1946 Iowa Senate election

The 1946 Iowa State Senate elections took place as part of the biennial 1946 United States elections. Iowa voters elected state senators in 23 of the state senate's 50 districts. State senators serve four-year terms in the Iowa State Senate.

A statewide map of the 50 state Senate districts in the 1946 elections is provided by the Iowa General Assembly here.

The primary election on June 3, 1946, determined which candidates appeared on the November 5, 1946 general election ballot.^[1]^[2]

Following the previous election, Republicans had control of the Iowa state Senate with 45 seats to Democrats' 5 seats.

To claim control of the chamber from Republicans, the Democrats needed to net 21 Senate seats.

Republicans maintained control of the Iowa State Senate following the 1946 general election with the balance of power shifting to Republicans holding 46 seats and Democrats having 4 seats (a net gain of 1 seat for Republicans).

Summary of Results

Note: The 27 holdover Senators not up for re-election are not listed on this table.^[3]

State Senate District	Incumbent		Incoming Senator
1st	Stanley Lawrence Hart	Rep	Stanley Lawrence Hart	Rep
6th	Ole John Kirketeg	Rep	Kathlyn M. Kirketeg	Rep
7th	Carl Oscar Sjulin	Rep	Earl C. Fishbaugh	Rep
9th	Frederick P. Cromwell	Rep	William Nielsen Skourup	Rep
10th	Harlan C. Foster	Rep	Harlan C. Foster	Rep
12th	Luke Vittetoe	Rep	Luke Vittetoe	Rep
13th	Elmer K. Bekman	Rep	Elmer K. Bekman	Rep
16th	Harry Samuel Love	Rep	John Lyle Musmaker	Rep
18th	Edward Speer White	Rep	Jay C. Colburn	Rep
20th	Floyd J. Pine	Rep	Herman B. Lord	Rep
21st	Frank D. Martin	Rep	Frank D. Martin	Rep
22nd	Otto H. Henningsen	Rep	Otto H. Henningsen	Rep
29th	Ross Rutledge Mowry	Rep	Fred Maytag	Rep
30th	George M. Faul	Rep	George M. Faul	Rep
34th	Robert W. Harvey	Rep	Eli Clarence Myrland	Rep
35th	Robert C. Reilly	Dem	Robert C. Reilly	Dem
37th	George Raymond Hill	Rep	Rex R. Bateson	Rep
38th	John Peter Berg	Rep	John Peter Berg	Rep
42nd	Edward Henry Vrba	Dem	William Linnevold	Rep
44th	Ralph W. Zastrow	Rep	Ralph W. Zastrow	Rep
45th	Richard V. Leo	Rep	Richard V. Leo	Rep
48th	Ralph E. Benson	Rep	Ralph E. Benson	Rep
50th	Albert Josiah Shaw	Rep	Jacob Frederick Miller	Rep

Source:^[4]

Detailed Results

NOTE: The 27 districts that did not hold elections in 1946 are not listed here.

District 1 • District 6 • District 7 • District 9 • District 10 • District 12 • District 13 • District 16 • District 18 • District 20 • District 21 • District 22 • District 29 • District 30 • District 34 • District 35 • District 37 • District 38 • District 42 • District 44 • District 45 • District 48 • District 50

Note: If a district does not list a primary, then that district did not have a competitive primary (i.e., there may have only been one candidate file for that district).^[5]

District 1

Iowa Senate, District 1 General Election, 1946
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Stanley L. Hart (incumbent)	6,445	56.9
	Democratic	Orville Meyer	4,877	43.1
Total votes			11,322	100.0
	Republican hold

District 6

Iowa Senate, District 6 General Election, 1946
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Kathlyn M. Kirketeg	4,486	100.0
Total votes			4,486	100.0
	Republican hold

District 7

Iowa Senate, District 7 General Election, 1946
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Earl C. Fishbaugh, Jr.	5,896	100.0
Total votes			5,896	100.0
	Republican hold

District 9

Iowa Senate, District 9 General Election, 1946
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	W. N. Skourup	4,859	52.5
	Democratic	John Dunn Martin	4,399	47.5
Total votes			9,258	100.0
	Republican hold

District 10

Iowa Senate, District 10 General Election, 1946
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Harlan C. Foster (incumbent)	6,394	68.8
	Democratic	Ralph H. Smutz	2,900	31.2
Total votes			9,294	100.0
	Republican hold

District 12

Iowa Senate, District 12 General Election, 1946
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Luke Vittetoe (incumbent)	7,076	100.0
Total votes			7,076	100.0
	Republican hold

District 13

Iowa Senate, District 13 General Election, 1946
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	E. K. Bekman (incumbent)	6,583	53.6
	Democratic	John B. Shea	5,700	46.4
Total votes			12,283	100.0
	Republican hold

District 16

Iowa Senate, District 16 General Election, 1946
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	J. Lyle Musmaker	4,621	69.1
	Democratic	John K. Sawyer	2,071	30.9
Total votes			6,692	100.0
	Republican hold

District 18

Iowa Senate, District 18 Republican Primary Election, 1946
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Jay C. Colburn	1,493	50.7
	Republican	Julius A. Lensch	1,451	49.3
Total votes			2,944	100.0

Iowa Senate, District 18 General Election, 1946
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Jay C. Colburn	6,243	65.6
	Democratic	Lars P. Nielsen	3,274	34.4
Total votes			9,517	100.0
	Republican hold

District 20

Iowa Senate, District 20 Republican Primary Election, 1946
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Herman B. Lord	2,415	52.2
	Republican	F. A. (Ted) Latchaw	2,211	47.8
Total votes			4,626	100.0

Iowa Senate, District 20 General Election, 1946
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Herman B. Lord	6,285	67.2
	Democratic	Gale McClean	3,069	32.8
Total votes			9,354	100.0
	Republican hold

District 21

Iowa Senate, District 21 General Election, 1946
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Frank D. Martin (incumbent)	12,226	59.9
	Democratic	Walter Dietz	8,181	40.1
Total votes			20,407	100.0
	Republican hold

District 22

Iowa Senate, District 22 General Election, 1946
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	O. H. Henningsen (incumbent)	8,140	64.5
	Democratic	Robert C. Redman	4,482	35.5
Total votes			12,622	100.0
	Republican hold

District 29

Iowa Senate, District 29 Republican Primary Election, 1946
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Fred Maytag	2,417	77.1
	Republican	Ross R. Mowry (incumbent)	719	22.9
Total votes			3,136	100.0

Iowa Senate, District 29 General Election, 1946
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Fred Maytag	4,799	60.7
	Democratic	W. Russell Hayes	3,108	39.3
Total votes			7,907	100.0
	Republican hold

District 30

Iowa Senate, District 30 Republican Primary Election, 1946
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	George Faul (incumbent)	9,168	54.2
	Republican	Harris M. Coggeshall	7,737	45.8
Total votes			16,905	100.0

Iowa Senate, District 30 General Election, 1946
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	George Faul (incumbent)	24,563	56.7
	Democratic	George E. O'Malley	18,721	43.3
Total votes			43,284	100.0
	Republican hold

District 34

Iowa Senate, District 34 General Election, 1946
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	E. C. Myrland	7,726	52.2
	Democratic	William M. Tatum	7,065	47.8
Total votes			14,791	100.0
	Republican hold

District 35

Iowa Senate, District 35 General Election, 1946
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Robert C. Reilly (incumbent)	8,757	100.0
Total votes			8,757	100.0
	Democratic hold

District 37

Iowa Senate, District 37 General Election, 1946
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	G. R. Hill (incumbent)	9,068	100.0
Total votes			9,068	100.0
	Republican hold

Senator Hill resigned from the Senate before being sworn in to another term. This necessitated a special election.

Iowa Senate, District 37 Special Election, January 6, 1947
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	R. R. Bateson	2,440	47.8
	Democratic	Frank J. Lund	2,258	44.2
	Independent	William Schmedika	409	8.0
Total votes			5,107	100.0
	Republican hold

District 38

Iowa Senate, District 38 General Election, 1946
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	John P. Berg (incumbent)	12,246	64.1
	Democratic	Emery W. Loomis	6,859	35.9
Total votes			19,105	100.0
	Republican hold

District 42

Iowa Senate, District 42 Republican Primary Election, 1946
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	William Linnevold	2,166	65.4
	Republican	E. T. Haugen	1,148	34.6
Total votes			3,314	100.0

Iowa Senate, District 42 General Election, 1946
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	William Linnevold	6,560	54.1
	Democratic	Ed Vrba (incumbent)	5,568	45.9
Total votes			12,128	100.0
	Republican gain from Democratic

District 44

Iowa Senate, District 44 General Election, 1946
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Ralph W. Zastrow (incumbent)	5,347	58.5
	Democratic	Stanley Keating	3,800	41.5
Total votes			9,147	100.0
	Republican hold

District 45

Iowa Senate, District 45 General Election, 1946
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Richard V. Leo (incumbent)	6,793	100.0
Total votes			6,793	100.0
	Republican hold

District 48

Iowa Senate, District 48 Republican Primary Election, 1946
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Ralph E. Benson (incumbent)	1,968	50.6
	Republican	Carroll A. Lane	1,924	49.4
Total votes			3,892	100.0

Iowa Senate, District 48 General Election, 1946
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Ralph E. Benson (incumbent)	6,711	55.2
	Democratic	Peter F. Hansen	5,442	44.8
Total votes			12,153	100.0
	Republican hold

District 50

Iowa Senate, District 50 Republican Primary Election, 1946
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	J. F. Miller	3,209	51.4
	Republican	Guy E. Mack	3,033	48.6
Total votes			6,242	100.0

Iowa Senate, District 50 General Election, 1946
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	J. F. Miller	6,253	61.0
	Democratic	LeRoy A. Rader	3,999	39.0
Total votes			10,252	100.0
	Republican hold

References

^ "Primary Election 1946 For State Senator" (PDF). Iowa Official Register. Retrieved June 15, 2020.
^ "General Election 1946 For State Senator" (PDF). Iowa Official Register. Retrieved June 15, 2020.
^ "Holdover State Senators" (PDF). Iowa Official Register. Retrieved June 15, 2020.
^ "Legislators". Iowa State Senate. Retrieved June 15, 2020.
^ "Primary Election for State Senator 1946" (PDF). Iowa Official Register. Retrieved June 15, 2020.

[1] "Primary Election 1946 For State Senator" (PDF). Iowa Official Register. Retrieved June 15, 2020.

[2] "General Election 1946 For State Senator" (PDF). Iowa Official Register. Retrieved June 15, 2020.

[3] "Holdover State Senators" (PDF). Iowa Official Register. Retrieved June 15, 2020.

[4] "Legislators". Iowa State Senate. Retrieved June 15, 2020.

[5] "Primary Election for State Senator 1946" (PDF). Iowa Official Register. Retrieved June 15, 2020.

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