1966 United States Senate election in Kentucky

1966 United States Senate election in Kentucky
	County results; Cooper: 50-60% 60-70% 70-80% 80–90%; Brown: 50–60% 60–70%
U.S. senator before election; John Sherman Cooper; Republican	Elected U.S. Senator ; John Sherman Cooper; Republican

The 1966 United States Senate election in Kentucky took place on November 8, 1966. Incumbent Republican Senator John Sherman Cooper was elected to a second consecutive term in office,^[a] defeating Democrat John Y. Brown Sr. in a rematch of the 1946 special election. This would be the first statewide election in Kentucky in which a Republican won Elliott County, and the only until 2016 when Donald Trump won the county for president.

Republican primary

Candidates

John Sherman Cooper, incumbent Senator since 1957^[a]
Thurman Jerome Hamlin, perennial candidate from London
Sam M. Ward

Results

Republican Primary results^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	John Sherman Cooper (incumbent)	65,023	92.80%
	Republican	Sam M. Ward	2,927	4.18%
	Republican	W. Howard Clay	2,120	3.03%
Total votes			70,070	100.00%

Democratic primary

Candidates

John Y. Brown Sr., former U.S. Representative at-large and nominee for Senate in 1946
Jesse N.R. Cecil
James Ward Lentz
Gaines P. Wilson

Results

Democratic primary results^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	John Y. Brown Sr.	71,759	75.58%
	Democratic	Gaines P. Wilson	12,921	13.61%
	Democratic	James Ward Lentz	5,339	5.69%
	Democratic	Jesse N.R. Cecil	4,861	5.12%
Total votes			94,940	100.00%

General election

Results

1966 U.S. Senate election in Kentucky^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	John Sherman Cooper (incumbent)	483,805	64.52%
	Democratic	John Y. Brown Sr.	266,079	35.48%
Total votes			749,884	100.00%

Results by county

County	John Sherman Cooper Republican		John Young Brown Sr. Democratic		Margin		Total votes cast^[4]
County	#	%	#	%	#	%	Total votes cast^[4]
Adair	3,003	70.21%	1,274	29.79%	1,729	40.43%	4,277
Allen	2,094	70.51%	876	29.49%	1,218	41.01%	2,970
Anderson	1,799	60.27%	1,186	39.73%	613	20.54%	2,985
Ballard	1,347	54.73%	1,114	45.27%	233	9.47%	2,461
Barren	4,194	61.24%	2,655	38.76%	1,539	22.47%	6,849
Bath	1,591	55.92%	1,254	44.08%	337	11.85%	2,845
Bell	4,240	61.28%	2,679	38.72%	1,561	22.56%	6,919
Boone	3,692	63.57%	2,116	36.43%	1,576	27.13%	5,808
Bourbon	2,051	60.01%	1,367	39.99%	684	20.01%	3,418
Boyd	8,462	62.95%	4,980	37.05%	3,482	25.90%	13,442
Boyle	3,368	67.16%	1,647	32.84%	1,721	34.32%	5,015
Bracken	1,190	64.46%	656	35.54%	534	28.93%	1,846
Breathitt	1,195	34.43%	2,276	65.57%	-1,081	-31.14%	3,471
Breckinridge	2,847	60.65%	1,847	39.35%	1,000	21.30%	4,694
Bullitt	2,399	56.98%	1,811	43.02%	588	13.97%	4,210
Butler	2,513	81.70%	563	18.30%	1,950	63.39%	3,076
Caldwell	2,752	69.85%	1,188	30.15%	1,564	39.70%	3,940
Calloway	3,244	63.68%	1,850	36.32%	1,394	27.37%	5,094
Campbell	12,128	64.02%	6,817	35.98%	5,311	28.03%	18,945
Carlisle	1,417	61.08%	903	38.92%	514	22.16%	2,320
Carroll	940	47.36%	1,045	52.64%	-105	-5.29%	1,985
Carter	3,234	66.65%	1,618	33.35%	1,616	33.31%	4,852
Casey	3,299	80.48%	800	19.52%	2,499	60.97%	4,099
Christian	4,394	58.96%	3,058	41.04%	1,336	17.93%	7,452
Clark	2,850	62.97%	1,676	37.03%	1,174	25.94%	4,526
Clay	2,802	76.68%	852	23.32%	1,950	53.37%	3,654
Clinton	2,150	84.41%	397	15.59%	1,753	68.83%	2,547
Crittenden	1,825	70.30%	771	29.70%	1,054	40.60%	2,596
Cumberland	1,698	80.13%	421	19.87%	1,277	60.26%	2,119
Daviess	10,152	59.62%	6,877	40.38%	3,275	19.23%	17,029
Edmonson	1,878	75.48%	610	24.52%	1,268	50.96%	2,488
Elliott	846	53.85%	725	46.15%	121	7.70%	1,571
Estill	2,201	67.66%	1,052	32.34%	1,149	35.32%	3,253
Fayette	22,374	66.27%	11,390	33.73%	10,984	32.53%	33,764
Fleming	1,892	63.81%	1,073	36.19%	819	27.62%	2,965
Floyd	4,890	55.98%	3,846	44.02%	1,044	11.95%	8,736
Franklin	5,002	47.91%	5,439	52.09%	-437	-4.19%	10,441
Fulton	1,406	65.49%	741	34.51%	665	30.97%	2,147
Gallatin	529	51.01%	508	48.99%	21	2.03%	1,037
Garrard	2,210	67.92%	1,044	32.08%	1,166	35.83%	3,254
Grant	1,476	61.89%	909	38.11%	567	23.77%	2,385
Graves	5,231	61.82%	3,230	38.18%	2,001	23.65%	8,461
Grayson	3,642	72.94%	1,351	27.06%	2,291	45.88%	4,993
Green	2,099	67.06%	1,031	32.94%	1,068	34.12%	3,130
Greenup	4,676	61.02%	2,987	38.98%	1,689	22.04%	7,663
Hancock	980	64.64%	536	35.36%	444	29.29%	1,516
Hardin	5,876	64.69%	3,207	35.31%	2,669	29.38%	9,083
Harlan	6,056	69.26%	2,688	30.74%	3,368	38.52%	8,744
Harrison	1,905	55.56%	1,524	44.44%	381	11.11%	3,429
Hart	2,730	65.93%	1,411	34.07%	1,319	31.85%	4,141
Henderson	3,523	54.85%	2,900	45.15%	623	9.70%	6,423
Henry	1,625	52.30%	1,482	47.70%	143	4.60%	3,107
Hickman	1,298	69.30%	575	30.70%	723	38.60%	1,873
Hopkins	4,534	56.85%	3,442	43.15%	1,092	13.69%	7,976
Jackson	2,549	87.53%	363	12.47%	2,186	75.07%	2,912
Jefferson	113,648	66.48%	57,312	33.52%	56,336	32.95%	170,960
Jessamine	2,379	68.76%	1,081	31.24%	1,298	37.51%	3,460
Johnson	3,623	73.80%	1,286	26.20%	2,337	47.61%	4,909
Kenton	16,115	67.84%	7,638	32.16%	8,477	35.69%	23,753
Knott	1,474	43.49%	1,915	56.51%	-441	-13.01%	3,389
Knox	3,884	74.35%	1,340	25.65%	2,544	48.70%	5,224
Larue	2,052	69.16%	915	30.84%	1,137	38.32%	2,967
Laurel	4,988	78.54%	1,363	21.46%	3,625	57.08%	6,351
Lawrence	1,961	61.94%	1,205	38.06%	756	23.88%	3,166
Lee	1,449	68.71%	660	31.29%	789	37.41%	2,109
Leslie	2,049	82.39%	438	17.61%	1,611	64.78%	2,487
Letcher	3,528	65.88%	1,827	34.12%	1,701	31.76%	5,355
Lewis	2,327	75.65%	749	24.35%	1,578	51.30%	3,076
Lincoln	2,916	66.00%	1,502	34.00%	1,414	32.01%	4,418
Livingston	1,483	64.06%	832	35.94%	651	28.12%	2,315
Logan	2,638	46.54%	3,030	53.46%	-392	-6.92%	5,668
Lyon	977	62.91%	576	37.09%	401	25.82%	1,553
Madison	5,329	61.77%	3,298	38.23%	2,031	23.54%	8,627
Magoffin	1,605	59.69%	1,084	40.31%	521	19.38%	2,689
Marion	1,927	55.82%	1,525	44.18%	402	11.65%	3,452
Marshall	3,465	64.75%	1,886	35.25%	1,579	29.51%	5,351
Martin	1,446	76.11%	454	23.89%	992	52.21%	1,900
Mason	2,812	66.23%	1,434	33.77%	1,378	32.45%	4,246
McCracken	9,039	66.21%	4,612	33.79%	4,427	32.43%	13,651
McCreary	2,460	86.86%	372	13.14%	2,088	73.73%	2,832
McLean	1,478	55.61%	1,180	44.39%	298	11.21%	2,658
Meade	1,823	57.85%	1,328	42.15%	495	15.71%	3,151
Menifee	710	57.68%	521	42.32%	189	15.35%	1,231
Mercer	2,695	60.93%	1,728	39.07%	967	21.86%	4,423
Metcalfe	1,636	62.92%	964	37.08%	672	25.85%	2,600
Monroe	3,171	80.73%	757	19.27%	2,414	61.46%	3,928
Montgomery	2,053	65.72%	1,071	34.28%	982	31.43%	3,124
Morgan	1,254	50.38%	1,235	49.62%	19	0.76%	2,489
Muhlenberg	4,016	56.19%	3,131	43.81%	885	12.38%	7,147
Nelson	3,280	61.93%	2,016	38.07%	1,264	23.87%	5,296
Nicholas	886	61.49%	555	38.51%	331	22.97%	1,441
Ohio	3,279	68.10%	1,536	31.90%	1,743	36.20%	4,815
Oldham	1,727	60.68%	1,119	39.32%	608	21.36%	2,846
Owen	1,042	44.10%	1,321	55.90%	-279	-11.81%	2,363
Owsley	980	81.46%	223	18.54%	757	62.93%	1,203
Pendleton	1,548	58.28%	1,108	41.72%	440	16.57%	2,656
Perry	4,303	65.31%	2,286	34.69%	2,017	30.61%	6,589
Pike	8,495	52.96%	7,544	47.04%	951	5.93%	16,039
Powell	1,277	61.04%	815	38.96%	462	22.08%	2,092
Pulaski	8,364	80.91%	1,973	19.09%	6,391	61.83%	10,337
Robertson	394	65.89%	204	34.11%	190	31.77%	598
Rockcastle	2,841	75.80%	907	24.20%	1,934	51.60%	3,748
Rowan	2,054	64.41%	1,135	35.59%	919	28.82%	3,189
Russell	2,592	79.98%	649	20.02%	1,943	59.95%	3,241
Scott	1,932	55.84%	1,528	44.16%	404	11.68%	3,460
Shelby	2,504	56.63%	1,918	43.37%	586	13.25%	4,422
Simpson	1,419	61.64%	883	38.36%	536	23.28%	2,302
Spencer	849	60.08%	564	39.92%	285	20.17%	1,413
Taylor	2,563	69.74%	1,112	30.26%	1,451	39.48%	3,675
Todd	1,514	60.01%	1,009	39.99%	505	20.02%	2,523
Trigg	1,412	57.21%	1,056	42.79%	356	14.42%	2,468
Trimble	683	43.75%	878	56.25%	-195	-12.49%	1,561
Union	1,788	51.86%	1,660	48.14%	128	3.71%	3,448
Warren	6,570	62.99%	3,861	37.01%	2,709	25.97%	10,431
Washington	1,930	63.34%	1,117	36.66%	813	26.68%	3,047
Wayne	2,642	66.13%	1,353	33.87%	1,289	32.27%	3,995
Webster	1,801	53.46%	1,568	46.54%	233	6.92%	3,369
Whitley	5,023	77.68%	1,443	22.32%	3,580	55.37%	6,466
Wolfe	1,100	65.13%	589	34.87%	511	30.25%	1,689
Woodford	2,305	64.62%	1,262	35.38%	1,043	29.24%	3,567
Totals	483,805	64.52%	266,079	35.48%	217,726	29.03%	749,884

Notes

^ ^a ^b Cooper had served three partial non-consecutive terms from 1946–1949, 1952–1955, and 1957–1961 and one full term beginning in 1961.

References

^ "Our Campaigns - KY US Senate - R Primary Race - May 24, 1966". www.ourcampaigns.com.
^ "Our Campaigns - KY US Senate - D Primary Race - May 24, 1966". www.ourcampaigns.com.
^ Clerk of the United States House of Representatives (1967). "Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 8, 1966" (PDF). U.S. Government Printing Office.
^ "KY US Senate Race, November 08, 1966". Our Campaigns.

[term-1] Cooper had served three partial non-consecutive terms from 1946–1949, 1952–1955, and 1957–1961 and one full term beginning in 1961.

[2] "Our Campaigns - KY US Senate - R Primary Race - May 24, 1966". www.ourcampaigns.com.

[3] "Our Campaigns - KY US Senate - D Primary Race - May 24, 1966". www.ourcampaigns.com.

[Clerk-4] Clerk of the United States House of Representatives (1967). "Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 8, 1966" (PDF). U.S. Government Printing Office.

[5] "KY US Senate Race, November 08, 1966". Our Campaigns.

[a]

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

v t e (1964 ←) 1966 United States elections (→ 1968)
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Republican primary

Candidates

Results

Democratic primary

Candidates

Results

General election

Results

Results by county

See also

Notes

References