1964 Massachusetts elections

1964 Massachusetts Attorney General election
← 1962 1966 →
Attorney General before election; Edward Brooke; Republican	Elected Attorney General ; Edward Brooke; Republican

1964 Massachusetts Lieutenant Governor election
← 1962 1966 →
Lieutenant Governor before election; Francis X. Bellotti; Democratic	Elected Lieutenant Governor ; Elliot Richardson; Republican

A Massachusetts general election was held on November 3, 1964, in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

The election included:

statewide elections for United States Senator, Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, Secretary of the Commonwealth, Treasurer, and Auditor;
district elections for U.S. Representatives, State Representatives, State Senators, and Governor's Councillors; and
ballot questions at the state and local levels.

Democratic and Republican candidates were selected in party primaries held on September 10, 1964.

This was the final election before the term of office for governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, secretary of the commonwealth, treasurer, and auditor was extended from two to four years.

Governor

Republican John A. Volpe was elected over Democrat Francis X. Bellotti, Socialist Labor candidate Francis A. Votano, and Prohibition candidate Guy S. Williams. Incumbent governor Endicott Peabody lost in the Democratic primary to Bellotti, his lieutenant governor.

Lieutenant governor

Republican Elliot L. Richardson was elected Lieutenant Governor over Democrat John W. Costello.

Republican primary

Candidates

Elliott Richardson, former United States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts

Results

Richardson ran unopposed in the Republican primary for lieutenant governor.

Democratic primary

Candidates

John W. Costello, member of the Massachusetts Governor's Council

Withdrew following convention

Joseph E. McGuire, Worcester attorney

Withdrew at convention

Joseph G. Bradley, state representative from Newton
Edward F. Harrington, mayor of New Bedford
George P. Macheras, Lowell City Councilor
Rico Matera, former state representative from East Boston

Eliminated at convention

Joseph Alecks
James A. DeGuglielmo
Daniel Dibble, mayor of Holyoke
Thomas S. Eisenstadt, member of the Boston School Committee
George H. O'Fannell, state representative
Andre R. Sigourney, state representative from Nahant
Mario Umana, state senator from East Boston
Harold L. Vaughn

Convention

On the first ballot, Governor's Councillor John W. Costello led with 428 votes to Worcester attorney and Industrial Accident Board member Joseph E. McGuire's 404, state senator Mario Umana's 250, and state representative Joseph G. Bradley's 112. The other seven candidates received less than the 100 votes required to remain on the ballot and Bradley chose to drop out, which left Costello, McGuire, and Umana as the only remaining candidates. Costello led again on the second ballot, with 641 votes to McGuire's 600 and Umana's 343, but did not receive enough votes to win the nomination. The same happened on the third (687 votes for Costello to McGuire's 656 and Umana's 172). On the fourth ballot, Umana fell to 99 votes, which eliminated him from the contest. On the fifth and final ballot Costello won the party's endorsement by defeating McGuire 724 votes to 691.^[1]

Balloting^[1]
	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th
John W. Costello	428	641	687	?	724
Joseph E. McGuire	404	600	656	?	691
Mario Umana	250	343	172	99	—
Joseph G. Bradley	112	—	—	—	—

Results

Costello was unopposed for the nomination for lieutenant governor.

General election

1964 Massachusetts Lt. gubernatorial election^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Elliot L. Richardson	1,121,985	50.22%
	Democratic	John W. Costello	1,097,380	49.11%
	Socialist Labor	Edgar E. Gaudet	9,551	0.43%
	Prohibition	Prescott E. Grout	5,424	0.24%
	Write-in		10	0.00%	{{{change}}}
Total votes			2,234,340	100.00%

Attorney General

Incumbent Attorney General Edward Brooke defeated Democrat James W. Hennigan, Jr.

General election

Results

Massachusetts Attorney General Election, 1964^[3]
	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
Republican	Edward Brooke (incumbent)	1,543,900	67.18%	11.20
Democratic	James W. Hennigan, Jr.	746,390	32.48%	10.80
Socialist Workers	Willy N. Hogseth	4,716	0.21%	0.26
Prohibition	Howard B. Rand	3,030	0.13%	0.15
Write-in		4	0.00%

Secretary of the Commonwealth

1964 Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth election

← 1962

1966 →


Nominee	Kevin White	Wallace B. Crawford
Party	Democratic	Republican
Popular vote	1,572,871	621,894
Percentage	71.2%	28.1%

Secretary of the Commonwealth before election

Kevin White
Democratic

Elected Secretary of the Commonwealth

Kevin White
Democratic

Incumbent Secretary of the Commonwealth Kevin White defeated Republican Wallace B. Crawford.

General election

Results

1964 Secretary of the Commonwealth election^[4]
	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
Democratic	Kevin White (incumbent)	1,572,871	71.20%	7.10
Republican	Wallace B. Crawford	621,894	28.15%	8.43
Socialist Workers	Fred M. Ingersoll	8,369	0.38%	0.10
Prohibition	Julia B. Kohler	6,074	0.28%	0.12
Write-in		7	0.00%

Treasurer and Receiver-General

1964 Massachusetts Treasurer election

← 1962

1966 →


Nominee	Robert Q. Crane	Robert C. Hahn
Party	Democratic	Republican
Popular vote	1,390,921	762,593
Percentage	61.2%	35.2%

Treasurer and Receiver-General before election

John T. Driscoll
Democratic

Elected Treasurer and Receiver-General

Robert Q. Crane
Democratic

Incumbent Treasurer and Receiver-General John T. Driscoll did not run for re-election as he had been appointed Chairman of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority.

Robert Q. Crane defeated Republican Robert C. Hahn in the general election.

Democratic primary

Candidates

John J. Buckley, Mayor of Lawrence and member of the Governor's Council
Robert Q. Crane, state representative from Brighton
Louise Day Hicks, member of the Boston School Committee
John Francis Kennedy, former Treasurer and Receiver-General (1955–61)

Results

Massachusetts Treasurer and Receiver-General Democratic Primary, 1964^[5]
	Candidate	Votes	%
Democratic	Robert Q. Crane	238,629	35.87%
Democratic	Louise Day Hicks	163,201	24.53%
Democratic	John Francis Kennedy	139,736	21.01%
Democratic	John J. Buckley	123,519	18.57%
Write-in		175	0.03%

General election

1964 Treasurer and Receiver-General election^[6]
	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
Democratic	Robert Q. Crane	1,390,921	64.16%	2.36
Republican	Robert C. Hahn	762,593	35.18%	2.34
Socialist Workers	Arne A. Sortell	8,017	0.37%	0.09
Prohibition	Warren C. Carberg	6,295	0.29%	0.07
Write-in		3	0.00%

Auditor

1966 Massachusetts Auditor election

← 1962

1966 →


Nominee	Thaddeus Buczko	Elwynn Miller
Party	Democratic	Republican
Popular vote	1,247,674	868,813
Percentage	58.4%	40.7%

Auditor before election

Thomas J. Buckley
Democratic

Elected Auditor

Thaddeus M. Buczko
Democratic

Incumbent Auditor Thomas J. Buckley died on September 9, 1964, the night before the Democratic primary. Because no sticker campaign received enough votes to win the nomination, the Democratic State Committee chose Thaddeus M. Buczko to succeed Buckley for the Democratic nomination.

In the general election, Buczko defeated Republican Elwynn Miller.

Democratic primary

Candidates

Thomas J. Buckley, incumbent (died September 9, 1964)

Results

1964 Democratic primary for Auditor^[7]
	Candidate	Votes	%
Democratic	Thomas J. Buckley (inc., deceased)	375,917	95.95%
Write-in		4,355	1.11%
Democratic	Rocco Antonelli (write-in)	2,859	0.73%
Democratic	Richard J. Mulhern (write-in)	2,839	0.73%
Democratic	Peter F. Hines (write-in)	2,837	0.72%
Democratic	James Linchan (write-in)	2,545	0.65%
Democratic	Raymond Rigney (write-in)	436	0.11%

Committee vote

Democratic Committee Vote for Replacement Nominee^[8]
	Candidate	Votes	%
Democratic	Thaddeus M. Buczko	40	56.34%
Democratic	John J. Buckley	23	32.39%
Democratic	Louise Day Hicks	7	9.86%
Democratic	Peter F. Hines	1	1.41%

General election

Results

1964 Massachusetts Auditor election^[9]
	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
Democratic	Thaddeus M. Buczko (incumbent)	1,247,674	58.38%	9.27
Republican	Elwynn Miller	868,813	40.66%	9.06
Prohibition	John C. Hedges	11,368	0.53%	0.23
Socialist Workers	Ethelbert L. Nevens	9,175	0.43%	0.02
Write-in		9	0.00%

United States Senate

Democrat Ted Kennedy was re-elected over Republican Howard J. Whitmore, Jr., Socialist Labor candidate Lawrence Gilfedder, and Prohibition candidate Grace F. Luder.

References

^ ^a ^b Hanron, Robert B. (June 21, 1964). "Democrats Wind It Up". The Boston Globe.
^ Massachusetts Election Statistics 1964. p. 438.
^ Massachusetts Election Statistics 1964. p. 444.
^ Massachusetts Election Statistics 1964. p. 450.
^ Massachusetts Election Statistics 1964. p. 241.
^ Massachusetts Election Statistics 1964. p. 456.
^ Massachusetts Election Statistics 1964. p. 247.
^ Hanron, Robert (September 19, 1964). "Democrats Pick Buczko As Nominee for Auditor". Boston Globe.
^ Massachusetts Election Statistics 1964. p. 462.

[demconv-1] Hanron, Robert B. (June 21, 1964). "Democrats Wind It Up". The Boston Globe.

[2] Massachusetts Election Statistics 1964. p. 438.

[3] Massachusetts Election Statistics 1964. p. 444.

[4] Massachusetts Election Statistics 1964. p. 450.

[5] Massachusetts Election Statistics 1964. p. 241.

[6] Massachusetts Election Statistics 1964. p. 456.

[7] Massachusetts Election Statistics 1964. p. 247.

[8] Hanron, Robert (September 19, 1964). "Democrats Pick Buczko As Nominee for Auditor". Boston Globe.

[9] Massachusetts Election Statistics 1964. p. 462.

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