# 1962 United States Senate special election in Massachusetts

Elections in Massachusetts :
General
1942
1944
1946
1948
1950
1952
1954
1956
1958
1960
1962
1964
1966
1970
1974
1978
1982
1986
1990
1994
1998
2002
2006
2008
2010
2012
2014
2016
2018
2020
2022 :
Federal government
U.S. President
1788–89
1792
1796
1800
1804
1808
1812
1816
1820
1824
1828
1832
1836
1840
1844
1848
1852
1856
1860
1864
1868
1872
1876
1880
1884
1888
1892
1896
1900
1904
1908
1912
1916
1920
1924
1928
1932
1936
1940
1944
1948
1952
1956
1960
1964
1968
1972
1976
1980
Dem
1984
1988
1992
1996
2000
Dem
2004
Dem
GOP
2008
Dem
GOP
2012
2016
Dem
GOP
2020
Dem
GOP
2024
Dem
GOP
U.S. Senate
Class 1: 1788
1790
1796 (S)
1796
1798
1800 (S)
1803
1808 (S)
1810 (S)
1811
1813 (S)
1815
1815 (S)
1816 (S)
1818 (S)
1820
1820 (S)
1822
1826
1827
1829 (S)
1833
1839
February 1841 (S)
1845
1851
1851 (S)
1857
1863
1869
1874 (S)
1875
1881
1887
1893
1899
1905
1911
1916
1922
1928
1934
1940
1946
1952
1958
1962 (S)
1964
1970
1976
1982
1988
1994
2000
2006
2010 (S)
2012
2018
2024
Class 2: 1788
1793
1796
1800 (S)
1803 (S)
1805
1810
1811 (S)
1816
1822 (S)
1826 (S)
1828
1835
January 1841 (S)
1841
1845 (S)
1847
1853
1855 (S)
1859
1865
1871
1873 (S)
1877
1883
1889
1895
1901
1905 (S)
1907
1913
1918
1924
1930
1936
1942
1944 (S)
1948
1954
1960
1966
1972
1978
1984
1990
1996
2002
2008
2013 (S)
2014
2020
U.S. House
1788/1789
1790/1792
1792/1793
1794/1795
1796/1797
1798/1799
1800/1801
1802/1803
1804
1806
1808
1810/1811
1812/1813
1814/1815
3rd
1816/1817
1818/1819
1820/1821
1822/1823
1824/1825
1826/1827
1828
1830/1832
1833/1834
1834/1835
1836
1838/1839
1840/1841
1842/1844
1844/1846
1846
1848/1850
1850/1851
1852
1854
1856
1858
1860
1862
1864
1866
1868
1870
1872
1874
1876
1878
1880
1882
1884
1886
1888
1890
1892
1894
1896
1898
1900
1902
1904
1906
1908
1910
1912
1914
1916
1918
1920
1922
1924
1926
1928
1930
1932
1934
1936
1938
1940
1942
1944
1946
1948
1950
1952
1954
1956
1958
1960
1962
1964
1966
1968
1970
1972
1974
1976
1978
1980
1982
1984
1986
1988
1990
1991 (1st)
1992
1994
1996
1998
2000
2001 (9th)
2002
2004
2006
2007 (5th)
2008
2010
2012
2013 (5th)
2014
2016
2018
2020
2022
2024 :
State government
Governor
1800
1801
1802
1803
1804
1805
1806
1807
1808
1809
1810
1811
1812
1813
1814
1815
1816
1817
1818
1819
1820
1821
1822
1823
1824
1825
1826
1827
1828
1829
1830
Apr. 1831
Nov. 1831
1832
1833
1834
1835
1836
1837
1838
1839
1840
1841
1842
1843
1844
1845
1846
1847
1848
1849
1850
1851
1852
1853
1854
1855
1856
1857
1858
1859
1860
1861
1862
1863
1864
1865
1866
1867
1868
1869
1870
1871
1872
1873
1874
1875
1876
1877
1878
1879
1880
1881
1882
1883
1884
1885
1886
1887
1888
1889
1890
1891
1892
1893
1894
1895
1896
1897
1898
1899
1900
1901
1902
1903
1904
1905
1906
1907
1908
1909
1910
1911
1912
1913
1914
1915
1916
1917
1918
1919
1920
1922
1924
1926
1928
1930
1932
1934
1936
1938
1940
1942
1944
1946
1948
1950
1952
1954
1956
1958
1960
1962
1964
1966
1970
1974
1978
1982
1986
1990
1994
1998
2002
2006
2010
2014
2018
2022
State Senate
1787
1824
2004
2006
2008
2010
2012
2014
2016
2018
2020
2022
2024
State House
2006
2008
2010
2012
2014
2016
2020
2022
2024
Governor's Council
2006
2010
2014
2018
2022
2024
Ballot measures
1980: Proposition 2½
2002: English Language Education in Public Schools
2006: 2008
Greyhound Protection
Sensible Marijuana Policy
State Income Tax Repeal
2010: No Sales Tax for Alcohol
Sales Tax Relief
Comprehensive Permits and Regional Planning
2012: Right to Repair
Death with Dignity
Medical Marijuana
2014: Automatic Gas Tax Increase Repeal
Expansion of Bottle Deposits
Casino Repeal
Paid Sick Days
2016: Expand Slot Machine Gaming
Charter School Expansion
Farm Animal Confinement
Legalization, Regulation and Taxation of Marijuana
2018: Gender Identity Anti-Discrimination
2020: pending :
Boston
Mayor
1822
1823
1824
Apr 1825
Dec 1825
1826
1827
1828
1829
1830
1831
1832
1833
1834
1835
1836
1837
1838
1839
1840
1841
1842
1843
1844–45
Dec 1845
1846
1847
1848
1849
1850
1851
1852
1853–54
Dec 1854
1855
1856
1857
1858
1859
1860
1861
1862
1863
1864
1865
1866
1867
1868
1869
1871
1872
1873
1874
1875
1876
1877
1878
1879
1880
1881
1882
1883
1884
1885
1886
1887
1888
1889
1890
1891
1892
1893
1894
1895
1897
1899
1901
1903
1905
1907
1910
1914
1917
1921
1925
1929
1933
1937
1941
1945
1949
1951
1955
1959
1963
1967
1971
1975
1979
1983
1987
1991
1993
1997
2001
2005
2009
2013
2017
2021
2025
City council
1977
1979
1981
1983
1985
1987
1989
1991
1993
1995
1997
1999
2001
2003
2005
2007
2009
2011
2013
2015
2017
2019
2021
2023 :
Springfield
Mayor
1953
1955
1957
1959
1961
1963
1965
1967
1969
1971
1973 (S)
1973
1975
1977
1979
1983
1981
1985
1987
1989 (S)
1989
1991
1993
1995
1997
1999
2001
2003
2005
2007
2009
2011
2015
2019
2023 :
Worcester
Mayor
1987
1989
1991
1993
1995
1997
1999
2001
2003
2005
2007
2009
2011
2013
2015
2017
2019
2021
2023 :
Massachusetts portal :
vte :
The 1962 United States Senate special election in Massachusetts was held on November 6, 1962. The election was won by Ted Kennedy, the youngest brother of then-President John F. Kennedy, who would remain Senator until his death in 2009.
As of 2024, Kennedy and Lodge's combined age of 65 remains the youngest for two major candidates in a United States Senate election. With professor H. Stuart Hughes, the grandson of Charles Evans Hughes, running a serious independent campaign, this election also featured three of America's most prominent political families.

## Background

Senator John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts was elected President of the United States in November 1960. At the same time, Republican John Volpe was elected to succeed scandal-plagued Democrat Foster Furcolo as Governor of Massachusetts while Republican Leverett Saltonstall was re-elected to the U.S. Senate. Under the Seventeenth Amendment, the sitting state Governor has the authority to temporarily fill vacancies in the Senate as soon as they arise. With Volpe scheduled to take office on January 5, 1961, the Kennedys were thus compelled to engage in time-sensitive negotiations with Furcolo regarding the successor to Kennedy's Senate seat.
Furcolo initially hoped to appoint himself to Kennedy's vacant seat. He was dissuaded from this course of action under strong pressure from the Kennedys. The incoming president was not only keen to maintain a Democratic presence from his home state in the Senate but under strong pressure from his father Joseph P. Kennedy to ensure the seat remained in the family. With a strong Democratic majority in the Senate assured in any case, the Kennedy family made it clear to Furcolo that they would be content to challenge whoever Volpe might have appointed to the seat in 1962 and in any event would not support any election bid from Furcolo.
It was initially speculated that Kennedy's brother Robert F. Kennedy, who managed the presidential campaign and was the president-elect's only surviving brother old enough to serve in the Senate, would be the family's choice to succeed John F. Kennedy in the Senate. However, at the insistence of the family patriarch and to some controversy, the president-elect agreed to nominate Robert for Attorney General of the United States. Joseph Kennedy effectively nominated Benjamin A. Smith II, a Kennedy family friend and roommate of his deceased eldest son Joseph P. Kennedy Jr., to be duly appointed by Furcolo to succeed John F. Kennedy after the president-elect officially resigned on December 22. Smith served as a placeholder for Edward M. "Ted" Kennedy, who, at the time, was too young to be constitutionally eligible for the seat.

## Democratic primary
### Candidates
#### Declared

* Ted Kennedy, younger brother of President John F. Kennedy and Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy
* Edward J. McCormack Jr., Massachusetts Attorney General and nephew of House Speaker John W. McCormack

#### Declined

* Benjamin A. Smith II, incumbent Senator

### Campaign

Ted Kennedy first faced a Democratic Party primary challenge from Edward J. "Eddie" McCormack Jr., the state Attorney General and nephew of U.S. Speaker of the House John W. McCormack. McCormack had the support of many liberals and intellectuals, who thought Kennedy inexperienced ("I back Jack, but Teddy ain't ready") and knew of his suspension from Harvard, which was publicized during the race.
Kennedy's slogan was, "He can do more for Massachusetts", the same one John F. Kennedy had used in his first campaign for the seat ten years earlier. Kennedy also faced the notion that with one brother the President and another the United States Attorney General, "Don't you think that Teddy is one Kennedy too many?". Nevertheless, Kennedy proved to be an effective street-level campaigner, with great personal appeal.
In a televised debate, McCormack argued that, "The office of United States Senator should be merited, and not inherited", and that if his opponent's name was Edward Moore, rather than Edward Moore Kennedy, his candidacy "would be a joke". A Kennedy supporter said that "McCormack was able to make a millionaire an underdog". With the public's sympathy and the family political machine, Kennedy won 69% of the vote in the September 1962 primary.

### Convention

A delegate at the state Democratic convention said, "He's completely unqualified and inexperienced. And I'm going to be with him." Kennedy won on the first ballot at the convention.

### Results

1962 U.S. Senate special Democratic primary :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Democratic | Ted Kennedy | 559,303 | 69.33% |
| | Democratic | Edward J. McCormack, Jr. | 247,403 | 30.67% |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 806,706 | 100.00% |
    Source: Our Campaigns - MA US Senate - D Primary Race - Sep 18, 1962

## Republican primary
### Candidates

* Laurence Curtis, U.S. Representative from Newton
* George C. Lodge, U.S. Assistant Secretary of Labor for International Affairs and son of former Senator Henry Cabot Lodge Jr.

### Results

1962 U.S. Senate special Republican primary :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Republican | George C. Lodge | 244,921 | 55.49 |
| | Republican | Laurence Curtis | 196,444 | 44.51 |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 441,365 | 100.00% |

## General election
### Candidates

* Lawrence Gilfedder, perennial candidate (Socialist)
* H. Stuart Hughes, Harvard University historian and grandson of Charles Evans Hughes (Independent)
* Ted Kennedy, brother of President John F. Kennedy (Democratic)
* George C. Lodge, Assistant U.S. Secretary of Labor and son of former Senator Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. (Republican)
* Mark R. Shaw, perennial candidate (Prohibition)

### Campaign

Well aware that he was also from a political family, and not much older than Kennedy, Lodge avoided making the same sort of attacks attempted by McCormack. Besides Kennedy and Lodge, independent candidate H. Stuart Hughes was considered a serious contender, being invited to two televised debates with Lodge. (Kennedy, by then an overwhelming favorite to win the election, declined to participate.) Any chance that Hughes might have had of winning the election, or even receiving widespread support, was destroyed in the aftermath of the Cuban Missile crisis, only weeks before the election, in which the President and his brother Robert F. Kennedy took the nation "to the brink" of nuclear confrontation with the Soviet Union. Hughes, who supported nuclear disarmament, suddenly seemed unrealistic and out of touch as a result. He ultimately received just over two per cent of the vote, and far fewer votes than signatures.

### Results

In the November special election, Kennedy defeated Lodge with 55 percent of the vote. Lodge's father had lost the same seat to then-Representative John F. Kennedy in 1952. Political science professor Murray Levin stated that Kennedy's youth and political inexperience made him an innocent outsider, while his wealth made him incorruptible. The prosecutor had become a Senator, Levin said, "with one year of frantic campaigning and 30 years of experience as a Kennedy".
1962 U.S. Senate special election in Massachusetts :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Democratic | Ted Kennedy | 1,162,611 | 55.44% | 17.76 |
| | Republican | George C. Lodge | 877,668 | 41.85% | 15.62 |
| | Independent | H. Stuart Hughes | 50,013 | 2.38% | N/A |
| | Socialist Labor | Lawrence Gilfedder | 5,330 | 0.25% | 0.04 |
| | Prohibition | Mark R. Shaw | 1,439 | 0.07% | 0.22 |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 2,097,061 | 100.00% |
| | Democratic hold | Democratic hold | Democratic hold | Democratic hold |
    Source: