Introduction
Democrats had greatly expanded their majority in the 1932 elections, winning 313 seats to the Republicans’ 117. The Republicans had declined to almost no seats outside areas won by Hoover in the 1932 presidential election. When President Roosevelt began to implement the New Deal programs, Republicans seemed flatfooted on how to respond, as the programs were very popular, but also contrary to the economic theories that had been driving the Republicans since the end of the Civil War. Opposing them too strongly might lead to continuing electoral irrelevance, and the Repuiblicans’ leader, Bertrand Snell, seemed to equivocate between opposing the New Deal and accepting parts of it, at least in principle. While midterms generally result in losses for the president’s party, the continuing support Roosevelt received and the ambivalent attitude of the Republicans meant most prognosticators were predicting only modest Republican gains, mainly in marginal seats that had historically been Republican before 1932. This seemed to be confirmed in a special election in Vermont in January, in which the Republican and Democratic candidates got almost the exact same proportions of the vote as Roosevelt and Hoover had won two years before. Few voters,it seemed, had really changed their minds in the intervening years.
Overall Results
Against most expectations, the Democrats actually gained seats in the house, increasing to 322 seats, with Republicans slipping to 103. The liberal Progressive Party entered the House with 7 seats, all from Wisconsin, won mostly from Republicans. The Farmer-Labor Party fell from 5 to 3 seats. While Republicans had actually gained several seats in the rural midwest, these were counterbalanced and then some by Democratic gains in the northeast, particularly in Pennsylvania, where the realignment of working class voters to the Democrats had been slower than elsewhere. 21 of the defeated members of both parties were freshmen. The longest-serving member who failed of re-election was a Republican first elected in 1912.
Miscellaneous Notes
Kentucky, which had elected its nine members at-large after the 1930 census in the 1932 election, drew nine single-member districts for this election, and thus some members were in different district numbers than previously.
Minnesota, which had lost a seat in the 1930 census, had elected its nine members at-large in 1932, but drew new single-member districts for 1934. Due to population shifts, some members were drawn into the same districts, and two districts with no incumbent were created.
Missouri, which had lost three seats in redistricting, had elected its 13 members at-large in 1932, but drew new single-member districts for 1934. Due to population shifts, some members were drawn into the same districts, while three districts with no incumbent were created.
Texas abolished the three at-large districts it had added for the 1932 elections, and redrew district boundaries to create three new single-member districts. Thus, some districts were geographically different than in the 1930 election.
Virginia, which had lost a seat in the 1930 census, elected its nine members at-large in 1932, but drew new single-member districts for 1934. No incumbents were drawn into the same districts, but some districts were numbered differently than in 1930 after the changes.
In Wisconsin, two Republicans were re-elected as members of the Progressive Party.
Open Seats Flipping from Republican to Democratic
Pennsylvania 6th: Edward Stokes (R) retired to run for governor, was replaced by Michael Stack (D)
Pennsylvania 13th: George Brumm (R) died in office, was replaced by James Gildea (D)
Pennsylvania 20th: Thomas Cochran (R) retired, was replaced by Denis Driscoll (D)
Wyoming At-Large: Vincent Carter (R) retired to run for U.S. Senate, was replaced by Paul Greever (D)
Democratic Gains from Newly-Created Seats
Missouri 4th: New seat won by C. Jasper Bell (D)
Missouri 10th: New seat won by Orville Zimmerman (D)
Missouri 11th: New seat won by Thomas Hennings (D)
Republicans Defeated in the General Election
California 7th: Ralph Eltse (R) was defeated by John Tolan (D)
California 11th: William Evans (R) was defeated by John McGroarty (D)
California 15th: William Traeger (R) was defeated by John Costello (D)
Connecticut 5th: Edward Gross (R) was defeated by J. Joseph Smith (D)
Connecticut At-Large: Charles Blackwell (R) was defeated by William Citron (D)
Illinois 1st: Oscar DePriest (R) was defeated by Arthur Mitchell (D)
Illinois 2nd: P.H. Moynihan (R) was defeated by Raymond McKeough (D)
Illinois 9th: Frederick Britten (R) was defeated by James McAndrews (D)
Iowa 6th: Cassius Dowell (R) was defeated by Hubert Utterback (D)
Kansas 3rd: Harold McGugin (R) was defeated by Edward Patterson (D)
Maine 1st: Carroll Beedy (R) was defeated by Simon Hamlin (D)
Massachusetts 3rd: Frank Foss (R) was defeated by Joseph Casey (D)
Massachusetts 9th: Robert Luce (R) was defeated by Richard Russell (D)
Michigan 12th: W. Frank James (R) was defeated by Frank Hook (D)
New York 38th: James Whitley (R) was defeated by James Duffy (D)
Pennsylvania 4th: George Edmonds (R) was defeated by J. Burrwood Daly (D)
Pennsylvania 5th: James Connolly (R) was defeated by Frank Dorsey (D)
Pennsylvania 15th: Louis McFadden (R) was defeated by Charles Dietrich (D)
Pennsylvania 23rd: J. Banks Kurtz (R) was defeated by Don Gingery (D)
Pennsylvania 26th: J. Howard Swick (R) was defeated by Charles Eckert (D)
Pennsylvania 27th: Nathan Strong (R) was defeated by Joseph Gray (D)
Pennsylvania 31st: Melville Kelly (R) was defeated by James Quinn (D)
Pennsylvania 32nd: Michael Muldowney (R) was defeated by Theodore Moritz (D)
Wisconsin 10th: Hubert Peavey (R) was defeated by Bernard Gehrmann (Progressive)
Republican Losses by Seat Elimination
Minnesota 5th: Ray Chase (R) was drawn into the same district as fellow Rep. Theodore Christianson (R), and lost the Republican primary
Open Seats Flipping from Democratic to Republican
California 9th: Denver Church (D) retired, was replaced by Bertrand Gearhart (R)
Delaware At-Large: Wilbur Adams (D) retired to run for U.S. Senate, was replaced by J. George Stewart (R)
Kentucky 9th: Finley Hamilton (D) retired, was replaced by John Robison (R)
Minnesota 4th: Einar Hoidale (D) retired to run for U.S. Senate, was replaced by Melvin Maas (R)
Oregon 3rd: Charles Martin (D) retired to run for governor, was replaced by William Ekwall (R)
Republican Gains from Newly-Created Seats
Minnesota 1st: New seat won by August Andresen (R)
Democrats Defeated in the General Election
Illinois 17th: Frank Gillespie (D) was defeated by Leslie Arends (R)
Indiana 2nd: George Durgan (D) was defeated by Frederick Landis (R)
Iowa 3rd: Albert Willford (D) was defeated by John Gwynne (R)
Kansas 6th: Kathryn McCarthy (D) was defeated by Frank Carlson (R)
Maine 3rd: John Utterback (D) was defeated by Ralph Brewster (R)
Michigan 2nd: John Lehr (D) was defeated by Earl Michener (R)
Michigan 4th: George Foulkes (D) was defeated by Clare Hoffman (R)
Michigan 6th: Claude Cady (D) was defeated by William Blackney (R)
Michigan 8th: Michael Hart (D) was defeated by Fred Crawford (R)
Michigan 9th: Harry Musselwhite (D) was defeated by Albert Engel (R)
Missouri 7th: Frank Lee (D) was defeated by Dewey Short (R)
Nebraska 3rd: Edgar Howard (D) was defeated by Karl Stefan (R)
New York 20th: James Lanzetta (D) was defeated by Vito Marcantonio (R)
Wisconsin 2nd: Charles Henney (D) was defeated by Harry Sauthoff (Progressive)
Democratic Losses by Seat Elimination
Missouri 3rd: Jacob Milligan (D) was drawn into the same district as fellow Rep. Richard Duncan (D), retired to run for U.S. Senate
Missouri 6th: Clement Dickinson (D) was drawn into the same district as fellow Rep. Reuben Wood (D), lost the Democratic primary
Missouri 6th: James Ruffin (D) was drawn into the same district as fellow Rep. Reuben Wood (D), lost the Democratic primary
Open Seats Flipping to Third Party
Wisconsin 1st: George W. Blanchard (R) retired, was replaced by Thomas Amlie (Progressive)
Wisconsin 3rd: Gardner Withrow (R) changed party to Progressive, was re-elected
Wisconsin 7th: Gerald Bolieau (R) changed party to Progressive, was re-elected
Wisconsin 9th: James Frear (R) retired, was replaced by Merlin Hull (Progressive)
Third Party Gains from Newly-Created Seats
Minnesota 9th: New seat won by Rich Buckler (Farmer-Labor)
Third Party Losses in Redistricting Races
Minnesota 6th: Magnus Johnson (Farmer-Labor) lost a redistricting race to fellow incumbent Harold Knutson (R)
The Aftermath
The Democrats gained nine seats, the first time since the advent of two-party politics that the party of the incumbent president gained seats in a midterm election. The Republicans lost fourteen seats, mainly to Democrats but also to left-leaning third parties. Enjoying a large majority and feeling they had a mandate to continue the New Deal, Democrats pressed ahead with such landmark bills as the National Labor Relations Act and the Social Security Act, and the Revenue Ace of 1935, which greatly increased taxes on the wealthiest five percent. While the economic effects of the Great Depression were still ongoing, Republicans were still tainted in the public mind for their association with Hoover and their opposition to popular New Deal programs, and most voters still favored to, in FDR’s words “try something,” rather than hope for the economy to naturally recover, as many Republicans were still arguing for.
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