1942 United States House of Representatives elections

1942 United States House of Representatives elections
All 435 seats in the United States House of Representatives; 218 seats needed for a majority
Speaker before election; Sam Rayburn; Democratic	Elected Speaker ; Sam Rayburn; Democratic

The 1942 United States House of Representatives elections were elections for the United States House of Representatives to elect members to serve in the 78th United States Congress. They were held for the most part on November 3, 1942, while Maine held theirs on September 14. This was the first election after the congressional reapportionment based on the 1940 census, and was held in the middle of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third term. With involvement in World War II, it was the first wartime election in the United States since 1918.^[1]

Quick Facts All 435 seats in the United States House of Representatives 218 seats needed for a majority, Majority party ...

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Roosevelt's Democratic Party lost 45 seats to the Republican Party, retaining only a slender majority even though they lost the popular vote by over 1 million votes (3.9%). 1942 remains the most recent election in which Democrats won a majority in the House without a majority of votes, and only the second time in the 20th century that this occurred, after 1914.

This was the most successful congressional election for Republicans since 1930, and the first time since that election cycle that the House GOP actually won the popular vote.^[2] The main factor that led to the Republican gains during this election cycle was dissatisfaction with the conduct of America's war effort in World War II.^[1]

As of 2024^[update], this was the last time the House of Representatives was made up of five parties. This was also the smallest House majority that the Democrats had up until the 2020 elections. Voter turnout was historically low for the time, which was attributed to the absence of military men and the apathy of workers at war production plants, many of whom had failed to re-register to vote in their new communities or become accustomed to local candidates.^[1]

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222	1	1	2	209
Democratic	AL	FL	P	Republican

More information Party, Total seats ...

Party		Total seats	Seat change	Seat percentage	Vote percentage	Popular vote
	Republican	209	47	48.0%	50.8%	14,271,483
	Democratic	222	45	51.0%	47.0%	13,181,759
	Progressive	2	1	0.4%	0.7%	186,982
	Farmer-Labor	1		0.2%	0.5%	151,684
	American Labor	1		0.2%	0.3%	91,283
	Independent	0	1	0.0%	0.2%	67,333
	Socialist	0		0.0%	0.1%	37,390
	Communist	0		0.0%	0.1%	29,659
	Prohibition	0		0.0%	0.1%	25,413
	Townsend	0		0.0%	<0.1%	9,843
	Socialist Labor	0		0.0%	<0.1%	1,963
	National Recovery	0		0.0%	<0.1%	1,705
	Win the War	0		0.0%	<0.1%	120
	Liberal	0		0.0%	<0.1%	114
	Social Reconstruction	0		0.0%	<0.1%	114
	Independent-Labor	0		0.0%	<0.1%	75
	Others	0		0.0%	0.1%	17,444
Totals		435		100.0%	100.0%	28,074,364

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Source: Election Statistics - Office of the Clerk

More information Popular vote ...

Popular vote

Republican			50.83%
Democratic			46.95%
Progressive			0.67%
Farmer-Labor			0.54%
American Labor			0.33%
Others			0.68%

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More information House seats ...

House seats

Democratic			51.03%
Republican			48.05%
Progressive			0.46%
American Labor			0.23%
Farmer-Labor			0.23%

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More information House seats by party holding plurality in state, Change in seats ...