United States Senate elections, 1850 and 1851

Various dates

21 of the 62 seats in the United States Senate (with special elections)
32 seats needed for a majority

	Majority party	Minority party	Third party

Party	Democratic	Whig	Free Soil
Last election	33 seats	25 seats	1 seats
Seats before	35	25	2
Seats won	12	4	0
Seats after	33	22	2
Seat change	2	3
Seats up	14	7	0

Majority Party before election

Democratic

Elected Majority Party

Democratic

The United States Senate elections of 1850 and 1851 were elections which had the Democratic Party lose seats, but retain a majority in the United States Senate.

As this election was prior to ratification of the seventeenth amendment, Senators were chosen by State legislatures.

Senate Party Division, 32nd Congress (1851–1853)

In these elections, the winners were seated during 1850 or in 1851 before March 4; ordered by election date.

In these general elections, the winners were elected for the term beginning March 4, 1851; ordered by state.

All of the elections involved the Class 1 seats.

In these elections, the winners were elected in 1851 after March 4; ordered by election date.

In 1851, Democrats gained control of the legislature in coalition with the Free Soilers. However, the legislature deadlocked on this Senate race, as Democrats refused to vote for Charles Sumner (the Free Soilers' choice).

The election in New York was held on February 4 and March 18 and 19, 1851. Daniel S. Dickinson (Democratic) had been elected in 1845 to this seat, and his term would expire on March 3, 1851. The Whig Party in New York was split in two opposing factions: the Seward/Weed faction (the majority, opposed to the Compromise of 1850) and the "Silver Grays" (supporters of President Millard Fillmore and his compromise legislation, led by Francis Granger whose silver gray hair originated the faction's nickname). The opposing factions of the Democratic Party in New York, the "Barnburners" and the "Hunkers", had reunited at the State election in November 1850, and managed to have almost their whole State ticket elected, only Horatio Seymour was defeated for Governor by a plurality of 262 votes.

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