United States Senate election in Massachusetts, 1970

United States Senate election in Massachusetts, 1970

November 3, 1970

Nominee Ted Kennedy Josiah Spaulding Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 1,202,856 715,978 Percentage 62.2% 37.0%

400px Results by town. Red indicates towns carried by Josiah Spaulding, blue indicates towns carried by Ted Kennedy.

U.S. senator before election Ted Kennedy Democratic Elected U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy Democratic

The 1970 United States Senate election in Massachusetts was held on November 3, 1970. The incumbent Democratic Senator Ted Kennedy defeated his challengers. This was Kennedy's first election run since the 1969 Chappaquiddick incident.

Republican primary

Candidates

• Josiah Spaulding - Businessman and Republican leader in Massachusetts. He led a group of delegates at the 1968 Republican National Convention who unsuccessfully sought to nominate Nelson A. Rockefeller over Richard Nixon.
• John J. McCarthy, State Commissioner of Administration and Finance from 1965-1967.

Results

Republican Primary

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Josiah Spaulding	109,306	57.32
	Republican	John J. McCarthy	81,356	42.66

General election

Candidates

• Ted Kennedy (Democratic) - Incumbent U.S. Senator first elected in 1962 (to John Kennedy's unexpired term) and elected to a full term in 1964.
• Lawrence Gilfedder (Socialist Labor)
• Mark R. Shaw (Prohibition) - Former Prohibition Party candidate for U.S. Senator from Massachusetts in 1946, 1952, 1958, 1969, 1962, and 1966. He was the party's candidate for governor of Massachusetts in 1948 and 1956. In 1964, he was the Prohibition Party's candidate for vice-president of the United States.
• Josiah Spaulding (Republican) - Businessman

Results

Results by county

General election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Edward M. Kennedy	1,202,856	62.16	-12.1
	Republican	Josiah Spaulding	715,978	37.00	+11.58
	Socialist Labor	Lawrence Gilfedder	10,378	0.54	+0.33
	Prohibition	Mark R. Shaw	5,944	0.31	+0.19

External links and reference

• Race details at ourcampaigns.com