The 1875 United States Senate election in Wisconsin was held in the 28th Wisconsin Legislature between January 27, 1875, and February 3, 1875. Incumbent Republican U.S. senator Matthew H. Carpenter ran for a second six-year term, but was defeated by a determined rebellion from within his own party. Former state legislator, Republican Angus Cameron, was elected United States senator on the 11th ballot.[1] This was the first time that one of Wisconsin's U.S. senators had been defeated seeking re-election.
At the start of the 1875 term, Republicans held majorities in both chambers of the Wisconsin Legislature with 14 votes to spare, so should have been able to quickly elect a Republican United States senator. But accusations of corruption against the incumbent, Matt Carpenter, had caused a significant number of Republican legislators to pledge to voters that they would not support Carpenter's re-election to the U.S. Senate. Despite Carpenter winning enough support in the Republican caucus to obtain renomination, the holdouts refused to fall in line with the party and denied his re-election. Ultimately, Cameron was selected as a consensus choice merging the support of the 19 holdout Republicans with 49 of the 52 Democratic, Liberal Republican, or Reformer legislators.
.jpg)
