United States Senate elections, 1930

United States Senate elections, 1930

1928 ← November 4, 1930 → 1932

35 of the 96 seats in the United States Senate 49 seats were needed for a majority   Majority party Minority party Third party   Leader James Watson Joseph Robinson Henrik Shipstead Party Republican Democratic Farmer-Labor Leader's seat Indiana Arkansas Minnesota Last election 56 seats 39 seats 1 seat Seats won 48 47 1 Seat change 8 8

Republican holds   Republican pickups   Democratic holds   Democratic pickups

Majority Leader before election James Watson Republican Elected Majority Leader James Watson Republican

The United States Senate elections of 1930 occurred in the middle of Republican President Herbert Hoover's first term. With the Great Depression beginning to take hold, Republican incumbents became unpopular, and Democrats gained a net of eight seats, although Republicans retained control of the chamber.

The Republicans only gained one seat by defeating incumbent Daniel F. Steck (D-IA). The Democrats took open seats in Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts, and West Virginia, and defeated five incumbents:

• Henry J. Allen (R-KS)
• John M. Robsion (R-KY)
• Roscoe C. McCulloch (R-OH)
• William B. Pine (R-OK)
• William H. McMaster (R-SD)

This was the first of four consecutive Senate elections in the Depression in which Democrats made major gains, achieving a cumulative gain of 37 seats.

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 R R R R R R R R F 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 F 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

Key:	D = Democratic F = Farmer-Labor R = Republican V = Vacant	Majority divider

Complete list of races

State	Incumbent	Party	Result	Other candidates
Alabama	James Thomas Heflin	Democratic	Disqualified from primary for supporting Herbert Hoover. Lost general election as an independent, 59.7-40.3 Democratic hold	John H. Bankhead II (Democratic)
Arkansas	Joseph Taylor Robinson	Democratic	Re-elected, unopposed
Colorado	Lawrence C. Phipps	Republican	Retired Democratic gain, 55.9 - 42.7	Edward P. Costigan (Democratic) George H. Shaw (Republican)
Delaware	Daniel O. Hastings	Republican	Re-elected, 54.5 - 45.4	Thomas F. Bayard, Jr. (Democratic)
Georgia	William J. Harris	Democratic	Re-elected, unopposed
Idaho	William Borah	Republican	Re-elected, 72.4 - 27.6	Joseph M. Tyler (Democratic)
Illinois	Charles S. Deneen	Republican	Lost renomination Democratic gain, 64.0 - 30.7	James H. Lewis (Democratic) Ruth H. McCormick (Republican)
Iowa	Daniel F. Steck	Democratic	Lost re-election Republican gain, 56.3 - 43.0	Lester J. Dickinson (Republican)
Kansas	Arthur Capper	Republican	Re-elected, 61.1 - 38.9	Jonathan M. Davis (Democratic)
Kansas Special (Class 3)	Henry J. Allen	Republican	Interim appointee lost election to finish term Democratic gain, 50.0 - 48.0	George McGill (Democratic)
Kentucky	John M. Robsion	Republican	Lost re-election Democratic gain, 52.1 - 47.9	M. M. Logan (Democratic)
Louisiana	Joseph E. Ransdell	Democratic	Lost renomination Democratic hold, unopposed	Huey Long (Democratic)
Maine	Arthur J. Gould	Republican	Retired Republican hold, 60.9 - 39.1	Wallace H. White, Jr. (Republican) Frank W. Haskell (Democratic)
Massachusetts	Frederick H. Gillett	Republican	Retired Democratic gain, 54.0 - 44.7	Marcus A. Coolidge (Democratic) William M. Butler (Republican)
Michigan	James Couzens	Republican	Re-elected, 78.2 - 20.9	Thomas A. E. Weadock (Democratic)
Minnesota	Thomas D. Schall	Republican	Re-elected, 37.6 - 36.1 - 22.9	Einar Hoidale (Democratic) Ernest Lundeen (Farmer-Labor)
Mississippi	Pat Harrison	Democratic	Re-elected, unopposed
Montana	Thomas J. Walsh	Democratic	Re-elected, 60.3 - 37.9	Albert J. Galen (Republican)
Nebraska	George W. Norris	Republican	Re-elected, 56.8 - 39.7	Gilbert M. Hitchcock (Democratic)
New Hampshire	Henry W. Keyes	Republican	Re-elected, 57.9 - 41.9	Albert W. Noone (Democratic)
New Jersey	David Baird, Jr.	Republican	Retired Republican hold, 58.5 - 39.0	Dwight W. Morrow (Republican) Alexander Simpson (Democratic)
New Mexico	Sam G. Bratton	Democratic	Re-elected, 58.6 - 41.2	Herbert B. Holt (Republican)
North Carolina	Furnifold McLendel Simmons	Democratic	Lost renomination Democratic hold, 60.6 - 39.4	Josiah W. Bailey (Democratic) George M. Pritchard (Republican)
Ohio Special (Class 3)	Roscoe C. McCulloch	Republican	Interim appointee lost election to finish term Democratic gain, 54.8 - 45.2	Robert J. Bulkley (Democratic)
Oklahoma	William B. Pine	Republican	Lost re-election Democratic gain, 52.3 - 47.5	Thomas P. Gore (Democratic)
Oregon	Charles L. McNary	Republican	Re-elected, 58.1 - 27.9 - 7.4	Elton Watkins (Democratic) L. A. Banks (Independent)
Pennsylvania Special (Class 3)	Joseph R. Grundy	Republican	Interim appointee lost nomination to finish term Republican hold, 71.5 - 25.6	James J. Davis (Republican) Sedgwick Kistler (Democratic)
Rhode Island	Jesse H. Metcalf	Republican	Re-elected, 50.3 - 49.2	Peter G. Gerry (Democratic)
South Carolina	Coleman Livingston Blease	Democratic	Lost renomination Democratic hold, unopposed	James F. Byrnes (Democratic)
South Dakota	William H. McMaster	Republican	Lost re-election Democratic gain, 51.6 - 48.4	William J. Bulow (Democratic)
Tennessee	William Emerson Brock	Democratic	Retired Democratic hold, 71.3 - 27.1	Cordell Hull (Democratic) Paul E. Divine (Republican)
Texas	Morris Sheppard	Democratic	Re-elected, 86.9 - 12.7	D. J. Haesly (Republican)
Virginia	Carter Glass	Democratic	Re-elected, 76.7 - 17.9 - 5.4	J. Cloyd Byars (Independent) Joe C. Morgan (Socialist)
West Virginia	Guy D. Goff	Republican	Retired Democratic gain, 61.9 - 37.9	Matthew M. Neely (Democratic) James E. Jones (Republican)
Wyoming	Patrick Joseph Sullivan	Republican	Retired Republican hold, 59.1-41.0	Robert D. Carey (Republican) Henry H. Schwartz (Democratic)

See also

• United States House of Representatives elections, 1930