The 1946 United States Senate elections were held November 5, 1946, in the middle of Democratic President Harry S. Truman's first term after Roosevelt's passing. The 32 seats of Class 1 were contested in regular elections, and four special elections were held to fill vacancies. The Republicans took control of the Senate by picking up twelve seats, mostly from the Democrats. This was the first time since 1932 that the Republicans had held the Senate, recovering from a low of 16 seats following the 1936 Senate elections.

Quick Facts 36 of the 96 seats in the United States Senate 49 seats needed for a majority, Majority party ...

1946 United States Senate elections

← 1944 November 5, 1946 1948 →
1947 (MS) →
36 of the 96 seats in the United States Senate 49 seats needed for a majority
Majority party Minority party   Leader Wallace White Alben Barkley Party Republican Democratic Leader since February 25, 1944 July 22, 1937 Leader's seat Maine Kentucky Seats before 39 56 Seats won 51 45 Seat change 12 11 Popular vote 15,489,926 12,062,433 Percentage 54.0% 42.0% Seats up 11 24 Races won 23 13   Third party   Party Progressive Seats before 1 Seats won 0 Seat change 1 Seats up 1 Races won 0
Results of the elections:      Democratic hold      Republican gain      Republican hold      No election Rectangular inset (N. Dak. and Va.): both seats up for election
Majority Leader before election Alben Barkley Democratic Elected Majority Leader Wallace White Republican

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The vote was largely seen as a referendum on Truman, whose approval rating had sunk to 32%^[1] over the president's controversial handling of a wave of post-war labor strikes, such as a nationwide railroad strike in May, at a time when Americans depended on train service for both commuter and long-distance travel. Just as damaging was Truman's back-and-forth over whether to end unpopular wartime price controls to handle shortages, particularly in foodstuffs. For example, price controls on beef had led to a "hamburger famine," but when Truman, in a surprise move, lifted the controls on October 14—just weeks before the election—meat prices shot up to record levels.^{[citation needed]}

This is only one of two occasions in U.S. history that 10 or more Senate seats changed hands in a midterm election (the other being in 1958), and also one of five occasions where 10 or more Senate seats changed hands in any election, with the other occasions being in 1920, 1932, 1958, and 1980.

The president's lack of popular support is widely seen as the reason for the Democrats' congressional defeat, the largest since they were trounced in the 1928 pro-Republican wave that brought Herbert Hoover to power.^[2][3] And for the first time since before the Great Depression, Republicans were seen as the party which could best handle the American economy.

However, the Republicans also benefited from what today would be called "a good map," meaning that of the one-third of Senate seats up for election, the majority were held by Democrats. Besides the Republicans being able to hold onto all of their seats, this was the party's largest senate gain since 1920.

Colored shading indicates party with largest share of that row.

More information Parties, Total ...

Parties					Total
		Democratic	Republican	Other
Last elections (1944)		57	38	1	96
Before these elections		56	39	1	96
Not up		32	28	0	60
Up		24	11	1	36
	Class 1 (1940→1946)	21	10	1	32
	Special: Class 2	3	1	—	4
Incumbent retired		4	4	—	8
	Held by same party	3	4	—	7
	Replaced by other party	1 Democrat replaced by 1 Republican		—	1
	Result	3	5	0	8
Incumbent ran		20	7	1	28
	Won re-election	9	6	0	16
	Lost re-election	7 Democrats replaced by 7 Republicans		—	7
	Lost renomination but held by same party	1	1	—	2
	Lost (re)nomination and party lost	3 Democrats replaced by 3 Republicans 1 Progressive replaced by 1 Republican			4
	Result	10	18	0	28
Total elected		13	23	0	36
Net change		11	12	1	12
Nationwide vote		12,062,433	15,489,926	1,142,765	28,695,124
	Share	42.04%	53.98%	3.98%	100%
Result		45	51	0	96

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Source: Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives^[4]

Ten races had a margin of victory under 10%:

Quick Facts Nominee, Party ...

1946 United States Senate election in Arizona

← 1940 November 5, 1946 1952 →

Nominee Ernest McFarland Ward S. Powers Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 80,415 35,022 Percentage 69.18% 30.13%

County results McFarland:      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%

U.S. senator before election Ernest McFarland Democratic Elected U.S. Senator Ernest McFarland Democratic

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Incumbent Democrat Ernest McFarland ran for re-election to a second term, easily defeating Republican Ward S. Powers in the general election.

There were 2 elections for the same seat due to the January 16, 1945, death of Democrat Francis T. Maloney. Republican Thomas C. Hart was appointed February 15, 1945, to continue the term, pending a special election. Republican Governor of Connecticut Raymond E. Baldwin won both elections, but resigned only three years after the election to become a state judge.

Connecticut (regular)

Quick Facts Nominee, Party ...

1946 United States Senate election in Connecticut

← 1940 November 5, 1946 1950 (special) →

Nominee Raymond E. Baldwin Joseph M. Tone Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 381,328 276,424 Percentage 55.84% 40.48%

County results Baldwin:      50–60%      60–70%

U.S. senator before election Thomas C. Hart Republican Elected U.S. Senator Raymond E. Baldwin Republican

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More information Party, Candidate ...

1946 United States Senate election in Connecticut^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Raymond E. Baldwin	381,328	55.84%
	Democratic	Joseph M. Tone	276,424	40.48%
	Socialist	Frederick C. Smedley	22,012	3.22%
	Socialist Labor	John W. Aiken	3,156	0,46%
Majority			104,904	29.32%
Turnout			682,920
	Republican hold

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Quick Facts Nominee, Party ...

1946 United States Senate election in Massachusetts

← 1940 November 5, 1946 1952 →

Nominee Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. David I. Walsh Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 989,736 660,200 Percentage 59.55% 39.72%

County results Municipality results Lodge:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%      90–100% Walsh:      50–60%      60–70%

U.S. senator before election David I. Walsh Democratic Elected U.S. Senator Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. Republican

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Republican Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. defeated incumbent David I. Walsh.

Quick Facts Nominee, Party ...

1946 United States Senate election in New York

← 1940 November 5, 1946 1952 →

Nominee Irving Ives Herbert Lehman Party Republican Democratic Alliance Liberal American Labor Popular vote 2,559,365 2,308,112 Percentage 52.58% 47.42%

County results Ives:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90% Lehman:      50–60%      60–70%

U.S. senator before election James M. Mead Democratic Elected U.S. Senator Irving M. Ives Republican

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The New York state election was held on November 5, 1946.

The Socialist Labor state convention met on April 7 and nominated Eric Hass for the U.S.Senate.^[13] The party filed a petition to nominate candidates under the name "Industrial Government Party."

The Liberal Party gathered 51,015 signatures and filed a petition to nominate candidates with the Secretary of State on September 2.^[14]

The Republican state convention met on September 4 at Saratoga Springs, New York. They nominated Assembly Majority Leader Irving M. Ives.^[15]

The Democratic state convention met on September 4 at Albany, New York, and nominated Ex-Governor Herbert H. Lehman (in office 1933–1942) for the U.S. Senate.^[16]

The American Labor state convention met on September 3 and endorsed Lehman.^[17] Fielding, Chapman and Abt were withdrawn from the ticket on September 5, and Democrats Corning, Young and Epstein substituted on the ticket.^[18]

The Socialist Workers Party filed a petition to nominate candidates headed by Farrell Dobbs for Governor.

The Industrial Government, Socialist and Socialist Workers tickets were not allowed on the ballot because of "defective nominating petitions." The Court of Appeals upheld the decisions of the lower courts.^[19]

The whole Republican ticket was elected in a landslide.

More information Party, Candidate ...

New York general election^[20]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Irving M. Ives	2,559,365	52.58%	5.92%
	Total	Herbert Lehman	2,308,112	47.42%	5.16%
	Democratic	Herbert Lehman	1,688,887	34.70%
	American Labor	Herbert Lehman	435,846	8.95%
	Liberal	Herbert Lehman	183,379	3.77%
Total votes			4,867,477	36.14%
	Republican gain from Democratic

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Obs.:

• "Blank, void and scattering" votes: 178,694

There were 2 elections to the same seat due to the September 30, 1945, resignation of Republican Harold H. Burton.

Democrat James W. Huffman was appointed to continue the term, pending a special election in which Huffman was not a candidate. Huffman was, however, nominated to the regular election,^[22] which he lost.