The 1946 election was thought of by Republicans as a repudiation of the New Deal and proceeded thusly in the 80^th Congress. However, President Truman’s campaigning prowess in 1948 combined with Republican Thomas Dewey’s overly safe and bland campaign produced Democratic victory.

The 1950 election, although not producing Republican majorities, resembled in theme the sort of election they thought the 1946 midterms had been – an ideological referendum. The 1946 midterms had been primarily motivated by the scarcity of meat as well as a general fatigue with Democratic rule. In this election, the Korean War and anti-communism figured heavily. It was in 1950 in which Senator Joseph McCarthy (R-Wis.) made his famous Wheeling speech in which he spoke of a list of communists in his hand, and indeed the results were favorable in his direction. Republicans gained 26 seats from the Democrats in the House and 5 in the Senate, and although this didn’t constitute a majority, it further strengthened the Conservative Coalition, an alliance of conservative Republicans and Southern Democrats against numerous liberal Democratic legislative priorities which had already blocked most of President Truman’s Fair Deal proposals. Furthermore, several key Senate Democratic primaries resulted in the more conservative candidate winning.

Notable House Results:

In California, Republicans win back the Fresno-based 9^th district with Allan O. Hunter against incumbent Cecil F. White. President Truman had specifically campaigned against the district’s Republican incumbent, Bud Gearhart, in 1948, and it contributed to his loss.

In Colorado, Republican J. Edgar Chenoweth wins back his seat in the 3^rd district from John Marsalis.

In Connecticut, Republican Horace Seely-Brown regains the 2^nd district seat, which he lost in the 1948 election to Democrat Chase G. Woodhouse.

In Idaho, Republican John Travers Wood wins an open seat in the 1^st district. An interesting tidbit about Wood; although by this time he is an arch-conservative Republican, he had been the Socialist mayor of Coeur d’Alene almost 40 years earlier. His 1950 opponent, Gracie Pfost, would defeat him for reelection in 1952.

In Illinois, Republicans gained four seats in Cook County, including the returns of Richard B. Vail in the 2^nd district and Fred Busbey in the 3^rd district, who had been defeated in 1948. This was before Democrats were able to lock in dominance of Chicago with the Daley machine.  

In Indiana, the Democratic gains of 1948 were reversed, with Republicans winning five seats and Democrats going back to having only two seats.

In Maryland, Republican James Devereux defeated conservative Democrat William Bolton for reelection in the 2^nd district.

In Missouri, Republicans gain two seats, although far from a recovery of their 1948 losses, in which they suffered a near complete wipeout in their House delegation, with only Springfield’s Dewey Short retaining his seat. Four of the Republicans defeated in 1948 fall short of comebacks.

In Nebraska, Republican Howard Buffett (Warren’s father) wins back his Omaha-based seat he lost in 1948.

In New York, Democrats get wrecked in upstate New York, losing all but the Albany district, which has seldom voted Republican in its history. They do gain one in Long Island with Ernest Greenwood defeating Republican W. Kingsland Macy. The most notable defeat, however, is that of American Labor Party’s Vito Marcantonio. Marcantonio was a radical who had been the only member of Congress to vote against the use of force in the Korean War and was openly pro-Soviet. The Democrats and Republicans united to back Democrat James G. Donovan to defeat him.

In Ohio, four Democrats lost reelection to Republicans. The most interesting race, however, was Democrat Thomas H. Burke’s defeat for reelection in the 9^th district by Independent Frazier Reams, a former Democrat who achieves victory by bashing both Democratic and Republican leadership and when accused of being a “carpetbagger” by DNC Chairman Michael Kirwan he responded by carrying a carpet bag to his campaign events.

In Oklahoma, Republicans George Schwabe and Page Belcher were elected to the 1^st and 8th districts, ending the very last session of Congress in which Republicans would be unrepresented in the state.

Republicans gain two seats in Pennsylvania. However, in Philadelphia Republicans Hardie Scott and Hugh Scott come close to losing reelection. For Republicans, this presaged the 1951 Philadelphia mayoral election which would break Republican dominance in the city’s politics for good. Both Scotts would be succeeded in their seats by Democrats and only one other Republican would win a Congressional seat in Philadelphia after.  

In South Carolina, Democrat Hugo Sims, as much of a liberal as one could be in South Carolina and win office at the time, lost renomination to John J. Riley.

In Tennessee, Republicans changed out both of their members of Congress in primaries; Republican maverick Dayton Phillips was defeated in the first district by longtime politician B. Carroll Reece, and party liner John Jennings was defeated in the second district by the more moderate Howard Baker Sr. 

In Texas, Republican Ben H. Guill loses reelection to Democrat Walter E. Rogers. Guill had been elected in a special election after the resignation of Democrat Francis Worley.

West Virginia continues its Democratic trend, with efforts by the three Republicans who lost reelection in 1948 to make a comeback failing and former Senator Rush Holt, now a Republican, falling short in his bid against the 3rd district’s Cleveland Bailey.

In Wisconsin, Republican Charles Kersten defeats Democrat Andrew Biemiller for reelection. This would be the last time that a Republican would defeat a Democratic incumbent member of Congress from Milwaukee.

Other Notes:

This would be the last election in which no Republicans would be elected to represent Arizona, North Carolina, and Virginia in either chamber of Congress.

Although Democrats retain all their seats in North Carolina, Hamilton Jones of the 10^th district coming within five points of losing is an omen for his 1952 loss to Republican Charles Jonas, who holds the seat until the Nixon Administration. Democrats do not get quite such a warning with their holds in Virginia, as Republicans would gain three seats there in 1952. 

Notable Senate Results

In California, Republican Congressman Richard Nixon defeats Congresswoman Helen Gahagan Douglas in a campaign in which he compares her record to that of radical Congressman Vito Marcantonio and pushes the narrative of her as the “pink lady”.

In Connecticut, Democrat Brien McMahon is reelected over the candidacy of former Congressman Joseph Talbot, who runs a milquetoast campaign. In its special Senate election, Democrat William Benton prevails by a hair over Republican Prescott Bush, but Bush would win election to the Senate in 1952.

In Florida, liberal Democrat Claude Pepper, whose voting record and ill-advised praise of the USSR had gotten him nicknamed “Red Pepper” by his opponents, was defeated for renomination by Congressman George Smathers. Smathers wins the election overwhelmingly as Republicans are not yet competitive in Florida.

In Idaho, Senator Glen H. Taylor (D-Idaho), a staunch left-winger, was defeated for renomination in the Democratic primary by former Senator D. Worth Clark, who in turn lost the election to the extremely conservative Republican Herman Welker.

In Illinois, Senate Majority Leader Scott Lucas (D-Ill.) is defeated by former Congressman Everett Dirksen. This turns out to be a blessing in disguise for Lucas, as the strain of his office had resulted in a heart attack and his doctor had come to believe that had he won another term, he would have died in a year. Lucas instead lived until 1968.

In Maryland, Senator Millard Tydings was defeated for reelection by Republican John Marshall Butler. Senator Joseph McCarthy had a special interest in this race as Tydings had headed a committee that investigated McCarthy’s charges of subversion in government and, in a partisan vote of the committee, declared them a fraud and a hoax. Butler’s campaign thus had a lot of assistance from McCarthy’s staff.

In Missouri, the conservative trend goes the opposite way, with former Congressman Thomas Hennings defeating Republican incumbent Forrest Donnell. This indicates that Missouri’s going to be staying in the Democratic column for a while, and indeed it does; another Republican senator would not be elected from Missouri until 1976.

In New Hampshire, an effort by regular Republican Senator Styles Bridges to get fellow Republican Charles Tobey primaried falls short. Although Tobey had started out in the Senate as one of its most conservative members, his record shifted to the left after he came close to losing reelection in 1944, and his voting record only moved further to the left after his much stronger performance in the 1950 election.

In North Carolina, although the seat remains Democratic as the state is still of the “Solid South”, the primary is a fundamental battle between liberalism and conservatism, with liberal Frank Porter Graham losing his bid for a full term (he was appointed by Governor W. Scott Kerr) to conservative Willis Smith in a race that was also characterized by racist campaigning on the part of numerous Smith supporters.  

In Ohio, Robert Taft, despite organized labor gunning for his defeat for the Taft-Hartley Act, is reelected solidly.

In Pennsylvania, liberal Democratic Senator Francis Myers is defeated for reelection by moderate Republican James Duff.

In South Carolina, incumbent Senator Olin Johnston survives a primary challenge from Governor Strom Thurmond. Thurmond would become Johnston’s colleague in the Senate with the 1954 election and flip to the GOP in 1964, serving until 2003, when he was 100 years old!  

In South Dakota, Republican Senator Chan Gurney is defeated for renomination by Congressman Francis Case, who wins the election. The differences between the men are that Gurney is to Case’s right on domestic issues, but Case is to Gurney’s right on foreign policy, having been a non-interventionist before Pearl Harbor while Gurney had been an interventionist and having voted against the Marshall Plan while Gurney voted for.

In Utah, Senator Elbert Thomas, who had defeated Republican Reed Smoot (the Smoot of the Smoot-Hawley Tariff) in the 1932 election, was defeated for reelection by Republican Wallace Bennett. The seat has remained Republican since.