United States Senate elections, 1908

United States Senate elections, 1908

1908

30 of the 92 seats in the United States Senate 46 seats needed for a majority   Majority party Minority party   Party Republican Democratic Last election 61 seats 31 seats Seats won 60 32 Seat change 1 1

Majority Party before election Republican Elected Majority Party Republican

Some states elected their Senators directly even before passage of the 17th Amendment in 1913. Oregon pioneered direct election and experimented with different measures over several years until it succeeded in 1907. Soon after, Nebraska followed suit and laid the foundation for other states to adopt measures reflecting the people's will. By 1912, as many as 29 states elected senators either as nominees of their party's primary or in conjunction with a general election. The Republicans lost one seat to the Democrats.

Results

Senate Party Division, 61st Congress (1909–1911):

• Majority Party: Republican (60 seats)
• Minority Party: Democratic (32 seats)
• Other Parties: 0
• Total Seats: 92

Change in Senate composition

Before the elections D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R

In the next Congress D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R

Key:	D = Democratic R = Republican	Majority divider

References

• Party Division in the Senate, 1789-Present, via Senate.gov