United States elections, 1844

Partisan control of Congress and the presidency

	Previous party	Incoming party
President	Independent	Democratic
House	Democratic	Democratic
Senate	Whig	Democratic

The 1844 United States general election elected the members of the 29th United States Congress, and took place during the Second Party System in the midst of the debate over whether to annex Texas. Florida, Texas, and Iowa joined the union during the 29th Congress. Democrats retained control of the House and took back control of the Presidency and the Senate, re-establishing the dominant position the party had lost in the 1840 election.

In the Presidential election, Democratic former Speaker of the House James K. Polk defeated Whig former Senator Henry Clay of Kentucky. Though Polk won the popular vote by a little over one percent, he won by a comfortable margin in the electoral college. James G. Birney of the nascent Liberty Party took two percent of the popular vote, and may have swung the election by taking votes from Clay in New York. Incumbent President John Tyler declined to run for re-election after being expelled from the Whig Party, making him the first living one-term incumbent president to not seek re-election. The little-known Polk defeated several Democratic rivals to earn his party's nomination, emerging as the first dark horse nominee in presidential history.

In the House, Whigs picked up a small number of seats, but Democrats retained a commanding majority.

In the Senate, Democrats picked up several seats, re-taking the majority.

See also

• United States presidential election, 1844
• United States House of Representatives elections, 1844
• United States Senate elections, 1844