United States Senate elections, 1946

United States Senate elections, 1946

← 1944 November 5, 1946 1948 →
32 of the 96 seats in the United States Senate, plus 5 mid-term vacancies 49 seats needed for a majority
Majority party Minority party   Leader Wallace White Alben Barkley Party Republican Democratic Leader's seat Maine Kentucky Last election 38 seats 57 seats Seats before 39 56 Seats won 51 45 Seat change 12 11 Popular vote 14,984,498 11,369,078 Percentage 54.5% 41.4% Swing 8.4% 8.9% Seats up 12 24   Third party   Party Progressive Last election 1 seat Seats before 1 Seats won 0 Seat change 1 Seats up 1
Republican holds   Republican gains   Democratic holds
Majority Leader before election Alben Barkley Democratic Elected Majority Leader Wallace White Republican

Alben Barkley
Democratic

Wallace White
Republican

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

The Republicans took control of the Senate by picking up twelve seats, mostly from the Democrats.

The vote was largely seen as a referendum on Truman, whose approval rating had sunk to 32% 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 "hamburger famine", but when Truman, in a surprise move, lifted the controls on October 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.

Besides the Republicans being able to hold onto all of their seats, this was the party's largest senate gain since 1920.

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 1950s.

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