The 1942 United States Senate elections were held November 3, 1942, midway through Franklin D. Roosevelt's third term as president. The 32 seats of Class 2 were contested in regular elections, and two special elections were held to fill vacancies.

Although this election took place during World War II, the opposition Republican party made major gains, taking eight seats from the Democrats and one from an independent. Though the Democrats retained a significant majority, it was the smallest since Roosevelt was first elected in 1932. The Republican gains also erased the Democratic supermajority that they held since 1932. Democrats later gained a seat in New Jersey through an appointment, bringing their seat total up to 58.

The New York Times ascribed the results to "voters' dissatisfaction with the conduct of the war, both at home and abroad" but not evidence of a lack of enthusiasm for the war effort. It found that a candidate's stance as an isolationist or an interventionist before the Attack on Pearl Harbor (December 1941) had little impact on his success at the polls. The paper's editorial board welcomed a return to normal political alignments after the unbalanced majorities of the previous decade. The election not only changed the numbers of Democrats and Republicans in the Senate, but also accomplished an ideological shift, as several longtime enthusiastic supporters of the New Deal were replaced by Republicans of the most conservative sort.

Results summary + ↓ 57 1 38 Democratic P Republican

Colored shading indicates party with largest share of that row. Parties Total Democratic Republican Progressive Other Last elections (1940) 66 28 1 1 96 Before these elections 65 29 1 1 96 Not up 41 20 1 0 62 Up 24 9 0 1 34 23 8 0 1 32 1 0 — — 1 0 1 — — 1 Incumbent retired 1 0 — — 1 1 0 — — 1 0 0 — — 0 1 0 0 0 1 Incumbent ran 22 8 — 1 31 13 8 — 0 21 5 Democrats replaced by 5 Republicans1 Independent replaced by 1 Republican 6 2 0 — 0 2 2 Democrats replaced by 2 Republicans — — 2 15 16 0 0 31 Appointee ran for either,but not both, specialand regular election 1 1 — 0 2 0 1 — 0 1 1 Democrat replaced by 1 Republican — 0 1 0 2 0 0 2 Total elected 16 18 0 0 34 Net change 8 9 1 9 Nationwide vote 6,497,048 6,869,448 — 565,783 13,932,279 Share 46.63% 49.31% — 4.06% 100% Result 57 38 1 0 96

Source:

Gains, losses, and holds Retirements One Republican retired instead of seeking election to finish the unexpired term and two Democrats retired instead of seeking election to a full term.

StateSenatorReplaced by Arkansas Minnesota (special) West Virginia

Defeats Eight Democrats and one Independent sought re-election but lost in the primary or general election. One Democrat sought election to finish the unexpired term but lost in the primary election and one Democrat sought election to finish the unexpired term but lost in the general election.

StateSenatorReplaced by Delaware Iowa Michigan Mississippi Nebraska Nevada New Jersey Oklahoma South Dakota West Virginia (special) Wyoming

Post election changes StateSenatorReplaced by New Jersey Indiana Oregon Massachusetts

Change in composition

Before the elections At the beginning of 1942.

  D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D Majority → D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D P I R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R

Election results

  D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D Majority → D P D D D D D D D D R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R

Key: D Democratic P Progressive R Republican I Independent

Race summaries

Special elections during the 77th Congress In these special elections, the winner was seated during 1942 or before January 3, 1943; ordered by election date.

State Incumbent Results Candidates Senator Party Electoral history ColoradoClass 3 Republican 1941 Interim appointee elected November 3, 1942. MinnesotaClass 2 Republican 1940 Interim appointee retired.New senator elected November 3, 1942.Republican hold.Winner did not run for the next term, see below. NevadaClass 1 Democratic 1940 Appointee lost nomination to finish term.New senator elected November 3, 1942 and qualified December 7, 1942.Democratic hold. West VirginiaClass 2 Democratic 1941 Interim appointee lost election to finish term.New senator elected November 3, 1942 and qualified November 17, 1942.Neither candidate ran in the contemporaneous election for the next term, see below.Republican gain.

Races leading to the 78th Congress In these regular elections, the winners were elected for the term beginning January 3, 1943; ordered by state.

All of the elections involved the Class 2 seats.

State Incumbent Results Candidates Senator Party Electoral history Alabama Democratic 19301936 Incumbent re-elected. Arkansas Democratic 1941 Incumbent retired.New senator elected.Democratic hold. Colorado Democratic 1936 Incumbent re-elected. Delaware Democratic 1936 Incumbent lost renomination.New senator elected.Republican gain. Georgia Democratic 1932 1936 Incumbent re-elected. Idaho Republican 1939 1940 Incumbent re-elected. Illinois Republican 1940 Incumbent re-elected. Iowa Democratic 1936 Incumbent lost re-election.New senator elected.Republican gain. Kansas Republican 1918192419301936 Incumbent re-elected. Kentucky Democratic 1939 1940 Incumbent re-elected. Louisiana Democratic 1936 Incumbent re-elected. Maine Republican 19301936 Incumbent re-elected. Massachusetts Republican 1936 Incumbent re-elected. Michigan Democratic 19361936 Incumbent lost re-election.New senator elected.Republican gain. Minnesota Republican 1940 Interim appointee elected.Winner did not run to finish the term, see above. Mississippi Democratic 1941 Incumbent lost renomination.New senator elected.Democratic hold. Montana Democratic 1934 1936 Incumbent re-elected. Nebraska Independent 19131918192419301936 Incumbent lost re-election.New senator elected.Republican gain. New Hampshire Republican 1936 Incumbent re-elected. New Jersey Democratic 1936 Incumbent lost re-election.New senator elected.Republican gain. New Mexico Democratic 1933 1934 1936 Incumbent re-elected. North Carolina Democratic 1936 Incumbent re-elected. Oklahoma Democratic 1936 Incumbent lost re-election.New senator elected.Republican gain. Oregon Republican 1917 1918 1918 1918192419301936 Incumbent re-elected. Rhode Island Democratic 1936 Incumbent re-elected. South Carolina Democratic 1941 Incumbent re-elected. South Dakota Democratic 19301936 Incumbent lost renomination.New senator elected.Republican gain. Tennessee Democratic 1938 Incumbent re-elected. Texas Democratic 1941 Incumbent re-elected. Virginia Democratic 1920 1920 192419301936 Incumbent re-elected. West Virginia Democratic 1941 Interim appointee retired.New senator elected.Republican gain.Winner did not run to finish the term, see above. Wyoming Democratic 1936 Incumbent lost re-election.New senator elected.Republican gain.

Closest races Eleven races had a margin of victory under 10%:

State Party of winner Margin Montana Democratic 0.7% Colorado Democratic 1.0% Michigan Republican (flip) 2.4% Idaho Republican 3.0% West Virginia (special) Republican (flip) 4.6% Massachusetts Republican 5.8% Illinois Republican 6.8% New Jersey Republican (flip) 7.3% Wyoming Republican (flip) 9.18% New Hampshire Republican 9.22% Delaware Republican (flip) 9.3%

Texas was the tipping point state with a margin of 90.5%.

Alabama

Arkansas

Colorado

There were 2 elections in Colorado.

Colorado (regular)

Colorado (special)

Delaware

Georgia

Idaho

Illinois

Iowa

Kansas

Kentucky

Louisiana

Maine

Massachusetts

Michigan

Minnesota

There were two elections to the same seat due to the August 31, 1940 death of Farmer–Laborite Ernest Lundeen. Republican Joseph H. Ball was appointed October 14, 1940 to continue the term, pending the special election. Ball was elected to the next term in the regular election, but not to finish the current term in the special election.

Minnesota (special)

Minnesota (regular)

Mississippi

Montana

Nebraska

Nevada (special)

New Hampshire

New Jersey

New Mexico

North Carolina

Oklahoma

Oregon

Rhode Island

South Carolina

South Dakota

Tennessee

Texas

Virginia

West Virginia

There were 2 elections to the same seat due to the January 12, 1941 resignation of Democrat Matthew M. Neely who was elected Governor of West Virginia. Democrat Joseph Rosier was appointed January 13, 1941 to continue the term, pending the special election. Primaries for both races were held August 4, 1942.

West Virginia (special)

Interim Democrat Joseph Rosier easily won the primary, but lost the special election to finish the term that would end in January 1943 to former congressman and 1936 Senate nominee Hugh Ike Shott.

West Virginia (regular)

Neither Shott nor Rosier were candidates in the regular election. Instead, governor (and former senator) Neely ran to reclaim his seat, having regretted leaving the Senate.

Neely won the Democratic primary but lost the regular election.

At the end of the term, Revercomb would lose re-election to Neely in 1948. He then won a special election to the other seat in 1956.

Wyoming

See also 1942 United States elections 1942 United States gubernatorial elections 1942 United States House of Representatives elections 77th United States Congress 78th United States Congress

Notes

References