United States Senate elections, 1950

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Republican holds Republican pickups Democratic holds Democratic pickups

The U.S. Senate election, 1950 was an election for the United States Senate which occurred in the middle of Harry Truman's second term as President. As with most 20th century second term mid-terms, the party out of the Presidency made significant gains. The Democratic administration's popularity declining during the Cold War, and in the aftermath of a severe recession in 1948, the Republican opposition made a net gain of five seats, nearly taking control of the chamber.

The Republicans defeated incumbents Scott W. Lucas (D-IL) (current Majority Leader), Millard E. Tydings (D-MD), Francis J. Myers (D-PA), and Elbert B. Thomas (D-UT), as well as taking open seats in Idaho and California. The Democrats only defeated one incumbent, Forrest C. Donnell (R-MO).

During the interim, Republicans and Democrats would exchange seats in Michigan and Connecticut due to deaths and appointments, but this would not affect party balance.

A notable freshman was future President Richard M. Nixon, who would be elected Vice President two years later.

[edit] Senate contests in 1950

State	Incumbent	Party	Status	Opposing Candidates
Alabama	Lister Hill	Democrat	Re-elected, 76.5 - 23.5	John G. Crommelin, Jr. (Republican)
Arizona	Carl Hayden	Democrat	Re-elected, 62.8 - 37.2	Bruce Brockett (Republican)
Arkansas	J. William Fulbright	Democrat	Re-elected, unopposed
California	Sheridan Downey	Democrat	Retired: Republican victory, 59.2 - 40.8	Richard M. Nixon (Republican) Helen Gahagan Douglas (Democrat)
Colorado	Eugene D. Millikin	Republican	Re-elected, 53.3 - 46.8	John A. Carroll (Democrat)
Connecticut¹	William Benton	Democrat	Re-elected, 49.2 - 49.1	Prescott S. Bush (Republican)
Connecticut	Brien McMahon	Democrat	Re-elected, 51.7 - 46.6	Joseph E. Talbot (Republican)
Florida	Claude Pepper	Democrat	Defeated in primary: Democratic victory, 76.2 - 23.7	George A. Smathers (Democrat) John P. Booth (Republican)
Georgia	Walter F. George	Democrat	Re-elected, unopposed
Idaho	Glen H. Taylor	Democrat	Defeated in primary: Republican victory, 61.7 - 38.3	Herman Welker (Republican) D. Worth Clark (Democrat)
Idaho²	Henry C. Dworshak	Republican	Re-elected, 51.9 - 48.1	Claude J. Burtenshaw (Democrat)
Illinois	Scott W. Lucas	Democrat	Defeated, 53.9 - 45.8	Everett M. Dirksen (Republican)
Indiana	Homer E. Capehart	Republican	Re-elected, 52.8 - 46.4	Alex M. Campbell (Democrat)
Iowa	Bourke B. Hickenlooper	Republican	Re-elected, 54.8 - 44.7	Albert J. Loveland (Democrat)
Kansas	Frank Carlson	Republican	Re-elected, 54.3 - 43.8	Paul Aiken (Democrat)
Kentucky	Earle C. Clements	Democrat	Re-elected, 54.2 - 45.1	Charles I. Dawson (Republican)
Louisiana	Russell B. Long	Democrat	Re-elected, 87.7 - 12.3	Charles S. Gerth (Republican)
Maryland	Millard E. Tydings	Democrat	Defeated, 53.0 - 46.0	John M. Butler (Republican)
Missouri	Forrest C. Donnell	Republican	Defeated, 53.6 - 46.4	Thomas C. Hennings, Jr. (Democrat)
Nevada	Patrick A. McCarran	Democrat	Re-elected, 58.0 - 42.0	George E. Marshall (Republican)
New Hampshire	Charles W. Tobey	Republican	Re-elected, 55.7 - 38.0 - 6.3	Emmet J. Kelley (Democrat) Wesley Powell (Independent)
New York	Herbert H. Lehman	Democrat	Re-elected, 50.3 - 45.3	Joe R. Hanley (Republican)
North Carolina³	Frank Porter Graham	Democrat	Defeated in primary: Democratic victory, 67.0 - 32.6	Willis Smith (Democrat) E. L. Gavin (Republican)
North Carolina	Clyde R. Hoey	Democrat	Re-elected, 68.7 - 31.3	Halsey B. Leavitt (Republican)
North Dakota	Milton R. Young	Republican	Re-elected, 67.6 - 32.4	Harry O'Brien (Democrat)
Ohio	Robert A. Taft	Republican	Re-elected, 57.5 - 42.5	Joseph T. Ferguson (Democrat)
Oklahoma	Elmer Thomas	Democrat	Defeated in primary: Democratic victory, 54.8 - 45.2	A. S. Mike Monroney (Democrat) W. H. Bill Alexander (Republican)
Oregon	Wayne Morse	Republican	Re-elected, 74.8 - 23.2	Howard Latourette (Democrat)
Pennsylvania	Francis J. Myers	Democrat	Defeated, 51.3 - 47.7	James H. Duff (Republican)
Rhode Island⁴	Edward L. Leahy	Democrat	Retired: Democratic victory, 61.6 - 38.4	John O. Pastore (Democrat) Austin T. Levy (Republican)
South Carolina	Olin B. Johnston	Democrat	Re-elected, unopposed
South Dakota	Chandler Gurney	Republican	Defeated in primary: Republican victory, 63.9 - 36.1	Francis Case (Republican) John A. Engel (Democrat)
Utah	Elbert D. Thomas	Democrat	Defeated, 53.9 - 45.8	Wallace F. Bennett (Republican)
Vermont	George D. Aiken	Republican	Re-elected, 78.0 - 22.0	James E. Bigelow (Democrat)
Washington	Warren G. Magnuson	Democrat	Re-elected, 53.4 - 46.0	Walter Williams (Republican)
Wisconsin	Alexander Wiley	Republican	Re-elected, 53.3 - 46.2	Thomas E. Fairchild (Democrat)