1962 United States Senate election in Pennsylvania
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 County results Clark: 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% Zandt: 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% | |||||||||||||||||
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| Elections in Pennsylvania |
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 Government |
The 1962 United States Senate election in Pennsylvania was held on November 6, 1962. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator
Joseph S. Clark, Jr. successfully sought re-election to another term, defeating Republican nominee James E. Van Zandt
.
A Democratic U.S. Senator would not be elected in Pennsylvania until 1991, and not again in a regular election until 2006. This was the last time the Democrats won the Class 3 Senate seat from Pennsylvania until John Fetterman's victory in 2022.[a]
General election
Candidates
- Arla A. Albaugh (Socialist Labor)
- Joseph S. Clark Jr., incumbent U.S. Senator since 1957 (Democratic)
- James E. Van Zandt, U.S. Representative from Altoona (Republican)
Campaign
The 1962 Senate race took place alongside a
gubernatorial race that garnered most of the media's attention. Van Zandt criticized Clark for being an idealistic liberal and stressed an anti-communist platform. He also attacked Clark for Clark's support of the Kennedy administration's foreign policy towards both China and Cuba. In return, Clark portrayed Van Zandt as a proponent of McCarthyism who would be "trigger happy" as a Senator.[1]
In the end, Clark was re-elected to the United States Senate, winning his second term. He beat Van Zandt in the nine-county area of Southwestern Pennsylvania surrounding
1956, and his 108,000 vote margin in Allegheny County was an important factor in his victory.[1]
Results
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic
|
Joseph S. Clark, Jr. (incumbent) | 2,238,383 | 51.07% | ||
Republican
|
James E. Van Zandt | 2,134,649 | 48.70% | ||
| Socialist Labor | Arla A. Albaugh | 10,387 | 0.24% | ||
| N/A | Other | 2 | 0.00% | ||
| Democratic hold | |||||
Notes
- ^ Arlen Specter, who was elected to the seat as a Republican in 1980, switched to the Democratic Party in 2009 before being defeated for re-nomination in 2010.
References
- ^ ISBN 9780761864431. Retrieved January 11, 2017.
- ^ "Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 6, 1962" (PDF). Office of the Clerk of the U.S. House. Retrieved July 8, 2014.