1966 United States House of Representatives election in Delaware

For related races, see 1966 United States House of Representatives elections.

The 1966 United States House of Representatives election in Delaware took place on November 8, 1966 to decide who would represent Delaware's at-large congressional district in the United States Congress. Incumbent representative Harris McDowell ran for re-election to a sixth term but lost to Republican challenger William Roth by 11 percentage points.

1966 United States House of Representatives election in Delaware

← 1964 November 8, 1966 1968 →

Nominee William Roth Harris McDowell Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 90,561 72,142 Percentage 55.77% 44.23%

County results Roth:      50–60%

U.S. Representative before election Harris McDowell Democratic Elected U.S. Representative William Roth Republican

Prior to the election, the seat was regarded as being a safe Democratic seat. With the loss, Harris McDowell became the last Democrat to represent Delaware in the House until Tom Carper in 1982. The election was held during Democratic President Lyndon B. Johnson's second term; his party lost 47 seats in the House.

Background

Incumbent Harris McDowell was a veteran Democrat^[1] and was expected to easily hold the seat.^[2] In 1964, he had won reelection by 13 points and over 26 thousand votes.^[3] McDowell had previously lost a re-election bid in 1956 before returning to the House of Representatives in 1958.^[4] The election was held during the midterm election cycle of Democratic President Lyndon B. Johnson second term.^[5][6]

Primaries and candidates

• Harris McDowell (Democrat), incumbent representative seeking a sixth term^[4]
• William Roth (Republican), attorney and unsuccessful candidate for Lieutenant Governor of Delaware in 1960^[7][8]
• James M. Tunnel Jr. (Democrat), former on the Delaware Supreme Court, defeated in the primary^[9]
• George W. Cripps (Republican), defeated in the primary^[10]

Democratic primary

There was some effort from the Delaware Democratic Party to get McDowell to run against Republican Senator J. Caleb Boggs in the concurrent Senate election. McDowell declined, opting to instead seek another term in the House.^[2] McDowell was challenged by James M. Tunnell Jr., a former judge on the Delaware Supreme Court.^[9]

Republican Primary

The first person to announce their candidacy for the Republican nomination was George W. Cripps. Following the death of his son in the Vietnam War, Cripps called for further engagement in Vietnam.^[11][12] Cripps was challenged for the nomination by attorney and former Delaware Republican Party (GOP) chairman William Roth.^[13] Cripps and Roth did not run negative campaign advertisements and avoided attacking each other.^[10] Roth explained that since Republicans were the minority party they "cannot afford the luxury of disunity".^[14] At the GOP state convention, Cripps withdrew from the race and endorsed Roth's campaign, describing him as "The kind of man we need in the Republican party." He subsequently won the nomination for Delaware's Auditor of Accounts.^[10]

General election

Throughout the campaign, Roth appeared alongside his wife, Jane, and their dog, Ludwig. Roth stated that he hoped to shake hands with 50 thousand voters. He frequently wore a yellow button reading "I am Bill Roth".^[8] He had previously worn the button during his 1960 campaign for Lieutenant Governor.^[15]

During the campaign, Roth aggressively criticized then-President Lyndon B. Johnson, particularly his foreign policy. The Morning News joked that Roth was "running against the President of the United States in addition to the Democratic Congressman."^[8] McDowell made a similar comment saying that Roth was "running against President Johnson, the Department of Defense and all the liberal legislation passed in the past six years." He further criticized Roth saying that his political positions were unclear.^[16]

On October 28, 1966, Roth and McDowell participated in a debate at the University of Delaware. The debate was sponsored by the Student Government Association. Questions were written by students of the university's political science department.^[17]

Allegations of voting irregularities

During the campaign, John J. Smith, a Republican candidate for the state legislature, claimed there were irregularities with voting registration. Smith asked the United States Department of Justice to investigate and monitor the election, but was rejected due to a lack of legal basis for the request.^[18] A report by the grand jury of New Castle County found that there was some evidence of illegal activity. The activity included voters voting in primaries for parties they were not registered for and allowing voters to vote without proper voter identification.^[19]

A list of absentee voters was made available to select Democratic candidates including McDowell. No Republicans received the list, Delaware GOP chairman Clayton S. Harrison criticized this decision, referencing the findings of the grand jury report. Reportedly, McDowell used the list to send out campaign materials.^[20]

Results

The election took place on November 8, 1966, concurrently with various other elections.^[21] Like with most cycles the President's party struggled, losing 47 house seats along with various governorships and Senate seats.^[5][6] Roth defeated McDowell by around 11 percent of the vote. He received 97,268 votes, nearly 30 thousand more than McDowell's 67,281. Roth received the second highest number of votes of any Republican candidate elected at-large, behind only incumbent Insurance Commissioner Robert A. Short.^[21]

Additionally, Roth won all three of Delaware's counties. His strongest showing was in New Castle County where he received 66,871 votes. McDowell's strongest showing was also in New Castle County where he received 49,718 votes. The closest was Kent County where Roth won by just 723 votes.^[22]

General election results^[21]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	William Roth	90,561	55.77%	12.4
	Democratic	Harris McDowell (Incumbent)	72,142	44.23%	12.3
Total votes			162,703	100.00%
	Republican gain from Democratic

Aftermath

Following his victory, Roth resigned from his position as a senior councilman at Hercules Inc.^[7] Like several other lame duck representatives after the loss, McDowell was set travel to Europe as part of a congressional delegation.^[23] However, he, like fellow Democratic representatives Roy H. McVicker and Ronald B. Cameron, decided to cancel his trip. When asked why, McDowell explained that he did not believe it was fair for an outgoing congressman to go abroad.^[24]

McDowell and Roth competed again in the following election; Roth won re-election, increasing his margin of victory to seventeen percent.^[25] Following the second loss, McDowell retired from politics.^[26] During Roth's second term, he resigned from the House to fill a vacant Senate seat.^[27] He was succeeded by Republican state representative Pete du Pont.^[28] McDowell was the last Democrat to represent Delaware in the House until Delaware Treasurer Tom Carper's 1982 victory.^[22][29] After his defeat, McDowell was appointed to a position within the Government of Delaware by then-Governor Charles L. Terry Jr..^[7] Despite this, during the following election Terry endorsed candidates to run against McDowell in the Democratic primary.^[30]