1930 United States Senate elections

1930 United States Senate elections

← 1928 November 4, 1930 1932 →
1931 (VT) →
32 of the 96 seats in the United States Senate 49 seats needed for a majority
Majority party Minority party   Leader James Watson Joseph Robinson Party Republican Democratic Leader since March 4, 1929 December 3, 1923 Leader's seat Indiana Arkansas Seats before 56 39 Seats after 48 47 Seat change 8 8 Seats up 22 13 Races won 14 21   Third party   Party Farmer–Labor Seats before 1 Seats after 1 Seat change Seats up 0 Races won 0
Clickable imagemap for the 1930 US Senate elections Results of the elections:      Democratic gain      Democratic hold      Republican gain      Republican hold      No election
Majority Leader before election James Watson Republican Elected Majority Leader James Watson Republican

The 1930 United States Senate elections occurred in the middle of Republican President Herbert Hoover's term. The 32 seats of Class 2 were contested in regular elections, and special elections were held to fill vacancies. With the Great Depression beginning to take hold, Republican incumbents became unpopular,^[1] and Democrats picked up a net of eight seats, erasing the Republican gains from the previous election cycle, however, Republicans retained control of the chamber. This was the first of four consecutive Senate elections during the Depression in which Democrats made enormous gains, achieving a cumulative pick-up of 34 seats.

In Louisiana, Democratic senator-elect Huey Long chose not to take his Senate seat until January 25, 1932, so he could remain as Governor of Louisiana. The Republicans therefore retained the plurality of seats at the beginning of the next Congress (with Vice President Charles Curtis (R) able to cast tie-breaking votes, the Republicans would have majority control).