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
The Seventeenth Amendment (Amendment XVII) to the United States Constitution established the direct election of United States senators in each state. The amendment supersedes Article I, Section 3, Clauses 1 and2 of the Constitution, under wh ...
.
Republican primary
Candidates
*
Edward Brooke,
Massachusetts Attorney General since 1963
* Alan MacKay, conservative activist
Declined
*
Leverett Saltonstall, incumbent Senator since 1945
Campaign
MacKay campaigned against Brooke for refusing to back
Barry Goldwater
Barry Morris Goldwater (January 2, 1909 – May 29, 1998) was an American politician and United States Air Force officer who was a five-term U.S. Senator from Arizona (1953–1965, 1969–1987) and the Republican Party nominee for presiden ...
's 1964 presidential campaign. However, Goldwater endorsed Brooke in May.
[
]
Results
Brooke won the party endorsement at the June 25 convention and was unopposed in the September primary.[
]
Democratic primary
Candidates
* Thomas Boylston Adams, academic and member of the Adams political family
The Adams family was a prominent political family in the United States from the late 18th through the early 20th centuries. Based in eastern Massachusetts, they formed part of the Boston Brahmin community. The family traces to Henry Adams of Bar ...
* John F. Collins
John Frederick Collins (July 20, 1919 – November 23, 1995) was an American lawyer who served as the mayor of Boston from 1960 to 1968. Collins was a lawyer who served in the Massachusetts Legislature from 1947 to 1955. He and his children cau ...
, Mayor of Boston
* Endicott Peabody, former Governor of Massachusetts
Results
General election
Candidates
* Edward Brooke, Massachusetts Attorney General since 1963 (Republican)
* Lawrence Gilfedder, perennial candidateLawrence Gilfedder
at ourcampaigns.com (Socialist Labor)
* Endicott Peabody, former Governor of Massachusetts (Democratic)
* Mark R. Shaw
The Prohibition Party (PRO) is a Political parties in the United States, political party in the United States known for its historic opposition to the sale or consumption of alcoholic beverages and as an integral part of the temperance movement ...
, perennial candidate and nominee for Vice President of the United States in 1964
Events January
* January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved.
* January 5 - In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patriarch ...
(Prohibition)
Results
See also
* 1966 United States Senate elections
The 1966 United States Senate elections were elections on November 8, 1966 for the United States Senate which occurred midway through the second (and only full) term of President Lyndon B. Johnson. The 33 seats of Class 2 were contested in regul ...
References
External links and references
Race details
at ourcampaigns.com
{{Massachusetts elections
United States Senate
Massachusetts
1966
Events January
* January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko.
* January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo i ...