Talk:List of members-elect of the United States House of Representatives who never took their seats

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Categorization[edit]

How should this article and its list's contents be categorized? Category:Unseated Representatives-elect of the United States House of Representatives? Right now, this article is categorized under Category:Members of the United States House of Representatives.—Markles 13:22, 9 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I like your suggestion better than the status quo. ~~I estimate this list will have 20-30 people on it, based on ones I've seen while putting together the lists.~~ I'll try to round 'em up when I see them.--Appraiser 13:31, 9 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Content[edit]

Most of the ones I was thinking about were incumbents who died between an election and the beginning of a session, so they don't fit this category. There were a couple of communists elected who weren't seated, I think; I'll try to find them. --Appraiser 14:25, 9 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I hadn't thought of them. But you're right, this isn't a list of incumbents. —Markles 16:54, 9 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

There are also some that were not seated due to criminal issues or election irregularities who WERE seated to other congresses. They also don't fit the criteria for this list.--Appraiser 19:12, 9 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Is there an equivalent List for the Senate? Monroe Hayward, Frank L. Smith, and Benjamin Franklin Perry would qualify I think.--Appraiser 14:25, 9 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

There isn't a Senate article yet written. I suppose there should be one with a "see also" from each to the other.—Markles 16:54, 9 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Include senators-elect who never took seats[edit]

This topic should have include senators-elect never took seats before the subsequent congress and this should be renamed and moved to List of members-elect of the United States Congress who never took their seats. ApprenticeWiki ^work 10:05, 10 August 2022 (UTC)[reply]

Scope of list[edit]

Should this list include members-elect who left the house before it assembled, e.g. David Ellicott Evans and Matthew Vincent O'Malley? I'd consider them to have qualified, at least presumptively, but to have never been seated. Star Garnet (talk) 15:35, 15 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]

@Star Garnet:, looking further into this issue, I notice that, while David Ellicott Evans is listed in the official Biographical Directory of the United States Congress (a.k.a. the Bioguide) as having served in the House from March 4 until his resignation on a date prior to the House assembling in December (see [1], Matthew Vincent O'Malley is not so listed (despite the House paying his next-of-kin his salary for the period from March 4 until his death). Moreover, at least one additional Representative-elect listed in the article (Samuel Peters) died after March 4 but before the House assembled and, like O'Malley but unlike Evans, is excluded from the Bioguide.

The Bioguide's inclusion of Evans as having served from March 4 until he resigned is consistent with how we (and the Bioguide) normally deem congressional service to commence: We say that Kathleen Rice's congressional service (and that of every other freshman in the 114th Congress) started on January 3, 2015 even though the House did not assemble until January 6, and that María Elvira Salazar's congressional service commenced on January 3, 2021 even though she had COVID and did not take the oath of office in person until January 12. What doesn't make sense is that the Bioguide excludes O'Malley and Peters. I am going to write to the House Historian regarding this matter, and hopefully the Bioguide entries eventually will be harmonized one way or the other. In the meantime, I'm going to revert my edits that eliminated Evans and O'Malley from the article on members-elect who never took their seats and thus return to the status-quo ante, and we can revisit the issue when we get some clarity from the Bioguide. AuH2ORepublican (talk) 19:09, 15 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]

There's been a general trend over the past 15 years for Bioguide to delete entries that were written 120 years ago for those that didn't actually serve. I think Evans, Peters, Alexander McMillan, James Duncan, and Francis James Harper are among the last that are still in their database. Star Garnet (talk) 21:57, 15 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]

You're correct. I wrote to the Historian of the House to point out the discrepancy, and he responded that the official position is that members-elect are not deemed to have served until they have been sworn in. He has removed Evans from the Bioguide, and if McMillan, Duncan and Harper are still there then they haven't gotten to them yet. (Peters had already been removed when I checked last week.) AuH2ORepublican (talk) 02:51, 23 August 2023 (UTC)[reply]