1946 United States Senate elections

The 1946 United States Senate elections were held November 5, 1946, in the middle of Democratic President Harry S. Truman's first term after Roosevelt's passing. The 32 seats of Class 1 were contested in regular elections, and four special elections were held to fill vacancies. The Republicans took control of the Senate by picking up twelve seats, mostly from the Democrats. This was the first time since 1932 that the Republicans had held the Senate, recovering from a low of 16 seats following the 1936 elections.

The vote was largely seen as a referendum on Truman, whose approval rating had sunk to 32% over the president's controversial handling of a wave of postwar labor strikes, such as a nationwide railroad strike in May, at a time when Americans depended on train service for both commuter and long-distance travel. Just as damaging was Truman's back-and-forth over whether to end unpopular wartime price controls to handle shortages, particularly in foodstuffs. For example, price controls on beef had led to a "hamburger famine," but when Truman, in a surprise move, lifted the controls on October 14—just weeks before the election—meat prices shot up to record levels.

This is only one of two occasions in U.S. history that 10 or more Senate seats changed hands in a midterm election (the other being in 1958), and also one of five occasions where 10 or more Senate seats changed hands in any election, with the other occasions being in 1920, 1932, 1958, and 1980.

Truman's lack of popular support is widely seen as the reason for the Democrats' congressional defeat, the largest since they were trounced in the 1928 pro-Republican wave that brought Herbert Hoover to power. For the first time since before the Great Depression, Republicans were seen as the party that could best handle the American economy.

However, the Republicans also benefited from a good map, as the majority of the one-third of Senate seats up for election that year were held by Democrats. Besides the Republicans being able to hold onto all of their seats, this was the party's largest Senate gain since 1920.

Results summary

{| style="width:40em; text-align:center"

|+ ↓

|- style="color:white"

| style="background:; width:46.875%" | 45

| style="background:; width:53.125%" | 51

| Democratic

| Republican

Colored shading indicates party with largest share of that row.

{| class=wikitable style=text-align:center

! colspan=2 rowspan=2 | Parties

! rowspan=2 | Total

|- valign=bottom

! Democratic

! Republican

! Other

! colspan=2 | Last elections (1944)

| | 57

| 38

| 1

! 96

! colspan=2 | Before these elections

| | 56

| 39

| 1

! 96

! colspan=2 style="background:#ccc" | Not up

| | 32

| 28

| 0

! 60

! colspan=2 style="background:#ccc" | Up

| | 24

| 11

| 1

! 36

! rowspan=2 |

! style="background:#ddd" |

| | 21

| 10

| 1

! 32

! style="background:#ddd" |

| | 3

| 1

| —

! 4

| colspan=100 |

! colspan=2 style="background:#ccc" | Incumbent retired

| 4

| —

! 8

! rowspan=3 |

| 3

| | 4

| —

! 7

| colspan=2 | 1 Democrat replaced by 1 Republican

| —

! 1

! 3

! | 5

! 0

! 8

! colspan=2 style="background:#ccc" | Incumbent ran

| | 20

| 7

| 1

! 28

! rowspan=5 |

| | 9

| 6

| 0

! 16

| colspan=2 | 7 Democrats replaced by 7 Republicans

| —

! 7

| 1

| 1

| —

! 2

| colspan=3 | 3 Democrats replaced by 3 Republicans 1 Progressive replaced by 1 Republican

! 4

! 10

! | 18

! 0

! 28

| colspan=99 |

! colspan=2 | Total elected

! 13

! | 23

! 0

! 36

! colspan=2 | Net change

| 11

| | 12

| 1

| 12

| colspan=99 |

! colspan=2 style="background:#ccc" | Nationwide vote

| 12,062,433

| | 15,489,926

| 1,142,765

! 28,695,124

!

! Share

| 42.04%

| | 53.98%

| 3.98%

! 100%

! colspan=2 | Result

! 45

! | 51

! 0

! 96

Source: Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives

Gains, losses, and holds

Retirements

Three Republicans and five Democrats retired instead of seeking re-election.

{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"

! scope="col" |State

! scope="col" |Senator

! scope="col" |Replaced by

! Alabama (special)

| |

! Connecticut

| |

! Indiana

| |

! Kentucky (special)

| |

! New York

| |

! Ohio

| |

! Rhode Island

| |

! Virginia (special)

| |

Defeats

One Republican, one Progressive, and ten Democrats sought re-election but lost in the primary or general election.

{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"

! scope="col" |State

! scope="col" |Senator

! scope="col" |Replaced by

! Delaware

| |

! Idaho (special)

| |

! Maryland

| |

! Massachusetts

| |

! Minnesota

| |

! Missouri

| |

! Montana

| |

! Nevada

| |

! Pennsylvania

| |

! Utah

| |

! Washington

| |

! Wisconsin

| |

Post election changes

{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"

! scope="col" |State

! scope="col" |Senator

! scope="col" |Replaced by

! Louisiana

| |

! South Dakota

| |

! Mississippi

| |

Change in composition

Before the elections

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" width=800px

| colspan=2 |  

| | D

| width=50px | D

| | D

| | D

| | D

| | D

| | D

| | D

| colspan=9 align=right | Majority →

| rowspan=2 | D

| | R

| | P

| | D

| | R

| | R

| | R

| colspan=2 |

| | R

| | R

Election results

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center" width=800px

| colspan=2 |  

| | D

| width=50px | D

| | D

| | D

| | D

| | D

| | R

| rowspan=2 | R

| colspan=9 align=right | Majority →

| | R

| | R <hr/>

| | R

| | R

| | R

| colspan=2 |

| | R

|- valign=top

! Key

{| class=wikitable

| align=center width=35px | D

| Democratic

| align=center width=35px | P

| Progressive

| align=center width=35px | R

| Republican

Race summaries

Special elections during the 79th Congress

In these special elections, the winner was seated during 1946, ordered by election date, then state.

{| class="wikitable sortable"

|- valign=bottom

! rowspan=2 | State

! colspan=3 | Incumbent

! rowspan=2 | Results

! rowspan=2 | Candidates

! Senator

! Party

! Electoral history

! North Dakota (Class 3)

| | Republican

| 1945

| Interim appointee elected June 25, 1946.

| nowrap |

! Alabama (Class 2)

| | Democratic

| 1946

| | Interim appointee retired. New senator elected November 5, 1946. Democratic hold.

| nowrap |

! California (Class 1)

| | Republican

| 1945

| Interim appointee elected November 5, 1946. Winner also elected to next term; see below.

| nowrap |

! Connecticut (Class 1)

| | Republican

| 1945

| | Interim appointee retired. New senator elected November 5, 1946. Republican hold. Winner also elected to next term; see below.

| nowrap |

! Idaho (Class 2)

| | Democratic

| 1945

| | Interim appointee lost nomination. New senator elected November 5, 1946. Republican gain.

| nowrap |

! Kentucky (Class 2)

| | Republican

| 1945

| | Interim appointee retired. New senator elected November 5, 1946. Republican hold.

| nowrap |

! Ohio (Class 1)

| | Democratic

| 1945

| | Interim appointee retired. New senator elected November 5, 1946. Republican gain. Winner was not elected to the next term; see below.

| nowrap |

! Virginia (Class 2)

| | Democratic

| 1946

| | Interim appointee retired. New senator elected November 5, 1946. Democratic hold.

| nowrap |

Races leading to the 80th Congress

In these general elections, the winners were elected for the term beginning January 3, 1947; ordered by state.

All of the elections involved the Class 1 seats.

{| class="wikitable sortable"

|- valign=bottom

! rowspan=2 | State

! colspan=3 | Incumbent

! rowspan=2 | Results

! rowspan=2 | Candidates

! Senator

! Party

! Electoral history

! Arizona

| | Democratic

| 1940

| Incumbent re-elected.

| nowrap |

! California

| | Republican

| 1945

| Interim appointee elected. Winner also elected to finish term; see above.

| nowrap |

! Missouri

| | Democratic

| 1945

| | Interim appointee lost election. New senator elected. Republican gain.

| nowrap |

! Montana

| | Democratic

| 1922 1928 1934 1940

| | Incumbent lost renomination. New senator elected. Republican gain.

| nowrap |

! Nebraska

| | Republican

| 1940

| Incumbent re-elected.

| nowrap |

! Nevada

| | Democratic

| 1945

| | Incumbent lost renomination. New senator elected. Republican gain.

| nowrap |

! New Jersey

| | Republican

| 1944

| Incumbent re-elected.

| nowrap |

! New Mexico

| | Democratic

| 1935 1936 1940

| Incumbent re-elected.

| nowrap |

! New York

| | Democratic

| 1940

| | Incumbent retired to run for New York Governor. New senator elected. Republican gain.

| nowrap |

! North Dakota

| | Republican

| 1940

| Incumbent re-elected.

| nowrap |

! Ohio

| | Democratic

| 1945

| | Interim appointee retired. New senator elected. Republican gain. Winner was not elected to finish the term; see above.

1946 United States Senate elections

Results summary

Gains, losses, and holds

Retirements

Defeats

Post election changes

Change in composition

Before the elections

Election results

Race summaries

Special elections during the 79th Congress

Races leading to the 80th Congress

California

California (special)

Results

California (regular)

Connecticut (special)

Michigan