1932 United States Senate elections

United States Senate elections, 1932 and 1933
35 of the 96 seats in the United States Senate; 49 seats needed for a majority
	Republican hold Democratic hold Democratic gain
Majority Leader before election; James Watson; Republican	Elected Majority Leader ; Joseph Robinson; Democratic

The United States Senate elections of 1932 (and subsequent special elections in 1933) 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. This became the first time since 1920 that the victorious party defended all of their own seats and achieved a pickup in the double-digits.

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

Change in Senate composition

Before the elections

D₃₉	D₄₀	D₄₁	D₄₂	D₄₃	D₄₄	D₄₅	D₄₆	D₄₇	D₄₈
		D₁	D₂	D₃	D₄	D₅	D₆	D₇	D₈
D₁₈	D₁₇	D₁₆	D₁₅	D₁₄	D₁₃	D₁₂	D₁₁	D₁₀	D₉
D₁₉	D₂₀	D₂₁	D₂₂	D₂₃	D₂₄	D₂₅	D₂₆	D₂₇	D₂₈
D₃₈	D₃₇	D₃₆	D₃₅	D₃₄	D₃₃	D₃₂	D₃₁	D₃₀	D₂₉
Plurality ↑									FL₁
R₃₉	R₄₀	R₄₁	R₄₂	R₄₃	R₄₄	R₄₅	R₄₆	R₄₇	FL₁
R₃₈	R₃₇	R₃₆	R₃₅	R₃₄	R₃₃	R₃₂	R₃₁	R₃₀	R₂₉
R₁₉	R₂₀	R₂₁	R₂₂	R₂₃	R₂₄	R₂₅	R₂₆	R₂₇	R₂₈
R₁₈	R₁₇	R₁₆	R₁₅	R₁₄	R₁₃	R₁₂	R₁₁	R₁₀	R₉
		R₁	R₂	R₃	R₄	R₅	R₆	R₇	R₈

Beginning of the next Congress

D₃₉ √	D₄₀ √	D₄₁ √	D₄₂ √	D₄₃ √	D₄₄ O	D₄₅ O	D₄₆ O	D₄₇ O	D₄₈ O
		D₁	D₂	D₃	D₄	D₅	D₆	D₇	D₈
D₁₈	D₁₇	D₁₆	D₁₅	D₁₄	D₁₃	D₁₂	D₁₁	D₁₀	D₉
D₁₉	D₂₀	D₂₁	D₂₂	D₂₃	D₂₄	D₂₅	D₂₆	D₂₇	D₂₈
D₃₈ √	D₃₇ √	D₃₆ √	D₃₅ √	D₃₄ √	D₃₃ √	D₃₂ √	D₃₁	D₃₀	D₂₉
Majority →									D₄₉ +
D₅₀ +	D₅₁ +	D₅₂ +	D₅₃ +	D₅₄ +	D₅₅ +	D₅₆ +	D₅₇ +	D₅₈ +	D₄₉ +
D₅₉ +	FL₁	R₃₆ √	R₃₅ √	R₃₄ √	R₃₃ √	R₃₂ √	R₃₁ √	R₃₀	R₂₉
R₁₉	R₂₀	R₂₁	R₂₂	R₂₃	R₂₄	R₂₅	R₂₆	R₂₇	R₂₈
R₁₈	R₁₇	R₁₆	R₁₅	R₁₄	R₁₃	R₁₂	R₁₁	R₁₀	R₉
		R₁	R₂	R₃	R₄	R₅	R₆	R₇	R₈

Key:

D_#	Democratic
FL_#	Farmer-Labor
R_#	Republican

√	Incumbent re-elected or appointee elected to finish term
O	Party hold: New senator elected from same party
+	Party gain: New senator elected from different party

Gains and losses

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

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 contributing to the depression)
Wesley L. Jones (R-WA)

Democrat George McGill won re-election in Kansas. As of 2014, he is the last Democrat to win a U.S. Senate election in Kansas.

Hattie Caraway (D-AR) was the first woman to be elected to a full term in the Senate.

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: Class 2)	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 missing]^[1]

November races

All elections are for the Class 3 seat unless otherwise indicated.

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 (Special: Class 3)	Walter Walker	Democratic	Appointee lost election to finish term Winner elected to finish term ending March 4, 1933 Republican gain	√ Karl C. Schuyler (Republican) 48.76% Walter Walker (Democratic) 48.51% Carle Whitehead (Socialist) 2.73%^[2]
Colorado (General: Class 3)	Walter Walker	Democratic	Appointee did not run for next term. Winner elected to next term starting March 4, 1933 Democratic gain	√ Alva B. Adams (Democratic) 52.23% Karl C. Schuyler (Republican) 45.78% Carle Whitehead (Socialist) 1.99%^[2]
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 Winner elected to finish term ending January 3, 1937 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	Appointee elected to finish term ending January 3, 1937	√ 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: Class 3)	Cameron A. Morrison	Democratic	Lost nomination to finish term ending March 3, 1933 Democratic hold	√ Robert R. Reynolds (Democratic) 68.7% Jake F. Newell (Republican) 31.3%^[3]
North Carolina (General: Class 3)	Cameron A. Morrison	Democratic	Lost nomination to next term beginning March 3, 1933 Democratic hold	√ Robert R. Reynolds (Democratic) 68.6% Jake F. Newell (Republican) 31.4%^[3]
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%

Later election

Date	State	Incumbent	Party	Result	Candidates
November 7, 1933	Virginia (Special: Class 1)	Harry F. Byrd	Democratic	Claude A. Swanson (D) had resigned March 4, 1933 to become U.S. Secretary of the Navy. Successor was appointed March 4, 1933 to continue the term. Appointee elected to finish the term ending January 3, 1935. Democratic hold	√ Harry F. Byrd (Democratic) 71.31% Henry A. Wise (Republican) 26.67% John M. Daniel (Independent) 0.92% Elizabeth L. Otey (Socialist) 0.68% Newman H. Raymond (Prohibition) 0.42%^[4]

References

^ http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=36567
^ ^a ^b http://www.ourcampaigns.com/ContainerHistory.html?ContainerID=108
^ ^a ^b http://www.ourcampaigns.com/ContainerHistory.html?ContainerID=157
^ "VA US Senate Special". Our Campaigns. Retrieved January 15, 2014.