Electoral history of John F. Kennedy

Electoral history of John F. Kennedy, who served as the 35th president of the United States (1961–1963) and as a United States senator (1953–1960) and United States representative (1947–1953) from Massachusetts.

President John F. Kennedy

U.S. House of Representatives elections (1946–1950)

1946 Massachusetts's 11th congressional district election, Democratic primary^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	John F. Kennedy	22,183	42.41%
	Democratic	Michael J. Neville	11,341	21.68%
	Democratic	John F. Cotter	6,677	12.76%
	Democratic	Joseph Russo	5,661	10.82%
	Democratic	Catherine E. Falvey	2,446	4.68%
	Democratic	Joseph Lee	1,848	3.53%
	Democratic	Joseph Russo	799	1.53%
	Democratic	Michael DeLuca	536	1.03%
	Democratic	Francis N. Rooney	521	1.00%
	Democratic	Robert B. DiFruscio	298	0.57%
Total votes			52,310	100.00%

1946 Massachusetts's 11th congressional district election^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	John F. Kennedy	69,093	71.87%
	Republican	Lester Bowen	26,007	27.05%
	Prohibition	Philip Geer	1,036	1.08%
Total votes			96,136	100.00%
	Democratic hold

1948 Massachusetts's 11th congressional district election^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	John F. Kennedy (incumbent)	106,366	100.00%
Total votes			106,366	100.00%
	Democratic hold

1950 Massachusetts's 11th congressional district election^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	John F. Kennedy (incumbent)	87,699	82.28%
	Republican	Vincent J. Celeste	18,302	17.17%
	Prohibition	Martha E. Geer	582	0.55%
Total votes			106,583	100.00%
	Democratic hold

U.S. Senate elections (1952–1958)

1952 United States Senate election in Massachusetts^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	John F. Kennedy	1,211,984	51.35%
	Republican	Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. (incumbent)	1,141,247	48.35%
	Socialist Labor	Thelma Ingersoll	4,683	0.20%
	Prohibition	Mark R. Shaw	2,508	0.11%
Total votes			2,360,422	100.00%
	Democratic gain from Republican

1958 United States Senate election in Massachusetts^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	John F. Kennedy (incumbent)	1,362,926	73.20%
	Republican	Vincent J. Celeste	488,318	26.23%
	Socialist Labor	Lawrence Gilfedder	5,457	0.29%
	Prohibition	Mark R. Shaw	5,335	0.29%
Total votes			1,862,036	100.00%
	Democratic hold

Presidential elections (1956–1960)

1956 Democratic presidential primaries^[7]

Candidate		Votes	%
Adlai Stevenson II		3,069,504	50.70%
Estes Kefauver		2,283,172	37.71%
Unpledged delegates		380,300	6.28%
Frank J. Lausche		278,074	4.59%
John W. McCormack		26,128	0.43%
Dwight D. Eisenhower		6,358	0.11%
W. Averell Harriman		3,368	0.06%
Robert Meyner		1,129	0.02%
John F. Kennedy		949	0.02%
Harry S. Truman		728	0.01%
Stuart Symington		402	0.01%
Others		3,819	0.06%
Total votes		6,053,931	100.00%

1956 Democratic National Convention, Vice Presidential tally
Candidates	First ballot	Second ballot	Third ballot
Estes Kefauver	466.5	551.5	755.5
John F. Kennedy	294.5	618	589
Albert Gore Sr.	178	110.5	13.5
Robert F. Wagner Jr.	162.5	9.5	6
Hubert Humphrey	134	74.5	2
Luther Hodges	40	0.5
P. T. Maner	33
LeRoy Collins	29
Clinton Anderson	16
Frank G. Clement	14
Pat Brown	1
Lyndon B. Johnson	1
Stuart Symington	1
Total	1,370.5	1,364.5	1,366
Votes needed	685	682	683

1960 Democratic primaries results

  John F. Kennedy

  Lyndon B. Johnson

  Hubert H. Humphrey

  Various^[a]

1960 Democratic presidential primaries^[8]

Candidate		Votes	%
John F. Kennedy		1,847,259	31.43%
Pat Brown		1,354,031	23.04%
George H. McLain		646,387	11.00%
Hubert Humphrey		590,410	10.05%
George Smathers		322,235	5.48%
Michael DiSalle		315,312	5.37%
Unpledged delegates		241,958	4.12%
Albert S. Potter		208,057	3.54%
Wayne Morse		147,262	2.51%
Adlai Stevenson II		51,833	0.88%
Total votes		5,724,744	100.00%

1960 Democratic National Convention, Presidential tally^[9]

Candidate		Votes	%
John F. Kennedy		806	52.89%
Lyndon B. Johnson		409	26.84%
Stuart Symington		86	5.64%
Adlai Stevenson II		80	5.25%
Robert Meyner		43	2.82%
Hubert Humphrey		42	2.76%
George Smathers		30	1.97%
Ross Barnett		23	1.51%
Herschel C. Loveless		2	0.13%
Pat Brown		1	0.07%
Orval E. Faubus		1	0.07%
Albert Rosellini		1	0.07%
Total votes		1,524	100.00%
Votes necessary		762	50.00%

Results of the 1960 presidential election

1960 United States presidential election:

• John F. Kennedy/Lyndon B. Johnson (D) – 34,220,984 (49.7%) and 303 electoral votes (22 states carried)
• Richard Nixon/Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. (R) – 34,108,157 (49.5%) and 219 electoral votes (26 states carried)
• Harry F. Byrd/Strom Thurmond (I) – 286,359 (0.4%) and 14 electoral votes (2 states carried)
• Harry F. Byrd/Barry Goldwater (I) – 1 electoral vote (Oklahoma faithless elector)
• Orval E. Faubus/James G. Crommelin (States' Rights) – 44,984 (0.1%)

Electoral results

Presidential candidate	Party	Home state	Popular vote		Electoral vote	Running mate
			Count	Percentage		Vice-presidential candidate	Home state	Electoral vote
John F. Kennedy	Democratic	Massachusetts	34,220,984(a)	49.72%	303	Lyndon B. Johnson	Texas	303
Richard Nixon	Republican	California	34,108,157	49.55%	219	Henry Cabot Lodge Jr.	Massachusetts	219
Harry F. Byrd	Southern Democratic	Virginia	—(b)	—(b)	15	James Strom Thurmond	South Carolina	14
						Barry Morris Goldwater(c)	Arizona	1(c)
(unpledged electors)	Democratic	(n/a)	610,409	0.42%	—(d)	(n/a)	(n/a)	—(d)
Eric Hass	Socialist Labor	New York	47,522	0.07%	0	Georgia Cozzini	Wisconsin	0
Rutherford L. Decker	Prohibition	Missouri	46,203	0.07%	0	E. Harold Munn	Michigan	0
Orval Faubus	States' Rights	Arkansas	44,984	0.07%	0	John G. Crommelin	Alabama	0
Farrell Dobbs	Socialist Workers	New York	40,175	0.06%	0	Myra Tanner Weiss	New York	0
Charles Sullivan	Constitution	Mississippi	(TX) 18,162	0.03%	0	Merritt Curtis	California	0
J. Bracken Lee	Conservative	Utah	(NJ) 8,708	0.01%	0	Kent Courtney	Louisiana	0
Other			11,128	0.02%	—	Other		—
Total			68,832,482	100%	537			537
Needed to win					269			269

Notes

1. Favorite sons received the support of Missouri (Stuart Symington), Florida (George Smathers), New Jersey (Robert Meyner), Mississippi (Carroll Gartin), and Hawaii.

References

1. "Our Campaigns - MA District 11 - D Primary Race - Jun 18, 1946".
2. Our Campaigns – MA District 11 Race – Nov 5, 1946
3. Michael J. Dubin, "United States Congressional Elections, 1788-1997: The Official Results", McFarland & Company, 1998, p. 571.
4. Michael J. Dubin, "United States Congressional Elections, 1788-1997: The Official Results", McFarland & Company, 1998, p. 571.
5. Our Campaigns – MA US Senate Race – Nov 4, 1952
6. Our Campaigns – MA US Senate Race – Nov 4, 1958
7. Our Campaigns – US President – D Primaries Race – Feb 1, 1956
8. Our Campaigns – US President – D Primaries Race – Feb 1, 1960
9. Our Campaigns – US President – D Convention Race – Jul 11, 1960