1946 United States elections

none February 2026 January 2025 1946 Midterm elections November 5 Democratic Party (US)Harry S. Truman (D) 80th 37 of 96 seats(32 Class 1 seats + 8 special elections)Three Class 1 seats held both regularly-scheduled elections and special elections in 1946. Republican gain Republican +12Republicans picked up eleven seats in the regularly-scheduled elections and picked up an additional seat in the special elections. 1946 Senate election results #0671B0 Democratic gain #92C5DE Democratic hold #CA0120 Republican gain #F48882 Republican hold All 435 voting seats Republican gain Republican +8.5% Republican +55 320px 1946 House election results #0671B0 Democratic gain #92C5DE Democratic hold #CA0120 Republican gain #F48882 Republican hold 34 Republican +3 1946 gubernatorial election results #0671B0 Democratic gain #92C5DE Democratic hold #CA0120 Republican gain #F48882 Republican hold Elections were held on November 5, 1946, and elected the members of the 80th United States Congress. In the first election taking place in the aftermath of World War II, the Democratic Party of incumbent President Harry S. Truman (who took office on April 12, 1945, upon the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt) suffered large losses to the Republican Party. After having been in the minority of both the House of Representatives and the Senate since 1932, the Republicans took control of both chambers.Party Divisions of the House of Representatives http://history.house.gov/Institution/Party-Divisions/Party-Divisions/ United States House of Representatives 25 June 2014Party Division in the Senate, 1789-Present https://www.senate.gov/pagelayout/history/one_item_and_teasers/partydiv.htm United States Senate 25 June 2014 This Republican wave reflected a public backlash against President Truman over post-war economic hardships (including the Recession of 1945), worsening relations with the Soviet Union, and Truman's handling of the United Auto Workers strike. Afterwards, Truman was widely expected to lose the 1948 United States presidential election, though he ultimately managed an upset victory over Republican Thomas E. Dewey. Results House of Representatives 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.Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 5, 1946 http://clerk.house.gov/member_info/electionInfo/1946election.pdf U.S. House of Reps, Office of the Clerk 27 December 2011 In California, newcomer Richard Nixon defeated incumbent 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.Paul Bullock, "'Rabbits and Radicals' Richard Nixon's 1946 Campaign Against Jerry Voorhis." Southern California Quarterly 55.3 (1973): 319-359. Another future US president, John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts, was also first elected to the House in this election. Senate 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.Garry Boulard, 'The Man' vs. 'The Quisling': Theodore Bilbo, Hodding Carter and the 1946 Democratic Parimary," Journal of Mississippi History (1989), 51, 201-17. 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.Joseph L. Bernd, "White supremacy and the disfranchisement of Blacks in Georgia, 1946." Georgia Historical Quarterly 66.4 (1982): 492-513. in JSTOR Long term The election stymied Truman's efforts to enact his Fair Deal policies and helped ensure the passage of the Taft–Hartley Act over his veto. However, Truman was still able to implement the Marshall Plan, the National Security Act of 1947, and other Cold War policies. Thomas E. 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.Busch Andrew Horses in Midstream https://archive.org/details/horsesinmidstrea0000busc registration 1999 University of Pittsburgh Press 159–164 See also 1946 United States House of Representatives elections 1946 United States Senate elections 1946 United States gubernatorial elections References Further reading Leuchtenburg, W. E. "New Faces of 1946: In the midterm elections 60 years ago, war-weary voters turned against the party of an unpopular president and opened Congress to a new crop of lawmakers, including Richard Nixon, John F. Kennedy and Joseph McCarthy." Smithsonian 37.8 (2006): 48-54. 1946 Category:United States midterm elections Category:November 1946 in the United States