# 1788–1789 United States House of Representatives elections in Massachusetts

Massachusetts law required a majority vote, necessitating additional votes if no one won a majority. This was necessary in 4 of the districts.
Elections in Massachusetts :
General
1942
1944
1946
1948
1950
1952
1954
1956
1958
1960
1962
1964
1966
1970
1974
1978
1982
1986
1990
1994
1998
2002
2006
2008
2010
2012
2014
2016
2018
2020
2022 :
Federal government
U.S. President
1788–89
1792
1796
1800
1804
1808
1812
1816
1820
1824
1828
1832
1836
1840
1844
1848
1852
1856
1860
1864
1868
1872
1876
1880
1884
1888
1892
1896
1900
1904
1908
1912
1916
1920
1924
1928
1932
1936
1940
1944
1948
1952
1956
1960
1964
1968
1972
1976
1980
Dem
1984
1988
1992
1996
2000
Dem
2004
Dem
GOP
2008
Dem
GOP
2012
2016
Dem
GOP
2020
Dem
GOP
2024
Dem
GOP
U.S. Senate
Class 1: 1788
1790
1796 (S)
1796
1798
1800 (S)
1803
1808 (S)
1810 (S)
1811
1813 (S)
1815
1815 (S)
1816 (S)
1818 (S)
1820
1820 (S)
1822
1826
1827
1829 (S)
1833
1839
February 1841 (S)
1845
1851
1851 (S)
1857
1863
1869
1874 (S)
1875
1881
1887
1893
1899
1905
1911
1916
1922
1928
1934
1940
1946
1952
1958
1962 (S)
1964
1970
1976
1982
1988
1994
2000
2006
2010 (S)
2012
2018
2024
Class 2: 1788
1793
1796
1800 (S)
1803 (S)
1805
1810
1811 (S)
1816
1822 (S)
1826 (S)
1828
1835
January 1841 (S)
1841
1845 (S)
1847
1853
1855 (S)
1859
1865
1871
1873 (S)
1877
1883
1889
1895
1901
1905 (S)
1907
1913
1918
1924
1930
1936
1942
1944 (S)
1948
1954
1960
1966
1972
1978
1984
1990
1996
2002
2008
2013 (S)
2014
2020
U.S. House
1788/1789
1790/1792
1792/1793
1794/1795
1796/1797
1798/1799
1800/1801
1802/1803
1804
1806
1808
1810/1811
1812/1813
1814/1815
3rd
1816/1817
1818/1819
1820/1821
1822/1823
1824/1825
1826/1827
1828
1830/1832
1833/1834
1834/1835
1836
1838/1839
1840/1841
1842/1844
1844/1846
1846
1848/1850
1850/1851
1852
1854
1856
1858
1860
1862
1864
1866
1868
1870
1872
1874
1876
1878
1880
1882
1884
1886
1888
1890
1892
1894
1896
1898
1900
1902
1904
1906
1908
1910
1912
1914
1916
1918
1920
1922
1924
1926
1928
1930
1932
1934
1936
1938
1940
1942
1944
1946
1948
1950
1952
1954
1956
1958
1960
1962
1964
1966
1968
1970
1972
1974
1976
1978
1980
1982
1984
1986
1988
1990
1991 (1st)
1992
1994
1996
1998
2000
2001 (9th)
2002
2004
2006
2007 (5th)
2008
2010
2012
2013 (5th)
2014
2016
2018
2020
2022
2024 :
State government
Governor
1800
1801
1802
1803
1804
1805
1806
1807
1808
1809
1810
1811
1812
1813
1814
1815
1816
1817
1818
1819
1820
1821
1822
1823
1824
1825
1826
1827
1828
1829
1830
Apr. 1831
Nov. 1831
1832
1833
1834
1835
1836
1837
1838
1839
1840
1841
1842
1843
1844
1845
1846
1847
1848
1849
1850
1851
1852
1853
1854
1855
1856
1857
1858
1859
1860
1861
1862
1863
1864
1865
1866
1867
1868
1869
1870
1871
1872
1873
1874
1875
1876
1877
1878
1879
1880
1881
1882
1883
1884
1885
1886
1887
1888
1889
1890
1891
1892
1893
1894
1895
1896
1897
1898
1899
1900
1901
1902
1903
1904
1905
1906
1907
1908
1909
1910
1911
1912
1913
1914
1915
1916
1917
1918
1919
1920
1922
1924
1926
1928
1930
1932
1934
1936
1938
1940
1942
1944
1946
1948
1950
1952
1954
1956
1958
1960
1962
1964
1966
1970
1974
1978
1982
1986
1990
1994
1998
2002
2006
2010
2014
2018
2022
State Senate
1787
1824
2004
2006
2008
2010
2012
2014
2016
2018
2020
2022
2024
State House
2006
2008
2010
2012
2014
2016
2020
2022
2024
Governor's Council
2006
2010
2014
2018
2022
2024
Ballot measures
1980: Proposition 2½
2002: English Language Education in Public Schools
2006: 2008
Greyhound Protection
Sensible Marijuana Policy
State Income Tax Repeal
2010: No Sales Tax for Alcohol
Sales Tax Relief
Comprehensive Permits and Regional Planning
2012: Right to Repair
Death with Dignity
Medical Marijuana
2014: Automatic Gas Tax Increase Repeal
Expansion of Bottle Deposits
Casino Repeal
Paid Sick Days
2016: Expand Slot Machine Gaming
Charter School Expansion
Farm Animal Confinement
Legalization, Regulation and Taxation of Marijuana
2018: Gender Identity Anti-Discrimination
2020: pending :
Boston
Mayor
1822
1823
1824
Apr 1825
Dec 1825
1826
1827
1828
1829
1830
1831
1832
1833
1834
1835
1836
1837
1838
1839
1840
1841
1842
1843
1844–45
Dec 1845
1846
1847
1848
1849
1850
1851
1852
1853–54
Dec 1854
1855
1856
1857
1858
1859
1860
1861
1862
1863
1864
1865
1866
1867
1868
1869
1871
1872
1873
1874
1875
1876
1877
1878
1879
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1881
1882
1883
1884
1885
1886
1887
1888
1889
1890
1891
1892
1893
1894
1895
1897
1899
1901
1903
1905
1907
1910
1914
1917
1921
1925
1929
1933
1937
1941
1945
1949
1951
1955
1959
1963
1967
1971
1975
1979
1983
1987
1991
1993
1997
2001
2005
2009
2013
2017
2021
2025
City council
1977
1979
1981
1983
1985
1987
1989
1991
1993
1995
1997
1999
2001
2003
2005
2007
2009
2011
2013
2015
2017
2019
2021
2023 :
Springfield
Mayor
1953
1955
1957
1959
1961
1963
1965
1967
1969
1971
1973 (S)
1973
1975
1977
1979
1983
1981
1985
1987
1989 (S)
1989
1991
1993
1995
1997
1999
2001
2003
2005
2007
2009
2011
2015
2019
2023 :
Worcester
Mayor
1987
1989
1991
1993
1995
1997
1999
2001
2003
2005
2007
2009
2011
2013
2015
2017
2019
2021
2023 :
Massachusetts portal :
vte :
Massachusetts House Elections, December 18, 1788 – May 11, 1789 :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Pro-Administration | 6 elected | 6,232 | 54.4 |
| | Anti-Administration | 2 elected | 5,228 | 45.6 |
In the fourth district,
   The first election in the district was in part a reflection of the rivalry between Hampshire and Berkshire counties. Berkshire was the less populous county, but four of the six candidates who received the most votes - Theodore Sedgwick, William Whiting, Thompson J. Skinner, and William Williams - were residents of the county. The two Hampshire candidates were Samuel Lyman and John Worthington. The first election did not reflect the fact that the two counties were centers of agrarian discontent and of support for Shays's Rebellion. Nor did it reflect the fact that in the state Convention the Hampshire delegates voted 32 to 19 and the Berkshire delegates voted 16 to 6 against ratification of the Constitution. Only Whiting was regarded as a Shaysite and an Anti-Federalist, while the other five men were Federalists - and two of these - Worthington and Williams - had been virtual if not actual Loyalists during the Revolution. The issue of amendments to the Constitution was not raised during the first election in the district, but it became so important in the ensuing elections that Theodore Sedgwick, who opposed amendments, publicly promised to support them before the fifth election, which he won.
In the fifth district,
   The only problem was whether Partridge could retain his post of sheriff of Plymouth County and accept a seat in Congress, as he had done in 1779-1782 and 1783-1785. He received a certificate from Governor Hancock on 10 January notifying him of his election. Partridge wrote three letters to the Governor. In the first, which he apparently did not send, he refused the appointment. He accepted in the two following letters but explained that he would not take the seat if he had to give up his post as sheriff (12, 20 January, 23 February). The issue of whether or not a state officeholder could retain a state post and still serve in Congress had been and would be raised in other states. On 12 February Governor Hancock asked his Council for advice about Partridge and about George Leonard, judge of probate in Bristol County, who had been elected to Congress from the Bristol-Dukes-Nantucket District. The Council replied in writing the same day that it was 'inexpedient' for a man to hold the office of judge of probate and a seat in Congress, but that it did not find anything in the state constitution which prevented a sheriff from also being a member of Congress. The Council advised, however, that it would be inexpedient to introduce the practice of sheriffs being absent for long periods although Partridge 'may at present be indulged' and take a seat in Congress 'consistently with the safety of that county' (Council Proceedings, Thursday 12 February, M-Ar). The next day Governor Hancock sent the Council's written reply to the legislature and asked for its advice (13 February, Miscellaneous Legislative Documents, House Files, M-Ar). The two houses appointed a joint committee which wrote a report that was approved and sent to the Governor on Monday, 16 February. The legislature declared that if George Leonard continued to hold the office of judge of probate and also took a seat on Congress, any future legislature would address the Governor authorizing him and the Council to appoint another person judge of probate in Bristol County. But the legislature refused to give advice about George Partridge. It pointed out that sheriffs served during the pleasure of the governor, and (with the advice of his Council) were removable by him at any time. Sheriffs were not removable in any other way except through impeachment by the House and a trial before and conviction by the Senate. Therefore the House and Senate declared that intervention by the legislature was 'neither necessary or proper; and from the conduct and advice of your Council, they see no reason to doubt the wisdom of that constitutional provision' (House and Senate Proceedings, 13, 14, 16 February).
In the eighth district,
   It was evident before the elections were completed in Worcester District that a candidate who did not support amendments to the Constitution had no chance of winning. The three leading candidates in the three Worcester District elections were Jonathan Grout, Timothy Paine, and Artemas Ward. Grout, a local leader during the Revolution, had voted against ratification of the Constitution and in 1788 was a member of the legislature. Paine, a prominent officeholder in the county for two decades before the Revolution, had been appointed to the Royal Council in 1774. Unlike most 'mandamus councillors,' he did not become a Loyalist. By 1788 he had regained much of his influence in the town of Worcester. Ward had been appointed commanding general of Massachusetts troops after Lexington and Concord, he remained in charge until George Washington was appointed commander-in-chief of the Continental Army in July 1775. The popular Ward resigned his commission in April 1776 and returned to state politics. The past records of these three men did not become a public issue until shortly before the third and final election. … AS in the two previous election, the two Worcester newspapers, with one exception, printed nothing until their last issues before the election on 2 March. The exception consisted of two items (one of which supported Timothy Paine) in the Massachusetts Spy on 19 February. Then on 26 February the Massachusetts Spy published five articles. Two of them supported Jonathan Grout, one supported Artemas Ward, one backed Timothy Paine, and the fifth did not mention any names. On the same day the American Herald published four items. One supported Grout, one opposed Paine because he had been a mandamus councillor, and the other two items urged that he be elected. The issue of Paine's appointment as a mandamus councillor by the British government in 1774 had been brought up for the first time by the Boston Independent Chronicle, 12 February, and not by the Worcester newspapers. Despite the ambivalence of the newspapers, there was a considerable increase of interest, for the vote almost doubled over the first election on 18 December 1788: from 1,886 to 3,484. Grout was elected Representative by a decisive majority. Artemas Ward, who ran a poor third in each of the three elections, finally defeated Grout in the election to the second Congress in 1791. Paine was elected to the state House of Representatives in 1789.
| District | Result | Candidates |
| Massachusetts 1 | Pro-Administration win | √ Fisher Ames (Pro-Administration) 818 votes (50.7%) Samuel Adams (Anti-Administration) 521 votes (32.3%) Samuel A. Otis 70 votes (4.3%) Charles Jarvis 45 votes (2.8%) Benjamin Austin 43 votes (2.7%) John Adams (Pro-Administration) 30 votes (1.9%) Others 86 votes (5.3%) |
| Massachusetts 2 | Pro-Administration win | First ballot (December 18, 1788): Benjamin Goodhue (Pro-Administration) 567 votes (38.6%) Jonathan Jackson (Pro-Administration) 392 votes (26.6%) Nathan Daneseg 295 votes (20.1%) Samuel Holten 202 votes (13.8%) Scattering: 13 votes Second ballot (January 29, 1789): √ Benjamin Goodhue (Pro-Administration) 1,491 votes (67.0%) Jonathan Jackson (Pro-Administration) 724 votes (33.0%) Scattering 7 votes |
| Massachusetts 3 | Anti-Administration win | First ballot (December 18, 1788): Nathaniel Gorham 536 votes (36.4%) Elbridge Gerry (Anti-Administration) 384 votes (26.1%) Joseph Bradley Varnum (Anti-Administration) 254 votes (17.2%) John Brooks (Pro-Administration) 106 votes (7.2%) James Winthrop 50 votes (3.4%) Loammi Baldwin 43 votes (2.9%) Scattering 100 votes (4.4%) Second ballot (January 29, 1789): √ Elbridge Gerry (Anti-Administration) 1,140 votes (61.1%) Joseph Bradley Varnum (Anti-Administration) 366 votes (19.6%) William Hulberg 205 votes (11.0%) James Winthrop (Anti-Administration) 82 votes (4.4%) Ebenezer Bridge 52 votes (2.8%) Others 22 votes (1.2%) |
| Massachusetts 4 | Pro-Administration win | First ballot (December 18, 1788): Theodore Sedgwick (Pro-Administration) 835 votes (35.6%) Samuel Lyman (Pro-Administration) 330 votes (14.7%) William Whiting 302 votes (13.4%) Thomson J. Skinner (Anti-Administration) 256 votes (10.4%) William Williams 181 votes (8.7%) John Worthington 178 votes (7.3%) John Bacon 93 votes (4.1%) Second ballot (January 29, 1789): Samuel Lyman (Pro-Administration) 718 votes (31.0%) Theodore Sedgwick (Pro-Administration) 736 votes (31.7%) William Whiting 578 votes (24.9%) Thomson J. Skinner (Anti-Administration) 248 votes (10.7%) John Bacon (Anti-Administration) 39 votes (1.7%) Third ballot: (March 2, 1789) Samuel Lyman (Pro-Administration) 1,847 votes (32.9%) Theodore Sedgwick (Pro-Administration) 1,523 votes (30.6%) William Whiting 1,109 votes (22.9%) Thomson J. Skinner (Anti-Administration) 648 votes (12.8%) Fourth ballot: (March 30, 1789) Theodore Sedgwick (Pro-Administration) 1,649 votes (47.0%) Samuel Lyman (Pro-Administration) 1,382 votes (39.3%) William Whiting 468 votes (11.7%) Scattering: 64 votes Fifth ballot: (May 11, 1789) √ Theodore Sedgwick (Pro-Administration) 2,155 votes (50.2%) Samuel Lyman (Pro-Administration) 2,138 votes (47.8%) John Bacon 67 votes (1.3%) Scattering: 27 votes |
| Massachusetts 5 | Pro-Administration win | √ George Partridge (Pro-Administration) 501 votes (90.4%) Others 53 votes (9.6%) |
| Massachusetts 6 | Pro-Administration win | √ George Thatcher (Pro-Administration) 588 votes (62.1%) Josiah Thacker 182 votes (19.2%) Nathan Willing 73 votes (7.7%) Scattering 105 votes |
| Massachusetts 7 | Pro-Administration win | √ George Leonard (Pro-Administration) 710 votes (54.0%) Phanuel Bishop (Anti-Administration) 342 votes (26.0%) David Cobb (Pro-Administration) 241 votes (18.3%) Scattering 23 votes |
| Massachusetts 8 | Anti-Administration win | First ballot (December 18, 1788): Jonathan Grout (Anti-Administration) 665 votes (35.3%) Tim Paine 561 votes (29.8%) Artemas Ward (Pro-Administration) 284 votes (15.1%) Moses Gill 110 votes (5.8%) Abiel Wilder 71 votes (3.8%) John Sprague 63 votes (3.3%) Others 132 votes (4.9%) Second ballot (January 29, 1789): Tim Paine (Pro-Administration) 1,040 votes (45.4%) Jonathan Grout 990 votes (42.1%) Artemas Ward (Pro-Administration) 258 votes (11.3%) Others 27 votes (1.2%) Third ballot: (March 2, 1789) √ Jonathan Grout (Anti-Administration) 1,968 votes (55.7%) Tim Paine 1,312 votes (37.1%) Artemas Ward (Pro-Administration) 256 votes (7.2%) Scattering 18 votes |