United States Senate Elections, 1920

The 1920 United States Senate elections were elections for the United States Senate that coincided with the presidential election of Warren G. Harding. Democrat Woodrow Wilson's unpopularity allowed Republicans to win races across the country, winning ten seats from the Democrats and providing them with an overwhelming 59-to-37 majority. The Republican landslide was so vast that Democrats lost over half of the seats that were contested this year and failed to win a single race outside the South.

Since the passage of the seventeenth amendment, these elections were the closest when the winning party in almost every Senate election mirrored the winning party for their state in the presidential election, with Kentucky being the only Senate race to not mirror their presidential result. No other Senate election cycle in a presidential year would come close to repeating this feat until 2016, in which the result of every Senate race mirrored the corresponding state's result in the presidential election. Coincidentally, that election cycle involved the same class of Senate seats, Class 3.

This is one of only five occasions where 10 or more Senate seats changed hands in an election, with the other occasions being in 1932, 1946, 1958, and 1980.

As of , the fifty-nine-seat majority gained by the Republican Party in this election remains the largest that party has achieved, both in terms of raw seat total and percentage of the total number of seats, in any election since. This number rose to sixty after Democrat senator Josiah O. Wolcott of Delaware accepted an offer from Republican governor William D. Denney to become Chancellor of the Delaware Court of Chancery, allowing Denney to name Republican T. Coleman du Pont to replace Wolcott, a seat du Pont held until the next election, in which both a special election was held for the remainder of the term and a regular election was held as the seat was normally up then, both which du Pont lost narrowly to Democrat Thomas F. Bayard Jr..

Seat changes

Republicans won two seats that were open from retiring Democrats, one seat from a Democrat who had lost renomination, and they defeated seven Democratic incumbents.

Open seats

* Colorado: Charles S. Thomas (D) retired and was replaced by Samuel D. Nicholson (R).
* Illinois: Lawrence Y. Sherman (D) retired and was replaced by William B. McKinley (R).

Incumbents defeated

* Arizona: Marcus A. Smith (D) lost re-election to Ralph H. Cameron (R).
* California: James D. Phelan (D) lost re-election to Samuel M. Shortridge (R).
* Idaho: John F. Nugent (D) lost re-election to Frank R. Gooding (R).
* Kentucky: John C. W. Beckham (D) lost re-election to Richard P. Ernst (R).
* Maryland: John W. Smith (D) lost re-election to Ovington E. Weller (R).
* Nevada: Charles B. Henderson (D) lost re-election to Tasker L. Oddie (R).
* Oklahoma: Thomas Gore (D) lost renomination to Scott Ferris (D), who then lost the general election to John W. Harreld (R).
* Oregon: George E. Chamberlain (D) lost re-election to Robert N. Stanfield (R).

Change in composition

Before the elections

Elections result

Race summary

Special elections during the 66th Congress

In these special elections, the winner was seated during 1920 or before March 4, 1921; ordered by election date.

Elections leading to the 67th Congress

In these general elections, the winners were elected for the term beginning March 4, 1921; ordered by state.

All of the elections involved the Class 3 seats.

Alabama

Alabama (Regular)

Alabama (Special)

Arizona

Arkansas

California

Colorado

Connecticut

Florida

Georgia

Idaho

Illinois

Indiana

Iowa

Kansas

Kentucky

Louisiana

Maryland

Missouri

Nevada

New Hampshire

New York

North Carolina

North Dakota

Ohio

Oklahoma

Oregon

Pennsylvania

South Carolina

South Dakota

Utah

Vermont

Virginia (Special)

Washington

Wisconsin

See also

* 1920 United States elections
** 1920 United States presidential election
** 1920 United States gubernatorial elections
** 1920 United States House of Representatives elections
* 66th United States Congress
* 67th United States Congress

Notes

References

*
{{United States Senate elections