United States Senate elections, 1946

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Republican holds Republican pickups Democratic holds Democratic pickups

The United States Senate elections of 1946 were in the middle of Democratic President Harry Truman's first term.

The vote was largely seen as a referendum on Truman, whose approval rating had sunk to 32% [1] over the president's controversial handling of a wave of post-war 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 so-called "hamburger famine" [2], but when Truman, in a surprise move, lifted the controls on Oct. 14 - just weeks before the election - meat prices shot up to record levels.

The president'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. And for the first time since before the Great Depression, Republicans were seen as the party which could best handle the American economy.

However, the Republicans also benefited from what today would be called "a good map," meaning that of the one-third of Senate seats up for election, the majority were held by Democrats.

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 Hoover's administration. This election is also notable for the election of Joe McCarthy who would become famous for his investigations of communism in the 1950's

In addition to capturing open seats in Idaho, Montana, Nevada, and New York, the Republicans defeated seven Democratic incumbents:

[edit] Senate contests in 1946

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