United States Senate elections, 1948

United States Senate elections, 1948

1946 ← November 2, 1948 → 1950

33 of the 96 seats in the United States Senate 49 seats were needed for a majority   Majority party Minority party   Leader Scott Lucas Ken Wherry Party Democratic Republican Leader's seat Illinois Nebraska Last election 45 seats 51 seats Seats won 54 42 Seat change +9 -9

Republican holds   Republican pickups   Democratic holds   Democratic pickups

Majority Leader before election Wallace White Republican Elected Majority Leader Scott Lucas Democratic

The U.S. Senate election, 1948 was an election for the United States Senate which coincided with the election of Democratic President Harry Truman for a full term. Truman had campaigned against an "obstructionist" Congress that had blocked many of his initiatives, and in addition the U.S. economy recovered from the postwar recession of 1946-1947 by election day. Thus Truman was rewarded with a Democratic gain of nine seats in the Senate, enough to give them control of the chamber.

In addition to gaining an open seat in Oklahoma, the Democrats defeated the following eight Republican incumbents:

• Clayton D. Buck (R-DE)
• Henry C. Dworshak (R-ID)
• C. Wayland Brooks (R-IL)
• George A. Wilson (R-IA)
• John S. Cooper (R-KY)
• Joseph H. Ball (R-MN)
• Chapman Revercomb (R-WV)
• Edward V. Robertson (R-WY)

Prominent freshmen

Notable members of the new intake were future President and Vice President, Democrats Lyndon Johnson and Hubert Humphrey. Also worth noting Estes Kefauver who would become widely known for his hearings on organized crime, and Margaret Chase Smith the first Republican woman and also the first woman in the senate who did not succeed her husband.

Complete list of races

State	Incumbent	Party	Result	Opposing Candidates
Alabama	John Sparkman	Democratic	Re-elected, 84.0 - 16.0	Paul G. Parsons (Republican)
Arkansas	John L. McClellan	Democratic	Re-elected, 93.3 - 6.7	R. Walter Tucker (Independent)
Colorado	Edwin C. Johnson	Democratic	Re-elected, 66.8 - 32.4	Will F. Nicholson (Republican)
Delaware	Clayton D. Buck	Republican	Lost re-election, 50.9 - 48.3 Democratic gain	J. Allen Frear, Jr. (Democratic)
Georgia	Richard Russell, Jr.	Democratic	Re-elected, unopposed
Idaho	Henry C. Dworshak	Republican	Lost re-election, 50.0 - 48.5 Democratic gain	Bert H. Miller (Democratic)
Illinois	C. Wayland Brooks	Republican	Lost re-election, 55.1 - 44.6 Democratic gain	Paul Douglas (Democratic)
Iowa	George A. Wilson	Republican	Lost re-election, 57.8 - 41.6 Democratic gain	Guy M. Gillette (Democratic)
Kansas	Arthur Capper	Republican	Retired Republican hold, 54.9 - 42.7	Andrew F. Schoeppel (Republican) George McGill (Democratic)
Kentucky	John S. Cooper	Republican	Lost re-election, 51.4 - 48.3 Democratic gain	Virgil Chapman (Democratic)
Louisiana	Allen J. Ellender	Democratic	Re-elected, unopposed
Louisiana Special (class 3)	William C. Feazel	Democratic	Interim appointee retired Democratic hold, 74.9 - 25.1	Russell B. Long (Democratic) Clem S. Clarke (Republican)
Maine	Wallace H. White, Jr.	Republican	Retired Republican hold, 71.3 - 28.7	Margaret C. Smith (Republican) Adrian H. Scolten (Democratic)
Massachusetts	Leverett Saltonstall	Republican	Re-elected, 53.0 - 46.4	John I. Fitzgerald (Democratic)
Michigan	Homer Ferguson	Republican	Re-elected, 50.7 - 48.5	Frank E. Hook (Democratic)
Minnesota	Joseph H. Ball	Republican	Lost re-election, 59.9 - 39.7 Democratic gain	Hubert Humphrey (Democratic)
Mississippi	James O. Eastland	Democratic	Re-elected, unopposed
Montana	James E. Murray	Democratic	Re-elected, 56.7 - 42.7	Tom J. Davis (Republican)
Nebraska	Kenneth S. Wherry	Republican	Re-elected, 56.7 - 43.3	Terry Carpenter (Democratic)
New Hampshire	Styles Bridges	Republican	Re-elected, 58.1 - 41.2	Alfred E. Fortin (Democratic)
New Jersey	Albert W. Hawkes	Republican	Retired Republican hold, 50.0 - 47.3	Robert C. Hendrickson (Republican) Archibald S. Alexander (Democratic)
New Mexico	Carl A. Hatch	Democratic	Retired Democratic hold, 57.2 - 42.4	Clinton P. Anderson (Democratic) Patrick J. Hurley (Republican)
North Carolina	J. Melville Broughton	Democratic	Re-elected, 70.7 - 28.8	John A. Wilkinson (Republican)
Oklahoma	Edward H. Moore	Republican	Retired Democratic gain, 62.3 - 37.4	Robert S. Kerr (Democratic) Ross Rizley (Republican)
Oregon	Guy Cordon	Republican	Re-elected, 60.0 - 40.0	Manley J. Wilson (Democratic)
Rhode Island	Theodore F. Green	Democratic	Re-elected, 59.3 - 40.7	Thomas P. Hazard (Republican)
South Carolina	Burnet R. Maybank	Democratic	Re-elected, unopposed
South Dakota Special (class 2)	Vera C. Bushfield	Republican	Interim appointee retired Republican hold, 59.3 - 40.7	Karl E. Mundt (Republican) John A. Engel (Democratic)
Tennessee	A. Thomas Stewart	Democratic	Lost re-nomination, 65.3 - 33.5 Democratic hold	Estes Kefauver (Democratic) B. Carroll Reece (Republican)
Texas	W. Lee O'Daniel	Democratic	Retired Democratic hold, 66.2 - 32.9 - 0.8	Lyndon B. Johnson (Democratic) Jack Porter (Republican) Samuel N. Morris (Prohibition)
Virginia	A. Willis Robertson	Democratic	Re-elected, 65.6 - 30.8	Robert H. Woods (Republican)
West Virginia	Chapman Revercomb	Republican	Lost re-election, 57.0 - 43.0 Democratic gain	Matthew M. Neely (Democratic)
Wyoming	Edward V. Robertson	Republican	Lost re-election, 57.1 - 42.9 Democratic gain	Lester C. Hunt (Democratic)

Senate composition before and after elections

80th Congress Senate Composition											81st Congress Senate Composition
		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
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	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	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

Color Key
	D	= Democratic
	R	= Republican

See also

• United States presidential election, 1948
• United States House of Representatives elections, 1948