1960 United States Senate elections

The U.S. Senate election, 1960 was an election for the United States Senate which coincided with the election of John F. Kennedy as president. Kennedy's victory was extremely narrow to the point it causes some controversy still today, and the opposition Republicans gained one seat at the expense of the Democrats. The Democrats nonetheless retained a commanding lead in the Senate with 64 seats to 36.

File:Us senate result 1960.PNG

Republican holds

Republican pickups

Democratic holds

Democratic pickups

The Republicans gained one open seat in Wyoming and the seat of incumbent J. Allen Frear (D-DE), while the Democrats gained an open seat in North Dakota.

The Democrats gained one more seat when Wyoming Senator-elect Keith Thomson died before taking his seat, being replaced by Democrat John J. Hickey. The Republicans gained a compensating seat in 1961 when John Tower (R-TX) was elected to fill the vacant seat of newly elected Vice President Lyndon Baines Johnson (D-TX).

Senate contests in 1960

State	Incumbent	Party	Status	Opposing Candidates
Alabama	John Sparkman	Democrat	Re-elected, 70.2 - 29.8	Julian Elgin (Republican)
Alaska	Bob Bartlett	Democrat	Re-elected, 63.4 - 36.6	Lee L. McKinley (Republican)
Arkansas	John L. McClellan	Democrat	Re-elected, unopposed
Colorado	Gordon Allott	Republican	Re-elected, 53.5 - 46.0	Robert L. Knous (Democrat)
Delaware	J. Allen Frear, Jr.	Democrat	Defeated, 50.7 - 49.3	J. Caleb Boggs (Republican)
Georgia	Richard Russell, Jr.	Democrat	Re-elected, unopposed
Idaho	Henry C. Dworshak	Republican	Re-elected, 52.3 - 47.7	R. F. Bob McLaughlin (Democrat)
Illinois	Paul Douglas	Democrat	Re-elected, 54.6 - 45.2	Samuel W. Witwer (Republican)
Iowa	Thomas E. Martin	Republican	Retired: Republican victory, 51.9 - 48.1	Jack Miller (Republican) Herschel C. Loveless (Democrat)
Kansas	Andrew F. Schoeppel	Republican	Re-elected, 54.6 - 43.8	Frank Theis (Democrat)
Kentucky	John S. Cooper	Republican	Re-elected, 59.2 - 40.8	Keen Johnson (Democrat)
Louisiana	Allen J. Ellender	Democrat	Re-elected, 79.8 - 20.2	George W. Reese, Jr. (Republican)
Maine	Margaret Chase Smith	Republican	Re-elected, 61.7 - 38.4	Lucia M. Cormier (Democrat)
Massachusetts	Leverett Saltonstall	Republican	Re-elected, 56.2 - 43.5	Thomas J. O'Connor, Jr. (Democrat)
Michigan	Patrick V. McNamara	Democrat	Re-elected, 51.7 - 48.0	Alvin M. Bentley (Republican)
Minnesota	Hubert Humphrey	Democrat	Re-elected, 57.5 - 42.2	P. Kenneth Peterson (Republican)
Mississippi	James O. Eastland	Democrat	Re-elected, 91.8 - 8.2	Joe A. Moore (Republican)
Missouri¹	Edward V. Long	Democrat	Re-elected, 53.2 - 46.8	Lon Hocker (Republican)
Montana	James E. Murray	Democrat	Retired: Democratic victory, 50.7 - 49.3	Lee Metcalf (Democrat) Orvin B. Fjare (Republican)
Nebraska	Carl T. Curtis	Republican	Re-elected, 58.9 - 41.1	Robert B. Conrad (Democrat)
New Hampshire	Styles Bridges	Republican	Re-elected, 60.4 - 39.7	Herbert W. Hill (Democrat)
New Jersey	Clifford P. Case	Republican	Re-elected, 55.7 - 43.2	Thorn Lord (Democrat)
New Mexico	Clinton P. Anderson	Democrat	Re-elected, 63.4 - 36.6	William Colwes (Republican)
North Carolina	B. Everett Jordan	Democrat	Re-elected, 61.4 - 38.6	Kyle Hayes (Republican)
North Dakota²	Clarence N. Brunsdale	Republican	Retired: Democratic victory, 49.7 - 49.2	Quentin N. Burdick (Democrat) John E. Davis (Republican)
Oklahoma	Robert S. Kerr	Democrat	Re-elected, 54.8 - 44.6	B. Hayden Crawford (Republican)
Oregon	Hall S. Lusk	Democrat	Retired: Democratic victory, 54.6 - 45.4	Maurine B. Neuberger (Democrat) Elmo Smith (Republican)
Rhode Island	Theodore F. Green	Democrat	Retired: Democratic victory, 68.9 - 31.1	Claiborne Pell (Democrat) Raoul Archambault (Republican)
South Carolina	Strom Thurmond	Democrat	Re-elected, unopposed
South Dakota	Karl E. Mundt	Republican	Re-elected, 52.4 - 47.6	George S. McGovern (Democrat)
Tennessee	Estes Kefauver	Democrat	Re-elected, 71.8 - 28.3	A. Bradley Frazier (Republican)
Texas	Lyndon B. Johnson	Democrat	Re-elected, 58.0 - 41.1	John G. Tower (Republican)
Virginia	A. Willis Robertson	Democrat	Re-elected, 81.3 - 14.2	Stuart D. Baker (Independent)
West Virginia	Jennings Randolph	Democrat	Re-elected, 55.3 - 44.7	Cecil H. Underwood (Republican)
Wyoming	Joseph C. O'Mahoney	Democrat	Retired: Republican victory, 56.4 - 43.6	Edwin Keith Thomson (Republican) Raymond B. Whitaker (Democrat)

¹ special election held due to death of Thomas C. Hennings, Jr. (D-MO)

² special election held due to death of William Langer (R-ND)

Senate composition before and after elections

86th Congress Senate Composition

87th Congress Senate Composition

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Color Key:	bgcolor=Template:Republican Party (United States)/meta/color\|	= Republican	bgcolor=Template:Democratic Party (United States)/meta/color\|	= Democratic

1960 United States Senate elections

Senate contests in 1960

Senate composition before and after elections

See also