United States Senate elections, 1944

November 7, 1944

37 of the 96 seats in the United States Senate 49 seats needed for a majority

	Majority party	Minority party

Leader	Alben Barkley	Wallace White
Party	Democratic	Republican
Leader's seat	Kentucky	Maine
Last election	58 seats	37 seats
Seats won	57	38
Seat change	1	1
Popular vote	17,590,770	16,127,651
Percentage	50.3%	46.1%
Swing	3.6%	3.1%

	Third party

Party	Progressive
Last election	1 seat
Seats before	1
Seats won	1
Seat change
Popular vote	73,089
Percentage	0.2%
Swing	0.2%

Democratic gain

Democratic hold

Republican hold

Republican gain

Majority Leader before election

Alben Barkley
Democratic

Elected Majority Leader

Alben Barkley
Democratic

The United States Senate elections of 1944 coincided with the re-election of Franklin D. Roosevelt to his fourth term as President. The Democrats lost a net one seat to the Republicans, but still kept a large majority in the Senate.

Change in Senate composition

Senate composition before the elections

D₄₈	D₄₇	D₄₆	D₄₅	D₄₄	D₄₃	D₄₂	D₄₁	D₄₀	D₃₉
D₈	D₇	D₆	D₅	D₄	D₃	D₂	D₁
D₉	D₁₀	D₁₁	D₁₂	D₁₃	D₁₄	D₁₅	D₁₆	D₁₇	D₁₈
D₂₈	D₂₇	D₂₆	D₂₅	D₂₄	D₂₃	D₂₂	D₂₁	D₂₀	D₁₉
D₂₉	D₃₀	D₃₁	D₃₂	D₃₃	D₃₄	D₃₅	D₃₆	D₃₇	D₃₈
D₄₉	← Majority
D₅₀	D₅₁	D₅₂	D₅₃	D₅₄	D₅₅	D₅₆	D₅₇	D₅₈
R₂₈	R₂₉	R₃₀	R₃₁	R₃₂	R₃₃	R₃₄	R₃₅	R₃₆	R₃₇
R₂₇	R₂₆	R₂₅	R₂₄	R₂₃	R₂₂	R₂₁	R₂₀	R₁₉	R₁₈
R₈	R₉	R₁₀	R₁₁	R₁₂	R₁₃	R₁₄	R₁₅	R₁₆	R₁₇
R₇	R₆	R₅	R₄	R₃	R₂	R₁	P₁

As a result of the elections

D₄₈√	D₄₇√	D₄₆√	D₄₅√	D₄₄√	D₄₃√	D₄₂√	D₄₁√	D₄₀√	D₃₉√
D₈	D₇	D₆	D₅	D₄	D₃	D₂	D₁
D₉	D₁₀	D₁₁	D₁₂	D₁₃	D₁₄	D₁₅	D₁₆	D₁₇	D₁₈
D₂₈	D₂₇	D₂₆	D₂₅	D₂₄	D₂₃	D₂₂	D₂₁	D₂₀	D₁₉
D₂₉	D₃₀	D₃₁	D₃₂	D₃₃	D₃₄	D₃₅	D₃₆	D₃₇√	D₃₈√
D₄₉√	← Majority
D₅₀O	D₅₁O	D₅₂O	D₅₃O	D₅₄O	D₅₅+	D₅₆+	D₅₇+	R₃₈+
R₂₈√	R₂₉√	R₃₀√	R₃₁√	R₃₂√	R₃₃O	R₃₄O	R₃₅+	R₃₆+	R₃₇+
R₂₇√	R₂₆√	R₂₅√	R₂₄	R₂₃	R₂₂	R₂₁	R₂₀	R₁₉	R₁₈
R₈	R₉	R₁₀	R₁₁	R₁₂	R₁₃	R₁₄	R₁₅	R₁₆	R₁₇
R₇	R₆	R₅	R₄	R₃	R₂	R₁	P₁

Key:

D	Democratic
P	Progressive
R	Republican

√	Incumbent re-elected
O	Party hold: New senator elected from same party
+	Party gain: New senator elected from different party

Incumbents defeated

Democrats defeated three Republican incumbents: John A. Danaher (Connecticut), Gerald P. Nye (North Dakota), and James J. Davis (Pennsylvania).

Republicans defeated one Democratic incumbent: Guy M. Gillette (IA).

Retirements

Republicans took open seats in Indiana, Missouri, and New Jersey (where a Democrat had been appointed to a Republican vacancy).

Complete list of races

All elections are for the class 3 seats, unless otherwise noted.

State (Bold indicates link to separate election article)	Incumbent	Party	Result	Candidates
Alabama	Lister Hill	Democratic	Re-elected	Lister Hill (Democratic), 81.8% John A. Posey (Republican), 17.0%
Arizona	Carl Hayden	Democratic	Re-elected	Carl Hayden (Democratic), 69.4% Fred W. Fickett (Republican), 30.6%
Arkansas	Hattie W. Caraway	Democratic	Lost renomination Democratic hold	J. William Fulbright (Democratic), 85.1% Victor M. Wade (Republican), 14.9%
California	Sheridan Downey	Democratic	Re-elected	Sheridan Downey (Democratic), 52.3% Frederick F. Houser (Republican), 47.7%
Colorado	Eugene D. Millikin	Republican	Re-elected	Eugene D. Millikin (Republican), 56.1% Barney L. Whatley (Democratic), 43.0%
Connecticut	John A. Danaher	Republican	Lost re-election Democratic gain	Brien McMahon (Democratic), 51.7% John A. Danaher (Republican), 47.3%
Florida	Claude Pepper	Democratic	Re-elected	Claude Pepper (Democratic), 71.3% Miles H. Draper (Republican), 28.7%
Georgia	Walter F. George	Democratic	Re-elected	Walter F. George (Democratic), Unopposed
Idaho	D. Worth Clark	Democratic	Lost renomination Democratic hold	Glen H. Taylor (Democratic), 51.1% C. A. Bottolfsen (Republican), 48.9%
Illinois	Scott W. Lucas	Democratic	Re-elected	Scott W. Lucas (Democratic), 52.6% Richard J. Lyons (Republican), 47.1%
Indiana Special: Class 3	Samuel D. Jackson	Democratic	Appointee retired Winner elected to finish term ending January 3, 1945 Republican gain	William E. Jenner (Republican), 52.1% Henry F. Schricker (Democratic), ?
Indiana General: Class 3	Samuel D. Jackson	Appointee retired Winner elected to next term beginning January 3, 1945 Republican gain	Homer E. Capehart (Republican), 50.2% Henry F. Schricker (Democratic), 48.9%
Iowa	Guy M. Gillette	Democratic	Lost re-election Republican gain	Bourke B. Hickenlooper (Republican), 51.3% Guy M. Gillette (Democratic), 48.4%
Kansas	Clyde M. Reed	Republican	Re-elected	Clyde M. Reed (Republican), 57.8% Thurman Hill (Democratic), 40.7%
Kentucky	Alben W. Barkley	Democratic	Re-elected	Alben W. Barkley (Democratic), 54.8% James Park (Republican), 44.9%
Louisiana	John H. Overton	Democratic	Re-elected	John H. Overton (Democratic), Unopposed
Maryland	Millard E. Tydings	Democratic	Re-elected	Millard E. Tydings (Democratic), 61.7% Blanchard Randall, Jr. (Republican), 38.3%
Massachusetts Special: Class 2	Sinclair Weeks	Republican	Appointee retired Republican hold	Leverett Saltonstall (Republican), 64.3% John H. Corcoran (Democratic), 34.9%
Missouri	Bennett Champ Clark	Democratic	Lost renomination Republican gain	Forrest C. Donnell (Republican), 50.0% Roy McKittrick (Democratic), 49.9%
Nevada	Patrick A. McCarran	Democratic	Re-elected	Patrick A. McCarran (Democratic), 58.4% George W. Malone (Republican), 41.6%
New Hampshire	Charles W. Tobey	Republican	Re-elected	Charles W. Tobey (Republican), 50.9% Joseph J. Betley (Democratic), 49.1%
New Jersey Special:Class 1	Arthur Walsh	Democratic	Appointee retired Winner elected to finish term ending January 3, 1947 Republican gain	H. Alexander Smith (Republican), 50.4% Elmer H. Wene (Democratic), 48.8%
New York	Robert F. Wagner	Democratic	Re-elected	Robert F. Wagner (Democratic), 53.1% Thomas J. Curran (Republican), 46.7%
North Carolina	Robert R. Reynolds	Democratic	Retired Democratic hold	Clyde R. Hoey (Democratic), 70.3% A. I. Ferree (Republican), 29.8%
North Dakota	Gerald P. Nye	Republican	Lost re-election Democratic gain	John Moses (Democratic), 45.2% Gerald P. Nye (Republican), 33.0% Lynn U. Stambaugh (Independent), 21.2%
Ohio	Robert A. Taft	Republican	Re-elected	Robert A. Taft (Republican), 50.3% William G. Pickrel (Democratic), 49.7%
Oklahoma	Elmer Thomas	Democratic	Re-elected	Elmer Thomas (Democratic), 55.7% William J. Otjen (Republican), 44.0%
Oregon Special: Class 2	Guy Cordon	Republican	Appointee elected to finish term ending January 3, 1949	Guy Cordon (Republican), 57.5% Willis Mahoney (Democratic), 42.5%
Oregon General: Class 3	Rufus C. Holman	Republican	Lost renomination Republican hold	Wayne Morse (Republican), 60.7% Edgar W. Smith (Democratic), 39.3%
Pennsylvania	James J. Davis	Republican	Lost re-election Democratic gain	Francis J. Myers (Democratic), 50.0% James J. Davis (Republican), 49.4%
South Carolina	Ellison D. Smith	Democratic	Lost renomination, and died November 17, 1944, before term ended. Seat remained vacant to the end of the term on January 3, 1945. Democratic hold	Olin D. Johnston (Democratic), Unopposed
South Dakota	Chandler Gurney	Republican	Re-elected	Chandler Gurney (Republican), 63.9% George M. Bradshaw (Democratic), 36.1%
Utah	Elbert D. Thomas	Democratic	Re-elected	Elbert D. Thomas (Democratic), 59.9% Adam S. Bennion (Republican), 40.1%
Vermont	George D. Aiken	Republican	Re-elected	George D. Aiken (Republican), 65.8% Harry W. Witters (Democratic), 34.2%
Washington	Homer T. Bone	Democratic	Resigned Winner appointed to finish term ending January 3, 1945 Winner elected to next term beginning January 3, 1945 Democratic hold	Warren G. Magnuson (Democratic), 55.1% Harry P. Cain (Republican), 44.4% Ray C. Roberts (Socialist), 0.2% Josephine B. Sulston (Prohibition), 0.2%
Wisconsin	Alexander Wiley	Republican	Re-elected	Alexander Wiley (Republican), 50.5% Howard J. McMurray (Democratic), 42.8% Harry Sauthoff (Progressive), 5.8%

United States Senate elections

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