United States House of Representatives elections, 1946

← 1944

November 5, 1946

1948 →

All 435 seats to the United States House of Representatives
218 seats were needed for a majority

	Majority party	Minority party	Third party

Leader	Joseph Martin	Sam Rayburn	Vito Marcantonio
Party	Republican	Democratic	American Labor
Leader's seat	Massachusetts-14th	Texas-4th	New York-18th
Last election	191 seats	242 seats	1 seat
Seats won	246	188	1
Seat change	55	54
Popular vote	18,422,363	15,491,113	196,866
Percentage	53.5%	45.0%	0.6%
Swing	6.4%	6.8%	0.3%

Speaker before election

Sam Rayburn
Democratic

Elected Speaker

Joseph Martin
Republican

Sam Rayburn
Democratic

Joseph Martin
Republican

Elections to the United States House of Representatives for the 80th United States Congress took place in 1946. These midterm elections occurred 19 months after President Harry S. Truman assumed office upon the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Truman was Vice President under President Franklin D. Roosevelt and was thrust into the presidency following Roosevelt's death. Truman did not garner the same support as the deceased president. Democrats had controlled Congress since 1931, for 16 years, and Roosevelt had been elected to a record four terms in office. In the 1946 election, the election resulted in Republicans picking up 55 seats to win majority control. Joseph William Martin, Jr., Republican of Massachusetts, became Speaker of the House, exchanging places with Sam Rayburn, Democrat of Texas, who became the new Minority Leader. The Democratic defeat was the largest since they were trounced in the 1928 pro-Republican wave that brought Herbert Hoover to power.

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