1964 United States Senate elections


The 1964 United States Senate elections coincided with the election of President Lyndon B. Johnson by an overwhelming majority, to a full term. His Democratic Party picked up a net two seats from the Republicans. As of, this is the last time either party has had a two-thirds majority in the Senate, which would have hypothetically allowed the Senate Democrats to override a veto, convict and expel certain officials, or invoke cloture without any votes from Republicans. The Senate election coincided with Democratic gains in the House in the same year.
Notably, of the 34 seats up for election this year, 25 were held by Democrats, who managed to retain 24 of them. A party defending two-thirds of the seats up for election would not make net gains in the Senate again until 2012. Coincidentally, it would be the same Senate class, class 1.

Retirements

There were no net party changes from retirements.

Republicans replaced by Republicans

  1. Arizona: Barry Goldwater retired to run for President. He was replaced by Paul Fannin

    Democrats replaced by Democrats

  2. Tennessee : Appointee Herbert S. Walters was replaced by Ross Bass

    Incumbents who lost elections

Democrats had a two-seat net gain from beating incumbents.

Democrats lost to Republicans

  1. California: Appointee Pierre Salinger lost to George Murphy.

    Democrats lost to Democrats

  2. Oklahoma : Appointee J. Howard Edmondson lost nomination to Fred R. Harris, who won the general election.

    Republicans lost to Democrats

  3. Maryland: James Glenn Beall lost to Joseph D. Tydings.
  4. New Mexico: Edwin L. Mechem lost to Joseph M. Montoya.
  5. New York: Kenneth B. Keating lost to Robert F. Kennedy.

    Other races

In a close race in Nevada, Democratic incumbent Howard Cannon won re-election over Republican Lieutenant Governor Paul Laxalt by fewer than 100 votes. Laxalt joined Cannon in the Senate when he won Nevada's other seat in 1974.

Subsequent gains

  1. Michigan: Patrick V. McNamara died April 30, 1966, and was replaced May 11, 1966 by appointee Robert P. Griffin.

    Change in Senate composition

Before the elections

After the general elections

After the November special elections

Key:

Race summary

Special elections during the 88th Congress

In these special elections, the winner was seated during 1964 or before January 3, 1965; ordered by election date, then state.

Elections leading to the next Congress

In these general elections, the winners were elected for the term beginning January 3, 1965; ordered by state.
All of the elections involved the Class 1 seats.

Arizona

Incumbent Barry Goldwater decided not to run for re-election to a third term, instead running for President of the United States as the Republican Party nominee against Lyndon B. Johnson. Governor of Arizona Paul Fannin ran unopposed in the Republican primary, and defeated Democratic nominee Roy Elson, who was a staff member for U.S. senator Carl Hayden until Hayden's retirement in 1969. Despite a landslide loss throughout the country, and Goldwater only able to obtain 50.45% of the vote in his home state of Arizona, Fannin managed to prevail in the state's Senate election.

California

Connecticut

Democrat Thomas J. Dodd was re-elected and served a second term. John Davis Lodge, grandson of Henry Cabot Lodge was defeated by almost 30%.

Delaware

Florida

Hawaii

Indiana

Maine

Maryland

Incumbent Republican John Glenn Bell lost re-election 63%-37% to U.S. Attorney Joseph D. Tydings, a Democrat.

Massachusetts

Incumbent Democrat Ted Kennedy defeated his challengers. Much of the campaign-appearance burden on behalf of Ted Kennedy fell on his wife, Joan, because of Ted's serious back injury in a plane crash.
Candidates:

Minnesota

Incumbent Democrat Eugene McCarthy defeated Republican challenger Wheelock Whitney Jr., to win a second term.

Mississippi

Missouri

Montana

Incumbent Democrat Mike Mansfield, who was first elected to the Senate in 1952 and was re-elected in 1958, ran for re-election. Mansfield won the Democratic primary in a landslide, and advanced to the general election, where he faced Alex Blewett, the Majority Leader of the Montana House of Representatives and the Republican nominee. Though Mansfield's margin was significantly reduced from 1958, he still overwhelmingly defeated Blewett and won his third term in the Senate.

Nebraska

Nevada

Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Howard Cannon won re-election to a second term by a slim margin of only 48 votes.

New Jersey

New Mexico

New Mexico (General)

Incumbent Republican Edwin L. Mechem sought re-election to a full term, but was defeated by Democrat Joseph Montoya.
Montoya was Lieutenant Governor of New Mexico and a four-term member of the U.S. House of Representatives.

New Mexico (Special)

Montoya was also elected to finish the term ending January 3, 1965.

New York

Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Kenneth Keating ran for re-election to a second term, but was defeated by Robert F. Kennedy.
The Socialist Labor state convention met on March 29 and nominated John Emanuel. The Republican state convention met on August 31, and re-nominated the incumbent U.S. Senator Kenneth B. Keating. The Conservative state convention met on August 31 at Saratoga Springs, New York, and nominated Prof. Henry Paolucci. The Democratic state convention met on September 1, and nominated U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy on the first ballot with 968 votes against 153 for Congressman Samuel S. Stratton. The Liberal Party met on September 1, and endorsed the Democratic nominee, U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy. The Socialist Workers Party filed a petition to nominate candidates on September 7. Richard Garza was nominated.
John English, a Nassau County leader who helped John F. Kennedy during the 1960 presidential election, encouraged Robert Kennedy to oppose Keating. At the time, Samuel S. Stratton, a member of the United States House of Representatives from New York's 35th congressional district, was considered the most likely Democratic candidate. At first, Kennedy resisted. After President Kennedy's assassination, Robert Kennedy remained as Attorney General for Lyndon B. Johnson. However, Johnson and Kennedy feuded. Kennedy decided to run for the Senate in New York in August, and resigned from the Cabinet on September 3, 1964. While many reform Democrats resisted Kennedy, support from Robert F. Wagner Jr., and party bosses like Charles A. Buckley, of The Bronx, and Peter J. Crotty, of Buffalo, helped Kennedy win the nomination at the party convention.
During the campaign, Kennedy was frequently met by large crowds. Keating accused Kennedy of being a carpetbagger from Massachusetts. Kennedy responded to these charges in a televised town meeting by saying, "If the senator of the state of New York is going be selected on who's lived here the longest, then I think people are going vote for my opponent. If it's going be selected on who's got the best New York accent, then I think I'm probably out too. But I think if it's going be selected on the basis of who can make the best United States senator, I think I'm still in the contest."
The Democratic/Liberal candidate was elected. Campaign help from President Lyndon B. Johnson, as well as the Democratic landslide after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, helped carry Kennedy into office, as Kennedy polled about 1.1 million votes less in New York than Johnson did. The incumbent Keating was defeated.

North Dakota

Incumbent Dem-NPL Senator Quentin Burdick sought and received re-election to his second term, defeating Republican candidate Thomas S. Kleppe, who later became the United States Secretary of the Interior.
Only Burdick filed as a Dem-NPLer, and the endorsed Republican candidate was Thomas S. Kleppe, who would go on to serve two terms as a Representative for North Dakota's second congressional district from 1967 to 1971. Burdick and Kleppe won the primary elections for their respective parties.

Ohio

Oklahoma (Special)

Pennsylvania

Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Hugh Scott successfully sought re-election to another term, defeating Democratic nominee Genevieve Blatt.

Rhode Island

Tennessee

Tennessee (General)

Democrat Albert Gore Sr. was re-elected.

Tennessee (Special)

Democrat Ross Bass won the election, he defeated Republican Howard Baker.

Texas

Incumbent Democrat Ralph Yarborough defeated future President of the United States George H. W. Bush.
Although Yarborough won this election, he would lose the Democratic Primary six years later, in 1970, to Lloyd Bentsen. Bush later went on to win an election for the United States House of Representatives in 1966; he was elected vice president of the United States in 1980 and was elected president in 1988.

Utah

Vermont

Incumbent Republican Winston L. Prouty successfully ran for re-election, defeating Democratic candidate Frederick J. Fayette.

Virginia

Incumbent Harry F. Byrd was re-elected to a sixth term, defeating Republican Richard A. May and independent James W. Respess.

Washington

West Virginia

Wisconsin

Wyoming

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