1954 United States House of Representatives elections
District Incumbent Party First elected Result Candidates
South Carolina 1 L. Mendel Rivers Democratic 1940 Incumbent re-elected √ L. Mendel Rivers ( Democratic ) 97.7% Mrs. John E. Messervey ( Republican ) 2.3%
South Carolina 2 John J. Riley Democratic 1950 Incumbent re-elected √ John J. Riley ( Democratic ) 97.7% I. S. Leevy ( Republican ) 2.3%
South Carolina 3 William Jennings Bryan Dorn Democratic 1950 Incumbent re-elected √ William Jennings Bryan Dorn ( Democratic ) 99.4% C. M. Smith ( Republican ) 0.6%
South Carolina 4 Robert T. Ashmore Democratic 1953 Incumbent re-elected √ Robert T. Ashmore ( Democratic ) 99.2% Mrs. Lena Bellotts ( Republican ) 0.8%
South Carolina 5 James P. Richards Democratic 1932 Incumbent re-elected √ James P. Richards ( Democratic ) Unopposed
South Carolina 6 John L. McMillan Democratic 1938 Incumbent re-elected √ John L. McMillan ( Democratic ) 98.9% Vernon Johnson ( Republican ) 1.1%
South Carolina
Main article : 1954 United States House of Representatives elections in South Carolina See also : List of United States Representatives from South Carolina
The 1954 United States House of Representatives elections was an election for the United States House of Representatives in 1954 which occurred in the middle of President Dwight Eisenhower's first term. Eisenhower's Republican Party lost eighteen seats in the House, giving the Democratic Party a majority that it would retain in every House election until 1994. Perhaps the major reason for the Republican defeat was the backlash against the Army-McCarthy Hearings, in which prominent Republican Senator Joe McCarthy accused countless political and intellectual figures of having Communist ties, usually with no evidence. Another issue was the Dixon-Yates contract to supply power to the Atomic Energy Commission. Sam Rayburn of Texas became Speaker of the House, exchanging places with new Minority Leader Joseph W. Martin Jr. of Massachusetts; they went back to what they had been before the 1952 U.S. House elections.