United States Senate elections, 1950

United States Senate elections, 1950

1948 ← November 7, 1950 → 1952

36 of the 96 seats in the United States Senate 49 seats were needed for a majority   Majority party Minority party   Leader Ernest McFarland Ken Wherry Party Democratic Republican Leader's seat Arizona Nebraska Last election 54 seats 42 seats Seats won 49 47 Seat change 5 5 Popular vote 15,297,854 16,166,439 Percentage 47.2% 49.9% Swing 9.0% 7.3%

Republican holds   Republican pickups   Democratic holds   Democratic pickups

Majority Leader before election Scott Lucas Democratic Elected Majority Leader Ernest McFarland Democratic

The U.S. Senate election of 1950 occurred in the middle of Harry Truman's second term as President. As with most 20th-century second-term mid-terms, the party out of the Presidency made significant gains. The Democratic administration's popularity declining during the Cold War, and in the aftermath of a severe recession in 1948, the Republican opposition made a net gain of five seats, nearly taking control of the chamber. The Democrats would hold a narrow 49 to 47 seat majority.

The Republicans defeated incumbents Scott W. Lucas (D-IL) (current Majority Leader), Millard E. Tydings (D-MD), Francis J. Myers (D-PA), and Elbert B. Thomas (D-UT), as well as taking open seats in Idaho and California. The Democrats only defeated one incumbent, Forrest C. Donnell (R-MO).

During the interim, Republicans and Democrats would exchange seats in Michigan and Connecticut due to deaths and appointments, but this would not affect party balance.

A notable freshman was future President Richard M. Nixon, who would be elected Vice President two years later.

Complete list of races

State	Incumbent	Party	Result	Other candidates
Alabama	Lister Hill	Democratic	Incumbent re-elected, 76.5 - 23.5	John G. Crommelin, Jr. (Independent)
Arizona	Carl Hayden	Democratic	Incumbent re-elected, 62.8 - 37.2	Bruce Brockett (Republican)
Arkansas	J. William Fulbright	Democratic	Incumbent re-elected, unopposed
California	Sheridan Downey	Democratic	Retired Republican gain, 59.2 - 40.8	Richard M. Nixon (Republican) Helen Gahagan Douglas (Democratic)
Colorado	Eugene D. Millikin	Republican	Incumbent re-elected, 53.3 - 46.8	John A. Carroll (Democratic)
Connecticut	Brien McMahon	Democratic	Incumbent re-elected, 51.7 - 46.6	Joseph E. Talbot (Republican)
Connecticut Special (Class 1)	William Benton	Democratic	Incumbent appointee elected to finish term, 49.2 - 49.1	Prescott S. Bush (Republican)
Florida	Claude Pepper	Democratic	Lost renomination Democratic hold, 76.2 - 23.7	George A. Smathers (Democratic) John P. Booth (Republican) Stetson Kennedy (Independent)
Georgia	Walter F. George	Democratic	Incumbent re-elected, unopposed
Idaho	Glen H. Taylor	Democratic	Lost renomination Republican gain, 61.7 - 38.3	Herman Welker (Republican) D. Worth Clark (Democratic)
Idaho Special (Class 2)	Henry C. Dworshak	Republican	Incumbent appointee elected to finish term, 51.9 - 48.1	Claude J. Burtenshaw (Democratic)
Illinois	Scott W. Lucas	Democratic	Lost re-election Republican gain, 53.9 - 45.8	Everett M. Dirksen (Republican)
Indiana	Homer E. Capehart	Republican	Incumbent re-elected, 52.8 - 46.4	Alex M. Campbell (Democratic)
Iowa	Bourke B. Hickenlooper	Republican	Incumbent re-elected, 54.8 - 44.7	Albert J. Loveland (Democratic)
Kansas	Frank Carlson	Republican	Incumbent re-elected, 54.3 - 43.8	Paul Aiken (Democratic)
Kentucky	Earle C. Clements	Democratic	Incumbent re-elected, 54.2 - 45.1	Charles I. Dawson (Republican)
Louisiana	Russell B. Long	Democratic	Incumbent re-elected, 87.7 - 12.3	Charles S. Gerth (Republican)
Maryland	Millard E. Tydings	Democratic	Lost re-election Republican gain, 53.0 - 46.0	John M. Butler (Republican)
Missouri	Forrest C. Donnell	Republican	Lost re-election Democratic gain, 53.6 - 46.4	Thomas C. Hennings, Jr. (Democratic)
Nevada	Patrick A. McCarran	Democratic	Incumbent re-elected, 58.0 - 42.0	George E. Marshall (Republican)
New Hampshire	Charles W. Tobey	Republican	Incumbent re-elected, 55.7 - 38.0 - 6.3	Emmet J. Kelley (Democratic) Wesley Powell (Independent)
New York	Herbert H. Lehman	Democratic	Incumbent re-elected, 50.3 - 45.3	Joe R. Hanley (Republican)
North Carolina	Clyde R. Hoey	Democratic	Incumbent re-elected, 68.7 - 31.3	Halsey B. Leavitt (Republican)
North Carolina Special (Class 2)	Frank Porter Graham	Democratic	Incumbent appointee lost nomination to finish term Democratic hold, 67.0 - 32.6	Willis Smith (Democratic) E. L. Gavin (Republican)
North Dakota	Milton R. Young	Republican	Incumbent re-elected, 67.6 - 32.4	Harry O'Brien (Democratic)
Ohio	Robert A. Taft	Republican	Incumbent re-elected, 57.5 - 42.5	Joseph T. Ferguson (Democratic)
Oklahoma	Elmer Thomas	Democratic	Lost renomination Democratic hold, 54.8 - 45.2	A. S. Mike Monroney (Democratic) W. H. Bill Alexander (Republican)
Oregon	Wayne Morse	Republican	Incumbent re-elected, 74.8 - 23.2	Howard Latourette (Democratic)
Pennsylvania	Francis J. Myers	Democratic	Lost re-election Republican gain, 51.3 - 47.7	James H. Duff (Republican)
Rhode Island Special (Class 1)	Edward L. Leahy	Democratic	Incumbent appointee retired Democratic hold, 61.6 - 38.4	John O. Pastore (Democratic) Austin T. Levy (Republican)
South Carolina	Olin B. Johnston	Democratic	Incumbent re-elected, unopposed
South Dakota	Chandler Gurney	Republican	Lost renomination Republican hold, 63.9 - 36.1	Francis Case (Republican) John A. Engel (Democratic)
Utah	Elbert D. Thomas	Democratic	Lost re-election Republican gain, 53.9 - 45.8	Wallace F. Bennett (Republican)
Vermont	George D. Aiken	Republican	Incumbent re-elected, 78.0 - 22.0	James E. Bigelow (Democratic)
Washington	Warren G. Magnuson	Democratic	Incumbent re-elected, 53.4 - 46.0	Walter Williams (Republican)
Wisconsin	Alexander Wiley	Republican	Incumbent re-elected, 53.3 - 46.2 - .4	Thomas E. Fairchild (Democratic) Edwin Knappe (Socialist)

Senate composition before and after elections

Senate composition in the 81st Congress											Senate composition in the 82nd 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	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	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 House of Representatives elections, 1950