Mapping Early American Elections

5th Congress: Virginia 1797

This page includes an interactive map. A text version of the same election data is available in the table below the map.

Virginia elected fifteen Democratic-Republicans and four Federalists to the Fifth Congress.

Virginia used the district system for electing members to Congress. In 1798, Virginia held a special election in which Joseph Eggleston was elected to replace William B. Giles, who resigned from office.

Congressional election results, 5th Congress: Virginia 1797
District Candidate Party Vote Percentage Elected
1 Daniel Morgan Federalist ✓
2 David Holmes Democratic-Republican 1,350 60.4% ✓
2 John Steele Federalist 615 27.5%
2 John Bowyer Democratic-Republican 270 12.1%
3 James Machir Federalist 1,066 45.4% ✓
3 George Jackson Democratic-Republican 674 28.7%
3 John Mitchell Democratic-Republican 472 20.1%
3 Thomas Wilson Federalist 134 5.7%
4 Abraham Trigg Democratic-Republican unopposed ✓
5 John Trigg Democratic-Republican unopposed ✓
6 Matthew Clay Democratic-Republican unopposed ✓
7 Abraham B. Venable Democratic-Republican ✓
8 Thomas Claiborne Democratic-Republican 761 62.3% ✓
8 Jesse Browne Federalist 461 37.7%
9 William B. Giles Democratic-Republican unopposed ✓
10 Carter B. Harrison Democratic-Republican 261 55.4% ✓
10 Edwin Gray Federalist 210 44.6%
11 Josiah Parker Federalist unopposed ✓
12 Thomas Evans Federalist ✓
13 John Clopton Democratic-Republican ✓
14 Samuel J. Cabell Democratic-Republican unopposed ✓
15 John Dawson Democratic-Republican ✓
16 Anthony New Democratic-Republican 942 70.6% ✓
16 Carter Braxton, Jr. Federalist 391 29.3%
17 Richard Brent Democratic-Republican 414 100% ✓
18 John Nicholas Democratic-Republican ✓
19 Walter Jones Democratic-Republican ✓

In most cases, only candidates who received more than 5 percent of the vote in a district are reported. Other candidates are reported as a group, but only if they in aggregate received more than 5 percent of the vote. In addition, percentages for each district may not add up to 100 percent due to rounding. The term Dissenting Republican includes various breakaway factions of the Democratic-Republican party.

New Nation Votes Data

Legend

Map legend: colors indicate party affiliation — Federalist, Democratic-Republican, or Other/unknown; darker shading indicates a larger vote margin (up to 40%, 60%, 80%, or 100%); marker shapes distinguish counties, congressional districts, major cities or towns, and areas with no data available.

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Citation

“5th Congress: Virginia 1797,” Mapping Early American Elections, https://earlyamericanelections.org/maps/meae.congressional.congress05.va.county.html