United States Senate election in New York, 1819

The 1819/1820 United States Senate election in New York was held on February 2, 1819, and January 8, 1820, by the New York State Legislature to elect a U.S. Senator (Class 3) to represent the State of New York in the United States Senate.

Federalist Rufus King had been elected in 1813 to this seat, and his term would expire on March 3, 1819.

At the State election in April 1818, a Democratic-Republican majority was elected to the Assembly, and all of the eight State Senators up for renewal were Democratic-Republicans. The 42nd New York State Legislature met from January 5 to April 3, 1819, at Albany, New York. The Democratic-Republican Party was split in two factions: the "Clintonians" (allies of Governor DeWitt Clinton), and the "Bucktails" (a combine of the Tammany members from New York City and the upstate adversaries of Clinton led by Attorney General and State SenatorMartin Van Buren).

The strength of the factions in the Assembly is shown by the difficult proceedings to elect a Speaker: At the Democratic-Republican caucus on the eve of the opening of the Assembly session, January 4, there were 75 members present. All the Bucktail members attended, having been secretly informed of the plan to elect a Bucktail Speaker, but 10 to 15 Clintonians had not arrived yet. 42 voted for Bucktail William Thompson, of Seneca Co.; and 33 for Clintonian Obadiah German. The Clintonians refused to "make the choice unanimous." On January 5, the Assembly convened and took four ballots for Speaker, no candidate receiving a majority, and then adjourned. On January 6, a fifth ballot was taken. The vote stood 55 for German, 38 for Thompson, and 20 for Federalist William A. Duer. Seeing that by vote for candidates no choice could be made, Erastus Root offered a resolution that William Thompson be declared elected Speaker which was rejected by 73 to 41. Another resolution in favor of William A. Duer was rejected by 84 to 31. A resolution was then offered to declare Obadiah German elected which was carried by 67 to 48. Thus German was chosen Speaker, evidently with the votes of the Federalists.

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