1938 United States Senate election in Maryland

1938 United States Senate election in Maryland

← 1932 November 8, 1938 1944 →

Nominee Millard Tydings Oscar Leser Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 357,245 153,253 Percentage 68.28% 29.29%

County results Tydings:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%

U.S. senator before election Millard Tydings Democratic Elected U.S. Senator Millard Tydings Democratic

Elections in Maryland
Federal government Presidential elections 1788–89 1792 1796 1800 1804 1808 1812 1816 1820 1824 1828 1832 1836 1840 1844 1848 1852 1856 1860 1864 1868 1872 1876 1880 1884 1888 1892 1896 1900 1904 1908 1912 1916 1920 1924 1928 1932 1936 1940 1944 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 2020 2024 Presidential primaries Democratic 2000 2004 2008 2016 2020 2024 Republican 2008 2012 2016 2020 2024 U.S. Senate elections 1788 1790 1791 1793 1793 sp 1795 1796 1796 sp 1797 sp 1800 sp 1801 sp 1802 1806 1806 sp 1808 1809 1813 sp 1816 sp 1819 1819 sp 1821 1822 sp 1825 1826 sp 1827 1831 1833 1835 sp 1836 sp 1837 1838 sp 1839 1839 sp 1841 sp 1843 1849 1850 sp 1851 1855 1861 1864 sp 1865 sp 1868 sp 1874 1878 1880 1884 1886 1890 1892 1892 sp 1896 1898 1902 1904 1908 1908 sp 1910 1913 sp 1916 1914 1920 1922 1928 1926 1932 1934 1938 1940 1944 1946 1950 1952 1956 1958 1962 1964 1968 1970 1974 1976 1980 1982 1986 1988 1992 1994 1998 2000 2004 2006 2010 2012 2016 2018 2022 2024 U.S. House of Representatives elections 1789 1790 1791 3rd sp 1792 1793 2nd sp 1794 2nd sp 3rd sp 1796 2nd sp 3rd sp 1798 7th sp 1801 1802 2nd sp 1803 1804 4th sp 1806 7th sp 1808 1810 4th sp 7th sp 1811 6th sp 1812 1814 1816 3rd sp 5th sp 1818 1820 1822 1823 5th sp 1824 1826 2nd sp 1829 1831 1832 6th sp 1833 1834 1st sp 1835 1837 1839 1841 1843 1844 1845 1847 1849 1851 1853 1855 1857 1859 1861 1863 1864 1866 1868 1870 1872 1874 1876 1878 1880 1882 1884 1886 1888 1890 1892 1st sp 1894 1st sp 5th sp 1896 1898 1900 1st sp 1902 1904 1906 1908 1910 1912 1913 3rd sp 1914 1st sp 1916 1918 2nd sp 1920 1922 1924 5th sp 1926 1928 1930 1932 4th sp 1934 1936 1938 1939 1st sp 5th sp 1940 1941 6th sp 1942 1944 1946 1947 3rd sp 1948 1950 1952 1954 1956 1958 1960 1962 1964 1966 1968 1970 1971 1st sp 1972 1973 1st sp 1974 1976 1978 1980 1981 5th sp 1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 7th sp 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 4th sp 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020 7th sp 2022 2024 6th
State government General elections 2006 2010 2020 2022 2024 Gubernatorial elections 1838 1841 1844 1847 1850 1853 1857 1861 1864 1867 1871 1875 1879 1883 1887 1891 1895 1899 1903 1907 1911 1915 1919 1923 1926 1930 1934 1938 1942 1946 1950 1954 1958 1962 1966 1969 sp 1970 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022 Attorney General elections 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022 Comptroller elections 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022 Senate elections 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022 House of Delegates elections 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022
County government County executive elections 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022 County offices 2006 2010 2018 2022
Ballot measures 1992 Question 6 2012 Question 6 2022 Question 4 2024 Abortion referendum
Annapolis Mayoral elections 2017 2021
Baltimore Mayoral elections 1899 1903 1907 1911 1915 1919 1923 1927 1931 1935 1939 1943 1947 1951 1955 1959 1963 1967 1971 1975 1979 1983 1987 1991 1995 1999 2003–04 2007 2011 2016 2020 2024 Ballot measures Question P
Government
v t e

The 1938 United States Senate election in Maryland was held on November 8, 1938. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Millard Tydings was re-elected to a third term in office, easily defeating Republican Oscar Leser.

Primary elections were held on September 12. faced a primary challenge from U.S. Representative David John Lewis, who was backed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the President's attempt to purge the Democratic Party of conservatives. He survived comfortably by a two-to-one margin. Leser defeated Galen L. Tait for the Republican nomination.

As of 2023^[update], this was the last time a Democratic candidate for Senate won every county in Maryland.

Democratic primary

Candidates

• Arthur E. Hungerford
• David John Lewis, U.S. Representative from Cumberland
• Millard Tydings, incumbent Senator since 1927

Campaign

Senator Millard Tydings, a member of the conservative Southern wing of the Democratic Party, was opposed to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal from the beginning and voted against most of its provisions.^[1][2] Though Tydings began reconciliation with the administration over growing international concerns, Roosevelt's top priority in the 1938 midterms remained economic recovery and the Second New Deal.^[3] He privately told Interior Secretary Harold L. Ickes to "take Tydings' hide off and rub salt in it."^[2] Aware of Roosevelt's opposition and popularity, Tydings publicly insisted he supported the "bone and sinew" of the New Deal and that claims of his opposition were "silly propaganda."^[2]

The Roosevelt administration faced an uphill battle from the start. Tydings retained the backing of junior Senator George L. P. Radcliffe, a New Deal supporter who had been unaware that Roosevelt would target Tydings.^[2] The White House settled on U.S. Representative David John Lewis as their preferred candidate only after Lewis and Tydings had announced re-election campaigns and many county organizations had endorsed both men. Once Lewis did announce his challenge to Senator Tydings, leading Maryland Democrats declared neutrality.^[2]

Lewis, a former mine worker, did retain the backing of the labor movement in the state, including endorsements from the American Federation of Labor and John L. Lewis. Additional praise from the Maryland Communist Party, however, may have hampered his campaign.^[2] Tydings attacked Lewis for his ties to organized labor and appealed to unorganized farmers instead, while Lewis labeled Tydings a "Tory Republican" for his ties to the American Liberty League and support from Republican voters.^[2]

Roosevelt himself worked to rally support for Lewis by dispatching political allies to the state and leaning on donors to support the campaign. He entered the campaign personally in August by praising Lewis in the press as a "legislative father" of Social Security and approvingly reciting an editorial arguing Tydings "had betrayed the New Deal in the past and will again." On Labor Day weekend, he campaigned on the conservative Eastern Shore, culminating in a speech in Denton. Though the speech did not mention Tydings by name, Roosevelt praised Lewis and criticized the idea of a politician who would "pretend to be one [thing] and act like the other."^[2]

Tydings evaded ideological attacks, maintaining that he was "not running particularly as an Old Dealer nor particularly as a New Dealer but I hope as a square dealer."^[2] He framed his campaign as a defense of states' rights against individual rule by Roosevelt, which he referred to as an "invasion."^[2] Tydings supporters accused Roosevelt of a move toward "dictatorship," with one editorial calling him Stalin, Mussolini, and Hitler "rolled into one" with "a Harvard accent and a billion dollar smile." The Chicago Tribune framed the race as "Americanism against communism."^[2]

Results

Tydings easily survived the challenge. He may have benefited from the fact that sixty thousand of the Black voters who supported Roosevelt in the 1936 presidential election were registered Republicans.^[4]

1938 Democratic U.S. Senate primary^[5][6][7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Millard Tydings (inc.)	189,719	58.86%
	Democratic	David John Lewis	124,439	38.60%
	Democratic	Arthur E. Hungerford	8,186	2.54%
Total votes			322,344	100.00%

Aftermath

Ultimately, Tydings reconciled with the Roosevelt administration in response to the outbreak of World War II. He was an energetic supporter of the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940, supported repeal of the American arms embargo, and voted in favor of the Lend-Lease Act.^[4]

Republican primary

Candidates

• Oscar Leser, Baltimore City Judge and tax reform activist^[8]
• Galen L. Tait, former Chair of the Maryland Republican Party^[9][10]

Results

1938 Republican U.S. Senate primary^[5][6][11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Oscar Leser	48,716	56.69%
	Republican	Galen L. Tait	37,225	43.32%
Total votes			85,941	100.00%

General election

Results

1938 U.S. Senate election in Maryland^[12][13][14]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Millard Tydings (inc.)	357,245	68.28%
	Republican	Oscar Leser	153,253	29.29%
	Union	George W. Hunt	5,784	1.11%
	Socialist	Elisabeth Gilman	3,311	0.63%
	Labor[a]	Frank N.H. Lang	2,330	0.45%
	Communist	Harry Straw	1,301	0.25%
	Democratic	David John Lewis (write-in)	12	0.00%
	Write-in	All others	2	0.00%
Total votes			523,238	100.00%
	Democratic hold

Results by county

County	Millard E. Tydings Democratic		Oscar Leser Republican		George W. Hunt Union		Elisabeth Gilman Socialist		Other Other		Margin		Total Votes Cast
	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%
Allegany	13658	53.58%	10885	42.70%	134	0.53%	228	0.89%	588	2.31%	2773	10.88%	25493
Anne Arundel	13136	67.66%	5882	30.29%	64	0.33%	160	0.82%	174	0.90%	7254	37.36%	19416
Baltimore (City)	162132	68.56%	67092	28.37%	4818	2.04%	1712	0.72%	712	0.30%	95040	40.19%	236466
Baltimore (County)	33389	73.19%	11014	24.14%	396	0.87%	389	0.85%	431	0.94%	22375	49.05%	45619
Calvert	2363	61.87%	1410	36.92%	2	0.05%	7	0.18%	37	0.97%	953	24.95%	3819
Caroline	4061	67.62%	1857	30.92%	14	0.23%	21	0.35%	53	0.88%	2204	36.70%	6006
Carroll	8859	68.04%	3994	30.67%	38	0.29%	77	0.59%	53	0.41%	4865	37.36%	13021
Cecil	6233	70.83%	2426	27.57%	14	0.16%	39	0.44%	88	1.00%	3807	43.26%	8800
Charles	2440	73.47%	856	25.78%	5	0.15%	4	0.12%	16	0.48%	1584	47.70%	3321
Dorchester	5853	61.04%	3604	37.58%	26	0.27%	25	0.26%	81	0.84%	2249	23.45%	9589
Frederick	12048	63.13%	6673	34.96%	50	0.26%	82	0.43%	232	1.22%	5375	28.16%	19085
Garrett	2951	51.28%	2634	45.77%	17	0.30%	54	0.94%	99	1.72%	317	5.51%	5755
Harford	8424	76.57%	2460	22.36%	7	0.06%	35	0.32%	75	0.68%	5964	54.21%	11001
Howard	4609	69.21%	1966	29.52%	16	0.24%	12	0.18%	56	0.84%	2643	39.69%	6659
Kent	3458	68.08%	1581	31.13%	3	0.06%	19	0.37%	18	0.35%	1877	36.96%	5079
Montgomery	17583	74.94%	5557	23.68%	36	0.15%	142	0.61%	145	0.62%	12026	51.26%	23463
Prince George's	14673	73.37%	4941	24.71%	47	0.24%	104	0.52%	233	1.17%	9732	48.66%	19998
Queen Anne's	3998	72.30%	1467	26.53%	5	0.09%	15	0.27%	45	0.81%	2531	45.77%	5530
St. Mary's	3092	70.42%	1230	28.01%	14	0.32%	13	0.30%	42	0.96%	1862	42.40%	4391
Somerset	5032	67.16%	2412	32.19%	5	0.07%	14	0.19%	30	0.40%	2620	34.97%	7493
Talbot	4793	68.45%	2130	30.42%	6	0.09%	35	0.50%	38	0.54%	2663	38.03%	7002
Washington	13576	64.62%	7005	33.34%	51	0.24%	94	0.45%	284	1.35%	6571	31.28%	21010
Wicomico	6450	69.59%	2717	29.31%	13	0.14%	19	0.20%	70	0.76%	3733	40.27%	9269
Worcester	4434	74.66%	1460	24.58%	3	0.05%	11	0.19%	31	0.52%	2974	50.08%	5939
Total	357245	68.28%	153253	29.29%	5784	1.11%	3311	0.63%	3631	0.69%	203992	38.99%	523224

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democrat

• Garrett

See also

• 1938 United States Senate elections
• 1938 United States elections

References

Notes

Bibliography

• Dunn, Susan (2010). Roosevelt's Purge: How FDR Fought to Change the Democratic Party. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. Retrieved June 26, 2022.