keep the state whole.[17]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | David W. Cole | 882 | 54.44% | ||
| Republican | B. A. VanSickle | 734 | 45.31% | ||
| Write-in | 4 | 0.25% | |||
| Total votes | 1,620 | 100.0% | |||
| Democratic win | |||||
District 11
Ebenezer L. Dohoney, a moderately conservative Democrat, was elected to represent the 11th district, based in Paris. A staunch Unionist who gained notoriety when he successfully swayed the voters of his home of Lamar County to oppose secession in 1861, he nonetheless served in the Confederate army for a year during the Civil War. After the war, he was appointed district attorney for the region, overseeing the chaotic and violent early Reconstruction era. Uncommon for the era, Dohoney supported gun control and women's suffrage.[18]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Ebenezer L. Dohoney | 618 | 29.16% | ||
| Republican | R. Peterson | 563 | 26.57% | ||
| Republican | J. M. Long | 457 | 21.57% | ||
| Democratic | S. J. Spotts | 299 | 14.11% | ||
| Write-in | 182 | 8.59% | |||
| Total votes | 2,119 | 100.0% | |||
| Democratic win | |||||
District 12
Radical Republican George Ruby was elected to represent the 12th district, based in Galveston, becoming, alongside Matthew Gaines, one of the first two African Americans elected to the Texas Senate. Prior to his election, Ruby had spent time in Haiti and New Orleans advocating for the rights of Black people. He moved to Galveston while working with the Freedmen's Bureau and quickly became prominent in Republican Party politics. He was also one of twelve African American members of the constitutional convention.[19]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | George Ruby | 1,955 | 54.47% | ||
| Democratic | A. P. McCormick | 1,634 | 45.53% | ||
| Total votes | 3,589 | 100.0% | |||
| Republican win | |||||
District 13
Republican John G. Bell was elected to represent the 13th district. A veteran of the Seminole War, he was a staunch Unionist prior to the Civil War, although a level of involvement with the Confederacy forced him to take the Ironclad Oath before he could run for office.[20]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | John G. Bell | 1,405 | 45.54% | ||
| Republican | R. K. Smith | 1,161 | 37.63% | ||
| Democratic | T. S. McDade | 410 | 13.29% | ||
| Democratic | W. E. Kendall | 74 | 2.40% | ||
| Write-in | 35 | 1.13% | |||
| Total votes | 3,085 | 100.0% | |||
| Republican win | |||||
District 14
William Henry Parsons was elected to represent the 14th district, based in Harris County. A colonel in the Confederate Army, Parsons had staunchly supported states' rights before the war, publishing a newspaper to espouse his positions and attending the state's secession convention in 1860.[21][22] Parsons commanded the 12th Texas Cavalry Regiment during the war, primarily fighting against the Union in Arkansas and Louisiana.[23] By the time of his election to the Senate, however, Parsons had become a Radical Republican, arguing fervently for the passage of the 15th Amendment and denouncing the Democratic Party as traitors.[24]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | William H. Parsons | 1,898 | 60.79% | ||
| Democratic | D. J. Baldwin | 1,224 | 39.21% | ||
| Total votes | 3,122 | 100.0% | |||
| Republican win | |||||
District 15
Republican John S. Mills of Grimes County was elected to represent the 15th district. A prominent member of the party, he had served as the vice president of their 1869 state convention.[22]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | John S. Mills | 2,690 | 72.35% | ||
| Democratic | C. Caldwell | 1,021 | 27.46% | ||
| Write-in | 7 | 0.19% | |||
| Total votes | 3,718 | 100.0% | |||
| Republican win | |||||
District 16
Radical Republican Matthew Gaines was elected to represent the 16th district, based in Galveston, becoming, alongside George Ruby, one of the first two African Americans elected to the Texas Senate. A freedman, Gaines was self-educated and became a minister. He was a firebrand for the rights of African Americans, especially regarding public education and integrated schooling.[25]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Matthew Gaines | 1,857 | 69.16% | ||
| Democratic | B. O. Watrous | 808 | 30.09% | ||
| Independent | J. T. Swearinger | 18 | 0.67% | ||
| Independent | William T. Clark | 2 | 0.07% | ||
| Total votes | 2,685 | 100.0% | |||
| Republican win | |||||
District 17
Radical Republican William A. Saylor was elected to represent the 17th district, based in Brazos County.[26]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | William A. Saylor | 1,193 | 58.62% | ||
| Democratic | A. B. Cunningham | 588 | 28.89% | ||
| Democratic | James Shaw | 251 | 12.33% | ||
| Independent | A. Anderson | 3 | 0.15% | ||
| Total votes | 2,035 | 100.0% | |||
| Republican win | |||||
District 18
Radical Republican Phidello W. Hall of Robertson County was elected to represent the 18th district.[27]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Phidello W. Hall | 1,610 | 51.24% | ||
| Democratic | William Keigwin | 1,532 | 48.76% | ||
| Total votes | 3,142 | 100.0% | |||
| Republican win | |||||
District 19
Liberal Republican Andrew Jackson Evans was elected to represent the 19th district, based in McLennan County, but Radical Republican S. W. Ford successfully contested this result and took Evans' place in the Senate a few months into his term.[5]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Andrew Jackson Evans | 1,498 | 48.79% | ||
| Republican | S. W. Ford | 1,330 | 43.32% | ||
| Democratic | C. R. Waters | 242 | 7.88% | ||
| Total votes | 3,070 | 100.0% | |||
| Republican win | |||||
District 20
Democrat William H. Pyle was elected to represent the 20th district, southeast of Dallas County. Pyle had served as a field surgeon in the Confederate Army during the Civil War.[28]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | William H. Pyle | 1,140 | 71.56% | ||
| Republican | J. H. Lippard | 441 | 27.68% | ||
| Independent | Robert Hodge | 12 | 0.75% | ||
| Total votes | 1,593 | 100.0% | |||
| Democratic win | |||||
District 21
Conservative Independent Samuel Evans, a member of the Texas House of Representatives, was elected to represent the 21st district, based in Dallas and Tarrant counties.[29] A farmer before the Civil War, Evans raised a company of cavalry for the Confederate Army.[30]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Independent | Samuel Evans | 1,355 | 61.31% | ||
| Independent | James K. Polk Record (incumbent) | 769 | 34.80% | ||
| Independent | B. F. Barkley | 86 | 3.89% | ||
| Total votes | 2,210 | 100.0% | |||
| Independent win | |||||
District 22
Conservative Independent Edward T. Broughton was elected to represent the 22nd district, northwest of Tarrant County, against members of both the Democratic and Republican parties.[c] Broughton had served in the Confederate Army as a lieutenant colonel in the 7th Texas Infantry and later in Hood's Texas Brigade.[31]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Independent | Edward T. Broughton | 746 | 43.52% | ||
| Democratic | Thomas Kealey | 572 | 33.37% | ||
| Republican | T. C. Bass | 394 | 22.99% | ||
| Independent | Conner | 2 | 0.12% | ||
| Total votes | 1,714 | 100.0% | |||
| Independent win | |||||
District 23
Democrat George R. Shannon, one of the earliest settlers of Johnson County, was elected to represent the 23rd district. A member of the Shannon political family, he succeeded his brother, William R. Shannon, who had represented the area during the 11th legislature.[32]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | George R. Shannon | 696 | 41.55% | ||
| Independent | B. F. Welcher | 455 | 27.16% | ||
| Independent | A. L. Kirk | 249 | 14.87% | ||
| Republican | W. F. Carter | 232 | 13.85% | ||
| Independent | J. G. Thomas | 43 | 2.57% | ||
| Total votes | 1,675 | 100.0% | |||
| Democratic win | |||||
District 24
Radical Republican Bolivar Jackson Pridgen of DeWitt County, a veteran of the MexicanâAmerican War, was elected to represent the 24th district. He focused on policies which promoted the construction of railroads and public schools throughout the state.[33]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Bolivar Jackson Pridgen | 1,174 | 51.83% | ||
| Democratic | F. M. White | 1,076 | 47.50% | ||
| Write-in | 15 | 0.66% | |||
| Total votes | 2,265 | 100.0% | |||
| Republican win | |||||
District 25
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Abner K. Foster | 1,689 | 62.63% | ||
| Democratic | J. D. Gilmore | 935 | 34.67% | ||
| Independent | A. J. Vaughan | 73 | 2.71% | ||
| Total votes | 2,697 | 100.0% | |||
| Republican win | |||||
District 26
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Enoch Leach Alford | 1,804 | 58.51% | ||
| Democratic | J. D. Sayers | 968 | 31.40% | ||
| Independent | H. Ledbetter | 311 | 10.09% | ||
| Total votes | 3,083 | 100.0% | |||
| Republican win | |||||
District 27
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Thomas H. Baker | 1,318 | 50.69% | ||
| Democratic | Jeptha Warren Stell (incumbent) | 1,265 | 48.65% | ||
| Write-in | 17 | 0.65% | |||
| Total votes | 2,600 | 100.0% | |||
| Republican win | |||||
District 28
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Marmion Henry Bowers | 1,907 | 56.55% | ||
| Independent | J. B. McFarland | 809 | 23.99% | ||
| Republican | Richard Talbot | 646 | 19.16% | ||
| Write-in | 10 | 0.30% | |||
| Total votes | 3,372 | 100.0% | |||
| Democratic win | |||||
District 29
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Theodor Rudolph Hertzberg | 1,871 | 53.92% | ||
| Democratic | H. C. King | 1,597 | 46.02% | ||
| Write-in | 2 | 0.06% | |||
| Total votes | 3,470 | 100.0% | |||
| Republican win | |||||
District 30
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Albert Jennings Fountain | 727 | 31.96% | ||
| Democratic | James B. Thomas | 683 | 30.02% | ||
| Republican | J. Lujan | 434 | 19.08% | ||
| Democratic | Alonzo A. DeAvalon | 412 | 18.11% | ||
| Write-in | 19 | 0.84% | |||
| Total votes | 2,275 | 100.0% | |||
| Republican win | |||||