1962 United States Senate election in Pennsylvania
November 6, 1962
 
Nominee Joseph S. Clark Jr. James E. Van Zandt
Party Democratic Republican
Popular vote 2,238,383 2,134,649
Percentage 51.07% 48.70%
County results
Clark:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%
Zandt:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%
U.S. senator before election

Joseph S. Clark, Jr.
Democratic

 Elected U.S. Senator

Joseph S. Clark, Jr.
Democratic

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.[lower-alpha 1]

General election

Candidates

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 Pittsburgh by nearly 200,000 votes, but lost Central Pennsylvania and the Philadelphia suburbs to Van Zandt. Clark increased his margin of victory in the Southwest from 1956, and his 108,000 vote margin in Allegheny County was an important factor in his victory.[1]

Results

General election results[2]
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

  1. ↑ 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

  1. 1 2 Kennedy, John J. (2014). Pennsylvania Elections. University Press of America. pp. 45–46. ISBN 9780761864431. Retrieved January 11, 2017.
  2. ↑ "Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 6, 1962" (PDF). Office of the Clerk of the U.S. House. Retrieved July 8, 2014.
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