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| Parents |
> United States > North Carolina > Senate Class III
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| Office | Senate |
| Honorific | Senator - Abbr: Sen. |
| Type | General Election |
| Filing Deadline | January 01, 1879 - 12:00pm Central |
| Polls Open | January 21, 1879 - 06:00am Central |
| Polls Close | January 21, 1879 - 08:00am Central |
| Term Start | March 04, 1879 - 12:00am |
| Term End | March 04, 1885 - 12:00am |
| Contributor | Chronicler |
| Last Modified | Chronicler March 22, 2019 07:39pm |
| Data Sources | North Carolina Government (1979), p. 699; Raleigh Observer, 1/22/1879. Six members of the legislature cast blank ballots. |
| Description |
During his term in the Senate, Merrimon gained a reputation as "one of the bitterest partisan Democrats in Congress" (New York Times, 10/14/1878). After Vance was elected NC Governor in 1876, he began recruiting candidates to defeat Merrimon supporters in legislative races to lay the groundwork to take Merrimon's seat in the Senate. Though the two politicians were both Democrats, they had developed an intense hatred for each other by 1873.
In the legislative election of 1878, the state Democrats ran two slates in many districts: one pledged to Merrimon and one pledged to Vance. The result was mixed; the Republicans gained 13 seats in the legislature, and the majority Democrats were still divided in their loyalties (Merrimon 40 to Vance 60 with 70 Republicans). The Republican legislators voted for Vance in the election in early 1879, giving him the majority.
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