The 1970 United States Senate election in Massachusetts was held on November 3, 1970. The incumbent Democratic Senator Ted Kennedy defeated his challengers. This was Kennedy's first election run since the 1969 Chappaquiddick incident.
Kennedy won 62.2% of the vote, down from the 74.3% that he won in the previous election in 1964, indicating that Chappaquiddick did affect his popularity.
This was the last election in which Ted Kennedy lost any Massachusetts county. Spaulding carried Barnstable, Dukes, Franklin, and Nantucket Counties.
Ted Kennedy (Democratic) - incumbent U.S. Senator, first elected in 1962 (to John Kennedy's unexpired term), and elected to a full term in 1964
Lawrence Gilfedder (Socialist Labor)
Mark R. Shaw (Prohibition) - Former Prohibition Party candidate for U.S. Senator from Massachusetts in 1946, 1952, 1958, 1969, 1962, and 1966. He was the party's candidate for governor of Massachusetts in 1948 and 1956. In 1964, he was the Prohibition Party's candidate for vice president of the United States.[3]