1962 United States Senate election in Arizona

The 1962 United States Senate election in Arizona took place on November 6, 1962. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Carl Hayden ran for reelection to a seventh term, defeating Republican State Senator Evan Mecham in the general election. Mecham became Governor of Arizona more than two decades later, and was subsequently impeached from office.

1962 United States Senate election in Arizona
November 6, 1962
 
Nominee Carl Hayden Evan Mecham
Party Democratic Republican
Popular vote 199,217 163,338
Percentage 54.9% 45.1%
U.S. Senate election results map.
Blue denotes counties won by Hayden.
Red denotes those won by Mecham.
U.S. senator before election

Carl Hayden
Democratic

 Elected U.S. Senator

Carl Hayden
Democratic

Elections in Arizona

This would be Hayden's final run for U.S. Senate, as he would be succeeded in office by Barry Goldwater in 1968. As of 2020, this is the last time the Democrats have won the Class 3 seat from Arizona.

Democratic primary

Candidates
  • Carl T. Hayden, incumbent U.S. Senator
  • W. Lee McLane

Results
Democratic primary results[1]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Carl T. Hayden 117,688 76.50%
Democratic W. Lee McLane 36,158 23.50%
Total votes 153,846 100.00

Republican primary

State Senator Evan Mecham ran for U.S. Senate, and was challenged by political operative and strategist Stephen Shadegg. Shadegg, who had served as campaign manager for both Republican and Democratic candidates, had run at the urging of Senator Barry Goldwater, but Goldwater failed to officially endorse any candidate in the Republican primary.[2] Shadegg later said that he was "terriby let down" by Goldwater's position of neutrality in the primary after Goldwater had urged Shadegg to seek the seat.[3]

Candidates

Results
Republican primary results[4]
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Evan Mecham 40,300 59.04%
Republican Stephen Shadegg 27,965 40.97%
Total votes 68,265 100.00

General election
United States Senate election in Arizona, 1962[5]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Democratic Carl T. Hayden 199,217 54.94%
Republican Evan Mecham 163,388 45.06%
Majority 35,829 9.88%
Turnout 362,605
Democratic hold Swing

See also
  • United States Senate elections, 1962

References
  1. http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=230922
  2. "Nation: Out from Backstage". Time. April 13, 1962. Retrieved August 29, 2014.
  3. Fowler, Glenn (May 24, 1990). "Stephen Shadegg, Goldwater Adviser And Alter Ego, 80". The New York Times. Retrieved August 29, 2014.
  4. http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=230926
  5. http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=3296
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.