u.s. senate election, 1946

The U.S. Senate election, 1946 was an election for the United States Senate in the middle of Democratic President Harry Truman's first term. In the wake of World War II, there was a massive conservative landslide against the policies of Truman and the New Deal. In addition to a net Republican gain by appointment before the election, the Republicans picked up twelve seats, eleven of them from Democrats, and one from Progressive Robert M. La Follette, Jr. (P-WI). This gave them a Senate majority for the first time since Herbert Hoover's administration. In addition to capturing open seats in Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New York, and Washington, the Republicans defeated six Democratic incumbents:

Senate contests in 1946

State>

gcolor="#cccccc"\|Incumbent	bgcolor="#cccccc"\|Party	bgcolor="#cccccc"\|Status	bgcolor="#cccccc"\|Opposing Candidates
a href="/encyclopedia/Alabama" title="Alabama">Alabama¹	George R. Swift	Democrat	Retired: Democrat victory, unopposed	John Sparkman (Democrat)
a href="/encyclopedia/Arizona" title="Arizona">Arizona	Ernest W. McFarland	Democrat	Re-elected, 69.2 - 30.1	Ward S. Powers (Republican)
a href="/encyclopedia/California" title="California">California	William F. Knowland	Republican	Re-elected, 54.1 - 44.2	Will Rogers, Jr. (Democrat)
a href="/encyclopedia/Connecticut" title="Connecticut">Connecticut	Thomas C. Hart	Republican	Retired: Republican victory, 56.1 - 40.7	Raymond E. Baldwin (Republican) Joseph M. Tone (Democrat)
a href="/encyclopedia/Delaware" title="Delaware">Delaware	James M. Tunnell	Democrat	Defeated, 55.2 - 44.9	John J. Williams (Republican)
a href="/encyclopedia/Florida" title="Florida">Florida	Charles O. Andrews	Democrat	Retired: Democrat victory, 78.7 - 21.4	Spessard L. Holland (Democrat) J. Harry Schad (Republican)
a href="/encyclopedia/Idaho" title="Idaho">Idaho²	Charles C. Gossett	Democrat	Defeated in primary: Republican victory, 58.6 - 41.4	Henry C. Dworshak (Republican) George E. Donart (Democrat)
a href="/encyclopedia/Indiana" title="Indiana">Indiana	Raymond E. Willis	Republican	Retired: Republican victory, 52.4 - 46.8	William E. Jenner (Republican) Henry F. Schricker (Democrat)
a href="/encyclopedia/Kentucky" title="Kentucky">Kentucky³	William A. Stanfill	Republican	Retired: Republican victory, 53.3 - 46.5	John S. Cooper (Republican) John Y. Brown (Democrat)
a href="/encyclopedia/Maine" title="Maine">Maine	Ralph O. Brewster	Republican	Re-elected, 63.6 - 36.5	Peter M. MacDonald (Democrat)
a href="/encyclopedia/Maryland" title="Maryland">Maryland	George L. P. Radcliffe	Democrat	Retired: Democrat victory, 50.2 - 49.8	Herbert R. O'Conor (Democrat) David J. Markey (Republican)
a href="/encyclopedia/Massachusetts" title="Massachusetts">Massachusetts	David I. Walsh	Democrat	Defeated, 59.6 - 39.7	Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. (Republican)
a href="/encyclopedia/Michigan" title="Michigan">Michigan	Arthur H. Vandenberg	Republican	Re-elected, 67.1 - 32.0	James H. Lee (Democrat)
a href="/encyclopedia/Minnesota" title="Minnesota">Minnesota	Henrik Shipstead	Republican	Retired: Republican victory, 58.9 - 39.8	Edward J. Thye (Republican) Theodore Jorgenson (Democrat)
a href="/encyclopedia/Mississippi" title="Mississippi">Mississippi	Theodore G. Bilbo	Democrat	Re-elected, unopposed
a href="/encyclopedia/Missouri" title="Missouri">Missouri	Frank P. Briggs	Democrat	Defeated, 52.7 - 47.1	James P. Kem (Republican)
a href="/encyclopedia/Montana" title="Montana">Montana	Burton K. Wheeler	Democrat	Defeated in Primary: Republican victory, 53.5 - 45.4	Zales N. Ecton (Republican) Leif Erickson (Democrat)
a href="/encyclopedia/Nebraska" title="Nebraska">Nebraska	Hugh Butler	Republican	Re-elected, 70.8 - 29.2	John E. Mekota (Democrat)
a href="/encyclopedia/Nevada" title="Nevada">Nevada	Edward P. Carville	Democrat	Defeated in primary: Republican victory, 55.2 - 44.8	George W. Malone (Republican) Berkeley L. Bunker (Democrat)
a href="/encyclopedia/New-Jersey" title="New Jersey">New Jersey	H. Alexander Smith	Republican	Re-elected, 58.5 - 40.1	George E. Brunner (Democrat)
a href="/encyclopedia/New-Mexico" title="New Mexico">New Mexico	Dennis Chavez	Democrat	Re-elected, 51.5 - 48.5	Patrick J. Hurley (Republican)
a href="/encyclopedia/New-York" title="New York">New York	James M. Mead	Democrat	Retired: Republican victory, 52.6 - 47.6	Irving M. Ives (Republican) Herbert M. Lehman (Democrat)
a href="/encyclopedia/North-Dakota" title="North Dakota">North Dakota	William Langer	Republican	Re-elected, 53.3 - 23.5 - 23.2	Arthur E. Thompson (Independent) Abner B. Larson (Democrat)
a href="/encyclopedia/North-Dakota" title="North Dakota">North Dakota⁴	Milton R. Young	Republican	Re-elected, 55.5 - 27.4 - 15.2	William Lanier (Democrat) Gerald P. Nye (Independent)
a href="/encyclopedia/Ohio" title="Ohio">Ohio	James W. Huffman	Democrat	Defeated, 57.0 - 42.4	John W. Bricker (Republican)
a href="/encyclopedia/Pennsylvania" title="Pennsylvania">Pennsylvania	Joseph F. Guffey	Democrat	Defeated, 59.3 - 39.8	Edward Martin (Republican)
a href="/encyclopedia/Rhode-Island" title="Rhode Island">Rhode Island	Peter G. Gerry	Democrat	Retired: Democrat victory, 55.1 - 44.9	J. Howard McGrath (Democrat) W. Gurnee Dwyer (Republican)
a href="/encyclopedia/South-Dakota" title="South Dakota">South Dakota	Harlan J. Bushfield	Republican	Retired: Republican victory, 59.3 - 40.7	Karl E. Mundt (Republican) John A. Engel (Democrat)
a href="/encyclopedia/Tennessee" title="Tennessee">Tennessee	Kenneth D. McKellar	Democrat	Re-elected, 66.6 - 26.2	W. B. Ladd (Republican)
a href="/encyclopedia/Texas" title="Texas">Texas	Tom Connally	Democrat	Re-elected, 88.5 - 11.5	Murray C. Sells (Republican)
a href="/encyclopedia/Utah" title="Utah">Utah	Abe Murdock	Democrat	Defeated, 51.2 - 48.8	Arthur V. Watkins (Republican)
a href="/encyclopedia/Vermont" title="Vermont">Vermont	Warren R. Austin	Republican	Retired: Republican victory, 74.6 - 25.4	Ralph E. Flanders (Republican) Charles P. McDevitt (Democrat)
a href="/encyclopedia/Virginia" title="Virginia">Virginia	Harry F. Byrd	Democrat	Re-elected, 64.9 - 30.5	Lester S. Parsons (Republican)
a href="/encyclopedia/Virginia" title="Virginia">Virginia⁵	Thomas G. Burch	Democrat	Retired: Democrat victory, 68.2 - 29.0	A. Willis Robertson (Democrat) Robert H. Woods (Republican)
a href="/encyclopedia/Washington" title="Washington">Washington	Mon C. Wallgren	Democrat	Retired: Republican victory, 54.3 - 45.2	Harry P. Cain (Republican) Hugh B. Mitchell (Democrat)
a href="/encyclopedia/West-Virginia" title="West Virginia">West Virginia	Harley M. Kilgore	Democrat	Re-elected, 50.3 - 49.7	Thomas Sweeney (Republican)
a href="/encyclopedia/Wisconsin" title="Wisconsin">Wisconsin	Robert M. La Follette, Jr.	Progressive	Defeated in Republican primary: Republican victory, 61.3 - 37.4	Joseph R. McCarthy (Republican) Howard J. McMurray (Democrat)
a href="/encyclopedia/Wyoming" title="Wyoming">Wyoming	Joseph C. O'Mahoney	Democrat	Re-elected, 56.2 - 43.8	Harry B. Henderson (Republican)

¹ special election held due to death of John H. Bankhead II (D-AL) ² special election held due to death of John W. Thomas (R-ID) ³ special election held due to resignation of Albert B. Chandler (D-KY) ⁴ special election held due to death of John Moses (D-ND) ⁵ special election held due to death of Carter Glass (D-VA)