United States Senate elections, 1912 and 1913

United States Senate elections, 1912 and 1913

January 16, 1912 – January 29, 1913
32 of the 96 seats in the United States Senate (as well as special elections) 49 seats needed for a majority
Majority party Minority party   Leader John W. Kern (Conference Chairman) Jacob H. Gallinger (Conference Chairman) Party Democratic Republican Leader's seat Indiana New Hampshire Seats before 43 52 Seats won 17 12 Seats after 47 45 Seat change 4 7 Seats up 13 19
Results including special elections      Democratic gains      Republican gains      Democratic holds      Republican holds
Majority conference chairman before election Shelby Moore Cullom Republican Elected Majority conference chairman John W. Kern Democratic

In the United States Senate elections of 1912 and 1913, Democrats gained control of the Senate from the Republicans. This coincided with Democrat Woodrow Wilson's victory in the presidential election amid a divide in the Republican Party. In the Senate, Joseph M. Dixon and Miles Poindexter defected from the Republican Party and joined Theodore Roosevelt's new Progressive Party. Dixon, however, lost his seat during this election.

Some states elected their Senators directly even before passage of the 17th Amendment in 1913. Oregon pioneered direct election and experimented with different measures over several years until it succeeded in 1907. Soon after, Nebraska followed suit and laid the foundation for other states to adopt measures reflecting the people's will. By 1912, as many as 29 states elected senators either as nominees of their party's primary or in conjunction with a general election.

This was the first time in 20 years that the Democrats won a majority in the Senate.

Results summary

Parties		Total Seats
		Incumbents	This election						Result	+/-
			Not up	Up	Re- elected	Held	Gained	Lost
	Democratic	43	30	13	5	5	7	2	47	4
	Republican	52	33	19	6	4	2	7	45	7
	Others	0	0	0	0	0			0
	Vacant	1	1	0			3		4	3
Total		96	64	32	11	9	12	9	96	3

Change in Senate composition

Before the elections

After the March 1912 elections to elect Senators from the new states of New Mexico and Arizona.

Result of the general elections

Beginning of the next Congress

Beginning of the first session, April 7, 1913

Complete list of races

Bold states link to specific election articles.

Special elections during the 62nd Congress

In these special elections, the winners were seated in the 62nd Congress during 1912 or before March 4, 1913; ordered by election date.

In this early election, the winner was seated in the 64th Congress, starting March 4, 1915.

Races leading to the 63rd Congress

In these general elections, the winner was seated on March 4, 1913; ordered by state.

All of the elections involved the Class 2 seats.

Elections during the 63rd Congress

In these elections (some special, some merely late), the winners were seated in 1913 after March 4; ordered by election date.

Complete list of races

Virginia

Virginia held non-binding primaries in September 1911 for the class 2 seat held by Democrat Thomas S. Martin, who was running for re-election, and the class 1 seat held by Democrat Claude Swanson, who had been appointed to fill a vacancy.^[26] Claude A. Swanson won the Class 1 Democratic primary for the term ending in 1917 with 67,495 votes over Carter Glass's 28,757 votes.^[27] Thomas S. Martin won the Class 2 Democratic primary for the term ending in 1919, receiving 57,120 votes to 25,005 for William Atkinson Jones. On January 24, 1912, the Virginia General Assembly unanimously elected both Swanson and Martin, thus ratifying the results of the primary.^[28][29]

See also

• United States elections, 1912
  • United States House of Representatives elections, 1912
  • United States presidential election, 1912
• 62nd United States Congress
• 63rd United States Congress

Notes

References

• United States Senate Official Website
• "COLT MADE SENATOR". The New York Times. January 22, 1913. p. 4. , with election stories from Rhode Island, Iowa, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Minnesota, South Dakota, Oregon, Delaware, New Hampshire, Tennessee, Wyoming, Idaho, West Virginia, and Illinois. Some are results and some are deadlocks.
• "United States Senators Chosen, 1911". The Tribune Almanac and Political Register 1912. New York: The Tribune Association. 1912. pp. 455–458 – via Hathi Trust Digital Library. 
• "United States Senators Chosen, 1912". The Tribune Almanac and Political Register 1913. New York: The Tribune Association. 1913. p. 457 – via Hathi Trust Digital Library. 
• "United States Senators Chosen, 1913". The Tribune Almanac and Political Register 1914. New York: The Tribune Association. 1914. pp. 458 – 460 – via Hathi Trust Digital Library.