page_title: 1946 California's 12th congressional district election
section_title: District and campaigns
hierarchical_section_title: 1946 California's 12th congressional district election / Background / District and campaigns
caption_attribution_description: English: Jerry Voorhis, Californian Democratic member of House of Representatives.
context_page_description: An election for a seat in the United States House of Representatives took place in California's 12th congressional district on November 5, 1946, the date set by law for the elections for the 80th United States Congress. In the 12th district election, the candidates were five-term incumbent Democrat Jerry Voorhis, Republican challenger Richard Nixon, and former congressman and Prohibition Party candidate John Hoeppel. Nixon was elected with 56% of the vote, starting him on the road that would, almost a quarter century later, lead to the presidency.
  First elected to Congress in 1936, Voorhis had defeated lackluster Republican opposition four times in the then-rural Los Angeles County district to win re-election. For the 1946 election, Republicans sought a candidate who could unite the party and run a strong race against Voorhis in the Republican-leaning district. After failing to secure the candidacy of General George Patton, in November 1945 they settled on Lieutenant Commander Richard Nixon, who had lived in the district prior to his World War II service.
context_section_description: Since its creation following the 1930 census, the 12th district had been represented by Democrats. The 12th stretched from just south of Pasadena to the Orange and San Bernardino county lines, encompassing such small towns as Whittier, Pomona and Covina. The area has since been entirely absorbed into the Los Angeles megalopolis, but at the time it was principally agricultural. The freeway system had barely touched the 12th district; only a small segment of the Pasadena Freeway cut across its northwest corner.
  In 1932, John Hoeppel was elected to represent the 12th district.  In 1936, Hoeppel was vulnerable as he had been convicted for trying to sell a nomination to West Point.  Voorhis defeated Hoeppel in the Democratic primary and easily won the general election.  Voorhis, who gained a reputation as a respected and hard-working representative, nicknamed "Kid Atlas" by the press for taking the weight of the world on his shoulders, was loyal to the New Deal.
  The 12th district leaned Republican, the more so after 1941 when the Republican-dominated California State Legislature attempted to gerrymander Congressman Voorhis out of office by removing strong Democratic precincts in East Los Angeles from the district during the decennial redistricting.  The revamped 12th district had little industry and almost no union influence.  Voorhis was left with such Republican strongholds as San Marino, where he did not campaign, concluding that he would receive the same number of votes whether he visited there or not.  Despite the maneuvers of the Republicans in the legislature, Voorhis was re-elected in 1942, receiving 57% of the vote, and won with a similar percentage two years later. Voorhis had not faced strong opposition prior to 1946.  In his initial election, Voorhis benefited from the Roosevelt landslide of 1936.  His 1938 opponent was so shy that Voorhis had to introduce him to the crowd at a joint appearance.  In 1940, he faced Captain Irwin Minger, a little-known commandant of a military school, and his 1942 opponent, radio preacher and former Prohibition Party gubernatorial candidate Robert P. Shuler, "embarrassed GOP regulars". In 1944, the 12th district Republicans were bitterly divided, and Voorhis easily triumphed.
caption: Jerry Voorhis
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