1961 United States Senate special election in Texas

1961 United States Senate special election in Texas

← 1960 May 27, 1961 1966 →

Nominee John Tower William A. Blakley Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 448,217 437,874 Percentage 50.58% 49.42%

County results Tower:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90% Blakley:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%      >90% Tie:

U.S. senator before election William A. Blakley Democratic Elected U.S. Senator John Tower Republican

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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. Tower was also the first post-Reconstruction Republican to win a statewide election in Texas, the first to win any popular election in a former Confederate state, and the third to win any election to the Senate from the former Confederacy.

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[]

• William A. Blakley (Democrat), incumbent appointee Senator
• Henry B. Gonzalez (Democrat), State Senator from San Antonio
• Maury Maverick Jr. (Democrat), attorney and former State Representative
• John Tower (Republican), political science professor at Midwestern State University and nominee for U.S. Senate in 1960
• Will Wilson (Democrat), Attorney General of Texas
• Jim Wright (Democrat), U.S. Representative from Fort Worth

Minor candidates[]

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

Runoff election[]

Results[]

1961 U.S. Senate special election^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	John Tower	448,217	50.58%	9.46
	Democratic	William A. Blakley (incumbent)	437,874	49.42%	8.56
Total votes			886,091	100.00%

References[]