List of United States representatives-elect who never took their seats

Some people who were elected to the United States House of Representatives died before taking their seats. In other cases, they failed to qualify; were rejected by the House; their credentials were successfully challenged; or they were somehow otherwise unable to become members.

This list only includes people who never served in the House. Re-elected incumbents are not included.

List

Member-elect	Party	District	Election date	Congress	Reason for non-seating
Benjamin West	Pro-Administration	NH-AL	February 2, 1789	1st	Declined to serve.
James Townsend		NY-1	April 27–29, 1790	2nd	Died on May 24, 1790.
Pierpont Edwards		CT-AL	September 20, 1790	1st	Declined to serve.
Stephen M. Mitchell			September 17, 1792	3rd	Resigned (elected to the U.S. Senate).
Jonathan Ingersoll			September 16, 1793		Declined to serve.
James Morris	Democratic-Republican	PA-4	October 14, 1794	4th	Died on July 10, 1795.
Thomas Tillotson		NY-5	April 29–May 1, 1800	7th	Resigned on August 10, 1801 (appointed Secretary of State of New York).
John Cantine		NY-7	April 27–29, 1802	8th	Declined to serve.
Phineas Bruce	Federalist	MA-17	November 1, 1802		Never qualified or attended due to illness.
John Simpson	Democratic-Republican	KY-8	August 3, 1812	13th	Died on January 22, 1813.
John S. Edwards	Federalist	OH-6	October 13, 1812		Died on February 22, 1813.
William Dowse		NY-15	December 15–17, 1812		Died on February 18, 1813.
John Woods		PA-14	October 11, 1814	14th	Never qualified or attended due to illness.
Daniel Appleton White		MA-3	November 7, 1814		Resigned (to be Judge of Probate for Essex County).
Henry B. Lee	Democratic-Republican	NY-4	April 23–25, 1816	15th	Died on September 16, 1816.
David Scott		PA-10	October 8, 1816		Resigned (to be judge of the court of common pleas).
Alexander McMillan	Federalist	NC-7	August 14, 1817		Died on November 13, 1817.
James Duncan	Democratic-Republican	PA-5	October 10, 1820	17th	Resigned.
David Ellicott Evans	Jacksonian Republican	NY-29	November 6–8, 1826	20th	Resigned on May 2, 1827.
Francis Jacob Harper	Democratic	PA-3	October 11, 1836	25th	Died on March 18, 1837.
Francis Gehon		IA-AL Delegate	August 5, 1839	26th	William W. Chapman's term was extended to October 1840, invalidating Gehon's election. [1]
Washington Poe	Whig	GA-3	November 5, 1844	29th	Resigned. [2]
David Levy Yulee	Democratic	FL-AL	May 26, 1845		Resigned (elected to the U.S. Senate).
Lyman Trumbull		IL-8	November 7, 1854	34th
Thomas Child Jr.	Whig	NY-7			Never qualified or attended due to illness.
Daniel D. Pratt	Republican	IN-8	October 13, 1868	41st	Resigned on January 27, 1869 (elected to the U.S. Senate).
Ambrose R. Wright	Democratic	GA-8	November 5, 1872	43rd	Died on December 21, 1872.
Samuel Peters	Republican	LA-4			Died on October 1, 1873.
John W. Head	Democratic	TN-4	November 3, 1874	44th	Died on November 9, 1874.
Garnett McMillan		GA-9			Died on January 14, 1875.
Augustus F. Allen		NY-33			Died on January 22, 1875.
Alexander Smith	Republican	NY-12	November 5, 1878	46th	Died on November 5, 1878.
Andrew S. Herron	Democratic	LA-4	November 7, 1882	48th	Died on November 27, 1882.
John Clayton	Republican	AR-2	November 6, 1888	51st	Assassinated on January 29, 1889.
Andrew J. Campbell		NY-10	November 5, 1894	54th	Died on December 6, 1894. [3]
Richard P. Giles	Democratic	MO-1	November 3, 1896	55th	Died on November 17, 1896.
James J. Davidson	Republican	PA-25			Died on January 2, 1897.
B. H. Roberts	Democratic	UT-AL	November 8, 1898	56th	Congress refused to seat him because he was a bigamist.
William Brown	Republican	PA-24	November 3, 1914	64th	Died on January 31, 1915.
Charles F. Van de Water		CA-9	November 2, 1920	67th	Died on November 20, 1920.
Samuel Marx	Democratic	NY-19	November 7, 1922	68th	Died on November 30, 1922. [4]
Matthew Vincent O'Malley		NY-7	February 17, 1931	72nd	Died on May 26, 1931.
Jack Swigert	Republican	CO-6	November 2, 1982	98th	Died on December 27, 1982. [5]
Luke Letlow		LA-5	December 5, 2020	117th	Died on December 29, 2020. [6]

See also

• Unseated members of the United States Congress

References

1. On the last day of the 25th Congress, Chapman's term, which began in September 1838, was extended past its expected expiration on March 4, 1839. The next term was to commence after Chapman's and expire at the end of the 26th Congress, with terms lasting for the regular term of a Congress thereafter.
2. The Macon Telegraph and Register
3. "DEATH OF ANDREW J. CAMPBELL; The Congressman-elect Dies of Bright's Disease After a Short Illness - His Career in Politics". The New York Times. December 7, 1894.
4. "SAMUEL MARX DIES, CONGRESSMAN-ELECT; Tammany Leader and Prominent Auctioneer a Victim of Heart Disease After a Brief Illness". The New York Times. December 1, 1922.
5. "Ex-Astronaut, Newly Elected to House, Dies". The Times. Shreveport, Louisiana. Associated Press. December 29, 1982. p. 12D – via Newspapers.com.
6. Hilburn, Greg (December 29, 2020). "Louisiana Congressman-elect Luke Letlow dies with COVID". The News Star. Monroe, Louisiana.