Election 1946 Results
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1946 Senate election results by state and county
Republicans won 20 of the seats up and gained nine states, taking control of the Senate as voters turned against Truman's Democrats.
32 Senate races were held in 1946, plus 8 special elections. Democrats won 11 and Republicans 21.
The closest were Maryland (D+0.5), West Virginia (D+0.7) and Utah (R+2.5). 11 seats changed party: Connecticut to the Republicans, Delaware to the Republicans, Massachusetts to the Republicans, Missouri to the Republicans, Montana to the Republicans, Nevada to the Republicans, New York to the Republicans, Pennsylvania to the Republicans, Utah to the Republicans, Washington 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 1946 Senate elections
A year after the war ended, the country was dealing with strikes, shortages and inflation as wartime controls came off. Truman's approval had fallen, and Republicans campaigned on the slogan "Had enough?" They won 20 Senate races to the Democrats' 11 and took seats in Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Utah and Washington. Republicans won control of both houses of Congress for the first time since the start of the Depression. The new class included Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin, who had beaten Robert La Follette Jr. in the Republican primary. William Knowland won a full term in California, and John Sherman Cooper won a Kentucky special. In Utah, Arthur Watkins beat Abe Murdock. Democrats held on narrowly in West Virginia, where Harley Kilgore won by 0.7 points, and in New Mexico, where Dennis Chavez beat Patrick Hurley. The Republican Congress passed the Taft-Hartley labor law over Truman's veto, and Truman later ran against it as the "do-nothing" Congress.
Every race
| State | Democrat | Votes | Republican | Votes | Others | Margin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama (special) | John Sparkman | 163,217 (100.0%) | none | D+100.0 | ||
| Arizona | Ernest McFarland | 80,415 (69.2%) | Ward S. Powers | 35,022 (30.1%) | 802 | D+39.1 |
| California | Will Rogers Jr. | 1,167,161 (44.2%) | William F. Knowland | 1,428,067 (54.1%) | 44,237 | R+9.9 |
| California (special) | Will Rogers Jr. | 90,723 (15.9%) | William F. Knowland | 425,273 (74.3%) | 56,325 | R+58.5 |
| California: All votes in this special election were write-ins. | ||||||
| Connecticut flip | Joseph M. Tone | 276,424 (40.7%) | Raymond Baldwin | 381,328 (56.1%) | 22,013 | R+15.4 |
| Connecticut (special) flip | Wilbur Lucius Cross | 278,188 (41.0%) | Raymond E. Baldwin | 378,707 (55.8%) | 22,164 | R+14.8 |
| Delaware flip | James M. Tunnell | 50,910 (44.8%) | John J. Williams | 62,603 (55.2%) | R+10.3 | |
| Florida | Spessard L. Holland | 156,232 (78.6%) | J. Harry Schad | 42,413 (21.4%) | D+57.3 | |
| Idaho (special) | George E. Donart | 74,629 (41.4%) | Henry C. Dworshak | 105,523 (58.6%) | R+17.2 | |
| Indiana | M. Clifford Townsend | 584,288 (43.4%) | William E. Jenner | 739,809 (54.9%) | 23,337 | R+11.5 |
| Kentucky (special) | John Young Brown | 285,829 (46.5%) | John Sherman Cooper | 327,652 (53.3%) | 1,638 | R+6.8 |
| Maine | Peter MacDonald | 63,799 (36.5%) | Ralph O. Brewster | 111,215 (63.5%) | R+27.1 | |
| Maryland | Herbert R. O'Conor | 237,232 (50.2%) | David J. Markey | 235,000 (49.8%) | D+0.5 | |
| Massachusetts flip | David I. Walsh | 660,200 (39.7%) | Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. | 989,736 (59.5%) | 12,127 | R+19.8 |
| Michigan | James H. Lee | 517,923 (32.0%) | Arthur Vandenberg | 1,085,570 (67.1%) | 15,227 | R+35.1 |
| Minnesota | Theodore Jorgenson | 349,520 (39.8%) | Edward J. Thye | 517,775 (58.9%) | 11,436 | R+19.2 |
| Mississippi | Theodore Bilbo | 46,747 (100.0%) | none | D+100.0 | ||
| Missouri flip | Frank Briggs | 511,544 (47.1%) | James P. Kem | 572,556 (52.7%) | 2,141 | R+5.6 |
| Montana flip | Leif Erickson | 86,476 (45.4%) | Zales N. Ecton | 101,901 (53.5%) | 2,189 | R+8.1 |
| Nebraska | John E. Mekota | 111,751 (29.2%) | Hugh Butler | 271,208 (70.8%) | R+41.6 | |
| Nevada flip | Berkeley Bunker | 22,553 (44.8%) | George Malone | 27,801 (55.2%) | R+10.4 | |
| New Jersey | George E. Brunner | 548,458 (40.1%) | H. Alexander Smith | 799,808 (58.5%) | 18,889 | R+18.4 |
| New Mexico | Dennis Chavez | 68,650 (51.5%) | Patrick J. Hurley | 64,632 (48.5%) | D+3.0 | |
| New York flip | Herbert Lehman | 2,308,112 (47.4%) | Irving M. Ives | 2,559,365 (52.6%) | R+5.2 | |
| North Dakota | Abner B. Larson | 38,368 (23.2%) | William Langer | 88,210 (53.3%) | Arthur E. Thompson (Independent) 38,804 (23.5%) |
R+30.1 |
| North Dakota (special) | William Lanier | 37,507 (27.4%) | Milton R. Young | 75,998 (55.5%) | Gerald P. Nye (Independent) 20,848 (15.2%) |
R+28.1 |
| Ohio | James W. Huffman | 947,610 (42.4%) | John W. Bricker | 1,275,774 (57.0%) | 13,885 | R+14.7 |
| Ohio (special) | Henry P. Webber | 929,584 (43.8%) | Kingsley A. Taft | 1,193,852 (56.2%) | R+12.5 | |
| Pennsylvania flip | Joseph F. Guffey | 1,245,338 (39.8%) | Edward Martin | 1,853,458 (59.3%) | 29,064 | R+19.4 |
| Rhode Island | J. Howard McGrath | 150,748 (55.1%) | W. Gurnee Dwyer | 122,780 (44.9%) | D+10.2 | |
| Tennessee | Kenneth McKellar | 145,654 (66.6%) | W.B. Ladd | 57,238 (26.2%) | John Randolph Neal Jr. (Independent) 11,516 (5.3%) |
D+40.4 |
| Texas | Tom Connally | 336,931 (88.5%) | Murray C. Sells | 43,619 (11.5%) | D+77.1 | |
| Utah flip | Abe Murdock | 96,257 (48.8%) | Arthur V. Watkins | 101,142 (51.2%) | R+2.5 | |
| Vermont | Charles P. McDevitt | 18,594 (25.4%) | Ralph E. Flanders | 54,729 (74.6%) | 17 | R+49.3 |
| Virginia | Harry F. Byrd Sr. | 163,960 (64.8%) | Lester S. Parsons | 77,005 (30.5%) | 11,877 | D+34.4 |
| Virginia (special) | A. Willis Robertson | 169,680 (68.2%) | Robert H. Woods | 72,253 (29.0%) | 7,029 | D+39.1 |
| Washington flip | Hugh B. Mitchell | 298,683 (45.2%) | Harry P. Cain | 358,847 (54.3%) | 2,812 | R+9.1 |
| West Virginia | Harley M. Kilgore | 273,151 (50.3%) | Thomas Sweeney | 269,617 (49.7%) | D+0.7 | |
| Wisconsin flip | Howard J. McMurray | 378,772 (37.4%) | Joseph McCarthy | 620,430 (61.3%) | 13,302 | R+23.9 |
| Wyoming | Joseph C. O'Mahoney | 45,843 (56.2%) | Harry B. Henderson | 35,714 (43.8%) | D+12.4 | |
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.