Election to the United States House of Representatives in 1942

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On November 3, 1942, the House of Representatives in the United States was elected. In the state of Maine , the elections took place on September 14th. The election was part of the general election to the 78th United States Congress that year, in which one-third of the US Senators were elected. Since the elections took place around the middle of the third term of office of Democratic President Franklin D. Roosevelt ( Midterm Election ), they were also considered a vote on the previous policy of the President. The election was overshadowed by the events of World War II . Due to the war, there were also more postal voters from soldiers who were deployed outside the country.

At the time of the election, the United States consisted of 48 states. The number of MPs to be elected was 435. The distribution of seats was based on the 1940 census .

The Democrats lost 45 seats and now had 222 seats. With this she was able to maintain the absolute majority of 218 mandates. On the other hand, the Republicans gained 47 seats. You now have 209 mandates. The main driver of Republican gains was World War II issues, in which the United States had been an active participant since December 7, 1941, the day of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor . Some voters were unhappy with the way the federal government was waging war.

In the southern states in particular, the right to vote was restricted by laws that linked the right to vote to a certain tax revenue. As a result, poor whites, but above all many African-Americans, were excluded from the right to vote. These restrictions lasted until the 24th Amendment to the United States Constitution was passed in 1964.

Election result

Distribution of seats
   
A total of 435 seats
  • Dem . : 222
  • Otherwise: 4
  • Rep .: 209

Total: 435 (435)

The results of the last election two years earlier are in brackets. Changes during the legislative period that do not affect the elections themselves are not included in these figures, but are noted in the article on the 78th Congress in the section on the members of the House of Representatives under the relevant names of the representatives. The same applies to elections in states that joined the Union after the beginning of the legislative period. As a result, the sources sometimes contain different information, as changes during the legislative period were sometimes incorporated into the figures and sometimes not.

See also

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