1950 United States elections

1950 United States elections

← 1948          1949          1950          1951          1952 → Midterm elections
Election day	November 7
Incumbent president	Harry S. Truman (Democratic)
Next Congress	82nd
Senate elections
Overall control	Democratic hold
Seats contested	36 of 96 seats (32 Class 3 seats + 6 special elections)[1]
Net seat change	Republican +5
1950 Senate election results   Democratic gain   Democratic hold   Republican gain   Republican hold
House elections
Overall control	Democratic hold
Seats contested	All 358 voting seats
Popular vote margin	Democratic +0.7%
Net seat change	Republican +28
Gubernatorial elections
Seats contested	33
Net seat change	Republican +6
1950 gubernatorial election results   Democratic hold   Republican gain   Republican hold

The 1950 United States elections were held on November 7, 1950, and elected the members of the 82nd United States Congress. The election took place during the Korean War, during Democratic President Harry S. Truman's second (only full) term. The Democrats lost twenty-eight seats to the Republican Party in the House of Representatives. The Democrats also lost five seats in the U.S. Senate to the Republicans.^[2] The defeat of the Labor Party congressman Vito Marcantonio left third parties without representation in Congress for the first time since 1908.

Like his predecessor Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1938, Truman and the Democratic party managed to maintain control of both houses, defying the six-year itch phenomenon for the second time in a row. However, the election was still a defeat for Truman, as it strengthened the conservative coalition and ensured that none of Truman's Fair Deal policies would pass. Republicans also ran against Truman's prosecution of the Korean War, and the 82nd Congress subsequently conducted numerous investigations into the course of the war. The election set the stage for the presidency of Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower and the centre-right policies of the 1950s.^[3]