1856 and 1857 United States House of Representatives elections
Elections to the United States House of Representatives for the 35th Congress were held at various dates in different states from August 1856 to November 1857.
The elections briefly returned a semblance of normalcy to the Democratic Party, restoring its House majority amid election of Democratic President James Buchanan. However, victory masked severe, ultimately irretrievable divisions over the slavery issue. Voters next would return a Democratic House majority only in 1874.
Party realignments continued. In 1856, the Whig Party disbanded while the Know Nothing movement declined and its vehicle, the American Party, began to collapse. Many former Northern Whig and American Party Representatives joined the Republican Party, which contended for the Presidency in 1856 and was rapidly consolidating. Though it did not yet demand abolition, its attitude toward slavery was stridently negative. Making no effort to win Southern voter support, it was openly sectional, opposed to fugitive slave laws and slavery in the territories, and for the first time offered a mainstream platform to outspoken abolitionists.
In March 1857, after almost all Northern states had voted, the Supreme Court issued the infamous Dred Scott decision, amplifying tensions and hardening voter attitudes. Remaining elections, scheduled after the decision, were concentrated in the South. Southern voters widely drove the American Party from office, rallying to the Democrats in firm opposition to the Republicans.
In this election cycle, the pending state of Minnesota elected its first Representatives, to be seated by the 35th Congress. Between the admissions of Vermont in 1791 and Wisconsin in 1848, Congress had admitted new states roughly in pairs: one slave, one free. California had been admitted alone as a free state in 1850 only as part of a comprehensive compromise that included significant concessions to slave state interests. Admission of Minnesota in May 1858, also alone but with no such deal, helped expose the declining influence of the South, extinguishing the formerly binding concept that slave and free state power in Congress was best kept in balance while reinforcing a growing sense that public opinion would exclude slavery from the West.
Election summaries
Two seats were added for the new state of Minnesota, which was unrepresented for part of the 1st session.Special elections
There were special elections in 1858 and 1859 during the 34th United States Congress and 35th United States Congress.34th Congress
35th Congress
California
Florida
| District | Incumbent | Party | First elected | Result | Candidates |
| Augustus Maxwell | Democratic | 1852 | Incumbent retired. New member elected. Democratic hold. | √ George S. Hawkins 53.1% James McNair Baker 46.9% |