1964 United States Senate election in Massachusetts

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1964 United States Senate election in Massachusetts
Flag of Massachusetts (1908-1971).svg
  1962 (special) November 3, 1964 1970  
  Edward Kennedy 1966 (cropped and color adjusted).jpg 1953 Howard Whitmore Massachusetts House of Representatives.png
Nominee Ted Kennedy Howard J. Whitmore Jr.
Party Democratic Republican
Popular vote1,716,907587,663
Percentage74.26%25.42%

1964 United States Senate Election in Massachusetts by County.svg
1964 United States Senate election in Massachusetts results map by municipality.svg

U.S. senator before election

Ted Kennedy
Democratic

Elected U.S. Senator

Ted Kennedy
Democratic

The 1964 United States Senate election in Massachusetts was held on November 3, 1964, with the incumbent Democratic senator, Ted Kennedy, easily defeating his Republican challenger Howard J. Whitmore Jr.

Contents

The election coincided with the 1964 United States presidential election, which was won by incumbent Democrat Lyndon B. Johnson in a landslide, as well as the Senate election in neighboring New York which was won by Kennedy's older brother Robert. It took place less than a year after the assassination of the incumbent Senator's eldest surviving brother, President John F. Kennedy. The two surviving Kennedy brothers thus benefited from both an overall national swing to the Democrats and public sympathy following their sibling's murder. Much of the campaign-appearance burden in Massachusetts on behalf of Ted Kennedy fell on his wife, Joan, because of Ted's serious back injury in a plane crash.

Ted Kennedy recorded his highest-ever percentage of the vote in this election, although he won a larger margin of victory against divided opposition in 2000.

Democratic primary

Candidates

Results

Senator Kennedy was unopposed for renomination.

1964 Democratic U.S. Senate primary
PartyCandidateVotes%
Democratic Ted Kennedy (incumbent) 608,791 99.99
Write-in All others320.01
Total votes608,823 100.00

Republican primary

Candidates

Results

Whitmore was unopposed for the Republican nomination.

1964 Republican U.S. Senate primary
PartyCandidateVotes%
Republican Howard J. Whitmore Jr. 172,078 99.95%
Write-in All others860.05%
Total votes172,164 100.00%

General election

Candidates

Results

1964 U.S. Senate election
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Democratic Ted Kennedy (incumbent) 1,716,907 74.26 Increase2.svg21.30
Republican Howard J. Whitmore Jr. 587,66325.42Decrease2.svg19.08
Socialist Labor Lawrence Gilfedder4,7450.21Decrease2.svg0.03
Prohibition Grace F. Luder2,7000.12Increase2.svg0.05
Write-in All others130.00
Total votes1,202,856 100.00

See also

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