Election 1956 Results
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1956 Senate election results by state and county
Eisenhower won a second term in a landslide, but Democrats took 17 of the Senate seats up and kept their narrow majority as several states traded places.
32 Senate races were held in 1956, plus 3 special elections. Democrats won 17 and Republicans 15.
The closest were Pennsylvania (D+0.4), Colorado (D+0.4) and Kentucky (R+0.7). 8 seats changed party: Colorado to the Democrats, Connecticut to the Republicans, Idaho to the Democrats, Kentucky to the Republicans, New York to the Republicans, Ohio to the Democrats, Oregon to the Democrats and Pennsylvania to the Democrats.
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 1956 Senate elections
Eisenhower beat Adlai Stevenson again, with 457 electoral votes, but his coattails were short. Democrats won 17 Senate races and Republicans 14. Each party took seats from the other: Democrats gained Colorado, Idaho, Ohio and Pennsylvania, while Republicans gained two seats in Kentucky and West Virginia. The Senate stayed in Democratic hands. Two races were decided by 0.4 points. In Colorado, John Carroll beat Dan Thornton, and in Pennsylvania Joseph Clark unseated James Duff. In Kentucky, Thruston Morton beat Earle Clements by 0.7 points, and John Sherman Cooper won the state's other seat in a special. Chapman Revercomb won a West Virginia special for the Republicans. Ohio's popular governor Frank Lausche took a Senate seat from George Bender. In Idaho, Frank Church, aged 32, unseated Herman Welker, beginning a career that would run until 1981. Wayne Morse, who had left the Republican Party, won re-election in Oregon as a Democrat.
Every race
| State | Democrat | Votes | Republican | Votes | Others | Margin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | Lister Hill | 330,182 (100.0%) | none | D+100.0 | ||
| Arizona | Carl Hayden | 170,816 (61.4%) | Ross F. Jones | 107,447 (38.6%) | D+22.8 | |
| Arkansas | J. William Fulbright | 331,679 (83.0%) | Ben C. Henley | 68,016 (17.0%) | D+66.0 | |
| California | Richard B. Richards | 2,445,816 (45.6%) | Thomas Kuchel | 2,892,918 (54.0%) | 22,733 | R+8.3 |
| Colorado flip | John A. Carroll | 319,872 (50.2%) | Dan Thornton | 317,102 (49.8%) | D+0.4 | |
| Connecticut flip | Thomas J. Dodd | 479,460 (43.0%) | Prescott S. Bush | 610,829 (54.8%) | 23,497 | R+11.8 |
| Florida | George A. Smathers | 655,418 (100.0%) | none | D+100.0 | ||
| Georgia | Herman Talmadge | 541,094 (100.0%) | none | 173 | D+100.0 | |
| Idaho flip | Frank Church | 149,096 (56.2%) | Herman Welker | 102,781 (38.7%) | Glen Taylor (Write-in) 13,415 (5.1%) |
D+17.5 |
| Illinois | Richard Stengel | 1,949,874 (45.7%) | Everett Dirksen | 2,308,261 (54.1%) | 6,686 | R+8.4 |
| Indiana | Claude R. Wickard | 871,781 (44.4%) | Homer E. Capehart | 1,084,262 (55.2%) | 7,943 | R+10.8 |
| Iowa | R.M. Evans | 543,156 (46.1%) | Bourke Hickenlooper | 635,499 (53.9%) | R+7.8 | |
| Kansas | George Hart | 333,939 (40.5%) | Frank Carlson | 477,822 (57.9%) | 13,519 | R+17.4 |
| Kentucky flip | Earle C. Clements | 499,922 (49.7%) | Thruston B. Morton | 506,903 (50.3%) | R+0.7 | |
| Kentucky (special) flip | Lawrence W. Wetherby | 473,140 (46.8%) | John Sherman Cooper | 538,505 (53.2%) | R+6.5 | |
| Louisiana | Russell B. Long | 335,564 (100.0%) | none | D+100.0 | ||
| Maryland | George P. Mahoney | 419,108 (47.0%) | John M. Butler | 473,059 (53.0%) | R+6.1 | |
| Missouri | Thomas Hennings Jr. | 1,015,936 (56.4%) | Herbert Douglas | 785,048 (43.6%) | D+12.8 | |
| Nevada | Alan Bible | 50,677 (52.6%) | Cliff Young | 45,712 (47.4%) | D+5.2 | |
| New Hampshire | Laurence M. Pickett | 90,519 (35.9%) | Norris Cotton | 161,424 (64.1%) | R+28.1 | |
| New York flip | Robert F. Wagner Jr. | 3,265,159 (46.7%) | Jacob Javits | 3,723,933 (53.3%) | 2,044 | R+6.6 |
| North Carolina | Sam J. Ervin | 731,353 (66.6%) | Joel A. Johnson | 367,475 (33.4%) | D+33.1 | |
| North Dakota | Quentin Burdick | 87,919 (36.0%) | Milton R. Young | 155,305 (63.6%) | 937 | R+27.6 |
| Ohio flip | Frank J. Lausche | 1,864,589 (52.9%) | George H. Bender | 1,660,910 (47.1%) | D+5.8 | |
| Oklahoma | Mike Monroney | 459,996 (55.3%) | Douglas McKeever | 371,146 (44.7%) | D+10.7 | |
| Oregon flip | Wayne Morse | 396,849 (54.2%) | Douglas McKay | 335,405 (45.8%) | D+8.4 | |
| Pennsylvania flip | Joseph S. Clark | 2,268,641 (50.1%) | James H. Duff | 2,250,671 (49.7%) | 10,562 | D+0.4 |
| South Carolina | Olin D. Johnston | 230,150 (82.2%) | Leon P. Crawford | 49,695 (17.8%) | 124 | D+64.5 |
| South Carolina (special) | Strom Thurmond | 245,371 (100.0%) | none | D+100.0 | ||
| South Dakota | Kenneth Holum | 143,001 (49.2%) | Francis Case | 147,621 (50.8%) | R+1.6 | |
| Utah | Alonzo F. Hopkin | 152,120 (46.0%) | Wallace F. Bennett | 178,261 (54.0%) | R+7.9 | |
| Vermont | Bernard G. O'Shea | 52,184 (33.6%) | George D. Aiken | 103,101 (66.4%) | 4 | R+32.8 |
| Washington | Warren Magnuson | 685,565 (61.1%) | Arthur B. Langlie | 436,652 (38.9%) | D+22.2 | |
| West Virginia (special) | William C. Marland | 373,051 (46.3%) | Chapman Revercomb | 432,123 (53.7%) | R+7.3 | |
| Wisconsin | Henry W. Maier | 627,903 (41.2%) | Alexander Wiley | 892,473 (58.6%) | 2,745 | R+17.4 |
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.