Election to the United States Senate in 1940

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On November 5, 1940, or September 9 in the state of Maine , one-third of the members of the United States Senate were elected. The election was part of the general election for the 77th United States Congress that year, which also elected all members of the House of Representatives. At the same time, the presidential election of 1940 took place, which the Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt won for the third time in a row.

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 1940 the Class I senators 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. After the election, the Democrats lost two seats compared to the 1938 election while the Republicans gained 5 seats. The Minnesota Farmer and Labor Party lost both seats after a non-running senator moved to Republicans and the other electoral mandate also went to Republicans. The 1940 election was the second of five consecutive Senate elections in which the Democrats lost seats to the Republicans. Nevertheless, they retained their two-thirds majority.

Senate composition after the election

Total: 96

The results of the last elections on November 8, 1938 are in brackets. Changes in the course of the legislative period that do not affect the elections themselves are not included in these figures. But are noted in the article on the 77th Congress in the section on the members of the Senate by the corresponding names of the senators.

See also