United States Senate elections, 1940

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The United States Senate elections of 1940 were elections for the United States Senate which coincided with the election of Franklin Roosevelt to his third term as President. Although Roosevelt was re-elected, support for his administration had dropped somewhat after eight years, and the Republican opposition gained three seats from the Democrats. The Farmer-Labor Party also disappeared from the Senate, as Henrik Shipstead joined the Republican party and Ernest Lundeen had died during the preceding term.

Although incumbent John G. Townsend, Jr. (R-DE) was defeated by a Democrat, Republicans defeated incumbents James M. Slattery (D-IL) and Sherman Minton (D-IN), and took open seats in Nebraska and Ohio.

[edit] Senate contests in 1940

State	Incumbent	Party	Status	Opposing Candidates
Arizona	Henry F. Ashurst	Democrat	Defeated in primary: Democratic victory, 71.6 - 28.0	Ernest W. McFarland (Democrat) I. A. Jennings (Republican)
California	Hiram W. Johnson	Republican	Re-elected, 82.5 - 13.5	Fred Dyster (Independent)
Connecticut	Francis T. Maloney	Democrat	Re-elected, 53.2 - 45.7	Paul L. Cornell (Republican)
Delaware	John G. Townsend, Jr.	Republican	Defeated, 50.6 - 47.3	James M. Tunnell (Democrat)
Florida	Charles O. Andrews	Democrat	Re-elected, unopposed
Idaho1	John W. Thomas	Republican	Re-elected, 53.0 - 47.1	Glen H. Taylor (Democrat)
Illinois2	James M. Slattery	Democrat	Defeated, 50.1 - 49.6	C. Wayland Brooks (Republican)
Indiana	Sherman Minton	Democrat	Defeated, 50.5 - 49.1	Raymond E. Willis (Republican)
Kentucky3	A. B. "Happy" Chandler I	Democrat	Re-elected, 58.3 - 41.7	Walter B. Smith (Republican)
Maine	Frederick Hale	Republican	Retired: Republican victory, 58.6 - 41.3	Ralph O. Brewster (Republican) Louis J. Brann (Democrat)
Maryland	George L. P. Radcliffe	Democrat	Re-elected, 64.7 - 33.5	Harry W. Nice (Republican)
Massachusetts	David I. Walsh	Democrat	Re-elected, 55.6 - 42.8	Henry Parkman, Jr. (Republican)
Michigan	Arthur H. Vandenberg	Republican	Re-elected, 52.7 - 47.0	Frank Fitzpatrick (Democrat)
Minnesota	Henrik Shipstead	Republican	Re-elected, 53.0 - 25.7 - 20.6	Elmer A. Benson (Farmer-Labor) John E. Regan (Democrat)
Mississippi	Theodore G. Bilbo	Democrat	Re-elected, unopposed
Missouri	Harry S. Truman	Democrat	Re-elected, 51.2 - 48.7	Manvel H. Davis (Republican)
Montana	Burton K. Wheeler	Democrat	Re-elected, 73.4 - 26.6	E. K. Cheadle (Republican)
Nebraska	Edward R. Burke	Democrat	Defeated in primary: Republican victory, 57.0 - 41.5	Hugh Butler (Republican) R. L. Cochran (Democrat)
Nevada	Key Pittman	Democrat	Re-elected, 60.5 - 39.5	Samuel Platt (Republican)
New Jersey	W. Warren Barbour	Republican	Re-elected, 55.1 - 44.1	James H. R. Cromwell (Democrat)
New Mexico	Dennis Chavez	Democrat	Re-elected, 56.0 - 44.1	Albert K. Mitchell (Republican)
New York	James M. Mead	Democrat	Re-elected, 53.3 - 46.7	Bruce Barton (Republican)
North Dakota	Lynn J. Frazier	Republican	Defeated in primary: Republican victory, 38.1 - 35.1 - 26.5	William Langer (Republican) William Lemke (Independent) Charles V. Vogel (Democrat)
Ohio	Vic Donahey	Democrat	Retired: Republican victory, 52.4 - 47.6	Harold H. Burton (Republican) John McSweeney (Democrat)
Pennsylvania	Joseph F. Guffey	Democrat	Re-elected, 51.8 - 47.4	Jay Cooke (Republican)
Rhode Island	Peter G. Gerry	Democrat	Re-elected, 55.2 - 44.8	James O. McManus (Republican)
Tennessee	Kenneth D. McKellar	Democrat	Re-elected, 70.8 - 29.2	Howard H. Baker (Republican)
Texas	Tom Connally	Democrat	Re-elected, 94.3 - 5.7	George I. Shannon (Republican)
Utah	William H. King	Democrat	Defeated in primary: Democratic victory, 62.9 - 37.2	Abe Murdock (Democrat) Philo T. Farnsworth, Jr. (Republican)
Vermont	Warren R. Austin	Republican	Re-elected, 66.5 - 33.6	Ona S. Searles (Democrat)
Vermont4	Ernest W. Gibson, Jr.	Republican	Retired: Republican victory, 61.6 - 38.4	George D. Aiken (Republican) Herbert B. Comings (Democrat)
Virginia	Harry F. Byrd	Democrat	Re-elected, 93.3
Washington	Lewis B. Schwellenbach	Democrat	Retired: Democratic victory, 54.2 - 45.8	Mon C. Wallgren (Democrat) Stephen F. Chadwick (Republican)
West Virginia	Rush D. Holt	Democrat	Defeated in primary: Democratic victory, 56.3 - 43.7	Harley M. Kilgore (Democrat) Thomas Sweeney (Republican)
Wisconsin	Robert M. La Follette, Jr.	Progressive	Re-elected, 45.3 - 41.4 - 13.2	Fred H. Clausen (Republican) James E. Finnegan (Democrat)
Wyoming	Joseph C. O'Mahoney	Democrat	Re-elected, 58.7 - 41.3	Milward Simpson (Republican)

¹ special election held due to death of William E. Borah (R-ID)

² special election held due to death of James H. Lewis (D-IL)

³ special election held due to death of Marvel M. Logan (D-KY)

⁴ special election held due to death of Ernest W. Gibson (R-VT)

[edit] Senate composition before and after elections

76th Congress Senate Composition

77th Congress Senate Composition

Color Key: Democrats Republicans Independent Progressives Farmer-Labor

[edit] See also

• United States presidential election, 1940
• United States House elections, 1940

United States Senate Elections

1908 • 1910 • 1912 • 1914 • 1916 • 1918 • 1920 • 1922 • 1924 • 1926 • 1928 • 1930 • 1932 • 1934 • 1936 • 1938 • 1940 • 1942 • 1944 • 1946 • 1948 • 1950 • 1952 • 1954 • 1956 • 1958 • 1960 • 1962 • 1964 • 1966 • 1968 • 1970 • 1972 • 1974 • 1976 • 1978 • 1980 • 1982 • 1984 • 1986 • 1988 • 1990 • 1992 • 1994 • 1996 • 1998 • 2000 • 2002 • 2004 • 2006 • 2008 • 2010 • 2012 See also: House • President • Governors