United States Senate election in Pennsylvania, 1956

United States Senate election in Pennsylvania, 1956
Clark Jr.—50-60% Clark Jr.—60-70%	Duff—40-50% Duff—50-60% Duff—60-70% Duff—70-80%
U.S. Senator before election; James H. Duff ; Republican	Elected U.S. Senator; Joseph S. Clark, Jr. ; Democratic

Last updated April 01, 2019

The 1956 United States Senate election in Pennsylvania was held on November 6, 1956. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator James H. Duff sought re-election to another term, but was defeated by the Democratic nominee, Joseph S. Clark, Jr.

James Henderson "Jim" Duff was an American lawyer and politician. A member of the Republican Party, he served as United States Senator from Pennsylvania from 1951 to 1957. Previously he had served as the 34th Governor of Pennsylvania from 1947 to 1951.

Major candidates

Democratic

Joseph S. Clark, Jr., former Mayor of Philadelphia

Republican

James H. Duff, incumbent U.S. Senator

Campaign

The 1956 Senate election in Pennsylvania featured two prominent and well-known candidates: a former Philadelphia mayor in the challenger, Clark, and the ambitious former Governor Duff who had considered running for higher office. Clark, in his run for mayor, upset the Republican Party machine in Philadelphia and contributed to a political realignment in the city that would tip it in favor of the Democrats and help him in his 1956 campaign for Senate. In 1950, when Duff was elected, Republicans were 70% of the two-party vote registration in Philadelphia, but held only a two-point advantage there in 1956.^[1]

Duff ran as an ally to Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who was also running for re-election, and criticized Clark for his spending and tax policies as Philadelphia mayor. In addition to criticizing Duff in return for his poor attendance record in the Senate (which was one of the worst at the time), Clark criticized the Eisenhower administration's foreign policy.^[1]

Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was an American army general and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, he was a five-star general in the United States Army and served as supreme commander of the Allied Expeditionary Forces in Europe. He was responsible for planning and supervising the invasion of North Africa in Operation Torch in 1942–43 and the successful invasion of France and Germany in 1944–45 from the Western Front.

In the end, Clark narrowly defeated the incumbent Duff by just under 18,000 votes. The result was not known definitively until 50,000 military ballots had been counted and despite Duff's loss, Eisenhower carried the state in the presidential election and the Republicans won every other statewide race in 1956. Clark carried Southwest Pennsylvania, notwithstanding the harm his Philadelphia ties might have cost him there, as well as his home of Philadelphia, while Duff won much of the conservative "central T".^[1]

Pennsylvania, like neighboring New Jersey, has swung from being a Republican-leaning state during much of the 20th century to a more competitive state in national presidential elections. Pennsylvania has backed the Democratic presidential candidate in every election since 1992 up until 2016, when it was won by Republican candidate Donald Trump. In 2008, Barack Obama won almost all of the Philadelphia suburbs. Statewide, John McCain won almost three times as many counties (48) as Obama (19), but Obama won the most populous counties and therefore won the popular vote for the state, carrying its 21 electoral votes.

Results

General election results^[2]
	Candidate	Votes	%
Democratic	Joseph S. Clark, Jr.	2,268,641	50.08%
Republican	James H. Duff (incumbent)	2,250,671	49.69%
Socialist Labor	George S. Taylor	7,447	0.16%
Militant Workers	Herbert G. Lewin	2,035	0.05%

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References

1 2 3 Kennedy, John J. (2014). Pennsylvania Elections. University Press of America. pp. 42–44. Retrieved 11 January 2017.
↑ "Statistics of the Congressional and Presidential Election of November 6, 1956" (PDF). Office of the Clerk of the U.S. House. Retrieved 8 July 2014.

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[kennedy-1] 1 2 3 Kennedy, John J. (2014). Pennsylvania Elections. University Press of America. pp. 42–44. Retrieved 11 January 2017.

[results-2] "Statistics of the Congressional and Presidential Election of November 6, 1956" (PDF). Office of the Clerk of the U.S. House. Retrieved 8 July 2014.