1942 United States House of Representatives elections


The 1942 United States House of Representatives elections was held in the middle of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's third term.
The main factor that led to the Republican gains during this election cycle was concern over World War II and American involvement.
Roosevelt's Democratic Party lost 45 seats, retaining only a slender majority even though they lost the popular vote by over 1 million votes. This would not occur again until 1952, when the party who won the popular vote did not also win the majority of the House of Representatives.
As of 2019, this is the last time the House of Representatives was made up of five parties.

Overall results

PartyTotal
seats
Seat
change
Seat
percentage
Vote
percentage
Popular
vote
Republican209 4748.0%50.8%14,271,483
Democratic222 4551.0%47.0%13,181,759
Progressive2 10.4%0.7%186,982
Farmer-Labor10.2%0.5%151,684
American Labor10.2%0.3%91,283
Independent0 10.0%0.2%67,333
Socialist00.0%0.1%37,390
Communist00.0%0.1%29,659
Prohibition00.0%0.1%25,413
Townsend00.0%<0.1%9,843
Socialist Labor00.0%<0.1%1,963
National Recovery00.0%<0.1%1,705
Win the War00.0%<0.1%120
Liberal00.0%<0.1%114
Social Reconstruction00.0%<0.1%114
Independent-Labor00.0%<0.1%75
Others00.0%0.1%17,444
Totals435100.0%100.0%28,074,364

Source:

Special elections

Some special elections were held throughout the year.
Elections are listed by date and district.

Alabama

Arizona

Arizona received a second representative in reapportionment; it continued to elect both representatives at large rather than drawing districts.

Arkansas

California

Three new seats were added in reapportionment, increasing the delegation from 20 to 23 seats. Two of the new seats were won by Democrats, one by a Republican. One Republican and one Democratic incumbents lost re-election, and one vacancy was won by a Republican. Therefore, both Democrats and Republicans increased by 2 seats.

Colorado

Connecticut

Delaware

Florida

Florida received a 6th seat in reapportionment; it added an at-large district to its 5 districts rather than redrawing them.

Georgia

Idaho

Illinois

Illinois was reapportioned from 27 representatives to 26; it went from electing 2 at-large representatives to 1 without redrawing the other districts.

Indiana

Indiana was redrawn from 12 districts to 11 after reapportionment; most of the districts underwent minor boundary changes, and the old 11th district was divided up, distributing Madison County to the 5th, Hancock County to the 10th, and consolidating the parts of Marion County in the old 11th and Indianapolis-based 12th into a new 11th. This forced incumbents William Larrabee and Raymond S. Springer to run against each other in a district drawn mainly from Springer's old district.

Iowa

Iowa was redistricted from 9 to 8 districts, with the most substantial changes being merging the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th districts in northeastern Iowa down to 2 districts.

Kansas

Kansas was reapportioned from 7 districts to 6, with the central Kansas 4th district losing territory on its north and gaining most of the old 5th district around Wichita.

Kentucky

Louisiana

Maine

Maryland

Massachusetts

Massachusetts was reapportioned from 15 districts down to 14, with the most affected incumbent being Thomas H. Eliot of the former 9th, whose western Boston suburbs were moved into the 10th and 4th while his Cambridge residence was pulled into the more urban 11th, where he was defeated in the primary by James Michael Curley.

Michigan

Minnesota

Mississippi

Missouri

Montana

Nebraska

Redistricted from 5 districts down to 4; the 4th and 1st districts were merged into each other, with the other three districts all gaining some territory on the south.

Nevada

New Hampshire

New Jersey

New Mexico

Reapportioned from 1 representative to 2; both of the representatives were elected at large.

New York

North Carolina

North Carolina was reapportioned from 11 seats to 12, and reorganized the existing 10th and 11th districts into three districts.

North Dakota

Ohio

Ohio was reapportioned from 24 seats to 23, and removed one of its two at-large seats while leaving the 22 geographical districts unchanged.

Oklahoma

Oregon

Oregon redistricted from 3 districts to 4 by splitting the old 1st district and putting the southern half into a 4th district.

Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania was reapportioned from 34 to 33 representatives, and redistricted from 34 to 32 geographical districts with one new at-large district. The Philadelphia-area districts were left pretty much unchanged, with the removal of one district in north-central Pennsylvania and another in Pittsburgh and compensating adjustments to nearby districts.

Rhode Island

South Carolina

South Dakota

Tennessee

Tennessee was reapportioned from 9 districts to 10, and added an additional district in the central part of the state, allowing Davidson County to have its own district.

Texas

Utah

Vermont

Virginia

Washington

West Virginia

Wisconsin

Wyoming

Non-voting delegates

Alaska Territory