United States Senate elections, 1948

November 2, 1948^[1]

33 of the 96 seats in the United States Senate 49 seats were needed for a majority

	Majority party	Minority party

Leader	Scott Lucas	Ken Wherry
Party	Democratic	Republican
Leader's seat	Illinois	Nebraska
Last election	45 seats	51 seats
Seats won	54	42
Seat change	9	9
Popular vote	12,750,608	9,662,053
Percentage	56.2%	42.6%
Swing	14.8%	11.9%

Democratic gains

Democratic holds

Republican holds

Majority Leader before election

Wallace White
Republican

Elected Majority Leader

Scott Lucas
Democratic

The United States Senate elections of 1948 were elections which coincided with the election of Democratic President Harry Truman for a full term. Truman had campaigned against an "obstructionist" Congress that had blocked many of his initiatives, and in addition the U.S. economy recovered from the postwar recession of 1946–47 by election day. Thus Truman was rewarded with a Democratic gain of nine seats in the Senate, enough to give them control of the chamber.^[2]^[3]

Change in Senate composition

Senate composition before the elections

R₄₉	R₅₀	R₅₁	D₄₅	D₄₄	D₄₃	D₄₂	D₄₁	D₄₀	D₃₉
D₈	D₇	D₆	D₅	D₄	D₃	D₂	D₁
D₉	D₁₀	D₁₁	D₁₂	D₁₃	D₁₄	D₁₅	D₁₆	D₁₇	D₁₈
D₂₈	D₂₇	D₂₆	D₂₅	D₂₄	D₂₃	D₂₂	D₂₁	D₂₀	D₁₉
D₂₉	D₃₀	D₃₁	D₃₂	D₃₃	D₃₄	D₃₅	D₃₆	D₃₇	D₃₈
← Majority
R₄₈	R₄₇	R₄₆	R₄₅	R₄₄	R₄₃	R₄₂	R₄₁	R₄₀	R₃₉
R₂₉	R₃₀	R₃₁	R₃₂	R₃₃	R₃₄	R₃₅	R₃₆	R₃₇	R₃₈
R₂₈	R₂₇	R₂₆	R₂₅	R₂₄	R₂₃	R₂₂	R₂₁	R₂₀	R₁₉
R₉	R₁₀	R₁₁	R₁₂	R₁₃	R₁₄	R₁₅	R₁₆	R₁₇	R₁₈
R₈	R₇	R₆	R₅	R₄	R₃	R₂	R₁

Senate composition as a result of the elections

D₄₈+	D₄₇+	D₄₆+	D₄₅O	D₄₄O	D₄₃O	D₄₂O	D₄₁√	D₄₀√	D₃₉√
D₈	D₇	D₆	D₅	D₄	D₃	D₂	D₁
D₉	D₁₀	D₁₁	D₁₂	D₁₃	D₁₄	D₁₅	D₁₆	D₁₇	D₁₈
D₂₈	D₂₇	D₂₆	D₂₅	D₂₄	D₂₃	D₂₂	D₂₁	D₂₀	D₁₉
D₂₉	D₃₀	D₃₁√	D₃₂√	D₃₃√	D₃₄√	D₃₅√	D₃₆√	D₃₇√	D₃₈√
D₄₉+	← Majority
D₅₀+	D₅₁+	D₅₂+	D₅₃+	D₅₄+	R₄₂O	R₄₁O	R₄₀O	R₃₉O
R₂₉	R₃₀	R₃₁	R₃₂	R₃₃	R₃₄√	R₃₅√	R₃₆√	R₃₇√	R₃₈√
R₂₈	R₂₇	R₂₆	R₂₅	R₂₄	R₂₃	R₂₂	R₂₁	R₂₀	R₁₉
R₉	R₁₀	R₁₁	R₁₂	R₁₃	R₁₄	R₁₅	R₁₆	R₁₇	R₁₈
R₈	R₇	R₆	R₅	R₄	R₃	R₂	R₁

Key:

D	Democratic
R	Republican

√	Incumbent re-elected
O	Party hold: New senator elected from same party
+	Party gain: New senator elected from different party

Gains and losses

In addition to gaining an open seat in Oklahoma, the Democrats defeated the following eight Republican incumbents:

Notable freshmen were future President Lyndon B. Johnson (D-TX) and future Vice President Hubert Humphrey (D-MN).

Complete list of races

Special elections during the previous Congress

State	Incumbent	Party	Result	Candidates
Louisiana Special (class 3)	William C. Feazel	Democratic	Interim appointee retired. Winner elected to finish the term ending January 3, 1951. Democratic hold.	√ Russell B. Long (Democratic) 74.9% Clem S. Clarke (Republican) 25.1%
South Dakota	Vera C. Bushfield	Republican	Interim appointee retired. Republican hold. Winner also elected to the next term, see below.	√ Karl E. Mundt (Republican) 59.3% John A. Engel (Democratic) 40.7%

Elections leading to the next Congress

State	Incumbent	Party	Result	Candidates
Alabama	John Sparkman	Democratic	Incumbent re-elected.	√ John Sparkman (Democratic) 84.0% Paul G. Parsons (Republican) 16.0%
Arkansas	John L. McClellan	Democratic	Incumbent re-elected.	√ John L. McClellan (Democratic) 93.3% R. Walter Tucker (Independent) 6.7%
Colorado	Edwin C. Johnson	Democratic	Incumbent re-elected.	√ Edwin C. Johnson (Democratic) 66.8% Will F. Nicholson (Republican) 32.4%
Delaware	Clayton D. Buck	Republican	Incumbent lost re-election Democratic gain.	√ J. Allen Frear, Jr. (Democratic) 50.9% Clayton D. Buck (Republican) 48.3%
Georgia	Richard Russell, Jr.	Democratic	Incumbent re-elected.	√ Richard Russell, Jr. Unopposed
Idaho	Henry C. Dworshak	Republican	Incumbent lost re-election Democratic gain.	√ Bert H. Miller (Democratic) 50.0% Henry C. Dworshak (Republican) 48.5%
Illinois	C. Wayland Brooks	Republican	Incumbent lost re-election Democratic gain.	√ Paul Douglas (Democratic) 55.1% C. Wayland Brooks (Republican) 44.6%
Iowa	George A. Wilson	Republican	Incumbent lost re-election Democratic gain.	√ Guy M. Gillette (Democratic) 57.8% George A. Wilson (Republican) 41.6%
Kansas	Arthur Capper	Republican	Incumbent retired. Republican hold.	√ Andrew F. Schoeppel (Republican) 54.9% George McGill (Democratic) 42.7%
Kentucky	John S. Cooper	Republican	Incumbent lost re-election Democratic gain.	√ Virgil Chapman (Democratic) 51.4% John S. Cooper (Republican) 48.3%
Louisiana	Allen J. Ellender	Democratic	Incumbent re-elected.	√ Allen J. Ellender Unopposed
Maine	Wallace H. White, Jr.	Republican	Incumbent retired. Republican hold.	√ Margaret C. Smith (Republican) 71.3% Adrian H. Scolten (Democratic) 28.7%
Massachusetts	Leverett Saltonstall	Republican	Incumbent re-elected.	√ Leverett Saltonstall (Republican) 53.0% John I. Fitzgerald (Democratic) 46.4%
Michigan	Homer Ferguson	Republican	Incumbent re-elected.	√ Homer Ferguson (Republican) 50.7% Frank E. Hook (Democratic) 48.5%
Minnesota	Joseph H. Ball	Republican	Incumbent lost re-election Democratic gain.	√ Hubert Humphrey (Democratic) 59.9% Joseph H. Ball (Republican) 39.7%
Mississippi	James O. Eastland	Democratic	Incumbent re-elected.	√ James O. Eastland Unopposed
Montana	James E. Murray	Democratic	Incumbent re-elected.	√ James E. Murray (Democratic) 56.7% Tom J. Davis (Republican) 42.7%
Nebraska	Kenneth S. Wherry	Republican	Incumbent re-elected.	√ Kenneth S. Wherry (Republican) 56.7% Terry Carpenter (Democratic) 43.3%
New Hampshire	Styles Bridges	Republican	Incumbent re-elected.	√ Styles Bridges (Republican) 58.1% Alfred E. Fortin (Democratic) 41.2%
New Jersey	Albert W. Hawkes	Republican	Incumbent retired. Republican hold.	√ Robert C. Hendrickson (Republican) 50.0% Archibald S. Alexander (Democratic) 47.3%
New Mexico	Carl A. Hatch	Democratic	Incumbent retired. Democratic hold.	√ Clinton P. Anderson (Democratic) 57.2% Patrick J. Hurley (Republican) 42.4%
North Carolina	J. Melville Broughton	Democratic	Incumbent re-elected.	√ J. Melville Broughton (Democratic) 70.7% John A. Wilkinson (Republican) 28.8%
Oklahoma	Edward H. Moore	Republican	Incumbent retired. Democratic gain.	√ Robert S. Kerr (Democratic) 62.3% Ross Rizley (Republican) 37.4%
Oregon	Guy Cordon	Republican	Incumbent re-elected.	√ Guy Cordon (Republican) 60.0% Manley J. Wilson (Democratic) 40.0%
Rhode Island	Theodore F. Green	Democratic	Incumbent re-elected.	√ Theodore F. Green (Democratic) 59.3% Thomas P. Hazard (Republican) 40.7%
South Carolina	Burnet R. Maybank	Democratic	Incumbent re-elected.	√ Burnet R. Maybank Unopposed
South Dakota	Vera C. Bushfield	Republican	Interim appointee retired. Republican hold.	√ Karl E. Mundt (Republican) 59.3% John A. Engel (Democratic) 40.7%
Tennessee	A. Thomas Stewart	Democratic	Incumbent lost re-nomination Democratic hold.	√ Estes Kefauver (Democratic) 65.3% B. Carroll Reece (Republican) 33.5%
Texas	W. Lee O'Daniel	Democratic	Incumbent retired. Democratic hold.	√ Lyndon B. Johnson (Democratic) 66.2% Jack Porter (Republican) 32.9% Samuel N. Morris (Prohibition) 0.8%
Virginia	A. Willis Robertson	Democratic	Incumbent re-elected.	√ A. Willis Robertson (Democratic) 65.6% Robert H. Woods (Republican) 30.8%
West Virginia	Chapman Revercomb	Republican	Incumbent lost re-election Democratic gain.	√ Matthew M. Neely (Democratic) 57.0% Chapman Revercomb (Republican) 43.0%
Wyoming	Edward V. Robertson	Republican	Incumbent lost re-election Democratic gain.	√ Lester C. Hunt (Democratic) 57.1% Edward V. Robertson (Republican) 42.9%

References

↑ September 13, 1948 in Maine
↑ William S. White (November 4, 1948). "SWEEP IN CONGRESS – Democrats Obtain 54-42 Margin in Senate by Winning 9 G.O.P. Seats". New York Times. Retrieved April 8, 2014.
↑ "Truman Sweep". New York Times. November 7, 1948. Retrieved April 8, 2014.