1958_United_States_Senate_election_in_Massachusetts
1958 United States Senate election in Massachusetts
Election
The 1958 United States Senate election in Massachusetts was held on November 4, 1958. Democratic incumbent John F. Kennedy was reelected to a second six-year term, defeating Republican candidate Vincent J. Celeste.
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County results
Municipality results
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Candidates
- John F. Kennedy, incumbent Senator since 1953
Results
Senator Kennedy was unopposed for renomination.
Candidates
- Vincent J. Celeste, East Boston attorney and candidate for U.S. Representative in 1950 and 1952
Results
Celeste was unopposed for the Republican nomination.
Candidates
- Vincent J. Celeste, East Boston attorney and candidate for U.S. Representative in 1950 and 1952 (Republican)
- Lawrence Gilfedder, perennial candidate (Socialist Labor)
- John F. Kennedy, incumbent Senator since 1953 (Democratic)
- Mark R. Shaw, perennial candidate (Prohibition)
Campaign
Kennedy was overwhelmingly popular in Massachusetts and the 1958 elections were a wave election favoring the Democratic Party. Celeste's campaign was poorly funded but the candidate worked 17-hour days, running his campaign out of his law offices and attempting to frame the race as one pitting a working-class child of Sicilian immigrants against "that millionaire Jack Kennedy."[1]
The Kennedy campaign had bought and produced thousands of pieces of campaign material with the slogan "Be Proud of Your Vote!" but scrapped them after Celeste's nomination, as Senator Kennedy's father Joe thought the slogan could alienate Italian-Americans and divide the state on ethnic lines.[1]
Results
Kennedy defeated Celeste by a margin of 874,608 votes; this represented the largest margin of victory in a statewide Massachusetts election up to that point.[2]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | John F. Kennedy (incumbent) | 1,362,926 | 73.20% |  21.86 | |
| Republican | Vincent J. Celeste | 488,318 | 26.23% |  22.12 | |
| Socialist Labor | Lawrence Gilfedder | 5,457 | 0.29% | 0.09 | |
| Prohibition | Mark R. Shaw | 5,335 | 0.29% | 0.18 | |
| Total votes | 1,862,036 | 100.00% | |||
| Democratic hold | |||||
- "Vincent Celeste, at 90; JFK's US Senate opponent in '58". The Boston Globe. February 17, 2015. Retrieved December 13, 2020.
- "John F. Kennedy". Retrieved January 16, 2017.
- "Our Campaigns - MA US Senate Race - Nov 04, 1958". www.ourcampaigns.com.
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