1944 United States Senate special election in Massachusetts

The 1944 United States Senate special election in Massachusetts was held on November 7, 1944. Republican Governor Leverett Saltonstall was elected to finish the term of Henry Cabot Lodge Jr., who had resigned from the Senate to serve in World War II.

1944 United States Senate special election in Massachusetts

← 1942 November 7, 1944 1948 →

Nominee Leverett Saltonstall John H. Corcoran Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 1,228,754 667,086 Percentage 64.29% 34.90%

County results Municipality results Saltonstall:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%      >90% Corcoran:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%

U.S. senator before election Sinclair Weeks Republican Elected U.S. Senator Leverett Saltonstall Republican

Primary elections were held on July 10; Saltonstall was unopposed for the Republican nomination, while John H. Corcoran won a highly competitive race for the Democratic nomination, in which all four candidates came from Boston or Cambridge.

Background

Incumbent Henry Cabot Lodge Jr. resigned from the Senate on February 3, 1944, to return to active duty in the U.S. Army during World War II.

Despite initial reporting that Governor Leverett Saltonstall would resign so that Lieutenant Governor Horace T. Cahill could appoint him to the vacant seat, he chose not to.^[1] Instead, on February 8, Saltonstall appointed Sinclair Weeks, whom Lodge had narrowly defeated at the party convention in 1936.

A special election was scheduled on November 7, concurrent with the regularly scheduled elections to state and national office.

Republican primary

Candidates

• Leverett Saltonstall, Governor of Massachusetts since 1939

Results

Governor Saltonstall was unopposed for the Republican nomination.

Democratic primary

Candidates

• John H. Corcoran, Mayor of Cambridge since 1942
• Joseph A. Langone Jr., former State Senator
• Joseph Lee, former Boston School Committee member
• Richard M. Russell, former United States Representative and Mayor of Cambridge

Results

Democratic primary^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	John H. Corcoran	62,537	33.90%
	Democratic	Joseph Lee	47,514	25.76%
	Democratic	Richard M. Russell	47,080	25.52%
	Democratic	Joseph A. Langone Jr.	27,317	14.82%
Total votes			184,448	100.00%

General election

Candidates

• John H. Corcoran, Mayor of Cambridge since 1942 (Democratic)
• Bernard G. Kelly, nominee for Secretary of the Commonwealth in 1942 and Auditor in 1940^[3] (Socialist Labor)
• E. Tallmadge Root, nominee for Governor of Massachusetts in 1940 (Prohibition)
• Leverett Saltonstall, Governor of Massachusetts since 1939 (Republican)

Results

General election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Leverett Saltonstall	1,228,754	64.29%	11.85
	Democratic	John H. Corcoran	667,086	34.90%	11.71
	Socialist Labor	Bernard G. Kelly	12,296	0.64%	0.29
	Prohibition	E. Tallmadge Root	3,269	0.17%	0.09
Total votes			1,911,405	100.00%

Though he was entitled to be seated immediately upon the certification of the election, Saltonstall did not take office until January 4, 1945, when his term as Governor ended.

See also

• United States Senate elections, 1944