United_States_Senate_elections,_1934

1934 United States Senate election in California
	County results; Johnson: 90–100%
U.S. senator before election; Hiram Johnson; Republican	Elected U.S. Senator ; Hiram Johnson; Republican

1934 United States Senate election in Arizona
	County results; Ashurst: 60–70% 70–80% 80–90%
United States Senator before election; Henry F. Ashurst; Democratic	Elected United States Senator ; Henry F. Ashurst; Democratic

1934 United States Senate elections
← 1933 (VA)
36 of the 96 seats in the United States Senate; 49 seats needed for a majority
	Results of the elections:; Democratic gain Democratic hold; Republican hold; Progressive gain; Farmer–Labor hold; No election
Majority Leader before election; Joseph Robinson; Democratic	Elected Majority Leader ; Joseph Robinson; Democratic

1934 United States Senate elections

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The 1934 United States Senate elections were held in the middle of Democratic President Franklin D. Roosevelt's first term. The 32 seats of Class 1 were contested in regular elections, and special elections were held to fill vacancies. During the Great Depression, voters strongly backed Roosevelt's New Deal and his allies in the Senate, with Democrats picking up a net of nine seats, giving them a supermajority (which required 64 seats, two-thirds of the total 96 seats in 1934).^[1] Republicans later lost three more seats due to mid-term vacancies (one to Farmer-Labor and two to Democrats); however, a Democrat in Iowa died and the seat remained vacant until the next election. The Democrats entered the next election with a 70-22-2-1 majority.

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

This marked the first time that an incumbent president's party gained seats in both houses of Congress in midterm election cycles, followed by 1998 and 2002.^[2] This was also the second of three times in American history that the opposition party failed to flip any Senate seats, alongside 1914 and 2022.

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[Dates-1] There was a regular election September 10 in Maine and a January 16 special election in Vermont.

[Appointee_elected-4] Appointee elected

[2] [1]
Arthur Krock (November 7, 1934). "Tide Sweeps Nation". New York Times. Retrieved March 16, 2014.

[3] [2]
"Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 6, 1934" (PDF). U.S. House of Reps, Office of the Clerk. Retrieved December 28, 2011.

[5] [3]
Kestenbaum, Lawrence. "The Political Graveyard: Index to Politicians: Monacelli to Monro". politicalgraveyard.com.

[6] [4]
"Our Campaigns - AZ US Senate Race - Nov 03, 1934". www.ourcampaigns.com.

[Clerk-7] [5]
"Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 6, 1934" (PDF). Clerk of the United States House of Representatives. Retrieved July 4, 2014.

[8] [6]
"Our Campaigns - MA US Senate Race - Nov 06, 1934". www.ourcampaigns.com.

[9] [7]
"NY US Senate". Our Campaigns. Retrieved March 12, 2020.

[VT-10] [8]
"General Election Results - U.S. Senator - 1914-2014" (PDF). Office of the Vermont Secretary of State. Archived from the original (PDF) on March 4, 2016. Retrieved June 16, 2015.

[1935_directory-11] [9]
Hunt, Lester C. (1935). 1935 Official Directory of Wyoming and Election Returns for 1934. Sheridan, Wyo.: The Mills Company. pp. 49–55.

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State	Senator	Replaced by
Maryland	Phillips Lee Goldsborough	George L. P. Radcliffe
Nebraska (special)	William H. Thompson	Richard C. Hunter
Nebraska	William H. Thompson	Edward R. Burke
Washington	Clarence Dill	Lewis B. Schwellenbach

State	Senator	Replaced by
Connecticut	Frederic C. Walcott	Francis T. Maloney
Indiana	Arthur Raymond Robinson	Sherman Minton
Mississippi	Hubert D. Stephens	Theodore G. Bilbo
Missouri	Roscoe C. Patterson	Harry S. Truman
Montana (special)	John E. Erickson	James E. Murray
New Jersey	Hamilton F. Kean	A. Harry Moore
Ohio	Simeon D. Fess	Vic Donahey
Pennsylvania	David A. Reed	Joseph F. Guffey
Rhode Island	Felix Hebert	Peter G. Gerry
West Virginia	Henry D. Hatfield	Rush Holt Sr.

State	Senator	Replaced by
New Mexico	Bronson M. Cutting	Dennis Chavez
Florida (class 1)	Park Trammell	Scott Loftin
Florida (class 1)	Scott Loftin	Charles O. Andrews
Florida (class 3)	Duncan U. Fletcher	William Luther Hill
Florida (class 3)	William Luther Hill	Claude Pepper
Louisiana	Huey Long	Rose McConnell Long
Michigan	James J. Couzens	Prentiss M. Brown
Minnesota	Thomas D. Schall	Elmer Austin Benson

		D₁	D₂	D₃	D₄	D₅	D₆	D₇	D₈
D₁₈	D₁₇	D₁₆	D₁₅	D₁₄	D₁₃	D₁₂	D₁₁	D₁₀	D₉
D₁₉	D₂₀	D₂₁	D₂₂	D₂₃	D₂₄	D₂₅	D₂₆	D₂₇	D₂₈
D₃₈	D₃₇	D₃₆	D₃₅	D₃₄	D₃₃	D₃₂	D₃₁	D₃₀	D₂₉
D₃₉	D₄₀	D₄₁	D₄₂	D₄₃	D₄₄ Ariz. Ran	D₄₅ Fla. Ran	D₄₆ Mass. Ran	D₄₇ Miss. Ran	D₄₈ Mont. (reg) Ran
Majority →									D₄₉ Mont. (sp) Ran
D₅₈ Va. Ran	D₅₇ Utah Ran	D₅₆ Texas Ran	D₅₅ Tenn. (sp) Ran	D₅₄ Tenn. (reg) Ran	D₅₃ N.Y. Ran	D₅₂ N.M. (sp) Ran	D₅₁ Nev. Ran	D₅₀ Neb. (reg) Neb. (sp) Retired	D₄₉ Mont. (sp) Ran
D₅₉ Wash. Retired	D₆₀ Wyo. (reg) Wyo. (sp) Ran	FL₁ Minn. Ran	R₃₅ Wis. Ran	R₃₄ W.Va. Ran	R₃₃ Vt. (reg) Ran	R₃₂ R.I. Ran	R₃₁ Pa. Ran	R₃₀ Ohio Ran	R₂₉ N.Dak. Ran
R₁₉ Calif. Ran	R₂₀ Conn. Ran	R₂₁ Del. Ran	R₂₂ Ind. Ran	R₂₃ Maine Ran	R₂₄ Md. Ran	R₂₅ Mich. Ran	R₂₆ Mo. Ran	R₂₇ N.J. Ran	R₂₈ N.M. (reg) Ran
R₁₈ Vt. (sp) Ran	R₁₇	R₁₆	R₁₅	R₁₄	R₁₃	R₁₂	R₁₁	R₁₀	R₉
		R₁	R₂	R₃	R₄	R₅	R₆	R₇	R₈

		D₁	D₂	D₃	D₄	D₅	D₆	D₇	D₈
D₁₈	D₁₇	D₁₆	D₁₅	D₁₄	D₁₃	D₁₂	D₁₁	D₁₀	D₉
D₁₉	D₂₀	D₂₁	D₂₂	D₂₃	D₂₄	D₂₅	D₂₆	D₂₇	D₂₈
D₃₈	D₃₇	D₃₆	D₃₅	D₃₄	D₃₃	D₃₂	D₃₁	D₃₀	D₂₉
D₃₉	D₄₀	D₄₁	D₄₂	D₄₃	D₄₄ Ariz. Re-elected	D₄₅ Fla. Re-elected	D₄₆ Mass. Re-elected	D₄₇ Miss. Hold	D₄₈ Mont. (reg) Re-elected
Majority →									D₄₉ Mont. (sp) Hold
D₅₈ Va. Re-elected	D₅₇ Utah Re-elected	D₅₆ Texas Re-elected	D₅₅ Tenn. (sp) Elected^{[lower-alpha 2]}	D₅₄ Tenn. (reg) Re-elected	D₅₃ N.Y. Re-elected	D₅₂ N.M. (sp) Elected^{[lower-alpha 2]}	D₅₁ Nev. Re-elected	D₅₀ Neb. (reg) Neb. (sp) Hold	D₄₉ Mont. (sp) Hold
D₅₉ Wash. Hold	D₆₀ Wyo. (reg) Wyo. (sp) Elected^{[lower-alpha 2]}	D₆₁ Conn. Gain	D₆₂ Ind. Gain	D₆₃ Md. Gain	D₆₄ Mo. Gain	D₆₅ N.J. Gain	D₆₆ Ohio Gain	D₆₇ Pa. Gain	D₆₈ R.I. Gain
R₁₉ Del. Re-elected	R₂₀ Maine Re-elected	R₂₁ Mich. Re-elected	R₂₂ N.M. (reg) Re-elected	R₂₃ N.Dak. Re-elected	R₂₄ Vt. (reg) Re-elected	R₂₅ Vt. (sp) Elected^{[lower-alpha 2]}	P₁ Wis. Re-elected new party	FL₁ Minn. Re-elected	D₆₉ W.Va. Gain
R₁₈ Calif. Re-elected	R₁₇	R₁₆	R₁₅	R₁₄	R₁₃	R₁₂	R₁₁	R₁₀	R₉
		R₁	R₂	R₃	R₄	R₅	R₆	R₇	R₈

State	Incumbent			Results	Candidates
State	Senator	Party	Electoral history	Results	Candidates
Vermont (Class 3)	Ernest W. Gibson	Republican	1933 (Appointed)	Interim appointee elected January 16, 1934.	▌Y Ernest W. Gibson (Republican) 58.2% ▌Harry W. Witters (Democratic) 41.8%
Montana (Class 2)	John E. Erickson	Democratic	1933 (Appointed)	Interim appointee lost nomination. New senator elected November 6, 1934. Democratic hold.	▌Y James E. Murray (Democratic) 59.6% ▌Scott Leavitt (Republican) 39.5%
Nebraska (Class 1)	William H. Thompson	Democratic	1933 (Appointed)	Interim appointee retired. New senator elected November 6, 1934. Democratic hold. Winner was not elected to the next term, see below.	▌Y Richard C. Hunter (Democratic) 56.45% ▌J. H. Kemp (Republican) 43.55%
New Mexico (Class 2)	Carl Hatch	Democratic	1933 (Appointed)	Interim appointee elected November 6, 1934.	▌Y Carl Hatch (Democratic) 54.5% ▌Richard C. Dillon (Republican) 45.0%
Tennessee (Class 2)	Nathan L. Bachman	Democratic	1933 (Appointed)	Interim appointee elected November 6, 1934.	▌Y Nathan L. Bachman (Democratic) 80.1% ▌John Randolph Neal Jr. (Independent) 19.9%
Wyoming (Class 1)	Joseph C. O'Mahoney	Democratic	1933 (Appointed)	Interim appointee elected November 6, 1934. Winner was also elected to the next term, see below.	▌Y Joseph C. O'Mahoney (Democratic) 56.88% ▌Vincent Carter (Republican) 43.12%

State	Party of winner	Margin
Maine	Republican	0.4%
New Mexico	Republican	0.8%
Vermont	Republican	2.6%
Connecticut	Democratic (flip)	3.5%
Indiana	Democratic (flip)	4.0%
Michigan	Republican	4.3%
Pennsylvania	Democratic (flip)	4.3%
Utah	Democratic	7.7%
Delaware	Republican	7.1%
New Mexico (special)	Democratic	9.5%

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Henry F. Ashurst (incumbent)	67,648	72.03%
	Republican	Joseph Edward Thompson	24,075	25.63%
	Socialist	Charles D. Pinkerton	1,591	1.69%
	Communist	Ramon Garcia	606	0.65%
Majority			43,573	46.40%
Turnout			93,920
	Democratic hold

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Hiram Johnson (Incumbent)	1,946,572	94.54%
	Socialist	George Ross Kirkpatrick	108,748	5.28%
	Write-In	Pat Chambers	1,025	0.05%
	None	Scattering	2,595	0.13%
Majority			1,837,824	89.26%
Turnout			2,058,940
	Republican hold

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Francis T. Maloney	265,552	51.75%
	Republican	Frederic C. Walcott (Incumbent)	247,623	48.25%
Majority			17,929	3.50%
Turnout			513,175
	Democratic gain from Republican

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	John G. Townsend Jr. (Incumbent)	52,829	53.27%
	Democratic	Wilbur L. Adams	45,771	46.16%
	Socialist	Fred W. Whiteside	497	0.50%
	Communist	John T. Wlodkoski	69	0.07%
Majority			7,058	7.11%
Turnout			99,166
	Republican hold

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Park Trammell (Incumbent)	131,780	100.00%
	Democratic hold

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Sherman Minton	758,801	51.46%
	Republican	Arthur Raymond Robinson (Incumbent)	700,103	47.48%
	Socialist	Forrest Wallace	9,414	0.64%
	Prohibition	Albert Jackman	4,987	0.34%
	Communist	Wenzel Stocker	1,307	0.09%
Majority			58,698	3.98%
Turnout			1,474,612
	Democratic gain from Republican

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Frederick Hale (Incumbent)	139,773	50.14%
	Democratic	F. Harold Dubord	138,573	49.71%
	Communist	Hans Nelson	422	0.15%
Majority			1,200	0.43%
Turnout			278,768
	Republican hold

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	George L. P. Radcliffe	264,279	56.10%
	Republican	Joseph I. France	197,643	41.95%
	Socialist	Elisabeth Gilman	6,067	1.29%
	American Labor	Ada Smith Lang	1,935	0.41%
	Communist	Samuel Gale	1,188	0.25%
Majority			66,636	14.15%
Turnout			471,112
	Democratic gain from Republican

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	David I. Walsh (incumbent)	852,776	59.39%
	Republican	Robert M. Washburn	536,692	37.38%
	Socialist	Albert Sprague Coolidge	22,092	1.54%
	Prohibition	Barnard Smith	10,363	0.72%
	Socialist Labor	Albert L. Waterman	8,245	0.57%
	Communist	Paul C. Wicks	5,757	0.40%
Majority			316,084	22.01%
Turnout			1,435,932
	Democratic hold

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Arthur Vandenberg (Incumbent)	626,017	51.32%
	Democratic	Frank Albert Picard	573,574	47.02%
	Socialist	John Monarch	10,644	0.87%
	Communist	Philip Raymond	5,634	0.46%
	Farmer–Labor	W. Ralph Jones	2,042	0.17%
	Socialist Labor	John Vonica	939	0.08%
	Commonwealth Land	Jay W. Slaughter	735	0.06%
	National	Chester A. Shewalter	147	0.01%
	None	Scattering	2	0.00%
Majority			52,443	4.30%
Turnout			1,219,734
	Republican hold

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Farmer–Labor	Henrik Shipstead (Incumbent)	503,379	49.87%
	Democratic	Einar Hoidale	294,757	29.20%
	Republican	N. J. Holmberg	200,083	19.82%
	Communist	Aldred Tiala	5,620	0.56%
	Socialist	Morris Kaplan	5,618	0.56%
Majority			409,622	20.67%
Turnout			1,009,457
	Farmer–Labor hold

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Theodore G. Bilbo (Incumbent)	51,609	100.00%
	Democratic hold

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Harry S. Truman	787,110	59.54%
	Republican	Roscoe C. Patterson (Incumbent)	524,954	39.71%
	Socialist	W. C. Meyer	9,010	0.68%
	Communist	Frank Brown	418	0.03%
	Socialist Labor	William Wesley Cox	384	0.03%
Majority			262,156	19.83%
Turnout			1,321,876
	Democratic gain from Republican

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Burton K. Wheeler (Incumbent)	142,823	70.14%	+16.94%
	Republican	George M. Bourquin	58,519	28.74%	-18.06%
	Socialist	William F. Held	1,381	0.68%
	Communist	Raymond F. Gray	903	0.44%
Majority			84,304	41.40%	+35.00%
Turnout			203,626
	Democratic hold

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	James E. Murray	116,965	59.66%	-0.67%
	Republican	Scott Leavitt	77,307	39.43%	+1.56%
	Socialist	John F. Duffy	1,779	0.91%	+0.34%
Majority			39,658	20.23%	-2.22%
Turnout			196,051
	Democratic hold

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Edward R. Burke	305,958	55.30%
	Republican	Robert G. Simmons	237,126	42.86%
	By Petition	Henry Hoffman	7,670	1.39%
	Write-In	E. D. O’Sullivan	2,501	0.45%
	N/A	Scattering	44	0.01%
Majority			68,832	12.44%
Turnout			553,299
	Democratic hold

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Richard C. Hunter (Incumbent)	281,421	56.45%
	Republican	J. H. Kemp	217,106	43.55%
	N/A	Scattering	24	<0.01%
Majority			64,315	12.90%
Turnout			498,551
	Democratic hold

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Key Pittman (Incumbent)	27,581	64.51%
	Republican	George W. Malone	14,273	33.38%
	Independent	John P. Reynolds	901	2.11%
Majority			13,308	31.13%
Turnout			42,755
	Democratic hold

United_States_Senate_elections,_1934

Gains, losses, and holds

Retirements

Defeats

Party Switches

Post-election changes

Change in composition

Before the elections

Elections result

Race summaries

Elections during the 73rd Congress

Elections leading to the 74th Congress

Closest races

Arizona

California

Connecticut

Delaware

Florida

Indiana

Maine

Maryland

Massachusetts

Michigan

Minnesota

Mississippi

Missouri

Montana

Montana (regular)

Montana (special)

Nebraska

Nebraska (regular)

Nebraska (special)

Nevada

New Jersey

New Mexico

New Mexico (regular)

New Mexico (special)

New York

North Dakota

Ohio

Pennsylvania

Rhode Island

Tennessee

Tennessee (regular)

Tennessee (special)

Texas

Utah

Vermont

Vermont (regular)

Vermont (special)

Virginia

Washington

West Virginia

Wisconsin

Wyoming

Wyoming (regular)

Wyoming (special)

See also

Notes

References

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Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	A. Harry Moore	785,971	57.90%
	Republican	Hamilton Fish Kean (Incumbent)	554,483	40.85%
	Socialist	John S. Martin	9,721	0.72%
	Communist	Rebecca Grecht	2,874	0.21%
	Prohibition	Elwood Hollingshead	2,072	0.15%
	Socialist Labor	John C. Butterworth	1,640	0.12%
	Independent Veteran	William L. Detmering	648	0.05%
Majority			231,488	17.05%
Turnout			1,357,409
	Democratic gain from Republican

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Bronson M. Cutting (Incumbent)	76,228	50.20%
	Democratic	Dennis Chávez	74,944	49.35%
	Socialist	W. C. Thorp	568	0.37%
	Communist	Alphonso Ray	122	0.08%
Majority			1,284	0.85%
Turnout			151,862
	Republican hold

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Carl Hatch (Incumbent)	81,934	54.76%
	Republican	Richard C. Dillon	66,956	44.75%
	Socialist	T. N. Hotchinson	613	0.41%
	Communist	C. G. Plater	134	0.09%
Majority			14,978	10.01%
Turnout			149,637
	Democratic hold

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Royal S. Copeland (incumbent)	2,046,377	55.21%	+6.13%
	Republican	E. Harold Cluett	1,363,440	36.87%	-11.02%
	Socialist	Norman Thomas	194,952	5.27%	+2.65%
	Communist	Max Bedacht	45,396	1.23%	+0.95%
	Constitutional	Henry Skillman Breckinridge	24,241	0.66%	N/A
	Prohibition	Michael Bartell	16,769	0.45%	+0.45%
	Socialist Labor	Olive Johnson	6,622	0.18%	+0.05%
Total votes			3,727,797	100.00%

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Lynn Frazier (Incumbent)	151,205	58.24%
	Democratic	Henry Holt	104,477	40.24%
	Farmer–Labor	Alfred S. Dale	3,269	1.26%
	Communist-Workers-Farmers’ Government	Arvo F. Husa	656	0.25%
Majority			46,728	18.00%
Turnout			259,607
	Republican hold

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	A. Victor Donahey	1,276,206	59.95%
	Republican	Simeon D. Fess (Incumbent)	839,068	39.41%
	Communist	W. C. Sandberg	13,546	0.64%
	None	Scattering	23	0.00%
Majority			437,138	20.54%
Turnout			2,128,843
	Democratic gain from Republican

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Joseph F. Guffey	1,494,010	50.78%	+16.78%
	Republican	David A. Reed (Incumbent)	1,366,872	46.46%	-17.92%
	Socialist	James H. Maurer	50,444	0.39%	-0.37%
	Prohibition	Edwin J. Fithian	19,985	0.68%	+0.19%
	Communist	Harry M. Wicks	6,170	0.21%	+0.21%
	Socialist Labor	George W. Ohls	4,665	0.16%	+0.12%
	N/A	Other	129	0.00%	N/A
Majority			127,948	4.32%
Turnout			2,942,275
	Democratic gain from Republican

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Peter G. Gerry	140,700	57.12%
	Republican	Felix Hebert (Incumbent)	105,545	42.85%
	None	Scattering	68	0.03%
Majority			35,155	14.27%
Turnout			246,313
	Democratic gain from Republican

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Kenneth D. McKellar (Incumbent)	195,430	63.39%
	Republican	Ben W. Hooper	110,401	35.81%
	Independent	C. W. Holsington	2,443	0.79%
Majority			85,029	27.58%
Turnout
	Democratic hold

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Nathan L. Bachman (incumbent)	200,249	80.09%
	Independent	John Randolph Neal Jr.	49,773	19.91%
Majority			150,476	60.18%
Turnout			250,022
	Democratic hold