1938 United States elections

The 1938 United States elections were held on November 8, 1938, in the middle of Democratic President Franklin D. Roosevelt's second term. The Democratic Party lost 72 seats, mostly to the Republican Party, in the House of Representatives. The Democrats also lost eight seats to the Republicans in the U.S. Senate.[3] Despite these heavy losses, the Democrats maintained control of Congress.

1938 United States elections
1936          1937          1938          1939          1940
Midterm elections
Election dayNovember 8
Incumbent presidentFranklin D. Roosevelt (Democratic)
Next Congress76th
Senate elections
Overall controlDemocratic hold
Seats contested36 of 96 seats
(32 Class 3 seats + 6 special elections)[1]
Net seat changeRepublican +8[2]
1938 United States Senate special election in New Jersey1938 United States Senate special election in Tennessee1938 United States Senate special election in New York1938 United States Senate election in Alabama1938 United States Senate election in Arizona1938 United States Senate election in Arkansas1938 United States Senate election in California1938 United States Senate election in Colorado1938 United States Senate election in Connecticut1938 United States Senate election in Florida1938 United States Senate election in Georgia1938 United States Senate election in Idaho1938 United States Senate election in Illinois1938 United States Senate election in Indiana1938 United States Senate election in Iowa1938 United States Senate election in Kansas1938 United States Senate election in Kentucky1938 United States Senate election in Louisiana1938 United States Senate election in Maryland1938 United States Senate election in Missouri1938 United States Senate election in Nevada1938 United States Senate election in New Hampshire1938 United States Senate election in New York1938 United States Senate election in North Carolina1938 United States Senate election in North Dakota1938 United States Senate election in Ohio1938 United States Senate election in Oklahoma1938 United States Senate election in Oregon1938 United States Senate election in Pennsylvania1938 United States Senate election in South Carolina1938 United States Senate election in South Dakota1938 United States Senate election in Utah1938 United States Senate election in Vermont1938 United States Senate election in Washington1938 United States Senate election in Wisconsin
1938 Senate election results

  Democratic gain   Democratic hold

  Republican gain   Republican hold
House elections
Overall controlDemocratic hold
Seats contestedAll 435 voting seats
Popular vote marginDemocratic +1.2%
Net seat changeRepublican +81
1938 House election results map
1938 House election results

  Democratic gain   Democratic hold

  Republican gain   Republican hold
Gubernatorial elections
Seats contested33
Net seat changeRepublican +12
1938 North Dakota gubernatorial election1938 Alabama gubernatorial election1938 Arizona gubernatorial election1938 Arkansas gubernatorial election1938 California gubernatorial election1938 Colorado gubernatorial election1938 Connecticut gubernatorial election1938 Georgia gubernatorial election1938 Idaho gubernatorial election1938 Iowa gubernatorial election1938 Kansas gubernatorial election1938 Maine gubernatorial election1938 Maryland gubernatorial election1938 Massachusetts gubernatorial election1938 Michigan gubernatorial election1938 Minnesota gubernatorial election1938 Nebraska gubernatorial election1938 Nevada gubernatorial election1938 New Hampshire gubernatorial election1938 New Mexico gubernatorial election1938 New York gubernatorial election1938 Ohio gubernatorial election1938 Oklahoma gubernatorial election1938 Oregon gubernatorial election1938 Pennsylvania gubernatorial election1938 Rhode Island gubernatorial election1938 South Carolina gubernatorial election1938 South Dakota gubernatorial election1938 Tennessee gubernatorial election1938 Texas gubernatorial election1938 Vermont gubernatorial election1938 Wisconsin gubernatorial election1938 Wyoming gubernatorial election
1938 gubernatorial election results

  Democratic gain   Democratic hold

  Republican gain   Republican hold

The election was a defeat for Roosevelt, as the conservative coalition (an alliance of Republicans and Southern Democrats) took control of Congress and stymied Roosevelt's domestic agenda. Roosevelt had campaigned openly against members of his own party who had not supported the New Deal, but Roosevelt's preferred candidates met with little success across the country. The election took place in the aftermath of the recession of 1937–38 and the defeat of the Judicial Procedures Reform Bill of 1937 ("the court-packing plan"), and President Roosevelt was at the nadir of his popularity. Republicans picked up congressional seats for the first time since the start of the Great Depression, and few new major domestic programs became law until the advent of the Great Society in the 1960s.[4]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Two Class 3 seats held both a regularly-scheduled election and a special election in 1938. These two seats are not double-counted for the total number of seats contested.
  2. ^ Republicans picked up seven seats in the regularly-scheduled elections and won an additional seat in the special elections.
  3. ^ "Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 8, 1938" (PDF). U.S. House of Reps, Office of the Clerk. Retrieved 28 December 2011.
  4. ^ Busch, Andrew (1999). Horses in Midstream. University of Pittsburgh Press. pp. 122–126.

Further reading

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