1934 Wisconsin Senate election

Not to be confused with 1934 United States Senate election in Wisconsin.

1934 Wisconsin State Senate election

← 1932 November 6, 1934 1936 →
17 of 33 seats in the Wisconsin State Senate 17 seats needed for a majority
Majority party Minority party   DEM PROG Party Democratic Progressive Last election 7 seats, TBD% N/A Seats before 9 new party Seats won 7 8 Seats after 14 13 Seat change 5 13 Popular vote 140,030 136,749 Percentage 33.31% 32.53% Swing TBD pp TBD pp   Third party Fourth party   GOP SOC Party Republican Socialist Last election 9 seats, TBD% 0 seats [a] , TBD% Seats before 23 1 Seats won 2 0 Seats after 6 0 Seat change 17 1 Popular vote 115,632 26,578 Percentage 27.51% 6.32% Swing TBD pp TBD pp
President pro tempore before election Orland S. Loomis Republican Elected President pro tempore Harry W. Bolens Democratic

The 1934 Wisconsin Senate election was held on Tuesday, November 6, 1934. Seventeen of the 33 seats in the Wisconsin State Senate were up for election—the odd-numbered districts. Prior to the election 22 seats were held by Republicans, 9 were held by Democrats, one seat was held by a Socialist, and one seat was vacant.

The primary election was held on September 18, 1934.

Results summary

Seats		Party (majority caucus shading)				Total
		Democratic	Socialist	Progressive	Republican
Last election (1932)		7	1	0	9	16
Total after last election (1932)		9			19	33
Total before this election		9	1	0	23	33
Up for election		2	1	0	14	17
of which:	Incumbent retiring	1			4	4
	Vacated				1	1
This election		7	0	8	2	17
Change from last election			1	8	1	1
Total after this election		14	0	13	6	33
Change in total		5	1	13	17

Popular vote Democratic   33.31% Progressive   32.53% Republican   27.51% Socialist   6.32% Independent   0.32%

Senate seats won Progressive   47.06% Democratic   41.17% Republican   11.76%

Close races

• State Senate district 25, 1.42%(gain)
• State Senate district 13, 1.72%(gain)
• State Senate district 19, 1.91%(gain)

• State Senate district 15, 3.33%(gain)
• State Senate district 11, 7.17%
• State Senate district 9, 8.92%(gain)
• State Senate district 17, 9.30%(gain)
• State Senate district 27, 9.39%(gain)

Outgoing incumbents

Retiring

• Walter S. Goodland (R–Racine), representing district 21 since 1926, declined to seek re-election

• Leonard Fons (R–Milwaukee), representing District 7 since 1930, declined to seek re-election.
• William H. Edwards (R–Sussex), representing District 33 since 1930, declined to seek re-election.

Seeking other office

• Eugene A. Clifford (D–Juneau), representing District 13 since 1930, instead ran for Congress from Wisconsin's 8th congressional district.
• Orland Steen Loomis (R–Mauston) representing District 31 since 1930, instead ran for Wisconsin Attorney General as a Progressive.

Vacated office

• Merritt F. White (R–Winneconne), representing District 19 since 1922, died on July 28, 1934. ^[1]

Special elections

There was one special election scheduled in 1934 for the Wisconsin state Senate.

Dist.	Previous Incumbent				This Election
	Senator	Party	First elected	Status	Candidate(s)	Results
26	Alvin C. Reis	Rep.	1932	Incumbent resigned in July, 1934. New member elected on November 6, 1934.	▌ Harold Groves (Prog.) 47.72% ▌Fred T. Finn (Rep.) 32.33% ▌Frank A. Stewart (Dem.) 18.73% ▌Dalton T. Clarke (Soc.) 0.12%	New member elected Progressive gain

Candidates and results

Dist.	Incumbent				This race [2]
	Member	Party	First elected	Status	General
01	John E. Cashman	Republican	1922	Incumbent re-elected. Progressive gain.	▌Y John E. Cashman (Prog.) 50.20% ▌Ray J. Scheuer (Dem.) 30.51% ▌ Alvin E. O'Konski (Rep.) 19.29%
03	None (open seat)			No incumbent New member elected. Democratic gain.	▌Y Arthur L. Zimny (Dem.) 40.83% ▌George L. Tews (Soc.) 26.71% ▌ H. C.Schultz (Prog.) 20.92% ▌ Carl Lester (Ind.) 5.97% ▌ William B. Manning (Rep.) 5.57%
05	Bernhard Gettelman	Republican	1922	Incumbent lost re-election New member elected. Democratic gain.	▌Y Harold V. Schoenecker (Dem.) 35.39% ▌ Bernhard Gettelman (Rep.) 23.46% ▌Carl Minkley (Soc.) 21.9% ▌Gustave A. Dick (Prog.) 19.24%
07	Leonard Fons	Republican	1930	Incumbent retired New member elected. Democratic gain.	▌Y Max Galasinski (Dem.) 43.59% ▌ Walter Polakowski (Soc.) 27.78% ▌Edwarf R. Buer (Prog.) 16.82% ▌Herbert W. Kock (Rep.) 11.81%
	Walter Polakowski (Redistricted from the 3rd district)	Socialist	1922	Incumbent defeated. Socialist loss
09	Irving P. Mehigan	Republican	1924	Incumbent lost re-election New member elected. Democratic gain.	▌Y James L. Callan (Dem.) 38.76% ▌Irving P. Mehigan (Rep.) 29.84% ▌Robert McCarthy (Prog.) 16.73% ▌Gustave A. Dick (Soc.) 13.78% ▌Mary Allen (Ind.) 0.89%
11	Philip Nelson	Republican	1930	Incumbent re-elected	▌Y Philip E. Nelson (Rep.) 42.79% ▌Albert N. Young (Prog.) 35.62% ▌Laverne A. Sutfin (Dem.) 20.00% ▌Carrol T. Hodsdon (Soc.) 1.59%
13	Eugene A. Clifford	Democratic	1930	Ran for U.S. House New member elected. Progressive gain.	▌Y Frank E. Panzer (Prog.) 39.83% ▌Paul A. Hemmy Jr. (Dem.) 38.11% ▌ Jesse M. Peters (Rep.) 20.07% ▌Alfred A. Naber (Soc.) 1.99%
15	Alexander Paul	Democratic	1933 (special)	Incumbent lost re-election New member elected. Republican gain.	▌Y Maurice Coakley (Rep.) 38.31% ▌ Alexander Paul (Dem.) 34.98% ▌George S. Geffs (Prog.) 26.71%
17	George Engebretson	Republican	1932 (special)	Incumbent re-elected. Progressive gain.	▌Y George Engebretson (Prog.) 44.74% ▌Floyd E. Olson (Rep.) 35.44% ▌Leland C. White (Dem.) 19.80%
19	--Vacant [b] --			Previous incumbent died July 28, 1934 New member elected. Democratic gain.	▌Y Pierce A. Morrissey (Dem.) 35.00% ▌Norton J. Williams (Rep.) 33.09% ▌Charles P. Potratz (Prog.) 31.91%
21	Walter S. Goodland	Republican	1926	Incumbent retired New member elected. Democratic gain.	▌Y Joseph Clancy (Dem.) 40.80% ▌Thorwald M. Beck (Rep.) 28.50% ▌Peden Back (Prog.) 26.27% ▌Lars P. Christiansen (Soc.) 4.43%
23	Herman J. Severson	Republican	1918	Incumbent re-elected. Progressive gain.	▌Y Herman J. Severson (Prog.) 38.33% ▌Michael J. Mersch (Dem.) 36.91% ▌John S. Hensel (Rep.) 24.72%
25	Otto Mueller	Republican	1926	Incumbent lost re-election New member elected. Progressive gain.	▌Y Roland E. Kannenberg (Prog.) 35.17% ▌ Otto Mueller (Rep.) 32.03% ▌Arthur J. Plowman (Dem.) 28.86% ▌Fred Pike (Soc.) 3.94%
27	Fred W. Zantow	Republican	1930	Incumbent re-elected. Progressive gain.	▌Y Fred W. Zantow (Prog.) 41.42% ▌Harry Pauls (Rep.) 32.03% ▌Isaac C. Evans (Dem.) 26.55%
29	John A. Anderson	Republican	1930	Incumbent re-elected. Progressive gain.	▌Y John Anderson (Prog.) 46.13% ▌Herschel Shipley (Rep.) 22.67% ▌Joseph H. Wallis (Dem.) 19.50% ▌Olaf A. Bloom (Soc.) 11.69%
31	Orland S. Loomis	Republican	1930	Ran for Attorney General New member elected. Progressive gain.	▌Y J. Earl Leverich (Prog.) 49.59% ▌Kevin J. Callahan (Rep.) 25.59% ▌Timothy P. Donovan (Dem.) 23.85% ▌Glen C. Felker (Soc.) 0.96%
33	William Edwards	Republican	1930	Incumbent retired New member elected. Democratic gain.	▌Y Chester Dempsey (Dem.) 41.71% ▌Evan G. Davies (Rep.) 30.19% ▌John C. Schuman (Prog.) 28.09%

Detailed results

District 1

Incumbent Republican John E. Cashman ran for re-election as a Progressive. He defeated Democrat Ray J. Scheuer and Republican Alvin O'Konski in the general election.

Notes

1. Walter Polakowski was not up for election in 1932
2. Merritt F. White (R) died on July 28, 1934

References

1. "Merritt F White". Find A Grave. Retrieved March 7, 2025.
2. "The Wisconsin Blue Book 1935". University of Wisconsin-Madison Libraries. Retrieved March 13, 2024.