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 County results Church: 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% Welker: 40–50% 50-60% | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Elections in Idaho |
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The 1956 United States Senate election in Idaho took place on November 6, 1956. Incumbent Republican Senator Herman Welker was defeated for re-election by Democratic nominee Frank Church.
Primary elections were held on August 14, 1956. [1]
The primary race was described as "the most colorful primary in the history of the state". Taylor was the last to enter the race and although he had a certain amount of popular support, he was unpopular with Democratic office holders because of his left wing beliefs and idiosyncratic style. [3]
Taylor contested the close defeat, claiming irregularities but the State Board of Canvassers confirmed Church's narrow victory over Taylor on August 25. [4] [5]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Frank Church | 27,942 | 37.75 | |
| Democratic | Glen H. Taylor | 27,742 | 37.48 | |
| Democratic | Claude J. Burtenshaw | 11,738 | 15.86 | |
| Democratic | Alvin McCormack | 6,596 | 8.91 | |
| Total votes | 74,018 | |||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Herman Welker (incumbent) | 31,399 | 42.51 | |
| Republican | William S. Holden | 21,081 | 28.54 | |
| Republican | Ray J. Davis | 12,349 | 16.72 | |
| Republican | John C. Sanborn | 8,261 | 11.18 | |
| Republican | Mark Streeter | 774 | 1.05 | |
| Total votes | 73,864 | |||
Church's campaign contrasted his fitness with that of Welker. His slogan, "Idaho Will Be Proud of Frank Church", was a major asset to his campaign. Church also campaigned on an internationalist plank, in favor of a publicly owned Hells Canyon Dam and was conservative on money matters. [9]
Welker's campaign, which focused heavily on anti-Communism, a decision that proved to be a weak political foundation. [10] The Welker campaign also ran on his record, as well as the "Herman letter", in which President Eisenhower endorsed Welker's candidacy, although he pointedly refused to campaign in person for Welker. [11]
One of the issues was whether the proposed Hells Canyon Dam would be a single "high dam" (which would have been publicly built and owned) or a private three dam project. Welker wanted a private dam with one of Church's aides saying "The campaign was Frank Church against Idaho Power. They fought him tooth and nail." [12] Church was for a high dam, although the Western Political Quarterly described his support for the high dam as "mild", [13] Lyndon Johnson's biographer Robert Caro says that this was the central issue in this election and the Governor's election in the same year, and noted that Church's maiden speech was on the dam. [12]
Taylor decided to run as a write-in candidate [14] [15] and labelled Church a candidate of "corporate interests". [16]
1956 should have been a good year for a Republican candidate with Eisenhower winning a plurality of 61,111 in Idaho. [17]
The defeat increased Democratic control of the Senate and led to much anger within the Republican Party, with Joseph McCarthy even accusing President Dwight Eisenhower of not supporting Welker's reelection campaign enough. [18] [19]
Federal officials
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Frank Church | 149,096 | 56.20 | |
| Republican | Herman Welker (Incumbent) | 102,781 | 38.74 | |
| Write-in | Glen H. Taylor | 13,415 | 5.06 | |
| Majority | 46,315 | 17.46 | ||
| Turnout | 265,292 | |||
| Democratic gain from Republican | ||||
Frank Forrester Church III was an American politician and lawyer. A Democrat, from 1957 to 1981 he served as a U.S. Senator from Idaho, and is currently the last Democrat to do so. He was the longest serving Democratic senator from the state and the only Democrat from the state who served more than two terms in the Senate. He was a prominent figure in American foreign policy and established a reputation as a member of the party's liberal wing.
Herman Orville Welker was an American politician from the state of Idaho. He was a member of the Idaho Republican Party and served one term in the United States Senate, from 1951 to 1957.
Glen Hearst Taylor was an American politician, entertainer, businessman, and U.S. senator from Idaho.
Donald William Samuelson was an American Republican politician who served as the 25th governor of Idaho, from 1967 to 1971. He is the state's most recent incumbent governor to lose a re-election bid (1970).
David Worth Clark was a Democratic congressman and United States Senator from Idaho, its first U.S. Senator born in the state.
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Boyd Jay Petersen is program coordinator for Mormon Studies at Utah Valley University (UVU) and teaches English and literature at UVU and Brigham Young University (BYU). He has also been a biographer of Hugh Nibley, a candidate for the Utah House of Representatives, and president of the Association for Mormon Letters. He was named editor of Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought for the term 2016-2020.
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The 1962 United States Senate election in Idaho took place on November 6, 1962. Incumbent Democratic Senator Frank Church won re-election to a second term. This election was the first time ever that an incumbent Democratic Senator from Idaho was re-elected or won re-election.
The 1956 United States Senate election in New Hampshire took place on November 6, 1956. Incumbent Republican Senator Norris Cotton won re-election to a full term, having first been elected in a 1954 special election.
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The 1896 Arkansas gubernatorial election was held on September 7, 1896.
The 1900 Arkansas gubernatorial election was held on September 3, 1900.
The 1806 New Hampshire gubernatorial election was held on March 11, 1806.
