1946 United States House of Representatives elections

Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox election The 1946 United States House of Representatives elections were elections for the United States House of Representatives to elect members to serve in the 80th United States Congress. They were held for the most part on November 5, 1946, while Maine held theirs on September 9. November 1946 was 19 months after President Harry S. Truman assumed office upon the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt.

While Democrats had controlled the House for 16 years since 1931 and Roosevelt had been elected to a record four terms in office, Truman did not garner the same support as the deceased president. The 1946 election resulted in Republicans picking up 55 seats to win majority control. Joseph Martin, Republican of Massachusetts, became Speaker of the House, exchanging places with Sam Rayburn, Democrat of Texas, who became the new Minority Leader. The Democratic defeat was the largest since they were trounced in the 1928 pro-Republican wave that brought Herbert Hoover to power. They also lost the Senate in the concurrent Senate elections.

The vote was largely seen as a referendum on Truman, whose approval rating had sunk to 32 percent<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> over the president's controversial handling of a wave of post-war labor strikes, including a United Auto Workers strike against Ford and General Motors in 1945, a United Mine Workers strike starting in April 1946, and a national railroad worker strike that began in May. Further damage resulted from the back-and-forth over whether to end wartime price controls, unpopular with the American business constituency, to handle shortages, particularly in meat and other foodstuffs. While Truman's early months in the White House had been plagued with questions of "What would Roosevelt do if he were alive?" Republicans now began to joke "What would Truman do if he were alive?" and "To err is Truman."Template:Sfn However, the Republican majority was short-lived, as Democrats regained control of the House two years later. With exception of the 1952 election, it took the GOP 48 years later to retake the House, with the Republican Revolution against Bill Clinton, who was born in 1946.

Overall results

↓
246	1	188
Republican	AL	Democratic

Party		Total seats	Change	Seat percentage	Popular vote	Vote percentage
Template:Party color cell	Republican Party	align=right Template:Party shading/Republican \| 246	align=right Template:Party shading/Republican \| Template:Increase 55	align=right Template:Party shading/Republican \| 56.5%	align=right Template:Party shading/Republican \| 18,422,363	align=right Template:Party shading/Republican \| 53.5%
Template:Party color cell	Democratic Party	188	Template:Decrease 54	43.2%	15,491,113	45.0%
Template:Party color cell	American Labor Party	1	Template:Steady	0.2%	196,866	0.6%
Template:Party color cell	Independent	0	Template:Steady	0.0%	77,425	0.2%
Template:Party color cell	Liberal Party	0	Template:Steady	0.0%	61,111	0.2%
Template:Party color cell	Prohibition Party	0	Template:Steady	0.0%	47,792	0.1%
Template:Party color cell	Socialist Party	0	Template:Steady	0.0%	38,307	0.1%
Template:Party color cell	J. Veterans Party	0	Template:Steady	0.0%	9,791	<0.1%
Template:Party color cell	U. Citizens Party	0	Template:Steady	0.0%	5,688	<0.1%
Template:Party color cell	Communist Party	0	Template:Steady	0.0%	3,408	<0.1%
Template:Party color cell	Independent Voters Party	0	Template:Steady	0.0%	2,834	<0.1%
Template:Party color cell	Veterans' Victory Party	0	Template:Steady	0.0%	2,208	<0.1%
Template:Party color cell	Socialist Workers Party	0	Template:Steady	0.0%	1,936	<0.1%
Template:Party color cell	Justice, Decency, Independence Party	0	Template:Steady	0.0%	1,865	<0.1%
Template:Party color cell	Socialist Labor Party	0	Template:Steady	0.0%	980	<0.1%
Template:Party color cell	Constitutional Government Party	0	Template:Steady	0.0%	890	<0.1%
Template:Party color cell	No Foreign Loans Party	0	Template:Steady	0.0%	396	<0.1%
Template:Party color cell	Workers Party	0	Template:Steady	0.0%	165	<0.1%
Template:Party color cell	Progressive Democratic Party	0	Template:Steady	0.0%	141	<0.1%
Template:Party color cell	$250 State Bonds Party	0	Template:Steady	0.0%	115	<0.1%
Template:Party color cell	Others	0	Template:Decrease 1	0.0%	44,930	0.1%
Totals		435	Template:Steady	100.0%	34,410,324	100.0%

Source: Election Statistics - Office of the Clerk

Template:Bar box Template:Bar box

Special elections

Template:See also In these special elections, the winner was seated during 1946 or before January 3, 1947; ordered by election date, then by district.

District	Incumbent			Results	Candidates
District	Incumbent	Party	First elected	Results	Candidates
Template:Ushr	James W. Mott	Template:Party shading/Republican \| Republican	1932	Template:Party shading/Republican/Hold \| Incumbent died November 12, 1945. New member elected January 18, 1946. Republican hold. Winner later re-elected to the next term; see below.	Template:Plainlist
Template:Ushr	Joseph Wilson Ervin	Template:Party shading/Democratic \| Democratic	1944	Template:Party shading/Democratic/Hold \| Incumbent died December 25, 1945. New member elected January 22, 1946. Democratic hold. Winner later re-elected to the next term; see below.	Template:Plainlist
Template:Ushr	Clifton A. Woodrum	Template:Party shading/Democratic \| Democratic	1922	Template:Party shading/Democratic/Hold \| Incumbent resigned December 31, 1945, to become president of the American Plant Food Council. New member elected January 22, 1946. Democratic hold.	Template:Plainlist
Template:Ushr	Robert Ramspeck	Template:Party shading/Democratic \| Democratic	[[1929 Georgia's 5th congressional district special election\|1929 Template:Small]]	Template:Party shading/Democratic/Hold \| Incumbent resigned December 31, 1945. New member elected February 12, 1946. Democratic hold. Winner later lost renomination to the next term; see below.	Template:Plainlist
Template:Ushr	Samuel Dickstein	Template:Party shading/Democratic \| Democratic	1922	Template:Party shading/Democratic/Hold \| Incumbent resigned December 30, 1945. New member elected February 19, 1946. Democratic hold. Winner later re-elected to the next term; see below.	Template:Plainlist
Template:Ushr	J. Buell Snyder	Template:Party shading/Democratic \| Democratic	1932	Template:Party shading/Republican \| Incumbent died February 24, 1946. New member elected May 21, 1946. Republican gain. Winner did not run for the next term; see below.	Template:Plainlist
Template:Ushr	Samuel A. Weiss	Template:Party shading/Democratic \| Democratic	1940	Template:Party shading/Democratic/Hold \| Incumbent resigned January 7, 1946 to become judge of the Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas. New member elected May 21, 1946. Democratic hold. Winner later re-elected to the next term; see below.	Template:Plainlist
Template:Ushr	William O. Burgin	Template:Party shading/Democratic \| Democratic	1938	Template:Party shading/Democratic/Hold \| Incumbent died April 11, 1946. New member elected May 25, 1946. Democratic hold. Winner did not run for the next term; see below.	Template:Plainlist
Template:Ushr	Luther Alexander Johnson	Template:Party shading/Democratic \| Democratic	1922	Template:Party shading/Democratic/Hold \| Incumbent resigned July 17, 1946, after becoming judge of the U.S. Tax Court. New member elected August 24, 1946. Democratic hold. Winner later re-elected to the next term; see below.	Template:Plainlist
Template:Ushr	Jesús T. Piñero	Template:Party shading/Popular Democratic Party (Puerto Rico) \| Popular Democratic	1944	Template:Party shading/Republican/Hold \| Incumbent resigned September 2, 1946 to become Governor of Puerto Rico. New member elected September 11, 1946. Popular Democratic hold. Winner later re-elected to the next term; see below.	Template:Plainlist
Template:Ushr	John W. Murphy	Template:Party shading/Democratic \| Democratic	1942	Template:Party shading/Republican \| Incumbent resigned July 17, 1946, to become judge of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania. New member elected November 5, 1946. Republican gain. Winner also elected to the next term; see below.	Template:Plainlist
Template:Ushr	Thomas G. Burch	Template:Party shading/Democratic \| Democratic	1930	Template:Party shading/Democratic/Hold \| Incumbent resigned May 31, 1946, after being appointed to the U.S. Senate. New member elected November 5, 1946. Democratic hold. Winner also elected to the next term; see below.	Template:Plainlist
Template:Ushr	A. Willis Robertson	Template:Party shading/Democratic \| Democratic	1932	Template:Party shading/Democratic/Hold \| Incumbent resigned November 5, 1946, after being elected to the U.S. Senate. New member elected November 5, 1946. Democratic hold. Winner also elected to the next term; see below.	Template:Plainlist

District	Incumbent			This race
District	Representative	Party	First elected	Results	Candidates
Template:Ushr	Bob Bartlett	Template:Party shading/Democratic \| Democratic	1944	Incumbent re-elected.	Template:Plainlist

1946 United States House of Representatives elections

Overall results

Special elections

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See also

Notes

References

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