United States Senate elections, 1930

← 1928

November 4, 1930

1932 / 1933 →

35 of the 96 seats in the United States Senate
49 seats were needed for a majority

	Majority party	Minority party

Leader	James Watson	Joseph Robinson
Party	Republican	Democratic
Leader's seat	Indiana	Arkansas
Last election	56 seats	39 seats
Seats won	48	47
Seat change	8	8

	Third party

Party	Farmer–Labor
Last election	1 seat
Seats before	1
Seats won	1
Seat change

Republican hold

Republican gain

Democratic hold

Democratic gain

Majority Leader before election

James Watson
Republican

Elected Majority Leader

James Watson
Republican

The United States Senate elections of 1930 occurred in the middle of Republican President Herbert Hoover's term. With the Great Depression beginning to take hold, Republican incumbents became unpopular, and Democrats picked up a net of eight seats, erasing the Republican gains from the previous election cycle. Republicans retained control of the chamber since Vice President Charles Curtis cast the tie-breaking vote.

This was the first of four consecutive Senate elections in the Depression in which Democrats made enormous gains, achieving a cumulative pick-up of 34 seats.

The Republicans only gained one seat by defeating incumbent Daniel F. Steck (D-IA). The Democrats took open seats in Colorado, Illinois, Massachusetts, and West Virginia, and defeated five incumbents:

Notable freshmen were future Secretaries of State James F. Byrnes (D-SC) and Cordell Hull (D-TN).

All races are for the Class 2 seats unless otherwise indicated. Bold states indicates link to election article.

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