United States Senate elections, 1932

United States Senate elections, 1932

1930 ← November 8, 1932 → 1934

35 of the 96 seats in the United States Senate 49 seats were needed for a majority   Majority party Minority party Third party   Leader Joseph Robinson James Watson Henrik Shipstead Party Democratic Republican Farmer-Labor Leader's seat Arkansas Indiana (defeated) Minnesota Last election 47 seats 48 seats 1 seat Seats won 59 36 1 Seat change 12 12

Republican holds   Republican pickups   Democratic holds   Democratic pickups

Majority Leader before election James Watson Republican Elected Majority Leader Joseph Robinson Democratic

The U.S. Senate election of 1932 coincided with Democrat Franklin Delano Roosevelt's crushing defeat of incumbent Herbert Hoover in the presidential election. With the administration widely blamed for the Great Depression, Republicans lost twelve seats and control of the chamber. For Democrats, while they were successful in defending all of their own seats, this was their largest gain since 1910.

This was the first election in modern history that a Senate leader (in this case the Majority Leader) from either party lost re-election.

Gains and losses

Democrats took open seats in California, Iowa, and Wisconsin, and defeated nine incumbents:

• Karl C. Schuyler (R-CO)
• Hiram Bingham (R-CT)
• John Thomas (R-ID)
• Otis F. Glenn (R-IL)
• James E. Watson (R-IN) (sitting Majority Leader)
• Tasker L. Oddie (R-NV)
• George H. Moses (R-NH)
• Reed Smoot (R-UT) (whose Hawley-Smoot tariff is often cited by economists as one of the factors causing the depression)
• Wesley L. Jones (R-WA)

Democrat George McGill won re-election in Kansas. As of 2010, he is the last Democrat to win a U.S. Senate election in Kansas.

Change in Senate composition

Before the election 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 F No Majority 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

End of the 72nd 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 V D D D D D D D D R ← Majority 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 73rd 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 ← Majority 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

	Key:
D	=Democratic
F	=Farmer-Labor
R	=Republican

Complete list of races

All races are general elections for class 3 seats, unless noted.

Separate election

Date	State	Incumbent	Party	Result	Candidates
January 12, 1932	Arkansas (Special)	Thaddeus H. Caraway	Democratic	Died Democratic hold Winner was subsequently re-elected in November	Hattie W. Caraway (D) 91+% Rex Floyd (I) Sam D. Carson (I) [Data unknown/missing. You can help!]

November races

State	Incumbent	Party	Result	Candidates
Alabama	Hugo L. Black	Democratic	Re-elected	Hugo L. Black (Democratic), 86.3% J. Theodore Johnson (Republican), 13.8%
Arizona	Carl Hayden	Democratic	Re-elected	Carl Hayden (Democratic), 66.7% Ralph H. Cameron (Republican), 32.1%
Arkansas	Hattie W. Caraway	Democratic	Re-elected	Hattie W. Caraway (Democratic), 89.5% John W. White (Republican), 10.5%
California	Samuel M. Shortridge	Republican	Lost renomination Democratic gain	William G. McAdoo (Democratic), 43.4% Tallant Tubbs (Republican), 30.8% Robert P. Shuler (Prohibition), 25.8%
Colorado	Karl C. Schuyler	Republican	Lost re-election Democratic gain	Alva B. Adams (Democratic), 51.9% Karl C. Schuyler (Republican), 45.5%
Connecticut	Hiram Bingham III	Republican	Lost re-election Democratic gain	Augustine Lonergan (Democratic), 48.5% Hiram Bingham III (Republican), 47.7%
Florida	Duncan U. Fletcher	Democratic	Re-elected	Duncan U. Fletcher (Democratic), 99.8%
Georgia (Special: Class 2)	John S. Cohen	Democratic	Retired Democratic hold	Richard Russell, Jr. (Democratic), unopposed
Georgia	Walter F. George	Democratic	Re-elected	Walter F. George (Democratic), 92.8% James W. Arnold (Republican), 7.2%
Idaho	John Thomas	Republican	Lost re-election Democratic gain	James Pope (Democratic), 55.7% John Thomas (Republican), 42.3%
Illinois	Otis F. Glenn	Republican	Lost re-election Democratic gain	William H. Dieterich (Democratic), 52.2% Otis F. Glenn (Republican), 46.0%
Indiana	James E. Watson	Republican	Lost re-election Democratic gain	Frederick Van Nuys (Democratic), 55.6% James E. Watson (Republican), 42.3%
Iowa	Smith W. Brookhart	Republican	Lost renomination Democratic gain	Richard L. Murphy (Democratic), 54.9% Henry Field (Republican), 40.8%
Kansas	George McGill	Democratic	Re-elected	George McGill (Democratic), 45.7% Ben S. Paulen (Republican), 42.0%
Kentucky	Alben W. Barkley	Democratic	Re-elected	Alben W. Barkley (Democratic), 59.2% M. H. Thatcher (Republican), 40.5%
Louisiana	Edwin S. Broussard	Democratic	Lost renomination Democratic hold	John H. Overton (Democratic), unopposed
Maryland	Millard E. Tydings	Democratic	Re-elected	Millard E. Tydings (Democratic), 66.2% Wallace Williams (Republican), 31.2%
Missouri	Harry B. Hawes	Democratic	Retired Democratic hold	Bennett Champ Clark (Democratic), 63.2% Henry Kiel (Republican), 35.9%
Nevada	Tasker L. Oddie	Republican	Lost re-election Democratic gain	Patrick A. McCarran (Democratic), 52.1% Tasker L. Oddie (Republican), 47.9%
New Hampshire	George H. Moses	Republican	Lost re-election Democratic gain	Fred H. Brown (Democratic), 50.4% George H. Moses (Republican), 49.3%
New Jersey (Special: Class 2)	W. Warren Barbour	Republican	Elected to finish term	W. Warren Barbour (Republican), 49.6% Percy H. Stewart (Democratic), 48.5%
New York	Robert F. Wagner	Democratic	Re-elected	Robert F. Wagner (Democratic), 55.8% George Z. Medalie (Republican), 38.6%
North Carolina (Special)	Cameron A. Morrison	Democratic	Lost nomination to finish term Democratic hold	Robert R. Reynolds (Democratic), 68.7% Jake F. Newell (Republican), 31.3%
North Carolina (General)			Lost nomination to next term Democratic hold	Robert R. Reynolds (Democratic), 68.6% Jake F. Newell (Republican), 31.4%
North Dakota	Gerald P. Nye	Republican	Re-elected	Gerald P. Nye (Republican), 72.3% P. W. Lanier (Democratic), 27.5%
Ohio	Robert J. Bulkley	Democratic	Re-elected	Robert J. Bulkley (Democratic), 52.5% Gilbert Bettman (Republican), 45.8%
Oklahoma	Elmer Thomas	Democratic	Re-elected	Elmer Thomas (Democratic), 65.6% Wirt Franklin (Republican), 33.7%
Oregon	Frederick Steiwer	Republican	Re-elected	Frederick Steiwer (Republican), 52.7% Walter B. Gleason (Democratic), 38.9%
Pennsylvania	James J. Davis	Republican	Re-elected	James J. Davis (Republican), 49.3% Lawrence H. Rupp (Democratic), 43.2%
South Carolina	Ellison D. Smith	Democratic	Re-elected	Ellison D. Smith (Democratic), unopposed
South Dakota	Peter Norbeck	Republican	Re-elected	Peter Norbeck (Republican), 53.8% U.S.G. Cherry (Democratic), 44.6%
Utah	Reed Smoot	Republican	Lost re-election Democratic gain	Elbert D. Thomas (Democratic), 56.7% Reed Smoot (Republican), 41.7%
Vermont	Porter H. Dale	Republican	Re-elected	Porter H. Dale (Republican), 55.1% Fred C. Martin (Democratic), 44.9%
Washington	Wesley L. Jones	Republican	Lost re-election Democratic gain	Homer T. Bone (Democratic), 60.6% Wesley L. Jones (Republican), 32.7%
Wisconsin	John J. Blaine	Republican	Lost renomination Democratic gain	F. Ryan Duffy (Democratic), 57.0% John B. Chapple (Republican), 36.2% Emil Seidel (Socialist), 6.1%

See also

• United States presidential election, 1932
• United States House elections, 1932