Election to the United States Senate in 1936

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On November 3, 1936, or September 14, in the state of Maine , a third of the members of the United States Senate were elected. The election was part of the general election to the 75th United States Congress that year, which also elected all members of the House of Representatives. The 1936 presidential election , won by Democratic incumbent Franklin D. Roosevelt , also took place at the same time .

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 1936 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, 36 of which were available for election. The series of successes that the Democrats had begun in 1930 continued in this election. In 1932 and 1934 they had won clear majorities in the Senate, as well as in the House of Representatives. This trend now peaked in 1936. Compared to the elections of 1934, the Democrats increased their two-thirds majority by a further seven seats to 76 seats. At the same time, the Republicans hit a low point in their election results with just 16 seats. The reason for this development can be seen primarily in the policy of the federal government of President Roosevelt, who with his New Deal policy gradually got the consequences of the Great Depression under control. The election result reflected the satisfaction of voters with this policy at the time.

Senate composition after the election

Total: 96

The results of the last elections on November 6, 1934 are shown in brackets. Changes during the legislative period that do not affect the elections themselves are not taken into account in these figures. However, they are noted in the article on the 75th Congress in the section on the members of the Senate by the corresponding names of the senators.

See also