1930 United States House of Representatives elections

The 1930 United States House of Representatives elections were elections for the United States House of Representatives to elect members to serve in the 72nd United States Congress. They were held for the most part on November 4, 1930, while Maine held theirs on September 8. They occurred in the middle of President Herbert Hoover's term.

1930 United States House of Representatives elections

November 4, 1930

All 435 seats in the United States House of Representatives
218 seats needed for a majority
  Majority party Minority party
 
Leader Nicholas Longworth John Nance Garner
Party Republican Democratic
Leader since March 4, 1923 March 4, 1929
Leader's seat Ohio 1st Texas 15th
Last election 270 seats 164 seats
Seats won 218 216
Seat change 52 52
Popular vote 13,141,932 11,026,131
Percentage 53.04% 44.50%
Swing 3.69% 2.53%

  Third party
 
Party Farmer–Labor
Last election 1 seat
Seats won 1
Seat change
Popular vote 277,739
Percentage 1.12%
Swing 0.58%

     Democratic hold      Democratic gain
     Republican hold
     Farmer–Labor hold

Speaker before election

Nicholas Longworth
Republican

Elected Speaker

John Nance Garner
Democratic

During the election cycle, the nation was entering its second year of the Great Depression, and Hoover was perceived as doing little to solve the crisis, with his personal popularity being very low. His Republican Party was initially applauded for instituting protectionist economic policies, which were intended to limit imports to stimulate the domestic market; however, after the passage of the heavily damaging Smoot-Hawley Tariff, a policy that was bitterly opposed by the Democratic Party, public opinion turned sharply against Republican policies, and the party bore the blame for the economic collapse.

While the Democrats gained 52 seats in the 1930 midterm elections, Republicans retained a narrow one-seat majority of 218 seats after the polls closed versus the Democrats' 216 seats; however, during the 13 months between these elections and the start of the 72nd Congress, 14 members-elect died (including incumbent Speaker Nicholas Longworth), and the Democrats gained an additional three seats in the special elections called to fill these vacancies, thus gaining control of the House (they held a 219–212 advantage over the Republicans when the new Congress convened).

This was the first of four consecutive Depression-era House elections in which Democrats made enormous gains, achieving a cumulative gain of 174 seats. Over the ensuing 64 years (until the 1994 midterm elections), House Republicans would be in the minority for all but four years, winning majorities only in 1946 and in 1952.

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