United States Senate elections, 1956

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Republican holds Republican pickups Democratic holds Democratic pickups

The U.S. Senate election, 1956 was an election for the United States Senate which coincided with the re-election of President Dwight D. Eisenhower. The party balance of the chamber remained unchanged as Republican and Democratic gains cancelled each other.

Democrats defeated incumbents Herman Welker (R-ID), George H. Bender (R-OH), and James H. Duff (R-PA), as well as taking the open seat in Colorado. Republicans defeated incumbent Earle C. Clements (D-KY) as well as taking open seats in Kentucky, New York, and West Virginia.

During the term, Republican John D. Hoblitzell, Jr. was appointed to the seat of deceased Senator Matthew M. Neely (D-WV), and Democrat William Proxmire was appointed to the seat of deceased Senator Joseph R. McCarthy (R-WI). These gains left party balance unchanged.

[edit] Senate contests in 1956

State	Incumbent	Party	Status	Opposing Candidates
Alabama	Lister Hill	Democrat	Re-elected, unopposed
Arizona	Carl Hayden	Democrat	Re-elected, 61.4 - 38.6	Ross F. Jones (Republican)
Arkansas	J. William Fulbright	Democrat	Re-elected, 83.0 - 17.0	Ben C. Henley (Republican)
California	Thomas H. Kuchel	Republican	Re-elected, 54.0 - 45.6	Richard Richards (Democrat) Ray Gourley (Prohibition)
Colorado	Eugene D. Millikin	Republican	Retired: Democratic victory, 50.2 - 49.8	John A. Carroll (Democrat) Dan Thornton (Republican)
Connecticut	Prescott S. Bush	Republican	Re-elected, 54.8 - 43.1	Thomas J. Dodd (Democrat)
Florida	George A. Smathers	Democrat	Re-elected, unopposed
Georgia	Walter F. George	Democrat	Retired: Democratic victory, unopposed	Herman E. Talmadge (Democrat)
Idaho	Frank Church	Democrat	Defeated, 56.2 - 38.7	Herman Welker (Republican)
Illinois	Everett M. Dirksen	Republican	Re-elected, 54.1 - 45.7	Richard Stengel (Democrat)
Indiana	Homer E. Capehart	Republican	Re-elected, 55.2 - 44.4	Claude R. Wickard (Democrat)
Iowa	Bourke B. Hickenlooper	Republican	Re-elected, 53.9 - 46.1	R. M. Evans (Democrat)
Kansas	Frank Carlson	Republican	Re-elected, 57.9 - 40.5	George Hart (Democrat)
Kentucky¹	Robert Humphreys	Democrat	Retired: Republican victory, 53.2 - 46.8	John S. Cooper (Republican) Lawrence W. Wetherby (Democrat)
Kentucky	Earle C. Clements	Democrat	Defeated, 50.4 - 49.7	Thruston B. Morton (Republican)
Louisiana	Russell B. Long	Democrat	Re-elected, unopposed
Maryland	John M. Butler	Republican	Re-elected, 53.0 - 47.0	George P. Mahoney (Democrat)
Missouri	Thomas C. Hennings, Jr.	Democrat	Re-elected, 56.4 - 43.6	Herbert Douglas (Republican)
Nevada	Alan Bible	Democrat	Re-elected, 52.6 - 47.4	Cliff Young (Republican)
New Hampshire	Norris Cotton	Republican	Re-elected, 64.1 - 35.9	Laurence M. Pickett (Democrat)
New York	Herbert H. Lehman	Democrat	Retired: Republican victory, 53.3 - 46.7	Jacob K. Javits (Republican) Robert F. Wagner, Jr. (Democrat)
North Carolina	Sam J. Ervin, Jr.	Democrat	Re-elected, 66.6 - 33.4	Joel A. Johnson (Republican)
North Dakota	Milton R. Young	Republican	Re-elected, 63.6 - 36.0	Quentin N. Burdick (Democrat)
Ohio	George H. Bender	Republican	Defeated, 52.9 - 47.1	Frank J. Lausche (Democrat)
Oklahoma	A. S. Mike Monroney	Democrat	Re-elected, 55.4 - 44.7	Douglas McKeever (Republican)
Oregon	Wayne Morse	Democratic	Re-elected, 54.2 - 45.8	Douglas McKay (Republican)
Pennsylvania	James H. Duff	Republican	Defeated, 50.1 - 49.7	Joseph S. Clark (Democrat)
South Carolina²	Thomas A. Wofford	Democrat	Retired: Democratic victory, unopposed	Strom Thurmond (Democrat)
South Carolina	Olin B. Johnston	Democrat	Re-elected, unopposed
South Dakota	Francis Case	Republican	Re-elected, 50.8 - 49.2	Kenneth Holum (Democrat)
Utah	Wallace F. Bennett	Republican	Re-elected, 54.0 - 46.0	Alonzo F. Hopkin (Democrat)
Vermont	George D. Aiken	Republican	Re-elected, 66.4 - 33.6	Bernard G. O'Shea (Democrat)
Washington	Warren G. Magnuson	Democrat	Re-elected, 61.1 - 38.9	Arthur B. Langlie (Republican)
West Virginia³	William R. Laird, III	Democrat	Retired: Republican victory, 53.7 - 46.3	Chapman Revercomb (Republican) William C. Marland (Democrat)
Wisconsin	Alexander Wiley	Republican	Re-elected, 58.6 - 41.2	Henry W. Maier (Democrat)

¹ special election held due to death of Alben W. Barkley (D-KY)

² special election held due to resignation of Strom Thurmond (D-SC). (Thurmond had been elected in a special election in 1954 and had promised to resign in order to face a contested primary in 1956)

³ special election held due to death of Harley M. Kilgore (D-WV)