The 1961 United States Senate special election in Texas was held on May 27, 1961. The election was held to replace outgoing Senator Lyndon B. Johnson, who had been elected Vice President of the United States.

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1961 United States Senate special election in Texas

← 1960 April 4, 1961 (first round) May 27, 1961 (runoff) 1966 →

Candidate John Tower William A. Blakley Jim Wright Party Republican Democratic Democratic First round 327,308 30.93% 190,818 18.03% 171,328 16.19% Runoff 448,217 50.58% 437,874 49.42% Eliminated   Candidate Will Wilson Maury Maverick Jr. Henry B. González Party Democratic Democratic Democratic First round 121,961 11.53% 104,992 9.92% 97,659 9.23% Runoff Eliminated Eliminated Eliminated

First round county results (top 6 candidates) Runoff county results Runoff congressional district results Tower:      20–30%      30–40%      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90% Blakley:      20–30%      30–40%      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%      >90% Wright:      20–30%      30–40%      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80% Wilson:      20–30%      30–40%      40–50%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90% Maverick:      20–30%      30–40% Gonzalez:      20–30%      30–40%      40–50%      50–60%      80–90%      >90% Tie:      50%

U.S. senator before election William A. Blakley Democratic Elected U.S. Senator John Tower Republican

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Republican John Tower, who had been the nominee for the regularly scheduled election in 1960, defeated seventy other candidates to become the first Republican to represent Texas in the Senate since Reconstruction in 1877. Tower was also the first Republican to be popularly elected to the Senate in any former Confederate state.

Because Texas had been a Solid South state, the loss of Johnson's Senate seat would be seen as a stinging defeat for the Kennedy administration and the Democratic Party, given that the Civil Rights Movement was getting off the ground and the increasing sympathy for it amongst increasingly influential liberal Democrats.

One of the Democrats who were defeated in the first round was congressman Jim Wright, who went on to briefly serve as Speaker of the United States House of Representatives in the late 1980s.