1946 United States elections

Results

House of Representatives

Democrats lost fifty-four seats to the Republican Party in the House of Representatives, and Democrats also lost eleven seats to the Republicans in the U.S. Senate, allowing Republicans to take control of both chambers. A Progressive also lost a seat to a Republican.

In California, newcomer Richard Nixon defeated incumbent liberal Democrat Jerry Voorhis. Nixon campaigned on such issues as price controls, housing, and labor-management relations, but gained his greatest publicity from attacks on Voorhis left-wing associations and policies.

Another future US president, John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts was first elected to the House of Representatives in this election as well.

Senate

In Mississippi, Senator Theodore G. Bilbo sought reelection to a third six-year term in the Democratic primary. He was under daily newspaper attack from Hodding Carter, one of the state's best-known political journalists and editors. Carter supported racial segregation but was a moderate on civil rights. His 1946 Pulitzer Prize for editorials on racial and religious tolerance as editor of the Greenville Delta Democrat-Times had won him a national reputation. Bilbo narrowly won reelection with only 51% of the vote, but he died within a year.

In Georgia, white supremacy was the main theme as Eugene Talmadge was elected to a fourth term as governor. He had promoted purges of blacks from the voting lists in certain key Georgia counties.

Long term

The election stymied Truman's efforts to enact his Fair Deal policies and helped ensure the passage of the Labor Management Relations Act of 1947. However, Truman was able to implement the Marshall Plan, the National Security Act of 1947, and other Cold War policies following the election. Future presidents John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon first won election to Congress in this election, while Thomas Dewey's re-election as Governor of New York helped him earn the 1948 Republican nomination for president. Joseph McCarthy also won election as Senator from Wisconsin in 1946.

References

References

1. Three Class 1 seats held both regularly-scheduled elections and special elections in 1946.
2. Republicans picked up eleven seats in the regularly-scheduled elections and picked up an additional seat in the special elections.
3. "Party Divisions of the House of Representatives". United States House of Representatives.
4. "Party Division in the Senate, 1789-Present". United States Senate.
5. "Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 5, 1946". U.S. House of Reps, Office of the Clerk.
6. Paul Bullock, "'Rabbits and Radicals' Richard Nixon's 1946 Campaign Against Jerry Voorhis." ''Southern California Quarterly'' 55.3 (1973): 319-359.
7. Garry Boulard, 'The Man' vs. 'The Quisling': Theodore Bilbo, Hodding Carter and the 1946 Democratic Parimary," ''Journal of Mississippi History'' (1989), 51, 201-17.
8. Joseph L. Bernd, "White supremacy and the disfranchisement of Blacks in Georgia, 1946." ''Georgia Historical Quarterly'' 66.4 (1982): 492-513. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/40580970 in JSTOR]
9. (1999). "Horses in Midstream". University of Pittsburgh Press.