No sitting MLA's retired at this election. This was one of the few elections in which the Labor party allowed more than one candidate to run against a sitting MP, namely in the seat of Kalgoorlie. James Cunningham was defeated by fellow Labor candidate Herbert Styants, and Cunningham transferred to the Australian Senate the following year.
At the election, 5 sitting members (four Labor and one Nationalist) were defeated—three of them by independents. In Maylands, one-term MLA Robert Clothier (Labor) was defeated by independent Nationalist Harry Shearn, who won with preferences from two endorsed nationalists. In East Perth, Minister for Employment and Labour James Kenneally was defeated by former Labor member Thomas Hughes, and the Nationalist member for Nelson, John Henry Smith, was defeated by independent Clarence Doust. The remaining seats, Subiaco and Albany, were lost by Labor to the Nationalist and Country parties respectively.
1 247,465 electors were enrolled to vote at the election, but 15 of the 50 seats were uncontested—10 Labor seats representing 33,038 enrolled voters, 1 Nationalist seat representing 3,933 voters and 4 Country seats representing 16,284 voters.