1958 United States Senate election in Massachusetts

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1958 United States Senate election in Massachusetts
Flag of Massachusetts (1908-1971).svg
  1952 November 4, 1958 1962 (special)  
  JFK 1952 portrait.jpg VincentCeleste.png
Nominee John F. Kennedy Vincent Celeste
Party Democratic Republican
Popular vote1,362,926488,318
Percentage73.20%26.23%

1958 United States Senate Election in Massachusetts by County.svg
1958 United States Senate election in Massachusetts results map by municipality.svg

U.S. senator before election

John F. Kennedy
Democratic

Elected U.S. Senator

John F. Kennedy
Democratic

The 1958 United States Senate election in Massachusetts was held on November 4, 1958. Democratic incumbent John F. Kennedy was reelected to a second six-year term, defeating Republican candidate Vincent J. Celeste.

Contents

Democratic primary

Candidates

Results

Senator Kennedy was unopposed for renomination.

Republican primary

Candidates

Results

Celeste was unopposed for the Republican nomination.

General election

Candidates

Campaign

Kennedy was overwhelmingly popular in Massachusetts and the 1958 elections were a wave election favoring the Democratic Party. Celeste's campaign was poorly funded but the candidate worked 17-hour days, running his campaign out of his law offices and attempting to frame the race as one pitting a working-class child of Sicilian immigrants against "that millionaire Jack Kennedy." [1]

The Kennedy campaign had bought and produced thousands of pieces of campaign material with the slogan "Be Proud of Your Vote!" but scrapped them after Celeste's nomination, as Senator Kennedy's father Joe thought the slogan could alienate Italian-Americans and divide the state on ethnic lines. [1]

Results

Kennedy defeated Celeste by a margin of 874,608 votes; this represented the largest margin of victory in a statewide Massachusetts election up to that point. [2]

United States Senate election in Massachusetts, 1958 [3]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Democratic John F. Kennedy (incumbent) 1,362,926 73.20% Increase2.svg21.86
Republican Vincent J. Celeste488,31826.23%Decrease2.svg22.12
Socialist Labor Lawrence Gilfedder5,4570.29%Decrease2.svg0.09
Prohibition Mark R. Shaw 5,3350.29%Increase2.svg0.18
Total votes1,862,036 100.00%
Democratic hold

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References

  1. 1 2 "Vincent Celeste, at 90; JFK's US Senate opponent in '58". The Boston Globe . February 17, 2015. Retrieved December 13, 2020.
  2. "John F. Kennedy" . Retrieved January 16, 2017.
  3. "Our Campaigns - MA US Senate Race - Nov 04, 1958". www.ourcampaigns.com.