1873 United States Senate election in Wisconsin

Last updated March 09, 2025

The 1873 United States Senate election in Wisconsin was held in the 26th Wisconsin Legislature on January 22, 1873. Incumbent Republican U.S. senator Timothy O. Howe was re-elected on the first ballot, becoming the first three-term U.S. senator from Wisconsin.^[1]

At the start of the 1873 term, Republicans held majorities in both chambers of the Wisconsin Legislature, and were easily able to re-elect their incumbent U.S. senator. His re-election was considered a foregone conclusion in newspapers, and there doesn't appear to have been any other candidates for the Republican nomination.^[2]

Major candidates

Democratic

Henry L. Palmer, incumbent state representative, former speaker and former state senator from Milwaukee.

Republican

Timothy O. Howe, incumbent U.S. senator, former Wisconsin circuit court judge from Green Bay.

Results

The 26th Wisconsin Legislature met in joint session on January 22, 1873, to elect a U.S. senator. The voting was almost entirely along party lines, with five Democrats absent. Of the 128 in attendance, Timothy O. Howe received the votes of all but one of the Republican legislators, winning the election.^[1]

1st Vote of the 26th Wisconsin Legislature, January 22, 1873^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Timothy O. Howe (incumbent)	83^[a]	64.84%
	Democratic	Henry L. Palmer	44^[b]	34.38%
	Democratic	Charles A. Eldredge	1^[c]	0.78%
		Absent	5
Majority			65	50.78%
Total votes			128	96.24%
	Republican hold

Notes

↑ Howe received the votes of all Republican members except for representative Casper Sanger (who voted for Palmer); he also received cross-over votes from Liberal Republican senator Romanzo E. Davis and Democratic representative Isaac W. Van Schaick.
↑ Palmer received the votes of all Democrats and Liberal Republicans except senator Romanzo E. Davis and representative Isaac W. Van Schaick (who voted for Howe), and senators Orlando Brown and Joseph Wagner and representatives John W. Davis, Truman M. Fay, and Thomas Tobin (who were absent), and Palmer himself (who cast his vote for Eldredge); he received one cross-over vote from Republican representative Casper Sanger.
↑ Democratic representative Henry L. Palmer voted for Charles A. Eldredge.

References

1 2 3 "January 22, 1873". Journal of the Assembly of Wisconsin (Report). Wisconsin Legislature. 1873. pp. 74–75. Retrieved March 8, 2025– via HathiTrust.
↑ "Senator Howe". Wisconsin State Journal . January 16, 1873. p. 2. Retrieved March 8, 2025– via Newspapers.com.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[3] Howe received the votes of all Republican members except for representative Casper Sanger (who voted for Palmer); he also received cross-over votes from Liberal Republican senator Romanzo E. Davis and Democratic representative Isaac W. Van Schaick.

[4] Palmer received the votes of all Democrats and Liberal Republicans except senator Romanzo E. Davis and representative Isaac W. Van Schaick (who voted for Howe), and senators Orlando Brown and Joseph Wagner and representatives John W. Davis, Truman M. Fay, and Thomas Tobin (who were absent), and Palmer himself (who cast his vote for Eldredge); he received one cross-over vote from Republican representative Casper Sanger.

[5] Democratic representative Henry L. Palmer voted for Charles A. Eldredge.

[election-1] 1 2 3 "January 22, 1873". Journal of the Assembly of Wisconsin (Report). Wisconsin Legislature. 1873. pp. 74–75. Retrieved March 8, 2025– via HathiTrust.

[2] "Senator Howe". Wisconsin State Journal . January 16, 1873. p. 2. Retrieved March 8, 2025– via Newspapers.com.

[1]

[2]

[a]

[b]

[c]