1884 United States elections

The 1884 United States elections was held on November 4, electing the members of the 49th United States Congress. The election took place during the Third Party System.

1884 United States elections

Presidential election year
Election day	November 4
Incumbent president	Chester A. Arthur (Republican)
Next Congress	49th
Presidential election
Partisan control	Democratic gain
Popular vote margin	Democratic +0.6%
Electoral vote
Grover Cleveland (D)	219
James G. Blaine (R)	182
1884 presidential election results. Red denotes states won by Blaine, blue denotes states won by Cleveland. Numbers indicate the electoral votes won by each candidate.
Senate elections
Overall control	Republican hold
Seats contested	27 of 76 seats[1]
Net seat change	Democratic -2[2]
House elections
Overall control	Democratic hold
Seats contested	All 325 voting members
Net seat change	Republican +23[2]
1884 House of Representatives election results   Democratic seat   Republican seat   Independent seat

In the Presidential election, Democratic Governor Grover Cleveland of New York defeated Republican former Secretary of State James G. Blaine.[3] Though Cleveland won the popular vote by less than 1%, he won by a fairly comfortable margin in the electoral college. Cleveland won the South and the critical state of New York, while Blaine took most of the rest of the country. This was the most recent example of an incumbent President being denied nomination by his party for another term, as Blaine defeated President Chester A. Arthur at the 1884 Republican National Convention. Cleveland took the Democratic nomination on the second ballot of the 1884 Democratic National Convention, defeating Delaware Senator Thomas F. Bayard and several other candidates. Cleveland's win made him the first Democratic President to win election since the 1856 election.

Republicans picked up several seats in the House, but Democrats continued to command a majority in the chamber.[4] In the Senate, Republicans made moderate gains and established a clear majority.[5] As of 2020, these are the last elections in which the new incoming president's party held control of the House of Representatives but not the Senate.