1956 United States Senate election in Pennsylvania

none March 2026 September 2023 1956 United States Senate election in Pennsylvania Pennsylvania presidential no 1950 United States Senate election in Pennsylvania 1950 1962 United States Senate election in Pennsylvania 1962 November 6, 1956 145x145px Sen Joe Clark 1956.jpg Joseph S. Clark Jr. Democratic Party (US) 2,268,641 50.08% Senator James H. Duff.jpg James H. Duff Republican Party (US) 2,250,671 49.69% 1956 United States Senate election in Pennsylvania results map by county.svg 260px County resultsClark Jr.: #7996e2 50–60% #6674de 60–70%Duff: #ffb2b2 40–50% #e27f7f 50–60% #d75d5d 60–70% #d72f30 70–80% U.S. Senator James H. Duff Republican Party (US) Joseph S. Clark, Jr. Democratic Party (US) The 1956 United States Senate election in Pennsylvania was held on November 6, 1956. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator James H. Duff sought re-election to another term, but was defeated by the Democratic nominee, Joseph S. Clark, Jr. General election Candidates Joseph S. Clark Jr., former Mayor of Philadelphia (Democratic) James H. Duff, incumbent U.S. Senator (Republican) Herbert G. Lewin (Militant Workers) George S. Taylor (Socialist Labor) Campaign The 1956 Senate election in Pennsylvania featured two prominent and well-known candidates: a former Philadelphia mayor in the challenger, Clark, and the ambitious former Governor Duff who had considered running for higher office. Clark, in his run for mayor, upset the Republican Party machine in Philadelphia and contributed to a political realignment in the city that would tip it in favor of the Democrats and help him in his 1956 campaign for Senate. In 1950, when Duff was elected, Republicans were 70% of the two-party vote registration in Philadelphia, but held only a two-point advantage there in 1956.Kennedy John J. Pennsylvania Elections 2014 University Press of America 42–44 9780761864431 https://books.google.com/books?id=c35jBAAAQBAJ&q=1962+pennsylvania+senate+election&pg=PA45 11 January 2017 Duff ran as an ally to Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who was also running for re-election, and criticized Clark for his spending and tax policies as Philadelphia mayor. In addition to criticizing Duff in return for his poor attendance record in the Senate (which was one of the worst at the time), Clark criticized the Eisenhower administration's foreign policy. In the end, Clark narrowly defeated the incumbent Duff by just under 18,000 votes. The result was not known definitively until 50,000 military ballots had been counted and despite Duff's loss, Eisenhower carried the state in the presidential election and the Republicans won every other statewide race in 1956. Clark carried Southwest Pennsylvania, notwithstanding the harm his Philadelphia ties might have cost him there, as well as his home of Philadelphia, while Duff won much of the conservative "central T". Results General election resultsStatistics of the Congressional and Presidential Election of November 6, 1956 http://clerk.house.gov/member_info/electionInfo/1956election.pdf Office of the Clerk of the U.S. House 8 July 2014 Democratic Party (US) Joseph S. Clark, Jr. 2,268,641 50.08% Republican Party (US) James H. Duff (incumbent) 2,250,671 49.69% Socialist Labor Party of America George S. Taylor 7,447 0.16% Militant Workers Herbert G. Lewin 2,035 0.05% Democratic Party (United States) Republican Party (United States) See also 1956 United States Senate elections References 1956 Pennsylvania United States Senate