1912–13 United States Senate elections

The 1912–13 United States Senate elections were held on various dates in various states. They were the last U.S. Senate elections before the ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment in 1913, establishing direct elections for all Senate seats. Senators had been primarily chosen by state legislatures. Senators were elected over a wide range of time throughout 1912 and 1913, and a seat may have been filled months late or remained vacant due to legislative deadlock. Some states elected their senators directly even before passage of Seventeenth Amendment. 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.

1912–13 United States Senate elections
January 16, 1912 –
January 29, 1913
32 of the 96 seats in the United States Senate
49 seats needed for a majority
  Majority party Minority party
 
Leader John W. Kern Jacob H. Gallinger
Party Democratic Republican
Leader since March 4, 1911 March 4, 1911
Leader's seat Indiana New Hampshire
Seats before 43 52
Seats after 47 45
Seat change 4 7
Seats up 13 19
Seats won 17 12
Results of the elections:
     Democratic gain      Democratic hold
     Republican gain      Republican hold
     No election
Majority conference chairman before election

Shelby Moore Cullom
Republican

 Elected Majority conference chairman

John W. Kern
Democratic

In these elections, terms were up for the senators in Class 2. The Democrats gained control of the Senate for the first time in 20 years. Of the 32 seats up for election, 17 were won by Democrats, thereby gaining 4 seats from the Republicans. Two seats were unfilled by state legislators who failed to elect a new senator on time.

These elections coincided with Democrat Woodrow Wilson's victory in the presidential election amid a divide in the Republican Party. In the Senate, Joseph M. Dixon and Miles Poindexter defected from the Republican Party and joined Theodore Roosevelt's new Progressive Party. Dixon, however, lost his seat during this election.

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