United States Senate special election in West Virginia, 1956

United States Senate elections, 1956 and 1957

← 1954

November 6, 1956
(And other dates for special elections)

1958 →

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

	Majority party	Minority party

Leader	Lyndon Johnson	Bill Knowland
Party	Democratic	Republican
Leader's seat	Texas	California
Seats before	49	47
Seats won	17	15
Seats after	49	47
Seat change	2	2
Popular vote	22,199,789	21,248,822
Percentage	50.6%	48.5%
Swing	4.9%	5.5%
Seats up	15	17

Democratic gain Democratic hold Republican hold Republican gain

Majority Leader before election

Lyndon Johnson
Democratic

Elected Majority Leader

Lyndon Johnson
Democratic

The United States Senate elections of 1956 (and subsequent special elections in 1957) were elections for the United States Senate that coincided with the re-election of President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Although the Democrats gained two seats in regular elections, the Republicans gained back two seats in special elections, leaving the party balance of the chamber remained unchanged.

Democrats defeated incumbents Herman Welker (R-ID), George H. Bender (R-OH), and James H. Duff (R-PA), as well as winning a Republican-held seat in Colorado. Republicans defeated incumbent Earle C. Clements (D-KY) as well as winning Democratic-held seats in Kentucky, New York, and West Virginia.

Thus, this election caused Kentucky's U.S. Senate delegation to change from two Democrats to two Republicans.

During the next Congress, Republican John D. Hoblitzell, Jr. was appointed to the seat of deceased Senator Matthew M. Neely (D-WV), and Democrat William Proxmire won a special election to fill the vacancy created by the death of Senator Joseph R. McCarthy (R-WI). Also, Price Daniel (D-TX) left the Senate to become governor of Texas, and Democrat Ralph Yarborough won a special election for that Senate seat. The net result was to leave the party balance unchanged.

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Wikipedia