United States Senate elections, 1946

United States Senate elections, 1946

1944 ← November 5, 1946 → 1948

37 of the 96 seats in the United States Senate 49 seats were needed for a majority   Majority party Minority party   Leader Wallace White Alben Barkley Party Republican Democratic Leader's seat Maine Kentucky Last election 38 seats 57 seats Seats before 39 56 Seats won 51 45 Seat change +12 -11

Republican holds   Republican pickups   Democratic holds   Democratic pickups

Majority Leader before election Alben Barkley Democratic Elected Majority Leader Wallace White Republican

The United States Senate elections of 1946 were in the middle of Democratic President Harry Truman's first term.

The vote was largely seen as a referendum on Truman, whose approval rating had sunk to 32% over the president's controversial handling of a wave of post-war labor strikes, such as a nationwide railroad strike in May, at a time when Americans depended on train service for both commuter and long-distance travel. Just as damaging was Truman's back-and-forth over whether to end unpopular wartime price controls to handle shortages, particularly in foodstuffs. For example, price controls on beef had led to a "hamburger famine", but when Truman, in a surprise move, lifted the controls on October 14 — just weeks before the election — meat prices shot up to record levels.

Republican wave

The president's lack of popular support is widely seen as the reason for the Democrats' congressional defeat, the largest since they were trounced in the 1928 pro-Republican wave that brought Herbert Hoover to power. And for the first time since before the Great Depression, Republicans were seen as the party which could best handle the American economy.

However, the Republicans also benefited from what today would be called "a good map," meaning that of the one-third of Senate seats up for election, the majority were held by Democrats.

In addition to a net Republican gain by appointment before the election, the Republicans picked up twelve seats, eleven of them from Democrats, and one from Progressive Robert M. La Follette, Jr. (P-WI). This gave them a Senate majority for the first time since Hoover's administration. This election is also notable for the election of Joe McCarthy who would become famous for his investigations of communism in the 1950's

In addition to capturing open seats in Idaho, Montana, Nevada, and New York, the Republicans defeated seven Democratic incumbents:

• James M. Tunnell (D-DE)
• David I. Walsh (D-MA)
• Frank P. Briggs (D-MO), seat was previously held by President Truman himself.
• James W. Huffman (D-OH)
• Joseph F. Guffey (D-PA)
• Abe Murdock (D-UT)
• Hugh B. Mitchell (D-WA)

Complete list of races

State	Incumbent	Party	Result	Opposing Candidates
Alabama Special: Class 2	George R. Swift	Democratic	Appointee retired when successor elected to finish term Democratic hold, unopposed	John Sparkman (Democratic)
Arizona	Ernest W. McFarland	Democratic	Re-elected, 69.2 - 30.1	Ward S. Powers (Republican)
California	William F. Knowland	Republican	Re-elected, 54.1 - 44.2	Will Rogers, Jr. (Democratic)
Connecticut	Thomas C. Hart	Republican	Retired Republican hold, 56.1 - 40.7	Raymond E. Baldwin (Republican) Joseph M. Tone (Democratic)
Delaware	James M. Tunnell	Democratic	Lost re-election, 55.2 - 44.9 Republican gain	John J. Williams (Republican)
Florida	Spessard Holland	Democratic	Re-elected, 78.7 - 21.4	J. Harry Schad (Republican)
Idaho Special: Class 2	Charles C. Gossett	Democratic	Appointee lost nomination to finish term, 58.6 - 41.4 Republican gain	Henry C. Dworshak (Republican) George E. Donart (Democratic)
Indiana	Raymond E. Willis	Republican	Retired Republican hold, 52.4 - 46.8	William E. Jenner (Republican) M. Clifford Townsend (Democratic)
Kentucky Special: Class 2	William A. Stanfill	Republican	Appointee retired when successor elected to finish term Republican hold, 53.3 - 46.5	John S. Cooper (Republican) John Y. Brown (Democratic)
Maine	Ralph O. Brewster	Republican	Re-elected, 63.6 - 36.5	Peter M. MacDonald (Democratic)
Maryland	George L. P. Radcliffe	Democratic	Lost renomination, 50.2 - 49.8	Herbert R. O'Conor (Democratic) David J. Markey (Republican)
Massachusetts	David I. Walsh	Democratic	Lost re-election, 59.6 - 39.7 Republican gain	Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. (Republican)
Michigan	Arthur H. Vandenberg	Republican	Re-elected, 67.1 - 32.0	James H. Lee (Democratic)
Minnesota	Henrik Shipstead	Republican	Lost renomination, 58.9 - 39.8 Republican hold	Edward John Thye (Republican) Theodore Jorgenson (Democratic)
Mississippi	Theodore G. Bilbo	Democratic	Re-elected, unopposed
Missouri	Frank P. Briggs	Democratic	Lost re-election, 52.7 - 47.1 Republican gain	James P. Kem (Republican)
Montana	Burton K. Wheeler	Democratic	Lost renomination, 53.5 - 45.4 Republican gain	Zales N. Ecton (Republican) Leif Erickson (Democratic)
Nebraska	Hugh Butler	Republican	Re-elected, 70.8 - 29.2	John E. Mekota (Democratic)
Nevada	Edward P. Carville	Democratic	Lost renomination, 55.2 - 44.8 Republican gain	George W. Malone (Republican) Berkeley L. Bunker (Democratic)
New Jersey	H. Alexander Smith	Republican	Re-elected, 58.5 - 40.1	George E. Brunner (Democratic)
New Mexico	Dennis Chavez	Democratic	Re-elected, 51.5 - 48.5	Patrick J. Hurley (Republican)
New York	James M. Mead	Democratic	Retired Republican gain, 52.6 - 47.6	Irving M. Ives (Republican) Herbert H. Lehman (Democratic)
North Dakota	William Langer	Republican	Re-elected, 53.3 - 23.5 - 23.2	Arthur E. Thompson (Independent) Abner B. Larson (Democratic)
North Dakota Special: Class 3	Milton R. Young	Republican	Appointee elected to finish term, 55.5 - 27.4 - 15.2	William Lanier (Democratic) Gerald P. Nye (Independent)
Ohio	James W. Huffman	Democratic	Lost re-election, 57.0 - 42.4 Republican gain	John W. Bricker (Republican)
Pennsylvania	Joseph F. Guffey	Democratic	Lost re-election, 59.3 - 39.8 Republican gain	Edward Martin (Republican)
Rhode Island	Peter G. Gerry	Democratic	Retired Democratic hold, 55.1 - 44.9	J. Howard McGrath (Democratic) W. Gurnee Dwyer (Republican)
Tennessee	Kenneth D. McKellar	Democratic	Re-elected, 66.6 - 26.2	W. B. Ladd (Republican)
Texas	Tom Connally	Democratic	Re-elected, 88.5 - 11.5	Murray C. Sells (Republican)
Utah	Abe Murdock	Democratic	Lost re-election, 51.2 - 48.8 Republican gain	Arthur V. Watkins (Republican)
Vermont	Warren R. Austin	Republican	Retired Republican hold, 74.6 - 25.4	Ralph E. Flanders (Republican) Charles P. McDevitt (Democratic)
Virginia	Harry F. Byrd	Democratic	Re-elected, 64.9 - 30.5	Lester S. Parsons (Republican)
Virginia Special: Class 2	Thomas G. Burch	Democratic	Appointee retired when successor elected to finish term Democratic hold, 68.2 - 29.0	A. Willis Robertson (Democratic) Robert H. Woods (Republican)
Washington	Hugh B. Mitchell	Democratic	Lost re-election, 54.3 - 45.2 Republican gain	Harry P. Cain (Republican)
West Virginia	Harley M. Kilgore	Democratic	Re-elected, 50.3 - 49.7	Thomas Sweeney (Republican)
Wisconsin	Robert M. La Follette, Jr.	Progressive	Lost renomination as a Republican, 61.3 - 37.4 Republican gain	Joseph R. McCarthy (Republican) Howard J. McMurray (Democratic) Edwin Knappe (Socialist
Wyoming	Joseph C. O'Mahoney	Democratic	Re-elected, 56.2 - 43.8	Harry B. Henderson (Republican)

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 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

In 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 R R R 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

Key:	D =Democratic P =Progressive (Wisc.) R =Republican	Majority divider

See also

• United States House of Representatives elections, 1946