Election 1940 Results
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1940 Senate election results by state and county
As Roosevelt broke tradition to win a third term, Democrats took 20 of the 30 Senate seats up and kept firm control, with Harry Truman narrowly re-elected in Missouri.
32 Senate races were held in 1940, plus 4 special elections. Democrats won 21 and Republicans 10, and 1 went to neither party.
The closest were Indiana (R+1.3), Missouri (D+2.4) and Delaware (D+3.3). 7 seats changed party: Delaware to the Democrats, Indiana to the Republicans, Minnesota to the Republicans, Nebraska to the Republicans, New Jersey to the Republicans, New Mexico to the Democrats and Ohio 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 1940 Senate elections
War in Europe dominated 1940. Roosevelt broke the two-term tradition and beat Wendell Willkie. Democrats won 20 Senate races and Republicans 10. Republicans gained seats in Nebraska, New Jersey and Ohio, while Democrats took Delaware, and the Democratic majority stayed large. The tightest race was an Illinois special election, which C. Wayland Brooks won by half a point over James Slattery. In Ohio, Harold Burton, Cleveland's mayor and later a Supreme Court justice, won the seat for the Republicans. Arthur Vandenberg held Michigan. In Missouri, Harry Truman's hardest fight came in the Democratic primary. He then beat Manvel Davis by 4.1 points in November. His wartime committee investigating defense spending made his name and put him on the 1944 ticket. Dennis Chavez won a full term in New Mexico, and James Tunnell gained Delaware for the Democrats.
Every race
| State | Democrat | Votes | Republican | Votes | Others | Margin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arizona | Ernest McFarland | 101,495 (71.6%) | I.A. Jennings | 39,657 (28.0%) | 579 | D+43.6 |
| California | none | Hiram W. Johnson | 2,238,899 (82.5%) | Fred Dyster (Prohibition) 366,044 (13.5%) |
R+82.5 | |
| Connecticut | Francis T. Maloney | 416,740 (53.2%) | Paul L. Cornell | 357,574 (45.6%) | 9,753 | D+7.6 |
| Delaware flip | James M. Tunnell | 68,294 (50.6%) | John G. Townsend Jr. | 63,799 (47.3%) | 2,786 | D+3.3 |
| Florida | Charles O. Andrews | 323,216 (100.0%) | none | D+100.0 | ||
| Idaho (special) | Glen H. Taylor | 110,664 (47.1%) | John Thomas | 124,535 (52.9%) | R+5.9 | |
| Illinois (special) | James M. Slattery | 2,025,097 (49.6%) | C. Wayland Brooks | 2,045,924 (50.1%) | 15,142 | R+0.5 |
| Indiana flip | Sherman Minton | 864,803 (49.1%) | Raymond E. Willis | 888,070 (50.5%) | 7,372 | R+1.3 |
| Kentucky (special) | Happy Chandler | 561,151 (58.3%) | Walter B. Smith | 401,812 (41.7%) | D+16.6 | |
| Maine | Louis J. Brann | 105,740 (41.3%) | Ralph O. Brewster | 150,149 (58.6%) | 305 | R+17.3 |
| Maryland | George L. Radcliffe | 394,239 (64.7%) | Harry W. Nice | 203,912 (33.5%) | 10,824 | D+31.3 |
| Massachusetts | David I. Walsh | 1,088,838 (55.6%) | Henry Parkman Jr. | 838,122 (42.8%) | 30,129 | D+12.8 |
| Michigan | Frank Fitzgerald | 939,740 (47.0%) | Arthur Vandenberg | 1,053,104 (52.6%) | 7,499 | R+5.7 |
| Minnesota flip | John E. Regan | 248,658 (20.6%) | Henrik Shipstead | 641,049 (53.0%) | Elmer Austin Benson (Farmer-Labor) 310,875 (25.7%) |
R+32.4 |
| Mississippi | Theodore Bilbo | 143,431 (100.0%) | none | D+100.0 | ||
| Missouri | Harry S. Truman | 930,775 (51.2%) | Manvel H. Davis | 886,376 (48.7%) | 1,865 | D+2.4 |
| Montana | Burton K. Wheeler | 176,752 (73.4%) | E.K. Cheadle | 63,941 (26.6%) | D+46.9 | |
| Nebraska flip | R.L. Cochran | 247,659 (41.5%) | Hugh Butler | 340,250 (57.0%) | 8,982 | R+15.5 |
| Nevada | Key Pittman | 31,351 (60.5%) | Samuel Platt | 20,488 (39.5%) | D+21.0 | |
| New Jersey flip | James H.R. Cromwell | 823,893 (44.1%) | W. Warren Barbour | 1,029,331 (55.1%) | 14,551 | R+11.0 |
| New Mexico flip | Dennis Chavez | 103,194 (55.9%) | Albert K. Mitchell | 81,257 (44.1%) | D+11.9 | |
| New York | James M. Mead | 3,274,766 (53.3%) | Bruce Barton | 2,842,942 (46.2%) | 30,854 | D+7.0 |
| North Dakota | Charles V. Vogel | 69,847 (26.4%) | William Langer | 100,647 (38.1%) | William Lemke (Independent) 92,593 (35.1%) |
R+11.7 |
| Ohio flip | John McSweeney | 1,457,304 (47.6%) | Harold H. Burton | 1,602,498 (52.4%) | R+4.8 | |
| Pennsylvania | Joseph F. Guffey | 2,069,980 (51.8%) | Jay Cooke | 1,893,104 (47.4%) | 33,936 | D+4.4 |
| Rhode Island | Peter G. Gerry | 173,847 (55.2%) | James O. McManus | 141,312 (44.8%) | D+10.3 | |
| Tennessee | Kenneth McKellar | 295,440 (70.8%) | Howard Baker Sr. | 121,790 (29.2%) | 34 | D+41.6 |
| Texas | Tom Connally | 978,095 (94.2%) | George I. Shannon | 59,340 (5.7%) | 408 | D+88.5 |
| Utah | Abe Murdock | 155,499 (62.8%) | Philo Farnsworth Jr. | 91,931 (37.2%) | D+25.7 | |
| Vermont | Ona S. Searles | 47,101 (33.6%) | Warren R. Austin | 93,283 (66.4%) | 4 | R+32.9 |
| Vermont (special) | Herbert B. Comings | 54,263 (38.4%) | George Aiken | 87,150 (61.6%) | R+23.3 | |
| Virginia | Harry F. Byrd Sr. | 274,260 (93.3%) | none | 19,621 | D+93.3 | |
| Washington | Monrad C. Wallgren | 404,718 (54.2%) | Stephen Chadwick | 342,589 (45.8%) | D+8.3 | |
| West Virginia | Harley M. Kilgore | 492,413 (56.3%) | Thomas Sweeney | 381,806 (43.7%) | D+12.7 | |
| Wisconsin | James E. Finnegan | 176,688 (13.2%) | Fred H. Clausen | 553,692 (41.4%) | Robert M. La Follette Jr. (Progressive) 605,609 (45.3%) |
Ind. +3.9 |
| Wyoming | Joseph C. O'Mahoney | 65,022 (58.7%) | Milward L. Simpson | 45,682 (41.3%) | D+17.5 |
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.