1885 United States Senate election in Wisconsin

For related races, see 1884–85 United States Senate elections.

1885 United States Senate election in Wisconsin

←  1881 (special) January 28, 1885 1891  →

Nominee John C. Spooner Edward S. Bragg Party Republican Democratic Legislative vote 76 48 Percentage 61.29% 38.71%

U.S. senator before election Angus Cameron Republican Elected U.S. Senator John C. Spooner Republican

The 1885 United States Senate election in Wisconsin was held in the 37th Wisconsin Legislature on January 28, 1885. Incumbent Republican U.S. senator Angus Cameron did not run for re-election. Republican lawyer John Coit Spooner was elected United States senator on the first ballot. ^[1]

In the 1885 term, Republicans held significant majorities in both chambers of the Wisconsin Legislature, so had more than enough votes to elect a Republican United States senator.

Major candidates

Democratic

• Edward S. Bragg, U.S. representative and former Union Army general from Fond du Lac, Wisconsin.

Republican

• John Coit Spooner, prominent railroad and corporate lawyer from Hudson, Wisconsin.

Results

1st Vote of the 37th Wisconsin Legislature, January 28, 1885 ^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	John Coit Spooner	76 [a]	61.29%
	Democratic	Edward S. Bragg	48 [b]	38.71%
		Absent or not voting	9
Majority			63	50.81%
Total votes			124	93.23%
	Republican hold

Notes

1. Spooner received the votes of all Republican members except for senators Joseph W. Hoyt and James Franklin Wiley, and representatives John Lagrand, Henry Walvoord, and Marion Wescott (who were all absent).
2. Bragg received the votes of all Democratic members except for senator William Kennedy, and representatives Leopold Hammel, Andrew Schmidlkofer, and August Schoenwetter (who were all absent).

References

1. "January 28, 1885". Journal of Proceedings of the Wisconsin Legislature (Report). Wisconsin Legislature. 1885. pp. 76–78. Retrieved March 15, 2025– via HathiTrust.