The 1905 United States Senate election in New York was held on January 17, 1905, by the New York State Legislature to elect a U.S. Senator (Class 1) to represent the State of New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

 in the United States Senate

United States Senate

The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...

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Background

Republican Chauncey M. Depew had been elected to this seat in 1899

United States Senate election in New York, 1899

The 1899 United States Senate election in New York was held on January 17, 1899, by the New York State Legislature to elect a U.S. Senator to represent the State of New York in the United States Senate.-Background:Democrat Edward Murphy, Jr...

, and his term would expire on March 3, 1905.

At the State election in November 1904, large Republican majorities were elected for a two-year term (1905-1906) in the State Senate, and for the session of 1905 to the Assembly. The 128th State Legislature met from January 3, 1905, on at Albany, New York

Albany, New York

Albany is the capital city of the U.S. state of New York, the seat of Albany County, and the central city of New York's Capital District. Roughly north of New York City, Albany sits on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River...

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Republican caucus

Late in 1904, Ex-Governor Frank S. Black

Frank S. Black

Frank Swett Black was an American newspaper editor, lawyer and politician. He was a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1895 to 1897, and the 32nd Governor of New York from 1897 to 1898.-Life:He was one of eleven children of Jacob Black, a farmer, and Charlotte B. Black...

 tried to be nominated to succeed Depew. Black was supported by Governor Benjamin B. Odell, Jr., but after intense fighting behind the scenes, Odell finally dropped Black and accepted Depew's re-election which had been supported by his fellow Senator Thomas C. Platt

Thomas C. Platt

Thomas Collier Platt was a two-term member of the U.S. House of Representatives and a three-term U.S. Senator from New York in the years 1881 and 1897-1909 — is best known as the "political boss" of the Republican Party in New York State in the late 19th Century and early 20th Century...

 and Speaker S. Frederick Nixon

S. Frederick Nixon

Samuel Frederick Nixon was an American businessman and politician.-Life:...

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The Republican caucus met on January 16. They re-nominated the incumbent U.S. Senator Chauncey M. Depew unanimously.

Democratic caucus

The Democratic caucus met also on January 16. They nominated again Smith M. Weed
who had been the candidate of the Democratic minority in the U.S. Senate election of 1887

United States Senate election in New York, 1887

The 1887 United States Senate election in New York was held from January 18 to 20, 1887, by the New York State Legislature to elect a U.S. Senator to represent the State of New York in the United States Senate.-Background:...

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1905 Democratic caucus for United States Senator result

Office	Candidate	First ballot
U.S. Senator (Class 1)	Smith M. Weed	42
	D. Cady Herrick D. Cady Herrick D-Cady Herrick was an American lawyer and politician.-Name:He was baptized Cady Herrick, but his father thought it better to add an initial hyphened "D-" to the name to avoid class-room jokes, like calling the boy "Katie." Thus the initial did not stand for any given name, and the first name...	14

Result

Chauncey M. Depew was the choice of both the Assembly and the State Senate, and was declared elected.

1905 United States Senator election result

Office	House	Republican		Democrat
U.S. Senator (Class 1)	State Senate New York State Senate The New York State Senate is one of two houses in the New York State Legislature and has members each elected to two-year terms. There are no limits on the number of terms one may serve...   (50 members)	Chauncey M. Depew	36	Smith M. Weed	13
	State Assembly New York State Assembly The New York State Assembly is the lower house of the New York State Legislature. The Assembly is composed of 150 members representing an equal number of districts, with each district having an average population of 128,652...   (150 members)	Chauncey M. Depew	100	Smith M. Weed	44

Note: The votes were cast on January 17, but both Houses met in a joint session on January 18 to compare nominations, and declare the result.

Aftermath

Depew remained in the U.S. Senate until March 3, 1911. In 1911, Depew was defeated for re-election by Democrat James A. O'Gorman after a deadlock of two months and a half.

Sources

• Members of the 59th United States Congress
• BLACK AND DEPEW SEE ODELL ON SENATORSHIP in NYT on November 23, 1904
• ODELL FOR BLACK; OPEN WAR BEGINS in NYT on December 16, 1904
• BLACK NOW A CANDIDATE, HIS ORGAN DECLARES in NYT on December 18, 1904
• ODELL YIELDS TO DEPEW; SENATORSHIP FIGHT ENDS in NYT on December 30, 1904
• DEPEW NAMED FOR SENATOR.; ...S.M. Weed Democratic Nominee in NYT on January 17, 1905
• ANOTHER TERM FOR DEPEW in NYT on January 18, 1905