Electoral history of Ted Kennedy

Electoral history of Ted Kennedy, United States Senator from Massachusetts (1962–2009) and, at the time of his death, the second most senior member of the Senate.

United States Senate races

1962 U.S. Senate special election in Massachusetts
Primary election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Ted Kennedy	559,303	69.33
	Democratic	Edward J. McCormack Jr.	247,403	30.67
Total votes			806,706	100.00
General election
	Democratic	Ted Kennedy	1,162,611	55.44
	Republican	George C. Lodge	877,668	41.85
	Independent	H. Stuart Hughes	50,013	2.38
	Socialist Labor	Lawrence Gilfedder	5,330	0.25
	Prohibition	Mark R. Shaw	1,439	0.07
Total votes			2,097,081	100.00
	Democratic hold

1964 U.S. Senate election in Massachusetts
Primary election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Ted Kennedy (incumbent)	608,791	99.99
	Write-in		32	0.01
Total votes			608,823	100.00
General election
	Democratic	Ted Kennedy (incumbent)	1,716,907	74.26
	Republican	Howard J. Whitmore Jr.	587,663	25.42
	Socialist Labor	Lawrence Gilfedder	4,745	0.21
	Prohibition	Grace F. Luder	2,700	0.12
Total votes			2,312,028	100.00
	Democratic hold

1970 U.S. Senate election in Massachusetts
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Ted Kennedy (incumbent)	1,202,856	62.16
	Republican	Josiah Spaulding	715,978	37.00
	Socialist Labor	Lawrence Gilfedder	10,378	0.54
	Prohibition	Mark R. Shaw	5,944	0.31
Total votes			1,935,156	100.00
	Democratic hold

1976 U.S. Senate election in Massachusetts
Primary election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Ted Kennedy (incumbent)	534,725	73.86
	Democratic	Robert Dinsmore	117,496	16.23
	Democratic	Frederick C. Langone	59,315	8.19
	Democratic	Bernard Shannon (withdrawn)	12,399	1.71
	Write-in		53	0.01
Total votes			723,988	100.00
General election
	Democratic	Ted Kennedy (incumbent)	1,726,657	69.31
	Republican	Michael Robertson	722,641	29.01
	Socialist Workers	Carol Henderson Evans	26,283	1.06
	U.S. Labor	H. Graham Lowry	15,517	0.62
	Write-in		157	0.01
Total votes			2,491,255	100.00
	Democratic hold

1982 U.S. Senate election in Massachusetts
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Ted Kennedy (incumbent)	1,247,084	60.81
	Republican	Ray Shamie	784,602	38.26
	Libertarian	Howard S. Katz	18,878	0.92
	Write-in		205	0.01
Total votes			2,050,769	100.00
	Democratic hold

1988 U.S. Senate election in Massachusetts
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Ted Kennedy (incumbent)	1,693,344	64.97
	Republican	Joe Malone	884,267	33.93
	New Alliance	Mary Fridley	15,208	0.58
	Libertarian	Freda Lee Nason	13,199	0.51
	Write-in		207	0.01
Total votes			2,606,225	100.00
	Democratic hold

1994 U.S. Senate election in Massachusetts
Primary election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Ted Kennedy (incumbent)	391,637	98.87
	Democratic	Others	4,498	1.13
Total votes			396,135	100.00
General election
	Democratic	Ted Kennedy (incumbent)	1,266,011	58.07
	Republican	Mitt Romney	894,005	41.01
	Libertarian	Lauraleigh Dozier	14,484	0.66
	LaRouche Was Right	William A. Ferguson Jr.	4,776	0.22
	Write-in		688	0.03
Total votes			2,179,964	100.00
	Democratic hold

2000 U.S. Senate election in Massachusetts
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Ted Kennedy (incumbent)	1,889,494	72.69
	Republican	Jack Robinson III	334,341	12.86
	Libertarian	Carla Howell	308,860	11.88
	Constitution	Philip F. Lawler	42,113	1.62
	Independent	Dale E. Friedgen	13,687	0.53
	Independent	Philip Hyde III	8,452	0.33
	Write-in		2,473	0.10
Total votes			2,734,006	100.00
	Democratic hold

2006 U.S. Senate election in Massachusetts
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
General election
	Democratic	Ted Kennedy (incumbent)	1,500,738	69.30
	Republican	Kenneth Chase	661,532	30.55
Total votes			2,165,490	100.00
	Democratic hold

Presidential and vice-presidential races

1964

1964 Massachusetts Democratic presidential primary:^[1]

All votes were cast as write-ins

Lyndon B. Johnson (inc.) – 61,035 (72.91%)
Robert F. Kennedy – 15,870 (18.96%)
Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. – 2,269 (2.71%)
Ted Kennedy – 1,259 (1.50%)
Adlai Stevenson II – 952 (1.14%)
George Wallace – 565 (0.68%)
Hubert Humphrey – 323 (0.39%)

1968

1968 Democratic Party presidential primaries:^[2]

Eugene McCarthy – 2,914,933 (38.73%)
Robert F. Kennedy – 2,305,148 (30.63%)
Stephen M. Young – 549,140 (7.30%)
Lyndon B. Johnson (inc.) – 383,590 (5.10%)
Thomas C. Lynch – 380,286 (5.05%)
Roger D. Branigin – 238,700 (3.17%)
George Smathers – 236,242 (3.14%)
Hubert Humphrey – 166,463 (2.21%)
Unpledged delegates – 161,143 (2.14%)
Scott Kelly – 128,899 (1.71%)
George Wallace – 34,489 (0.46%)
Richard Nixon – 13,610 (0.18%)
Ronald Reagan – 5,309 (0.07%)
Ted Kennedy – 4,052 (0.05%)
Paul C. Fisher – 506 (0.01%)
John G. Crommelin – 186 (0.00%)

1968 Democratic National Convention (presidential tally):^[3]

Hubert Humphrey – 1,760 (67.43%)
Eugene McCarthy – 601 (23.03%)
George McGovern – 147 (5.63%)
Channing E. Phillips – 68 (2.61%)
Daniel K. Moore – 18 (0.69%)
Ted Kennedy – 13 (0.50%)
Paul Bryant – 1 (0.04%)
James H. Gray – 1 (0.04%)
George Wallace – 1 (0.04%)

1968 Democratic National Convention (vice-presidential tally):^[4]

Edmund Muskie – 1,945 (74.01%)
Abstaining – 605 (23.02%)
Julian Bond – 49 (1.87%)
David C. Hoeh – 4 (0.15%)
Ted Kennedy – 4 (0.15%)
Eugene McCarthy – 3 (0.11%)
Richard J. Daley – 2 (0.08%)
Don Edwards – 2 (0.08%)
George McGovern – 2 (0.08%)
Robert McNair – 2 (0.08%)
Abraham A. Ribicoff – 2 (0.08%)
James Tate – 2 (0.08%)
Allard Lowenstein – 1 (0.04%)
Paul O'Dwyer – 1 (0.04%)
Henry Reuss – 1 (0.04%)
William F. Ryan – 1 (0.04%)
Terry Sanford – 1 (0.04%)
Sargent Shriver – 1 (0.04%)

1968 Liberal Party presidential convention:^[5]

Hubert Humphrey – 199 (89.64%)
Abstaining – 11 (4.96%)
None of these candidates – 11 (4.96%)
Ted Kennedy – 1 (0.45%)

1972

1972 Democratic Party presidential primaries:^[6]

Hubert Humphrey – 4,121,372 (25.77%)
George McGovern – 4,053,451 (25.34%)
George Wallace – 3,755,424 (23.48%)
Edmund Muskie – 1,840,217 (11.51%)
Eugene McCarthy – 553,990 (3.46%)
Henry M. Jackson – 505,198 (3.16%)
Shirley Chisholm – 430,703 (2.69%)
Terry Sanford – 331,415 (2.07%)
John Lindsay – 196,406 (1.23%)
Samuel Yorty – 79,446 (0.50%)
Wilbur Mills – 37,401 (0.23%)
Walter E. Fauntroy – 21,217 (0.13%)
Unpledged – 19,533 (0.12%)
Ted Kennedy – 16,693 (0.10%)
Vance Hartke – 11,798 (0.07%)
Patsy Mink – 8,286 (0.05%)
None – 6,269 (0.04%)

1972 Democratic National Convention (presidential tally):^[7]

George McGovern – 1,729 (57.37%)
Henry M. Jackson – 525 (17.42%)
George Wallace – 382 (12.67%)
Shirley Chisholm – 152 (5.04%)
Terry Sanford – 78 (2.59%)
Hubert Humphrey – 67 (2.22%)
Wilbur Mills – 34 (1.13%)
Edmund Muskie – 25 (0.83%)
Ted Kennedy – 13 (0.43%)
Wayne L. Hays – 5 (0.17%)
Eugene McCarthy – 2 (0.07%)
Ramsey Clark, Walter Mondale – 1 each (0.03%)

1972 Democratic National Convention (vice-presidential tally):^[8]

Thomas Eagleton – 1,742 (59.07%)
Frances Farenthold – 405 (13.73%)
Mike Gravel – 226 (7.66%)
Endicott Peabody – 108 (3.66%)
Clay Smothers – 74 (2.51%)
Birch Bayh – 62 (2.10%)
Peter W. Rodino – 57 (1.93%)
Jimmy Carter – 30 (1.02%)
Shirley Chisholm – 20 (0.68%)
Moon Landrieu – 19 (0.64%)
Edward T. Breathitt – 18 (0.61%)
Ted Kennedy – 15 (0.51%)
Fred R. Harris – 14 (0.48%)
Richard G. Hatcher – 11 (0.37%)
Harold Hughes – 10 (0.34%)
Joseph Montoya – 9 (0.31%)
William L. Guy – 8 (0.27%)
Adlai Stevenson III – 8 (0.27%)
Robert Bergland, Hodding Carter, César Chávez, Wilbur Mills – 5 each (0.17%)
Wendell Anderson, Stanley Arnold, Ron Dellums, John J. Houlihan, Roberto A. Mondragon – 4 each (0.14%)
Reubin O'Donovan Askew, Herman Badillo, Eugene McCarthy, Claiborne Pell, Terry Sanford – 3 each (0.10%)
Ramsey Clark, Richard J. Daley, John DeCarlo, Ernest Gruening, Roger Mudd, Edmund Muskie, Claude Pepper, Abraham A. Ribicoff, Hoyt Patrick Taylor Jr., Leonard F. Woodcock, Bruno Agnoli – 2 each (0.07%)
Ernest Albright, William A. Barrett, Daniel Berrigan, Philip Berrigan, Julian Bond, Skipper Bowles, Archibald Burton, Phillip Burton, William Chappell, Lawton Chiles, Frank Church, Robert Drinan, Nick Galifianakis, John Z. Goodrich, Michael Griffin, Martha Griffiths, Charles Hamilton, Patricia Harris, Jim Hunt, Daniel Inouye, Henry M. Jackson, Robery Kariss, Allard K. Lowenstein, Mao Zedong, Eleanor McGovern, Martha Beall Mitchell, Ralph Nader, George Norcross III, Jerry Rubin, Fred Seaman, Joe Smith, Benjamin Spock, Patrick Tavolacci, George Wallace – 1 each (0.03%)

1976

1976 Democratic Party presidential primaries:^[9]

Jimmy Carter – 6,235,609 (39.27%)
Jerry Brown – 2,449,374 (15.43%)
George Wallace – 1,955,388 (12.31%)
Mo Udall – 1,611,754 (10.15%)
Henry M. Jackson – 1,134,375 (7.14%)
Frank Church – 830,818 (5.23%)
Robert Byrd – 340,309 (2.14%)
Sargent Shriver – 304,399 (1.92%)
Unpledged – 283,437 (1.79%)
Ellen McCormack – 238,027 (1.50%)
Fred R. Harris – 234,568 (1.48%)
Milton Shapp – 88,254 (0.56%)
Birch Bayh – 86,438 (0.54%)
Hubert Humphrey – 61,992 (0.39%)
Ted Kennedy – 19,805 (0.13%)
Lloyd Bentsen – 4,046 (0.03%)
Terry Sanford – 404 (0.00%)

1976 Democratic National Convention (presidential tally):^[10]

Jimmy Carter – 2,239 (74.48%)
Mo Udall – 330 (10.98%)
Jerry Brown – 301 (10.01%)
George Wallace – 57 (1.90%)
Ellen McCormack – 22 (0.73%)
Frank Church – 19 (0.63%)
Hubert Humphrey – 10 (0.33%)
Henry M. Jackson – 10 (0.33%)
Fred R. Harris – 9 (0.30%)
Milton Shapp, Robert Byrd – 2 each (0.07%)
Hugh Carey, Cesar Chavez, Leon Jaworski, Barbara Jordan, Ted Kennedy, George McGovern, Edmund Muskie, Jennings Randolph, Fred Stover – 1 each (0.03%)

1980

1980 Democratic Party presidential primaries:^[11]

Jimmy Carter (inc.) – 10,043,016 (51.13%)
Ted Kennedy – 7,381,693 (37.58%)
Unpledged – 1,288,423 (6.56%)
Jerry Brown – 575,296 (2.93%)
Lyndon LaRouche – 177,784 (0.91%)
Cliff Finch – 48,032 (0.25%)

1980 Democratic National Convention (presidential tally):^[12]

Jimmy Carter (inc.) – 2,123 (64.04%)
Ted Kennedy – 1,151 (34.72%)
William Proxmire – 10 (0.30%)
Koryne Kaneski Horbal, Scott M. Matheson Sr. – 5 each (0.15%)
Ron Dellums – 3 (0.09%)
Robert Byrd, John Culver, Kent Hance, Jennings Randolph, Warren Spannaus, Alice Tripp – 2 each (0.06%)
Jerry Brown, Dale Bumpers, Hugh L. Carey, Walter Mondale, Edmund Muskie, Thomas J. Steed – 1 each (0.03%)

References

[1] Our Campaigns – MA US President – D Primary Race – Apr 28, 1964

[2] Our Campaigns – US President – D Primaries Race – Mar 12, 1968

[3] Our Campaigns – US President – D Convention Race – Aug 26, 1968

[4] Our Campaigns – US Vice President – D Convention Race – Jul 26, 1968

[5] Our Campaigns – NY US President – L Convention Race – Sep 04, 1968

[6] Our Campaigns – US President – D Primaries Race – Mar 07, 1972

[7] Our Campaigns – US President – D Convention Race – Jul 10, 1972

[8] Our Campaigns – US Vice President – D Convention Race – Jul 10, 1972

[9] Our Campaigns – US President – D Primaries Race – Feb 01, 1976

[10] Our Campaigns – US President – D Convention Race – Jul 12, 1976

[11] Our Campaigns – US President – D Primaries Race – Feb 26, 1980

[12] Our Campaigns – US President – D Convention Race – Aug 11, 1980

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

v t e Ted Kennedy
February 22, 1932 – August 25, 2009 United States Senator from Massachusetts, 1962–2009
Electoral history	U.S. Senate elections in Massachusetts: 1962 (special) 1964 1970 1976 1982 1988 1994 2000 2006 1980 United States presidential election (Democratic primaries) Ted Kennedy 1980 presidential campaign
Books	My Senator and Me: A Dog's-Eye View of Washington, D.C. (2006) True Compass (2009)
Speeches	The Dream Shall Never Die
Family, family tree	Joan Bennett Kennedy (first wife) Victoria Reggie Kennedy (second wife, widow) Kara Kennedy (daughter) Edward M. Kennedy Jr. (son) Patrick J. Kennedy II (son) Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. (father) Rose Kennedy (mother) Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. (brother) John F. Kennedy (brother presidency) Rosemary Kennedy (sister) Kathleen Kennedy (sister) Eunice Kennedy Shriver (sister) Patricia Kennedy Lawford (sister) Robert F. Kennedy (brother) Jean Kennedy Smith (sister) Patrick J. Kennedy I (grandfather) John F. Fitzgerald (grandfather)
Related	Awards and honors Political positions Kennedy Compound Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act Chappaquiddick incident Mary Jo Kopechne Friends of Ireland Chappaquiddick (2018 film)
Category