1966 United States Senate election in Massachusetts

1966 United States Senate election in Massachusetts

← 1960 November 8, 1966 1972 →

Nominee Edward Brooke Endicott Peabody Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 1,213,473 774,761 Percentage 60.68% 38.74%

Municipal results

U.S. senator before election Leverett Saltonstall Republican Elected U.S. Senator Edward Brooke Republican

Elections in Massachusetts
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The 1966 United States Senate election in Massachusetts was held on November 8, 1966. Republican incumbent Leverett Saltonstall retired after serving for 22 years. Republican Massachusetts Attorney General Edward Brooke defeated Democratic former Governor of Massachusetts Endicott Peabody in a landslide.

Brooke was the first African-American U.S. Senator elected after the end of Reconstruction and the first ever popularly elected, as Reconstruction ended before the passage of the Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.

Republican primary[]

Candidates[]

Declared[]

• Edward Brooke, Massachusetts Attorney General since 1963
• Alan MacKay, conservative activist^[1]

Declined[]

• Leverett Saltonstall, incumbent Senator since 1945

Campaign[]

MacKay campaigned against Brooke for refusing to back Barry Goldwater's 1964 presidential campaign. However, Goldwater endorsed Brooke in May.^[1]

Results[]

Brooke won the party endorsement at the June 25 convention and was unopposed in the September primary.^[1]

Democratic primary[]

Democratic primary runner-up John F. Collins campaigning

Candidates[]

• Thomas Boylston Adams, academic and member of the Adams political family
• John F. Collins, Mayor of Boston
• Endicott Peabody, former Governor of Massachusetts

Results[]

General election[]

Candidates[]

• Edward Brooke, Massachusetts Attorney General since 1963 (Republican)
• Lawrence Gilfedder, perennial candidate^[2] (Socialist Labor)
• Endicott Peabody, former Governor of Massachusetts (Democratic)
• Mark R. Shaw, perennial candidate and nominee for Vice President of the United States in 1964 (Prohibition)

Results[]

General election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Edward Brooke	1,213,473	60.68%	4.49
	Democratic	Endicott Peabody	774,761	38.74%	4.72
	Socialist Labor	Lawrence Gilfedder	6,790	0.34%	0.10
	Prohibition	Mark R. Shaw	4,833	0.24%	0.12
Total votes			1,999,857	100.00%

See also[]

• 1966 United States Senate elections

References[]

External links and references[]

• Race details at ourcampaigns.com