The 1946 United States House of Representatives elections were elections for the United States House of Representatives to elect members to serve in the 80th United States Congress. They were held for the most part on November 5, 1946, while Maine held theirs on September 9. November 1946 was 19 months after President Harry S. Truman assumed office upon the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt.
While Democrats had controlled the House for 16 years since 1931 and Roosevelt had been elected to a record four terms in office, Truman did not garner the same support as the deceased president. The 1946 election resulted in Republicans picking up 55 seats to win majority control. Joseph Martin, Republican of Massachusetts, became Speaker of the House, exchanging places with Sam Rayburn, Democrat of Texas, who became the new Minority Leader. The Democratic defeat was the largest since they were trounced in the 1928 pro-Republican wave that had seen Herbert Hoover elected president. They also lost the Senate in the concurrent Senate elections.
The vote was largely seen as a referendum on Truman, whose approval rating had sunk to 32 percent<!-- (1) --> over the president's controversial handling of a wave of post-war labor strikes, including a United Auto Workers strike against Ford and General Motors in 1945, a United Mine Workers strike starting in April 1946, and a national railroad worker strike that began in May. Further damage resulted from the back-and-forth over whether to end wartime price controls, unpopular with the American business constituency, to handle shortages, particularly in meat and other foodstuffs. While Truman's early months in the White House had been plagued with questions of "What would Roosevelt do if he were alive?" Republicans now began to joke "What would Truman do if he were alive?" and "To err is Truman." However, the Republican majority was short-lived, as Democrats regained control of the House two years later. With exception of the 1952 election, it took the GOP 48 years later to retake the House, with the Republican Revolution against Bill Clinton, who was born in 1946.
Overall results
{| style="width:70%; text-align:center;"
|+ ↓
|- style="color:white;"
| style="background:red; width:56.55%;" | 246
| style="background:darkred; width:0.23%;" | 1
| style="background:blue; width:43.22%;" | 188
|-
| <span style="color:red;">Republican</span>
| <span style="color:darkred;">AL</span>
| <span style="color:blue;">Democratic</span>
|}
{| class=wikitable
|- valign=bottom
! colspan=2 | Party
! Total<br/>seats
! Change
! Seat<br/>percentage
! Popular<br/>vote
! Vote<br/>percentage
|-
|
| Republican Party
| align=right | 246
| align=right | 55
| align=right | 56.5%
| align=right | 18,422,363
| align=right | 53.5%
|-
|
| Democratic Party
| align=right | 188
| align=right | 54
| align=right | 43.2%
| align=right | 15,491,113
| align=right | 45.0%
|-
|
| American Labor Party
| align=right | 1
| align=right |
| align=right | 0.2%
| align=right | 196,866
| align=right | 0.6%
|-
|
| Independent
| align=right | 0
| align=right |
| align=right | 0.0%
| align=right | 77,425
| align=right | 0.2%
|-
|
| Liberal Party
| align=right | 0
| align=right |
| align=right | 0.0%
| align=right | 61,111
| align=right | 0.2%
|-
|
| Prohibition Party
| align=right | 0
| align=right |
| align=right | 0.0%
| align=right | 47,792
| align=right | 0.1%
|-
|
| Socialist Party
| align=right | 0
| align=right |
| align=right | 0.0%
| align=right | 38,307
| align=right | 0.1%
|-
|
| J. Veterans Party
| align=right | 0
| align=right |
| align=right | 0.0%
| align=right | 9,791
| align=right | <0.1%
|-
|
| U. Citizens Party
| align=right | 0
| align=right |
| align=right | 0.0%
| align=right | 5,688
| align=right | <0.1%
|-
|
| Communist Party
| align=right | 0
| align=right |
| align=right | 0.0%
| align=right | 3,408
| align=right | <0.1%
|-
|
| Independent Voters Party
| align=right | 0
| align=right |
| align=right | 0.0%
| align=right | 2,834
| align=right | <0.1%
|-
|
| Veterans' Victory Party
| align=right | 0
| align=right |
| align=right | 0.0%
| align=right | 2,208
| align=right | <0.1%
|-
|
| Socialist Workers Party
| align=right | 0
| align=right |
| align=right | 0.0%
| align=right | 1,936
| align=right | <0.1%
|-
|
| Justice, Decency, Independence Party
| align=right | 0
| align=right |
| align=right | 0.0%
| align=right | 1,865
| align=right | <0.1%
|-
|
| Socialist Labor Party
| align=right | 0
| align=right |
| align=right | 0.0%
| align=right | 980
| align=right | <0.1%
|-
|
| Constitutional Government Party
| align=right | 0
| align=right |
| align=right | 0.0%
| align=right | 890
| align=right | <0.1%
|-
|
| No Foreign Loans Party
| align=right | 0
| align=right |
| align=right | 0.0%
| align=right | 396
| align=right | <0.1%
|-
|
| Workers Party
| align=right | 0
| align=right |
| align=right | 0.0%
| align=right | 165
| align=right | <0.1%
|-
|
| Progressive Democratic Party
| align=right | 0
| align=right |
| align=right | 0.0%
| align=right | 141
| align=right | <0.1%
|-
|
| $250 State Bonds Party
| align=right | 0
| align=right |
| align=right | 0.0%
| align=right | 115
| align=right | <0.1%
|-
|
| Others
| align=right | 0
| align=right | 1
| align=right | 0.0%
| align=right | 44,930
| align=right | 0.1%
|-
! colspan=2 | Totals
! align=right | 435
! align=right |
! align=right | 100.0%
! align=right | 34,410,324
! align=right | 100.0%
|}
Source: Election Statistics - Office of the Clerk
{|
|- valign=top
| [[Image:80 us house membership.png|thumb|400px|
{|
! colspan=2 | House seats by party holding plurality in state
|-
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|-
|
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|-
|
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|}]]
|
[[Image:80 us house changes.png|thumb|400px|
{|
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|
thumb|400px|Popular vote and seat total in each state
|}
Special elections
In these special elections, the winner was seated during 1946 or before January 3, 1947; ordered by election date, then by district.
{| class=wikitable
|- valign=bottom
! rowspan=2 | District
! colspan=3 | Incumbent
! rowspan=2 | Results
! rowspan=2 | Candidates
|-
! Incumbent
! Party
! First elected
|-
!
| James W. Mott
| | Republican
| 1932
| | Incumbent died November 12, 1945.<br/>New member elected January 18, 1946.<br/>Republican hold.<br/>Winner later re-elected to the next term; see below.
| nowrap |
|-
!
| Joseph Wilson Ervin
| | Democratic
| 1944
| | Incumbent died December 25, 1945.<br/>New member elected January 22, 1946.<br/>Democratic hold.<br/>Winner later re-elected to the next term; see below.
| nowrap |
|-
!
| Clifton A. Woodrum
| | Democratic
| 1922
| | Incumbent resigned December 31, 1945, to become president of the American Plant Food Council.<br/>New member elected January 22, 1946.<br/>Democratic hold.
| nowrap |
|}
See also
- 1946 United States elections
- 1946 United States Senate elections
- 1946 California's 12th congressional district election (the Richard Nixon-Jerry Voorhis race)
- 79th United States Congress
- 80th United States Congress