1961 United States Senate special election in Texas

Last updated

1961 United States Senate special election in Texas
Flag of Texas.svg
  1960 April 4, 1961 (first round)
May 27, 1961 (runoff)
1966  
  U.S. Senator John Tower of Texas (cropped).jpg Bill Blakley (cropped).png Jim Wright 1955.png
Candidate John Tower William A. Blakley Jim Wright
Party Republican Democratic Democratic
First round327,308
30.93%
190,818
18.03%
171,328
16.19%
Runoff 448,217
50.58%
437,874
49.42%
Eliminated

  Will Wilson.jpg Henry B Gonzalez.jpg
Candidate Will Wilson Maury Maverick Jr. Henry B. González
Party Democratic Democratic Democratic
First round121,961
11.53%
104,992
9.92%
97,659
9.23%
Runoff EliminatedEliminatedEliminated

1961 United States Senate special election in Texas results map by county first round.svg
1961 United States Senate special election in Texas results map by county.svg
1961TXSenCD.svg
Tower:      20–30%     30–40%     40–50%     50–60%     60–70%     70–80%     80–90%

Blakley:      20–30%     30–40%     40–50%     50–60%     60–70%     70–80%     80–90%     >90%
Wright:      20–30%     30–40%     40–50%     50–60%     60–70%     70–80%
Wilson:      20–30%     30–40%     40–50%     60–70%     70–80%     80–90%
Maverick:      20–30%     30–40%
Gonzalez:      20–30%     30–40%     40–50%     50–60%     80–90%     >90%

Contents

Tie:      50%

U.S. senator before election

William A. Blakley
Democratic

Elected U.S. Senator

John Tower
Republican

The 1961 United States Senate special election in Texas was held on May 27, 1961. The election was held to replace outgoing Senator Lyndon B. Johnson, who had been elected Vice President of the United States.

Republican John Tower, who had been the nominee for the regularly scheduled election in 1960, defeated seventy other candidates to become the first Republican to represent Texas in the Senate since Reconstruction in 1877. Tower was also the first Republican to be popularly elected to the Senate in any former Confederate state.

Because Texas had been a Solid South state, the loss of Johnson's Senate seat would be seen as a stinging defeat for the Kennedy administration and the Democratic Party, given that the Civil Rights Movement was getting off the ground and the increasing sympathy for it amongst increasingly influential liberal Democrats.

One of the Democrats who were defeated in the first round was congressman Jim Wright, who went on to briefly serve as Speaker of the United States House of Representatives in the late 1980s.

Primary election

Candidates

Seventy-one candidates were on the ballot for the primary election. At the time, the filing fee for ballot access was only $50.

The primary was held on April 4.

Major candidates

Minor candidates

None of these candidates received more than 0.5% of the popular vote.

  • G. H. Allen
  • Jim W. Amos
  • Dale Baker
  • Mali Barraco
  • Tom E. Barton
  • R. G. Becker
  • Jacob Bergolofsky
  • Ted Bisland
  • G. E. Blewett
  • Joyce Bradshaw
  • Chester D. Brooks
  • William L. Burlison
  • Ronald J. Byers
  • Joseph M. Carter
  • George A. Davisson
  • Winnie K. Derrick
  • Harry R. Diehl
  • Harvill O. Eaton
  • Jonnie Mae Eckman
  • Paul F. Eix
  • Ben H. Faber
  • H. E. Fanning
  • Charles O. Foerster Jr.
  • Harold Franklin
  • George N. Gallagher Jr.
  • Richard J. Gay
  • Van T. George Jr.
  • Arthur Glover
  • Delbert E. Granstaff
  • Curtis E. Hill
  • Willard Park Holland
  • John N. Hopkins
  • Mary Hazel Houston
  • Ben M. Johnson
  • Guy Johnson
  • Morgan H. Johnson
  • C. B. Kennedy
  • H. Springer Knoblauch
  • Lloyd Layne
  • Hugh O. Lea
  • V. C. Logan
  • Frank A. Matera
  • Brown McCallum
  • James E. McKeen
  • Steve Nemecek
  • George E. Noyes
  • Cecil D. Perkins
  • William H. Posey
  • George Red
  • Wesley Roberts
  • D. T. Sampson
  • Eristus Sams
  • A. Dale Savage
  • Carl Schrade
  • Albert Roy Smith
  • Homer H. Stalarow
  • Frank Stanford
  • John B. Sypert
  • Martha Tredway
  • S. S. Vela
  • Bill Whitten
  • Hugh Wilson
  • Hoyt G. Wilson
  • Marcos Zertuche
1961 U.S. Senate special election primary [1] [2]
PartyCandidateVotes%
Republican John Tower 327,308 30.93%
Democratic William Blakely (incumbent) 190,818 18.03%
Democratic Jim Wright171,32816.19%
Democratic Will Wilson121,96111.53%
Democratic Maury Maverick Jr.104,9929.92%
Democratic Henry B. Gonzalez97,6599.23%
VariousMinor candidates44,0584.16%
Total votes1,058,124 100.00%


Runoff election

Results

1961 U.S. Senate special election [3]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Republican John Tower 448,217 50.58% Increase2.svg9.46
Democratic William A. Blakley (incumbent)437,87449.42%Decrease2.svg8.56
Total votes886,091 100.00%

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1978 United States Senate elections</span>

The 1978 United States Senate elections were held on November 7, in the middle of Democratic President Jimmy Carter's term. The 33 seats of Class 2 were contested in regular elections. Special elections were also held to fill vacancies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1970 United States Senate elections</span>

The 1970 United States Senate elections was an election for the United States Senate. It took place on November 3, with the 33 seats of Class 1 contested in regular elections. Special elections were also held to fill vacancies. These races occurred in the middle of Richard Nixon's first term as president. The Democrats lost a net of three seats, while the Republicans and the Conservative Party of New York picked up one net seat each, and former Democrat Harry F. Byrd Jr. was re-elected as an independent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1964 United States Senate elections</span>

The 1964 United States Senate elections were held on November 3. The 33 seats of Class 1 were contested in regular elections. Special elections were also held to fill vacancies. They 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 2023, this was 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, propose constitutional amendments, or convict and expel certain officials without any votes from Senate Republicans. In practice, however, internal divisions effectively prevented the Democrats from doing so. The Senate election cycle coincided with Democratic gains in the House in the same year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1956 United States Senate elections</span>

The 1956 United States Senate elections were elections for the United States Senate that coincided with the re-election of President Dwight D. Eisenhower. The 32 seats of Class 3 were contested in regular elections, and three special elections were held to fill vacancies. Although Democrats gained two seats in regular elections, the Republicans gained two seats in special elections, leaving the party balance of the chamber unchanged.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1922 United States Senate elections</span>

The 1922 United States Senate elections were elections that occurred in the middle of Republican President Warren G. Harding's term. The 32 seats of Class 1 were contested in regular elections, and special elections were held to fill vacancies. With the Republicans divided between conservative and progressive factions, the Democrats gained six net seats from the Republicans while the Farmer–Labor party gained one. The Republicans retained their Senate majority.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William A. Blakley</span> American politician and businessman (1898–1976)

William Arvis "Dollar Bill" Blakley was an American politician and businessman from the state of Texas. Blakley was part of the conservative wing of the Texas Democratic Party. He served twice as an interim United States Senator, appointed by the Governor to fill a vacancy until his successor could be duly elected. He served first in 1957 after the resignation of Price Daniel and again in 1961 after the resignation of Lyndon B. Johnson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2006 Texas elections</span> Texas general election

The 2006 Texas General Election was held on Tuesday, 7 November 2006, in the U.S. state of Texas. Voters statewide elected the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, Comptroller of Public Accounts, Commissioner of the General Land Office, Commissioner of Agriculture, and one Railroad Commissioner. Statewide judicial offices up for election were the chief justice and four justices of the Texas Supreme Court, and the presiding judge and two judges of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2006 Oregon elections</span> Elections

Oregon's 2006 statewide election included a May 16 primary election and a November 7 general election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2008 Georgia state elections</span>

Georgia's state elections were held on November 4, 2008. The primary elections were held on February 5, also known as Super Tuesday.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1996 United States House of Representatives elections in Texas</span> 1996 House elections in Texas

The 1996 United States House of Representatives elections in Texas occurred on November 5, 1996, to elect the members of the state of Texas's delegation to the United States House of Representatives. Texas had thirty seats in the House, apportioned according to the 1990 United States census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1948 United States Senate election in Texas</span>

The 1948 United States Senate election in Texas was held on November 2, 1948. After the inconclusive Democratic Party primary in July, a hotly contested runoff was held in August in which U.S. Congressman Lyndon B. Johnson was officially declared to have defeated former Texas governor Coke R. Stevenson for the party's nomination by eighty-seven votes. The state party's executive committee subsequently confirmed Johnson's nomination by a margin of one vote. The validity of the runoff result was challenged before the U.S. Supreme Court due to allegations of irregularities, and in later years, testimony by the parties involved indicated that widespread fraud occurred and that friendly political machines produced the votes needed for Johnson to defeat Stevenson. After years of desultory opposition to Democrats during the post-Reconstruction years of the Solid South, Republicans vigorously contested the general election by nominating businessman and party activist Jack Porter, who waged an aggressive campaign. Johnson won his first term in the Senate, but by a closer margin than usual for Texas Democrats.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1972 United States Senate election in Texas</span>

The 1972 United States Senate election in Texas was held on November 7, 1972. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator John Tower won re-election to a third term.

Thaddeus Thomson Hutcheson, was a Republican attorney in his native Houston, who was an early figure in the movement to establish a competitive two-party system in the U.S. state of Texas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1957 United States Senate special election in Texas</span>

The 1957 United States Senate special election in Texas was held on April 2, 1957, to complete the unexpired term of Senator Price Daniel, who resigned to become Governor of Texas. Interim Senator William Blakley did not run for re-election. Ralph Yarborough won the race with a plurality of the vote; no majority was required.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2018 United States Senate election in Texas</span>

The 2018 United States Senate election in Texas was held on November 6, 2018, along with other elections to the United States Senate and elections to the United States House of Representatives in additional states. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Ted Cruz won re-election to a second term defeating Democratic candidate Beto O'Rourke. The primary for all parties was held on March 6, 2018, making it the first primary of the 2018 season. As Cruz and O'Rourke both won majorities in their primaries, they did not participate in the May 22 runoff primary that was held for some nominations in Texas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2020 United States Senate election in Texas</span> Election for the 2020 United States Senate seat in Texas

The 2020 United States Senate election in Texas was held on November 3, 2020, to elect a member to the United States Senate to represent the State of Texas, concurrently with the 2020 U.S. presidential election, as well as other elections to the United States Senate in other states and elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections. Incumbent Republican Senator John Cornyn won re-election to a fourth term against Democratic nominee MJ Hegar by 9.6%.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1922 United States Senate election in Texas</span>

The 1922 United States Senate election in Texas was held on November 7, 1922. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Charles Culberson ran for re-election to a fifth term, but lost the Democratic primary. A runoff was held between former Governor Pa Ferguson and Railroads Commissioner Earle Bradford Mayfield.

A Massachusetts general election was held on November 6, 1956, in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Democrat William Proxmire won a special election to fill the vacancy created by the death of Senator Joseph R. McCarthy (R-WI). Also, Price Daniel (D-TX) left the Senate to become governor of Texas, and Democrat Ralph Yarborough won a special election for that Senate seat. The Democrats thus made a net gain of one seat. However, Congress was out of session at the time of the Democratic gain in Wisconsin, and the Republicans gained a Democratic-held seat only weeks after the next session started, when Republican John D. Hoblitzell Jr. was appointed to fill the vacancy created by the death of Senator Matthew M. Neely (D-WV).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1940 Illinois elections</span>

Elections were held in Illinois on Tuesday, November 5, 1940.

References

  1. "TX US Senate - Special Primary". OurCampaigns.com. Retrieved April 4, 2020.
  2. Numan V., Bartley; Graham, Hugh D. (1978). Southern Elections: County and Precinct Data, 1950-1972. Baton Rouge and London: Louisiana State University Press. pp. 299–304. ISBN   0-8071-0278-4.
  3. "TX US Senate - Special". OurCampaigns.com. Retrieved April 4, 2020.