| ←1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 → Midterm elections | |
| Election day | November 3 |
|---|---|
| Incumbent president | Franklin D. Roosevelt (Democratic) |
| Next Congress | 78th |
| Senate elections | |
| Overall control | Democratic hold |
| Seats contested | 35 of 96 seats (32 Class 1 seats + 4 special elections)[a] |
| Net seat change | Republican +9 |
 | |
| 1942 Senate election results Democratic gain Democratic hold | |
| House elections | |
| Overall control | Democratic hold |
| Seats contested | All 435 voting seats |
| Popular vote margin | Republican +3.8% |
| Net seat change | Republican +47 |
 | |
| 1942 House election results Democratic gain Democratic hold | |
| Gubernatorial elections | |
| Seats contested | 33 |
| Net seat change | Republican +3 |
 | |
| 1942 gubernatorial election results Democratic gain Democratic hold | |
Elections were held on November 3, 1942, and elected the members of the78th United States Congress. InDemocraticPresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt's unprecedented third mid-term election and duringWorld War II, theRepublican Party picked up seats in both chambers. Still, the Democrats retained control ofCongress.
In theHouse of Representatives, the Democrats lost forty-five seats, mostly to Republicans. The House elections took place after the1940 United States census and the subsequentcongressional re-apportionment. The Democrats also lost eight seats to the Republicans in theU.S. Senate. AnIndependent also lost his seat to a Republican in the Senate. Despite Republican gains, the Democratic Party retained control of both chambers.[1] The election was a victory for theconservative coalition, which passed theSmith-Connally Act and abolished theNational Resources Planning Board over the objections of Roosevelt.[2]
Despite the threat and propaganda ofWorld War II, voter turnout was a mere 33.9%. This is in stark contrast to other warring andAnglosphere nations during the period, with voting turnout being 71.1% in1935 and 72.8% in1945 in the UK; 69.9% in1940 and 75.3% in1945 for Canada, and 94.82% in1940 and 95.13% in1943 in Australia. This turnout was and still is historically low, with no other US biennial election yielding so small a turnout, although the2014 elections remain a close second.[3][4]
  | ThisAmerican elections-related article is astub. You can help Wikipedia byadding missing information. |