An earlier Operation Torch and the 1942 US elections

In discussing the reasons for the rather disappointing (for New Dealers) election results of 1942, Roger Daniels writes

"An understandable impatience with the lack of positive results in the war against the European Axis encouraged apathy. One factor that Roosevelt had hoped for for when he set the date of the North African invasion to take place by October 30 was a patriotic 'bounce,' but shipping difficulties delayed the landings from four days before the election to five days after it." https://books.google.com/books?id=PNCyCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA296

OK, let's say that it turns out to be possible to launch Torch a few days before the election. Let's ignore military effects (if any) and focus solely on its effect on the US elections. If it does help Democrats, even a little, maybe Glen Taylor (the left-wing "singing cowboy" who later became Henry Wallace's running mate) wins in Idaho, and Prentiss M. Brown defeats Homer Ferguson in Michigan. https://en.wikipedia.org/…/United_States_Senate_elections,_… But I think those are the only two Senate races that the Democrats lost narrowly enough in OTL for any Torch "bounce" to make the difference.

I'm trying to think what difference two additional Democrats would make, and my first thought was that maybe FDR's veto of the Smith-Connally Act would be sustained. But on looking it up, I see the veto was overridden 56-25--so even two more pro-labor votes wouldn't make a difference (54-27 is just enough to override). https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/78-1943/s61

Presumably a few close House races might also be affected. I would have to look up governorships, but the most important Republican victories there--by Warren in California, Stassen in Minnesota, Dewey in New York, etc.--were not narrow.

This is assuming there *will* be a slight boost for the Democrats, but is even that certain? Maybe there is some (not entirely unjustified!) cynicism about the timing of the invasion?...
 
Ordering the attack say a month or two earlier would have some interesting effects namely Rommel now has an excuse he can use to pull back from Egypt and to more defensable positions in Libya. Where it goes from there is up in the air.
 
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cpip

Gone Fishin'
Let's ignore military effects (if any) and focus solely on its effect on the US elections.

Ordering the attack say a month or two earlier would have some interesting effects namely Rommel now has an excuse he can use to pull back from Egypt and to more defensable positions in Libya. Where it goes from there is up in the air.

I'd clap if I wasn't shaking my head.

To get back to OP's request, there's only a handful of House elections that are close enough too -- six, really (IL-20, MD-4, MO-11, OR-3, OR-4, and PA-22) where it was so close that a smidgen could've tipped it the other way -- but the Democratic majority in the House was preserved regardless; a 228-203 majority doesn't give a big difference from a 222-209 majority, and while butterflies might suggest that a promising political career was squelched or delayed, I'm not sure we want to go down that rabbit hole here.

Perhaps Roosevelt thought there'd be more of a bounce than I'm estimating.[/QUOTE]
 
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