United States Senate elections, 1912

United States Senate elections, 1912

1910 ← 1912 → 1914

34 of the 96 seats in the United States Senate 49 seats needed for a majority   Majority party Minority party   Party Democratic Republican Last election 46 seats 48 seats Seats won 51 44 Seat change +5 -4

Democrat re-elected/hold   Democratic gain   Republican re-elected/hold   Republican gain

Majority Party before election Republican Party (United States) Elected Majority Party Democratic Party (United States)

In the 1912 United States Senate elections, held on November 5, Democrats gained control of the Senate from the Republicans. This coincided with Democrat Woodrow Wilson's victory in the presidential election amid a divide in the Republican Party.

Some states elected their Senators directly even before passage of the 17th Amendment in 1913. Oregon pioneered direct election and experimented with different measures over several years until it succeeded in 1907. Soon after, Nebraska followed suit and laid the foundation for other states to adopt measures reflecting the people's will. By 1912, as many as 29 states elected senators either as nominees of their party's primary or in conjunction with a general election.

Results summary

Parties		Total Seats									Popular vote
		Incumbents	This election						Result	+/-
			Not up	Up	Re- elected	Held	Gained	Lost			Vote	%
	Democratic	46	32	14	7	4	9	2	51	5	?	?.??%
	Progressive	2	1	1	0	0		1	1	1	?	?.??%
	Republican	48	29	19	6	4	2	8	44	4	?	?.??%
	Independent	0	0	0	0	0			0		?	?.??%
	Others	0	0	0	0	0			0		?	?.??%
Total		96	62	34	13	8	11	11	96		?	?.??%

Complete list of races

Bold state names indicates link to election article. Bold candidates' names indicates winner.

*Asterisks indicate elections in which Senators where selected by some form of direct voting and then subsequently elected by state legislatures.

November elections

State	Incumbent	Party	Result	Candidates
Alabama	John H. Bankhead	Democratic	Re-elected	John H. Bankhead (Democratic) Unopposed
Arkansas	Jeff Davis	Democratic	Re-elected	Jeff Davis (Democratic) Unopposed
Colorado*	Simon Guggenheim	Republican	Retired Democratic gain	John F. Shafroth (Democratic) 47.34% Clyde Dawson (Republican) 26.8% Frank Catlin (Progressive) 23.48% Mary E. Miller (Prohibition) 2.38%
Delaware	Harry A. Richardson	Republican	Retired Democratic gain	Willard Saulsbury, Jr. (Democratic) Unopposed
Georgia	Augustus Octavius Bacon	Democratic	Re-elected	Augustus Octavius Bacon (Democratic) Unopposed
Idaho	William Borah	Republican	Re-elected	William Borah (Republican) Unopposed
Illinois	Shelby Moore Cullom	Republican	Lost renomination Democratic gain	J. Hamilton Lewis (Democratic) 80.39% Frank H. Funk (Progressive) 10.78% Lawrence Yates Sherman (Republican) 4.41% Abstained 2.45% Bernard Berlyn (Socialist) 1.96%
Iowa	William S. Kenyon	Republican	Re-elected	William S. Kenyon (Republican) Unopposed
Kansas*	Charles Curtis	Republican	Lost renomination Democratic gain	William Howard Thompson (Democratic) 49.34% Walter R. Stubbs (Republican) 43.35% Allan Ricker (Socialist) 7.32%
Kentucky	Thomas H. Paynter	Democratic	Retired Democratic hold	Ollie Murray James (Democratic) Unopposed
Louisiana	Murphy J. Foster	Democratic	Lost renomination Democratic hold	Joseph E. Ransdell (Democratic) Unopposed
Maine	Obadiah Gardner	Democratic	Lost re-election Republican gain	Edwin C. Burleigh (Republican)
Massachusetts	Winthrop M. Crane	Republican	Retired Republican hold	John W. Weeks (Republican) Unopposed
Michigan	William Alden Smith	Republican	Re-elected	William Alden Smith (Republican) Unopposed
Minnesota*	Knute Nelson	Republican	Re-elected	Knute Nelson (Republican) 62.8% Daniel Lawler (Democratic) 37.2%
Mississippi	LeRoy Percy	Democratic	Lost renomination Democratic hold	James K. Vardaman (Democratic) Unopposed
Montana*	Joseph M. Dixon	Progressive	Lost re-election Democratic gain	Thomas J. Walsh (Democratic) 32.1% Joseph M. Dixon (Progressive) 41.17% Henry C. Smith (Republican) 26.73%
Nebraska	Norris Brown	Republican	Lost renomination Republican hold	George W. Norris (Republican) Ashton C. Shallenberger (Democratic)
New Hampshire	Henry E. Burnham	Republican	Retired Democratic gain	Henry F. Hollis (Democratic) 50.94% John H. Bartlett (Republican) 32.62% Henry B. Quinby (Republican) 4.85% Edward Nathan Pearson (Republican) 3.77% Robert P. Bass (Progressive) 3.24% Sherman Everett Burroughs (Republican) 1.35% Gordon Woodbury (Democratic) 0.81% Clarence Carr (Democratic) 0.54% William Swart (Independent) 0.54%
New Jersey	Frank O. Briggs	Republican	Lost re-election Democratic gain	William Hughes (Democratic)
New Mexico	Albert B. Fall	Republican	Re-elected	Albert B. Fall (Republican) Unopposed
North Carolina	Furnifold McLendel Simmons	Democratic	Re-elected	Furnifold McLendel Simmons (Democratic) Unopposed
Oklahoma*	Robert Latham Owen	Democratic	Re-elected	Robert Latham Owen (Democratic) 50.43% Joseph Dickerson (Republican) 33.28% John Wills (Socialist) 16.3%
Oregon*	Jonathan Bourne, Jr.	Republican	Lost renomination and then lost re-election as Progressive Democratic gain	Harry Lane (Democratic) 30.07% Ben Selling (Republican) 28.79% Jonathan Bourne, Jr. (Progressive) 19.41% Benjamin Ramp (Socialist) 8.31% A. E. Clark (Progressive-WI) 8.3% B. Lee Paget (Prohibition) 5.13%
Rhode Island	George P. Wetmore	Republican	Retired Republican hold	LeBaron B. Colt (Republican) Unopposed
South Carolina	Benjamin Tillman	Democratic	Re-elected	Benjamin Tillman (Democratic) Unopposed
South Dakota	Robert J. Gamble	Republican	Lost renomination Republican hold	Thomas Sterling (Republican) Unopposed
Tennessee	Newell Sanders	Republican	Appointee retired Democratic gain	John K. Shields (Democratic) Unopposed
Texas	Joseph Weldon Bailey	Democratic	Retired Democratic hold	Morris Sheppard (Democratic) Unopposed
Virginia	Thomas S. Martin	Democratic	Re-elected	Thomas S. Martin (Democratic) Unopposed
West Virginia	Clarence Wayland Watson	Democratic	Lost re-election Republican gain	Nathan Goff, Jr. (Republican)
Wyoming	Francis E. Warren	Republican	Re-elected	Francis E. Warren (Republican) Unopposed

Separate elections

All of these elections were held in 1913.

Elections before the next Congress

Date	State	Incumbent	Party	Result	Candidates
January 15, 1913	Colorado Special (Class 3)	Vacant	Vacant	Charles J. Hughes, Jr. (D) died January 11, 1911. Democratic hold	Charles S. Thomas (Democratic) Unopposed
January 23, 1913	Nevada* Special (Class 1)	William A. Massey	Republican	Lost re-election Democratic gain	Key Pittman (Democratic) 39.34% William A. Massey (Republican) 39.78% G. A. Steele (Socialist) 13.73% S. Summerfield (Progressive) 7.15%
January 24, 1913	Idaho Special (Class 3)	Kirtland I. Perky	Democratic	Retired Republican gain	James H. Brady (Republican) Unopposed
January 23, 1913	Tennessee Special (Class 2)	Newell Sanders	Republican	Appointee retired when successor elected Democratic gain	William R. Webb (Democratic)
January 23, 1913	Texas Special (Class 2)	Rienzi Melville Johnston	Democratic	Appointee retired when successor elected Democratic hold	Morris Sheppard (Democratic) [Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
January 23, 1913	Arkansas Special (Class 2)	John N. Heiskell	Democratic	Appointee retired when successor elected to finish six weeks of term Democratic hold	William Marmaduke Kavanaugh (Democratic) [Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
January 27, 1913	Arkansas Special (Class 2)	William Marmaduke Kavanaugh	Democratic	Elected to finish term of posthumously-elected Jeff Davis Democratic hold	Joseph Taylor Robinson (Democratic) [Data unknown/missing. You can help!]

Elections during the next Congress

Date	State	Incumbent	Party	Result	Candidates
March 26, 1913	Illinois Special (Class 3)	Vacant	Vacant	1909 election of William Lorimer (R) voided July 13, 1912 Republican hold	Lawrence Yates Sherman (Republican) [Data unknown/missing. You can help!]
November 4, 1913	Maryland Special (Class 1)	William P. Jackson	Republican	Appointee retired when successor elected Democratic gain	Blair Lee (Democratic) [Data unknown/missing. You can help!]

Senate party division, 63rd Congress (1913–1915)

Majority Party: Democratic (51 seats)

Minority Party: Republican (44 seats)

Other Parties: Progressive (1 seat)

Total Seats: 96

Change in Senate composition

Before the elections D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D V D D D D D D D D D R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R

Beginning of the next Congress D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D P R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R

Key:	D = Democratic P = Progressive R = Republican V = Vacant	Majority divider

References

Source: United States Senate Official Website