(32 Class 1 seats + 8 special elections)Three Class 1 seats held both regularly-scheduled elections and special elections in 1946."},"senate_control":{"wt":"Republican gain"},"senate_net_change":{"wt":"Republican +12Republicans picked up eleven seats in the regularly-scheduled elections and picked up an additional seat in the special elections."},"senate_map":{"wt":"{{1946 United States Senate elections imagemap}}"},"senate_map_caption":{"wt":"1946 Senate election results{{paragraph break}}\n{{legend-inline|#0671B0|Democratic gain}}{{legend-inline|#92C5DE|Democratic hold}}
\n{{legend-inline|#CA0120|Republican gain}}{{legend-inline|#F48882|Republican hold}}"},"house_seats_contested":{"wt":"All 435 voting seats"},"house_control":{"wt":"Republican gain"},"house_pv_margin":{"wt":"Republican +8.5%"},"house_net_change":{"wt":"Republican +55"},"house_map":{"wt":"[[File:1946 United States House elections.svg|320px]]"},"house_map_caption":{"wt":"1946 House election results\n{{legend-inline|#0671B0|Democratic gain}}{{legend-inline|#92C5DE|Democratic hold}}
\n{{legend-inline|#CA0120|Republican gain}}{{legend-inline|#F48882|Republican hold}}"},"governor_seats_contested":{"wt":"34"},"governor_net_change":{"wt":"Republican +3"},"governor_map":{"wt":"{{1946 United States gubernatorial elections imagemap}}"},"governor_map_caption":{"wt":"1946 gubernatorial election results{{paragraph break}}\n{{legend-inline|#0671B0|Democratic gain}}{{legend-inline|#92C5DE|Democratic hold}}
\n{{legend-inline|#CA0120|Republican gain}}{{legend-inline|#F48882|Republican hold}}"}},"i":0}}]}" id="mwBQ">.mw-parser-output .infobox-subbox{padding:0;border:none;margin:-3px;width:auto;min-width:100%;font-size:100%;clear:none;float:none;background-color:transparent}.mw-parser-output .infobox-3cols-child{margin:auto}.mw-parser-output .infobox .navbar{font-size:100%}body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-header,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-subheader,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-above,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-title,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-image,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-full-data,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-below{text-align:center}
← 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 → Midterm elections | |
Election day | November 5 |
---|---|
Incumbent president | Harry S. Truman (Democratic) |
Next Congress | 80th |
Senate elections | |
Overall control | Republican gain |
Seats contested | 37 of 96 seats (32 Class 1 seats + 8 special elections) [1] |
Net seat change | Republican +12 [2] |
1946 Senate election results Democratic gain Democratic hold ContentsRepublican gain Republican hold | |
House elections | |
Overall control | Republican gain |
Seats contested | All 435 voting seats |
Popular vote margin | Republican +8.5% |
Net seat change | Republican +55 |
1946 House election results Democratic gain Democratic hold | |
Gubernatorial elections | |
Seats contested | 34 |
Net seat change | Republican +3 |
1946 gubernatorial election results Democratic gain Democratic hold |
The 1946 United States elections were held on November 5, 1946, and elected the members of the 80th United States Congress. In the first election after World War II, incumbent President Harry S. Truman (who took office on April 12, 1945, upon the death of his predecessor, Franklin D. Roosevelt) and the Democratic Party suffered large losses. After having been in the minority of both chambers of Congress since 1932, Republicans took control of both the House and the Senate. [3] [4]
This Republican wave reflected the public backlash against President Truman for the post-war economic hardships the country suffered, straining American-Soviet relations, and his handling of the United Auto Workers strike. Afterwards, Truman was widely expected to face a tough reelection environment in the subsequent presidential election, but he ultimately defied expectations.
Democrats lost fifty-four seats to the Republican Party in the House of Representatives, and Democrats also lost eleven seats to the Republicans in the U.S. Senate, allowing Republicans to take control of both chambers. A Progressive also lost a seat to a Republican. [5]
In California, newcomer Richard Nixon defeated incumbent liberal Democrat Jerry Voorhis. Nixon campaigned on such issues as price controls, housing, and labor-management relations, but gained his greatest publicity from attacks on Voorhis left-wing associations and policies. [6]
Another future US president, John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts was first elected to the House of Representatives in this election as well.
In Mississippi, Senator Theodore G. Bilbo sought reelection to a third six-year term in the Democratic primary. He was under daily newspaper attack from Hodding Carter, one of the state's best-known political journalists and editors. Carter supported racial segregation but was a moderate on civil rights. His 1946 Pulitzer Prize for editorials on racial and religious tolerance as editor of the Greenville Delta Democrat-Times had won him a national reputation. Bilbo narrowly won reelection with only 51% of the vote, but he died within a year. [7]
In Georgia, white supremacy was the main theme as Eugene Talmadge was elected to a fourth term as governor. He had promoted purges of blacks from the voting lists in certain key Georgia counties. [8]
The election stymied Truman's efforts to enact his Fair Deal policies and helped ensure the passage of the Labor Management Relations Act of 1947. However, Truman was able to implement the Marshall Plan, the National Security Act of 1947, and other Cold War policies following the election. Future presidents John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon first won election to Congress in this election, while Thomas Dewey's re-election as Governor of New York helped him earn the 1948 Republican nomination for president. Joseph McCarthy also won election as Senator from Wisconsin in 1946. [9]
James Oliver Eastland was an American attorney, plantation owner, and politician from Mississippi. A Democrat, he served in the United States Senate in 1941 and again from 1943 until his resignation on December 27, 1978. Eastland was a leader of Southern resistance against racial integration during the civil rights movement, often speaking of African Americans as "an inferior race." Eastland has been called the "Voice of the White South" and the "Godfather of Mississippi Politics."
John Jackson Sparkman was an American jurist and politician from the state of Alabama. A Southern Democrat, Sparkman served in the United States House of Representatives from 1937 to 1946 and the United States Senate from 1946 until 1979. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for vice president in the 1952 presidential election.
The Solid South or the Southern bloc was the electoral voting bloc of the states of the Southern United States for issues that were regarded as particularly important to the interests of Democrats in those states. The Southern bloc existed between the end of the Reconstruction era in 1877 and the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. During this period, the Democratic Party overwhelmingly controlled southern state legislatures, and most local, state and federal officeholders in the South were Democrats. During the late 1800s and early 1900s, Southern Democrats disenfranchised blacks in all Southern states, along with a few non-Southern states doing the same as well. This resulted essentially in a one-party system, in which a candidate's victory in Democratic primary elections was tantamount to election to the office itself. White primaries were another means that the Democrats used to consolidate their political power, excluding blacks from voting in primaries.
Southern Democrats are affiliates of the U.S. Democratic Party who reside in the Southern United States.
The 1970 United States Senate elections was an election for the United States Senate. It took place on November 3, with the 33 seats of Class 1 contested in regular elections. Special elections were also held to fill vacancies. These races occurred in the middle of Richard Nixon's first term as president. The Democrats lost a net of three seats, while the Republicans and the Conservative Party of New York picked up one net seat each, and former Democrat Harry F. Byrd Jr. was re-elected as an independent.
The 1960 United States Senate elections coincided with the election of John F. Kennedy as president on November 8, 1960. The 33 seats of Class 2 were contested in regular elections. A special election was also held on June 28, 1960, for a mid-term vacancy in North Dakota where Democrats flipped a seat to expand their majority to 66–34. As Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson was elected Vice President, Mike Mansfield became the new majority leader.
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.
The Democratic Party is one of the two major political parties of the United States political system and the oldest existing political party in the country. The Democratic party was founded in the 1830s and 1840s. It is also the oldest active voter-based political party in the world. The party has changed significantly during its nearly two centuries of existence. Once known as the party of the "common man," the early Democratic Party stood for individual rights and state sovereignty, and opposed banks and high tariffs. In the first decades of its existence, from 1832 to the mid-1850s, under Presidents Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren, and James K. Polk, the Democrats usually bested the opposition Whig Party by narrow margins.
The conservative coalition, founded in 1937, was an unofficial alliance of members of the United States Congress which brought together the conservative wings of the Republican and Democratic parties to oppose President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal. In addition to Roosevelt, the conservative coalition dominated Congress for four presidencies, blocking legislation proposed by Roosevelt and his successors. By 1937, the conservatives were the largest faction in the Republican Party which had opposed the New Deal in some form since 1933. Despite Roosevelt being a Democrat himself, his party did not universally support the New Deal agenda in Congress. Democrats who opposed Roosevelt's policies tended to hold conservative views, and allied with conservative Republicans. These Democrats were mostly located in the South. According to James T. Patterson: "By and large the congressional conservatives agreed in opposing the spread of federal power and bureaucracy, in denouncing deficit spending, in criticizing industrial labor unions, and in excoriating most welfare programs. They sought to 'conserve' an America which they believed to have existed before 1933."
In U.S. politics, a primary challenge is when an incumbent holding elective office is challenged by a member of their own political party in a primary election. Such events, known informally as "being primaried," are noteworthy and not frequent in the United States, as traditionally political parties support incumbents, both for party unity and to minimize the possibility of losing the seat to an opposing party. In addition, officeholders are frequently seen as de facto leaders of their party, eligible to establish policy and administer affairs as they see fit. A primary challenge thus interferes with this "spoil of office," and is largely discouraged. Though typically used to describe challenges to elected officials, the term is also applied to officeholders such as appointed U.S. senators.
The 1962 United States elections were held on November 6 to elect the members of the 88th United States Congress. The election occurred in the middle of Democratic President John F. Kennedy's term. The Republican Party picked up four seats in the House of Representatives. Still, the Democrats retained strong majorities in both houses of Congress.
The United States House of Representatives elections in California, 1946 was an election for California's delegation to the United States House of Representatives, which occurred as part of the general election of the House of Representatives on November 5, 1946. Republicans captured control of Congress for the first time since 1928 due to the extreme unpopularity of President Harry Truman. California was indicative of the results as Republicans gained seven seats, one of which was won by a recently returned WWII veteran named Richard Nixon. Democrats would not regain a majority of the delegation until after the 1958 election.
The 1948 United States elections were held on November 2, 1948. The election took place during the beginning stages of the Cold War. Democratic incumbent President Harry S. Truman was elected to a full term in an upset, defeating Republican nominee New York Governor Thomas E. Dewey and two erstwhile Democrats. The Democrats won back control of Congress from the Republicans. Until 2020, Democrats would never again flip a chamber of Congress in a presidential election cycle.
Stephen Ingersoll Zetterberg was an American attorney and Democratic activist. Zetterberg was best known for being defeated by Congressman Richard Nixon in the 1948 Democratic primary, as Nixon, having no Republican primary opposition, entered the Democratic primary to ensure he would have no Democratic opponent in the general election.
An election for a seat in the United States House of Representatives took place in California's 12th congressional district on November 5, 1946, the date set by law for the elections for the 80th United States Congress. In the 12th district election, the candidates were five-term incumbent Democrat Jerry Voorhis, Republican challenger Richard Nixon, and former congressman and Prohibition Party candidate John Hoeppel. Nixon was elected with 56% of the vote, starting him on the road that would, almost a quarter century later, lead to the presidency.
The 1976 United States elections was held on November 2, and elected the members of the 95th United States Congress. The Democratic Party won the presidential election and retained control of Congress.
The 1970 United States elections were held on November 3, and elected the members of the 92nd United States Congress. The election took place during the Vietnam War, in the middle of Republican President Richard Nixon's first term. The Democratic Party defended their control of Congress by retaining its Senate majority and increasing its majority in the House of Representatives.
The 1960 United States elections was held on November 8, and elected the members of the 87th United States Congress. Democratic Senator John F. Kennedy narrowly defeated Republican incumbent Vice President Richard Nixon in the presidential election, and although Republicans made gains in both chambers of Congress, the Democratic Party easily maintained control of Congress.
The 1978 United States elections were held on November 7, 1978, to elect the members of the 96th United States Congress. The election occurred in the middle of Democratic President Jimmy Carter's term. Democrats retained control of both houses of Congress.
The 1966 United States elections were held on November 8, 1966, and elected the members of the 90th United States Congress. The election was held in the middle of Democratic President Lyndon B. Johnson's second term, and during the Vietnam War. Johnson's Democrats lost forty-seven seats to the Republican Party in the House of Representatives. The Democrats also lost three seats in the U.S. Senate to the Republicans. Despite their losses, the Democrats retained control of both chambers of Congress. Republicans won a large victory in the gubernatorial elections, with a net gain of seven seats. This was the first election held after the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which led to a surge in African-American voter participation.