1964 United States Senate election in Nevada

1964 United States Senate election in Nevada

←  1958 November 3, 1964 1970  →

Nominee Howard Cannon Paul Laxalt Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 67,336 67,288 Percentage 50.02% 49.98%

County results Cannon:      50–60%     60–70% Laxalt:      50–60%     60–70%     70–80%

U.S. senator before election Howard Cannon Democratic Elected U.S. Senator Howard Cannon Democratic

The 1964 United States Senate election in Nevada was held on November 3, 1964. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Howard Cannon won re-election to a second term by a slim margin of only 48 votes. Cannon defeated Paul Laxalt by a very narrow margin despite Lyndon Baines Johnson winning the state over Barry Goldwater in a landslide in the concurrent presidential election in Nevada.

To date, this remains the closest Senate race in US history since the passing of the 17th amendment in which the winner was seated as Senator.^{[ citation needed ] [a]}

General election

Candidates

• Howard Cannon, incumbent U.S. Senator since 1959 (Democrat)
• Paul Laxalt, Lieutenant Governor of Nevada and former Ormsby County District Attorney (Republican)

Results

General election results ^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Howard Cannon (incumbent)	67,336	50.02	−7.66
	Republican	Paul Laxalt	67,288	49.98	+7.66
Majority			48	0.04	−15.32
Total votes			134,624	100.00
	Democratic hold		Swing

Notes

1. The 1974 election in New Hampshire, decided by only two votes, was certified but challenged before the Senate without a conclusion. New Hampshire held a second election which was decided by 27,771 votes.

References

1. "Statistics of the Presidential and Congressional Election of November 3, 1964" (PDF). Clerk of the House of Representatives. p. 27.