1942 United States Senate election in Texas

1942 United States Senate Democratic primary in Texas

←  1941 (special) August 22, 1942 1948  →

Nominee Pappy O'Daniel James Burr V Allred Party Democratic Democratic Popular vote 451,359 433,203 Percentage 51.03% 48.97%

County results [1] O'Daniel:      50–60%     60–70%     70–80%     80–90% Allred:      50–60%     60–70%     70–80%     80–90%     >90% No vote:

U.S. senator before election Pappy O'Daniel Democratic Elected U.S. Senator Pappy O'Daniel Democratic

The 1942 United States Senate election in Texas was held on November 3, 1942. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator W. Lee "Pappy" O'Daniel was re-elected to a second term.

O'Daniel, who had only been elected to the seat in a special election the year before, narrowly fended off a primary challenge from former Governor James V. Allred. He won the general election with only nominal opposition. The Republican Party, now at its nadir in the state, did field a token candidate but did not factor in the election.

Democratic primary

Candidates

• James Burr V Allred, Judge of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas and former Governor (1935–39)
• Daniel Moody, former Governor of Texas (1927–31)
• W. Lee O'Daniel, incumbent Senator since 1941
• Floyd Ryan

Declined

• Lyndon B. Johnson, U.S. Representative and candidate for US Senate in 1941 (ran for re-election) ^[2]

Results

1942 Democratic U.S. Senate primary ^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Pappy O'Daniel (incumbent)	475,541	48.34%
	Democratic	James Burr V Allred	317,501	32.28%
	Democratic	Dan Moody	178,471	18.14%
	Democratic	Floyd E. Ryan	12,213	1.24%
Total votes			983,726	100.00%

Runoff

1942 Democratic U.S. Senate runoff ^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Pappy O'Daniel (incumbent)	451,359	51.03%
	Democratic	James Burr V Allred	433,203	48.97%
Total votes			884,562	100.00%

General election

General election results by county.

O'Daniel   60–70%   70–80%   80–90%   >90%

No vote

O'Daniel won every county in the state with over 65% of the vote. Callahan and Denton counties failed to report their results to the Texas Secretary of State in time to be canvassed, so their results are not included in the official vote totals. ^[6]

Results

1942 U.S. Senate election in Texas ^{[7] [8]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Pappy O'Daniel (incumbent)	260,629	94.90%
	Republican	Dudley Lawson	12,064	4.39%
	People's Unity	Charles L. Somerville	1,934	0.70%
Total votes			274,627	100.00%
	Democratic hold

See also

• 1942 United States Senate elections

References

1. Texas State Historical Association (1943). "Texas Almanac, 1943-1944". The Portal to Texas History. The Dallas Morning News. pp. 253–255. Retrieved June 20, 2022.
2. Caro, Robert (1990). The Years of Lyndon Johnson: Means of Ascent. New York: Alfred A. Knopf Inc. pp. 19–34. ISBN   0-394-52835-2.
3. "Our Campaigns – TX US Senate – D Primary Race – July 25, 1942". www.ourcampaigns.com.
4. "Our Campaigns – TX US Senate – D Runoff – August 22, 1942". www.ourcampaigns.com.
5. Heard, Alexander; Strong, Donald (1950). Southern Primaries and Elections 1920-1949. University of Alabama Press. pp. 179–181. ISBN   9780836955248.
6. Heard, Alexander; Strong, Donald (1950). Southern Primaries and Elections 1920-1949. University of Alabama Press. pp. 132–133. ISBN   9780836955248.
7. Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives (1943). "Statistics of the Presidential and Congressional Election of November 3, 1942" (PDF). U.S. Government Printing Office.
8. "Our Campaigns – TX US Senate Race – Nov 03, 1942". www.ourcampaigns.com.