Election to the United States Senate in 1918

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On November 5, 1918, one third of the members of the United States Senate were elected in the United States . The election was part of the general election for the 66th Congress of the United States that year, in which all members of the House of Representatives were also elected. Since the election date was exactly in the middle of the second term of office of President Woodrow Wilson (Midterm Election), the elections were partly also a vote on the previous policy of the president.

Since the adoption of the 17th Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1913, all US senators in their respective states have been directly elected by the people of their state. Each state has 2 senators. Under the United States Constitution , US Senators are elected for six years. However, all members of the Senate are never elected at the same time. The election follows a scheme according to which a third of the senators are elected every two years at the same time as the election to the US House of Representatives. For this purpose, the Senate is divided into three classes , which determine the election year of the Senators. In 1918 the Senators of Class II stood for election. At that time, the United States consisted of 48 states. This results in a total of 96 senators, 34 of whom stood for election.

Senate composition after the election

Total: 96

The results of the last elections on November 7, 1916 are shown in brackets. Changes in the course of the legislative period that do not affect the elections themselves are not taken into account in these figures. But are noted in the article on the 66th Congress in the section on the members of the Senate by the corresponding names of the senators.

The election result means a majority change from Democrats to Republicans. One reason for this was President Wilson's policies. Two years earlier, he had gone into the presidential election campaign with the announcement that the United States would continue to be kept out of the First World War that had broken out in Europe . Shortly after its introduction to his second term, the US entered this war. This led to resentment in some democratic electorate. They were also dissatisfied with the president's current policy. Above all, his plan to found the League of Nations or the planned intention of the United States joining this league was rejected by a majority of the Americans at the time. The Republicans joined this position.

See also