1861 United States Senate election in California

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1861 United States Senate election in California
	March 9–20, 1861 (1st–22nd); April 2, 1861 (23rd)
113 members of the California State Legislature; 57 votes needed to win
Senator before election; William M. Gwin; Democratic	Elected Senator ; James A. McDougall; Democratic

The 1861 United States Senate election in California was held on April 2, 1861, by the California State Legislature to elect a U.S. Senator (Class 3) to represent the State of California in the United States Senate. The legislature had previously attempted to elect a senator from March 9–20, culminating with McDougall's apparent victory on the 22nd ballot; however, it was subsequently found that McDougall had not received the requisite majority, and his election was rescinded.^[1] In a special joint session, Anti-Lecompton Democratic former U.S. representative James A. McDougall was elected over Lecompton Democratic newspaper editor John Nugent.^[2]^[3] McDougall was elected with Republican support.^[4]

General election

Ballots 1–5 (March 9)

1861 United States Senate election in California^[5]
Party		Candidate	1st ballot	2nd ballot	3rd ballot	4th ballot	5th ballot
	Douglas Democratic (Anti-Lecompton)	James A. McDougall	27	26	26	25	25
	Breckinridge Democratic	John B. Weller	27	23	24	17	19
	Republican	Timothy G. Phelps	23	23	23	23	21
	Douglas Democratic (Lecompton)	James W. Denver	16	17	15	16	15
	Douglas Democratic (Lecompton)	John Nugent	9	11	13	14	16
	Breckinridge Democratic	N. E. Whitesides	5	6	—
	Douglas Democratic (Lecompton)	Joseph P. Hoge	2	2	2	2	2
	Constitutional Union	George W. Bowie	1	1	1	1	1
		Charles M. Creanor	1	1	5	12	7
		E. H. Heacock	1	1	1	1	1
Total votes			112	111	110	111	107
Votes needed to win			57	56	56	56	54

Ballots 6–10 (March 11)

1861 United States Senate election in California^[6]
Party		Candidate	6th ballot	7th ballot	8th ballot	9th ballot	10th ballot
	Douglas Democratic (Anti-Lecompton)	James A. McDougall	27	27	27	28	26
	Republican	Timothy G. Phelps	20	20	19	20	20
	Breckinridge Democratic	John B. Weller	19	16	13	11	10
	Douglas Democratic (Lecompton)	James W. Denver	18	18	18	18	18
	Douglas Democratic (Lecompton)	John Nugent	17	19	23	21	22
		Charles M. Creanor	3	3	3	3	4
	Constitutional Union	George W. Bowie	1	2	2	2	1
	Douglas Democratic (Lecompton)	Joseph P. Hoge	1	2	1	1	2
	Republican	Augustus Rhodes	1	1	1	1	1
	Douglas Democratic	James T. Ryan	—	1	—
	Breckinridge Democratic	B. F. Washington	—			2	2
	Breckinridge Democratic	A. C. Peachy	—				1
Total votes			108	109	107	107	107
Votes needed to win			55	55	54	54	54

Ballots 11–13 (March 12)

1861 United States Senate election in California^[7]
Party		Candidate	11th ballot	12th ballot	13th ballot
	Douglas Democratic (Anti-Lecompton)	James A. McDougall	24	25	25
	Republican	Timothy G. Phelps	22	20	21
	Douglas Democratic (Lecompton)	John Nugent	21	20	20
	Douglas Democratic (Lecompton)	James W. Denver	17	15	15
	Breckinridge Democratic	John B. Weller	10	11	12
		Charles M. Creanor	3	3	—
	Breckinridge Democratic	B. F. Washington	2	1	2
	Douglas Democratic (Lecompton)	Joseph P. Hoge	1	1	1
	Republican	Augustus Rhodes	1	1	1
	Douglas Democratic	John Bidwell	—	1	1
	Breckinridge Democratic	Joseph L. Brent	—	1	—
	Breckinridge Democratic	Zachariah Montgomery	—	1	—
	Douglas Democratic (Anti-Lecompton)	Joseph Powell	—	1	—
	Constitutional Union	George W. Bowie	—		1
	Breckinridge Democratic	Edward J. C. Kewen	—		1
	Republican	William H. Parks	—		1
	Republican	Edward Stanly	—		1
Total votes			101	102	102
Votes needed to win			51	53	53

Ballot 14 (March 13)

1861 United States Senate election in California^[8]
Party		Candidate	14th ballot
	Douglas Democratic (Anti-Lecompton)	James A. McDougall	23
	Douglas Democratic (Lecompton)	John Nugent	21
	Republican	Timothy G. Phelps	19
	Douglas Democratic (Lecompton)	James W. Denver	16
	Breckinridge Democratic	John B. Weller	8
	Breckinridge Democratic	B. F. Washington	2
	Douglas Democratic (Lecompton)	Joseph P. Hoge	2
	Breckinridge Democratic	Edward J. C. Kewen	2
	Republican	Augustus Rhodes	1
	Breckinridge Democratic	Zachariah Montgomery	1
	Breckinridge Democratic	Tod Robinson	1
Total votes			96
Votes needed to win			49

Ballots 15–16 (March 15)

1861 United States Senate election in California^[9]
Party		Candidate	15th ballot	16th ballot
	Douglas Democratic (Anti-Lecompton)	James A. McDougall	27	32
	Republican	Timothy G. Phelps	23	23
	Douglas Democratic (Lecompton)	John Nugent	18	16
	Douglas Democratic (Lecompton)	James W. Denver	15	12
	Breckinridge Democratic	John B. Weller	9	11
		Charles M. Creanor	8	3
	Breckinridge Democratic	B. F. Washington	2	1
	Constitutional Union	George W. Bowie	1	1
	Republican	Augustus Rhodes	1	1
	Republican	William H. Parks	1	1
	Breckinridge Democratic	Tod Robinson	1	2
	Breckinridge Democratic	Jackson Temple	1	7
Total votes			110	110
Votes needed to win			56	56

Ballots 17–18 (March 19)

1861 United States Senate election in California^[10]
Party		Candidate	17th ballot	18th ballot
	Douglas Democratic (Anti-Lecompton)	James A. McDougall	26	27
	Republican	Timothy G. Phelps	23	24
	Douglas Democratic (Lecompton)	John Nugent	19	17
	Douglas Democratic (Lecompton)	James W. Denver	15	11
	Breckinridge Democratic	John B. Weller	11	11
	Breckinridge Democratic	Joseph L. Brent	4	4
		Charles M. Creanor	4	6
	Breckinridge Democratic	B. F. Washington	3	3
	Constitutional Union	George W. Bowie	2	2
	Douglas Democratic	John Bidwell	1	—
	Douglas Democratic	N. Greene Curtis	1	1
		William B. Dickinson	—	1
		E. H. Heacock	1	1
Total votes			110	108
Votes needed to win			56	55

Ballots 19–22 (March 20)

On the 22nd ballot, the votes for Anderson and Casserly were omitted from the official tally by mistake, and McDougall was erroneously pronounced elected with 56 votes—one short of a majority with the votes for Anderson and Casserly included.^[11]

1861 United States Senate election in California^[6]
Party		Candidate	19th ballot	20th ballot	21st ballot	22nd ballot
	Douglas Democratic (Lecompton)	John Nugent	45	44	44	47
	Douglas Democratic (Anti-Lecompton)	James A. McDougall	29	30	30	56
	Republican	Timothy G. Phelps	23	23	22	1
	Breckinridge Democratic	John B. Weller	6	7	7	6
	Douglas Democratic (Lecompton)	Joseph P. Hoge	2	1	2	—
	Constitutional Union	George W. Bowie	1	1	1	—
	Republican	Caleb Burbank	1	1	1	—
	Douglas Democratic (Lecompton)	Eugene Casserly	1	1	1	1
		Charles M. Creanor	1	1	—	1
	Republican	Samuel W. Inge	1	—
		Major Anderson	—			1
Total votes			111	110	108	113
Abstentions			2	—	—	—
Votes needed to win			56	56	55	57

Ballot 23 (April 2)

1861 United States Senate election in California^[12]
Party		Candidate	23rd ballot
	Douglas Democratic (Anti-Lecompton)	James A. McDougall	57
	Douglas Democratic (Lecompton)	John Nugent	39
	Breckinridge Democratic	John B. Weller	4
	Douglas Democratic (Lecompton)	Eugene Casserly	1
	Democratic	James Shields	1
Total votes			104
Votes needed to win			53

Notes

^ Hittell 1898, pp. 278–79.
^ Buchanan, Russell (September 1936). "James A. McDougall: A Forgotten Senator". California Historical Society Quarterly. 15 (3): 205.
^ "News of the morning". Sacramento Daily Union. Sacramento. April 3, 1861. Retrieved November 2, 2024.
^ "The Senatorial vote". San Joaquin Republican. Stockton. April 6, 1861. Retrieved November 2, 2024.
^ California 1861, pp. 333–47.
^ ^a ^b California 1861, pp. 355–69.
^ California 1861, pp. 377–85.
^ California 1861, pp. 394–96.
^ California 1861, pp. 410–15.
^ California 1861, pp. 432–38.
^ California 1861, p. 369.
^ California 1861, pp. 611–13.

Bibliography

California (1861). Journal of the House of Assembly of California [...] (PDF). Sacramento.
Hittell, Theodore H. (1898). History of California. San Francisco.

[FOOTNOTEHittell1898278–79-1] Hittell 1898, pp. 278–79.

[2] Buchanan, Russell (September 1936). "James A. McDougall: A Forgotten Senator". California Historical Society Quarterly. 15 (3): 205.

[mcdougall-3] "News of the morning". Sacramento Daily Union. Sacramento. April 3, 1861. Retrieved November 2, 2024.

[4] "The Senatorial vote". San Joaquin Republican. Stockton. April 6, 1861. Retrieved November 2, 2024.

[FOOTNOTECalifornia1861333–47-5] California 1861, pp. 333–47.

[FOOTNOTECalifornia1861355–69-6] California 1861, pp. 355–69.

[FOOTNOTECalifornia1861377–85-7] California 1861, pp. 377–85.

[FOOTNOTECalifornia1861394–96-8] California 1861, pp. 394–96.

[FOOTNOTECalifornia1861410–15-9] California 1861, pp. 410–15.

[FOOTNOTECalifornia1861432–38-10] California 1861, pp. 432–38.

[FOOTNOTECalifornia1861369-11] California 1861, p. 369.

[FOOTNOTECalifornia1861611–13-12] California 1861, pp. 611–13.

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