Election 1938 Results
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1938 Senate election results by state and county
Republicans recovered in the 1938 midterm, winning 10 of the seats up and gaining five states, though Democrats kept a large Senate majority.
32 Senate races were held in 1938, plus 6 special elections. Democrats won 22 and Republicans 10.
The closest were Indiana (D+0.3), Iowa (D+0.3) and Connecticut (R+2.9). 5 seats changed party: Connecticut to the Republicans, Kansas to the Republicans, New Hampshire to the Republicans, Ohio to the Republicans and Wisconsin to the Republicans.
Early projection, based on early and incomplete polling: the likely matchups, each weighted by the betting markets' odds of both nominations, not a result. Each county is its 2024 presidential margin moved by its state's projected swing; set a national vote and every state, district and county moves by the same amount from our projection. Colours run in 100 steps from a safe Republican to a safe Democratic margin. Boundaries: US Census Bureau.
About the 1938 Senate elections
Roosevelt's second term had gone badly. His plan to add justices to the Supreme Court failed in 1937, a sharp recession followed, and in 1938 he campaigned against conservative Democrats in primaries with little success. Democrats still won 20 Senate races, but Republicans took 10 and gained seats in Connecticut, Kansas, New Hampshire, Ohio and Wisconsin. In Ohio, Robert Taft, son of the former president, beat Robert Bulkley by 6.2 points and became a leading conservative voice for the next 15 years. Charles Tobey won New Hampshire, and John Danaher took Connecticut from Augustine Lonergan. Democrats survived two very close races in the Midwest. Guy Gillette held Iowa and Frederick Van Nuys held Indiana, each by 0.3 points. Scott Lucas won Illinois. The election ended the New Deal's period of easy majorities: from 1939, Republicans and conservative Southern Democrats often voted together to block new programs.
Every race
| State | Democrat | Votes | Republican | Votes | Others | Margin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | J. Lister Hill | 113,413 (86.4%) | J. M. Pennington | 17,885 (13.6%) | 1 | D+72.8 |
| Alabama (special) | J. Lister Hill | 49,429 (100.0%) | none | D+100.0 | ||
| Arizona | Carl Hayden | 82,714 (76.5%) | B.H. Clingan | 25,378 (23.5%) | D+53.0 | |
| Arkansas | Hattie Caraway | 122,871 (89.6%) | C.T. Atkinson | 14,240 (10.4%) | D+79.2 | |
| California | Sheridan Downey | 1,372,314 (54.4%) | Philip Bancroft | 1,126,240 (44.7%) | 23,588 | D+9.8 |
| Colorado | Alva B. Adams | 262,806 (58.2%) | Archibald A. Lee | 181,297 (40.2%) | 7,126 | D+18.1 |
| Connecticut flip | Augustine Lonergan | 252,426 (40.0%) | John A. Danaher | 270,413 (42.9%) | Bellani Trombley (Socialist) 99,282 (15.7%) |
R+2.9 |
| Florida | Claude Pepper | 145,757 (82.4%) | Thomas E. Swanson | 31,035 (17.6%) | D+64.9 | |
| Georgia | Walter F. George | 66,897 (95.1%) | none | 3,442 | D+95.1 | |
| Idaho | D. Worth Clark | 99,801 (54.7%) | Donald A. Callahan | 81,939 (44.9%) | 845 | D+9.8 |
| Illinois | Scott W. Lucas | 1,638,166 (51.3%) | Richard J. Lyons | 1,542,572 (48.3%) | 10,707 | D+3.0 |
| Indiana | Frederick Van Nuys | 788,386 (49.8%) | Raymond E. Willis | 783,189 (49.5%) | 10,215 | D+0.3 |
| Iowa | Guy M. Gillette | 413,788 (49.7%) | Lester Dickinson | 410,983 (49.4%) | 7,068 | D+0.3 |
| Kansas flip | George McGill | 326,774 (43.8%) | Clyde M. Reed | 419,532 (56.2%) | 99 | R+12.4 |
| Kentucky | Alben W. Barkley | 346,735 (62.0%) | John P. Haswell | 212,266 (38.0%) | D+24.1 | |
| Louisiana | John H. Overton | 151,585 (99.8%) | none | 250 | D+99.8 | |
| Maryland | Millard E. Tydings | 357,245 (68.3%) | Oscar Leser | 153,253 (29.3%) | 12,740 | D+39.0 |
| Missouri | J. Bennett Clark | 757,587 (60.7%) | Henry S. Caulfield | 488,687 (39.1%) | 2,004 | D+21.5 |
| Nevada | Pat McCarran | 27,406 (59.0%) | Tasker L. Oddie | 19,078 (41.0%) | D+17.9 | |
| New Hampshire flip | Fred H. Brown | 84,920 (45.8%) | Charles W. Tobey | 100,633 (54.2%) | R+8.5 | |
| New Jersey (special) | William H.J. Ely | 704,159 (45.7%) | W. Warren Barbour | 816,667 (53.0%) | 20,781 | R+7.3 |
| New York | Robert F. Wagner | 2,497,329 (54.5%) | John Lord O'Brian | 2,058,615 (44.9%) | 27,404 | D+9.6 |
| New York (special) | James M. Mead | 2,438,903 (53.9%) | Edward F. Corsi | 2,083,666 (46.1%) | 1 | D+7.9 |
| North Carolina | Robert R. Reynolds | 316,685 (63.8%) | Charles A. Jonas | 179,650 (36.2%) | D+27.6 | |
| North Dakota | J. J. Nygard | 19,244 (7.3%) | Gerald P. Nye | 131,907 (50.1%) | William Langer (Independent) 112,007 (42.6%) |
R+42.8 |
| Ohio flip | Robert J. Bulkley | 1,085,792 (46.4%) | Robert A. Taft | 1,255,414 (53.6%) | R+7.3 | |
| Oklahoma | Elmer Thomas | 307,936 (65.4%) | Harry G. Glasser | 159,734 (33.9%) | 3,396 | D+31.5 |
| Oregon | Willis Mahoney | 167,135 (45.1%) | Rufus C. Holman | 203,120 (54.9%) | 6 | R+9.7 |
| Oregon (special) | Robert A. Miller | 152,773 (45.8%) | Alexander G. Barry | 180,815 (54.2%) | 3 | R+8.4 |
| Pennsylvania | George H. Earle | 1,684,083 (44.1%) | James J. Davis | 2,086,932 (54.7%) | 44,004 | R+10.6 |
| South Carolina | Cotton Ed Smith | 45,351 (98.9%) | J.D. Meyer | 508 (1.1%) | 2 | D+97.8 |
| South Dakota | Tom Berry | 133,064 (47.5%) | Chandler Gurney | 146,813 (52.5%) | R+4.9 | |
| South Dakota (special) | John T. McCullen | 112,177 (41.9%) | Gladys Pyle | 155,292 (58.1%) | R+16.1 | |
| Tennessee (special) | A. Tom Stewart | 194,026 (70.5%) | Harley G. Fowler | 72,098 (26.2%) | 9,106 | D+44.3 |
| Utah | Elbert D. Thomas | 102,353 (55.8%) | Franklin S. Harris | 81,071 (44.2%) | D+11.6 | |
| Vermont | John McGrath | 38,673 (34.3%) | Ernest W. Gibson | 73,990 (65.7%) | 4 | R+31.4 |
| Washington | Homer T. Bone | 371,535 (62.6%) | Ewing D. Colvin | 220,204 (37.1%) | 1,553 | D+25.5 |
| Wisconsin flip | F. Ryan Duffy | 231,976 (25.6%) | Alexander Wiley | 416,770 (45.9%) | Herman Ekern (National Progressives of America) 249,209 (27.5%) |
R+20.4 |
Margin: the Democrat's share of all votes minus the Republican's. Margins are Democrat minus Republican, of all votes. Certified results, from the states' own archives, the MIT Election Data and Science Lab, Heideman (2026) and Algara & Amlani (2021). By county: "As they were" draws each county as it stood on election day; "Today's" shares the old votes among today's counties by area. County boundaries: Newberry Library, Atlas of Historical County Boundaries (CC BY-NC-SA 2.5). How these results were checked.