1964 United States Senate election in Michigan
The 1964 United States Senate election in Michigan took place on November 3, 1964. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Philip Hart was re-elected to a second term in office over Republican Elly Peterson.


1964 United States Senate election in Minnesota
The 1964 United States Senate election in Minnesota took place on November 3, 1964. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Eugene McCarthy defeated Republican challenger Wheelock Whitney, Jr., to win a second term.


1964 United States Senate election in Mississippi
The 1964 United States Senate election in Mississippi was held on November 3, 1964. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator John C. Stennis won re-election to his fourth term.


1964 United States Senate election in Mississippi
Because Stennis was unopposed in the general election, his victory in the June 2 primary was tantamount to election. He defeated civil rights activist Victoria Gray Adams, a member of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party in a landslide.


1964 United States Senate election in Missouri
The 1964 United States Senate election in Missouri took place on November 3, 1964. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Stuart Symington was re-elected to a third term in office over Republican Jean Paul Bradshaw.


1964 United States Senate election in Montana
The 1964 United States Senate election in Montana took place on November 3, 1964. Incumbent United States Senator Mike Mansfield, who was first elected to the Senate in 1952 and was re-elected in 1958, ran for re-election. Mansfield won the Democratic primary in a landslide, and advanced to the general election, where he faced Alex Blewett, the Majority Leader of the Montana House of Representatives and the Republican nominee. Though Mansfield's margin was significantly reduced from 1958, he still overwhelmingly defeated Blewett and won his third term in the Senate in a landslide.


1964 United States Senate election in Nebraska
The 1964 United States Senate election in Nebraska took place on November 3, 1964. The incumbent Republican Senator, Roman Hruska, was re-elected by a wide margin over Raymond W. Arndt. His victory overperformed Barry Goldwater, the Republican presidential nominee, who lost the state by 5% in the presidential election. This was the only election in the 1964 United States Senate elections in which the Republicans won by double digits.


1964 United States Senate election in Nevada
The 1964 United States Senate election in Nevada was held on November 3, 1964. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Howard Cannon won re-election to a second term by a slim margin of only 48 votes.


1964 United States Senate election in Nevada
As of 2021, this remains the closest Senate race in US history since the passing of the 17th amendment in which the winner was seated as Senator.


1964 United States Senate election in New Jersey
The 1964 United States Senate election in New Jersey was held on November 3, 1964. Incumbent Democrat Harrison A. Williams defeated Republican nominee Bernard M. Shanley with 61.91% of the vote.


1964 United States Senate election in New Mexico
The 1964 United States Senate election in New Mexico took place on November 3, 1964. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Edwin L. Mechem sought re-election to a full term, but was defeated by Democrat Joseph Montoya.


1964 United States Senate election in New York
The 1964 United States Senate election in New York was held on November 3, 1964. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Kenneth Keating ran for re-election to a second term, but was defeated by Robert F. Kennedy.


1964 United States Senate election in New York, Nominations
The Socialist Labor state convention met on March 29 and nominated John Emanuel. The Republican state convention met on August 31, and re-nominated the incumbent U.S. Senator Kenneth B. Keating. The Conservative state convention met on August 31 at Saratoga Springs, New York, and nominated Prof. Henry Paolucci.


1964 United States Senate election in New York, Nominations
The Democratic Party state convention met on September 1, and nominated U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy on the first ballot with 968 votes against 153 for Congressman Samuel S. Stratton. The Liberal Party met on September 1, and endorsed Kennedy. The Socialist Workers Party filed a petition to nominate candidates on September 7. Richard Garza was nominated.


1964 United States Senate election in New York, Campaign
John English, a Nassau County leader who helped John F. Kennedy during the 1960 presidential election, encouraged Robert Kennedy to oppose Keating. At the time, Samuel S. Stratton, a member of the United States House of Representatives from New York's 35th congressional district, was considered the most likely Democratic candidate. At first, Kennedy resisted. After President Kennedy's assassination, Robert Kennedy remained as Attorney General for Lyndon B. Johnson. However, Johnson and Kennedy feuded. Kennedy decided to run for the Senate in New York in August, and resigned from the Cabinet on September 3, 1964. While many reform Democrats resisted Kennedy, support from Robert F. Wagner, Jr., and party bosses like Charles A. Buckley, of The Bronx, and Peter J. Crotty, of Buffalo, helped Kennedy win the nomination at the party convention.


1964 United States Senate election in New York, Campaign
During the campaign, Kennedy was frequently met by large crowds. Keating accused Kennedy of being a carpetbagger from Massachusetts. Kennedy responded to these charges in a televised town meeting by saying, "If the senator of the state of New York is going be selected on who's lived here the longest, then I think people are going vote for my opponent. If it's going be selected on who's got the best New York accent, then I think I'm probably out too. But I think if it's going be selected on the basis of who can make the best United States senator, I think I'm still in the contest."


1964 United States Senate election in New York, Results
The Democratic/Liberal candidate was elected. Campaign help from President Lyndon B. Johnson, as well as the Democratic landslide after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, helped carry Kennedy into office, as Kennedy polled about 1.1 million votes less in New York than Johnson did.


1964 United States Senate election in North Dakota
The 1964 U.S. Senate election for the state of North Dakota was held November 3, 1964. The incumbent, Dem-NPL Senator Quentin Burdick, sought and received re-election to his second term, defeating Republican candidate Thomas S. Kleppe, who later became the United States Secretary of the Interior.


1964 United States Senate election in North Dakota
Only Burdick filed as a Dem-NPLer, and the endorsed Republican candidate was Thomas S. Kleppe, who served two terms as a Representative for North Dakota's second congressional district from 1967 to 1971. Burdick and Kleppe won the primary elections for their respective parties.


1964 United States Senate election in Ohio
The 1964 United States Senate election in Ohio took place on November 3, 1964. Incumbent Democratic Senator Stephen M. Young was re-elected to a second term in office, narrowly defeating Republican U.S. Representative Robert Taft, Jr.


1964 United States Senate election in Pennsylvania
The 1964 United States Senate election in Pennsylvania was held on November 3, 1964. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Hugh Scott successfully sought re-election to another term, defeating Democratic nominee Genevieve Blatt.


1964 United States Senate election in Rhode Island
The 1964 United States Senate election in Rhode Island took place on November 3, 1964. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator John Pastore successfully sought re-election, defeating Republican Ronald Legueux with 82.73% of the vote.


1964 United States Senate election in Tennessee
The 1964 United States Senate election in Tennessee was held on November 3, 1964, concurrently with the U.S. presidential election as well the other U.S. Senate special election in Tennessee, as well as other elections to the United States Senate in other states as well as elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections.


1964 United States Senate election in Tennessee
Democrat Albert Gore Sr. won re-election to a third term. Gore defeated Republican Dan Kuykendall.


1964 United States Senate election in Texas
The 1964 United States Senate election in Texas was held on November 3, 1964. Incumbent Democratic US Senator Ralph Yarborough defeated future US President George H. W. Bush handily. Bush later went on to win an election for the US House of Representatives in 1966 and was elected US Vice President in 1980, re-elected in 1984, and was elected president in 1988. That would prove to be Yarborough's final term as a senator.


1964 United States Senate election in Utah
The 1964 United States Senate election in Utah was held on November 3, 1964.


1964 United States Senate election in Utah
Incumbent Democratic Senator Frank Moss was re-elected to a second term in office, defeating Republican Ernest L. Wilkinson, the president of Brigham Young University.


1964 United States Senate election in Vermont
The 1964 United States Senate election in Vermont took place on November 3, 1964. Incumbent Republican Winston L. Prouty successfully ran for re-election to another term in the United States Senate, defeating Democratic candidate Frederick J. Fayette.


1964 United States Senate election in Virginia
The 1964 United States Senate election in Virginia was held on November 3, 1964. Incumbent Senator Harry F. Byrd, Sr. was re-elected to a sixth term after defeating Republican Richard A. May and independent James W. Respess. This was the last time before 2008 that the state voted simultaneously for a Democratic presidential candidate and a Democratic senate candidate.


1964 United States Senate election in Washington
The 1964 United States Senate election in Washington was held on November 3, 1964. Incumbent Democrat Henry M. Jackson won a third term in office with a landslide victory over Republican Superintendent of Instruction Lloyd J. Andrews.


1964 United States Senate election in West Virginia
The 1964 United States Senate election in West Virginia was held on November 3, 1964 alongside the 1964 United States presidential election. Incumbent Senator Robert Byrd won re-election in a landslide.


1964 United States Senate election in West Virginia, Background
Incumbent Senator Robert Byrd ran for a second term in this election. President Lyndon B. Johnson also ran for re-election. Johnson won West Virginia by a very large margin. Johnson was also re-elected President of the United States  in 1964 . Democrats also gained two seats in the Senate in the 1964 United States Senate elections.


1964 United States Senate election in Wisconsin
The 1964 United States Senate election in Wisconsin was held on November 3, 1964. Incumbent Democrat William Proxmire was narrowly re-elected to a second term in office over Republican Wilbur Renk.


1964 United States Senate election in Wisconsin, Democratic primary, Results
After losing the primary, Klinkert entered the general election as a candidate running on a "Faith and Belief in Man" ticket.


1964 United States Senate election in Wyoming
The 1964 United States Senate election in Wyoming took place on November 3, 1964. Incumbent Democratic Senator Gale W. McGee ran for re-election to his second term. In the general election, he faced Republican nominee John S. Wold, the former Chairman of the Republican Party of Wyoming and a former State Representative. Despite Wyoming's long conservative streak, McGee was aided by the strong performance by President Lyndon B. Johnson in Wyoming. McGee ended up winning re-election by a relatively narrow, but decisive, margin, beating Wold 54-46%.


1964 United States Senate elections
The 1964 United States Senate elections coincided with the election of President Lyndon B. Johnson by an overwhelming majority, to a full term. His Democratic Party picked up a net two seats from the Republicans. As of 2021, this is the last time either party has had a two-thirds majority in the Senate, which would have hypothetically allowed the Senate Democrats to override a veto, propose constitutional amendments, convict and expel certain officials, or invoke cloture without any votes from Republicans. In practice, however, internal divisions prevented the Democrats from doing so. The Senate election coincided with Democratic gains in the House in the same year.


1964 United States Senate elections
Notably, of the 35 seats up for election this year, 26 were held by Democrats, who managed to retain 25 of them. A party defending two-thirds of the seats up for election would not make net gains in the Senate again until 2012. Coincidentally, it would be the same Senate class, class 1.


1964 United States Senate elections, Other races
In a close race in Nevada, Democratic incumbent Howard Cannon won re-election over Republican Lieutenant Governor Paul Laxalt by fewer than 100 votes. Laxalt joined Cannon in the Senate when he won Nevada's other seat in 1974.


1964 United States Senate elections, Race summary, Special elections during the 88th Congress
In these special elections, the winner was seated during 1964 or before January 3, 1965; ordered by election date, then state.


1964 United States Senate elections, Race summary, Elections leading to the next Congress
In these general elections, the winners were elected for the term beginning January 3, 1965; ordered by state.


1964 United States Senate elections, Arizona
Incumbent Barry Goldwater decided not to run for re-election to a third term, instead running for President of the United States as the Republican Party nominee against Lyndon B. Johnson. Governor of Arizona Paul Fannin ran unopposed in the Republican primary, and defeated Democratic nominee Roy Elson, who was a staff member for U.S. senator Carl Hayden until Hayden's retirement in 1969. Despite a landslide loss throughout the country, and Goldwater only able to obtain 50.45% of the vote in his home state of Arizona, Fannin managed to prevail in the state's Senate election.


1964 United States Senate elections, Connecticut
Democrat Thomas J. Dodd was re-elected and served a second term. John Davis Lodge, grandson of Henry Cabot Lodge was defeated by almost 30%.


1964 United States Senate elections, Maryland
Incumbent Republican John Glenn Bell lost re-election 63%-37% to U.S. Attorney Joseph D. Tydings, a Democrat.


1964 United States Senate elections, Massachusetts
Incumbent Democrat Ted Kennedy defeated his challengers. Much of the campaign-appearance burden on behalf of Ted Kennedy fell on his wife, Joan, because of Ted's serious back injury in a plane crash.


1964 United States Senate elections, Minnesota
Incumbent Democrat Eugene McCarthy defeated Republican challenger Wheelock Whitney Jr., to win a second term.


1964 United States Senate elections, Montana
Incumbent Democrat Mike Mansfield, who was first elected to the Senate in 1952 and was re-elected in 1958, ran for re-election. Mansfield won the Democratic primary in a landslide, and advanced to the general election, where he faced Alex Blewett, the Majority Leader of the Montana House of Representatives and the Republican nominee. Though Mansfield's margin was significantly reduced from 1958, he still overwhelmingly defeated Blewett and won his third term in the Senate.


1964 United States Senate elections, Nevada
Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Howard Cannon won re-election to a second term by a slim margin of only 48 votes.


1964 United States Senate elections, New Mexico, New Mexico (regular)
Incumbent Republican Edwin L. Mechem sought re-election to a full term, but was defeated by Democrat Joseph Montoya.


1964 United States Senate elections, New Mexico, New Mexico (regular)
Montoya was Lieutenant Governor of New Mexico (1947–1951 and 1955–1957) and a four-term member of the U.S. House of Representatives (1957–1964).


1964 United States Senate elections, New Mexico, New Mexico (special)
Montoya was also elected to finish the term ending January 3, 1965.


1964 United States Senate elections, New York
Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Kenneth Keating ran for re-election to a second term, but was defeated by Robert F. Kennedy.


1964 United States Senate elections, New York
The Socialist Labor state convention met on March 29 and nominated John Emanuel. The Republican state convention met on August 31, and re-nominated the incumbent U.S. Senator Kenneth B. Keating. The Conservative state convention met on August 31 at Saratoga Springs, New York, and nominated Prof. Henry Paolucci. The Democratic state convention met on September 1, and nominated U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy on the first ballot with 968 votes against 153 for Congressman Samuel S. Stratton. The Liberal Party met on September 1, and endorsed the Democratic nominee, U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy. The Socialist Workers Party filed a petition to nominate candidates on September 7. Richard Garza was nominated.


1964 United States Senate elections, New York
John English, a Nassau County leader who helped John F. Kennedy during the 1960 presidential election, encouraged Robert Kennedy to oppose Keating. At the time, Samuel S. Stratton, a member of the United States House of Representatives from New York's 35th congressional district, was considered the most likely Democratic candidate. At first, Kennedy resisted. After President Kennedy's assassination, Robert Kennedy remained as Attorney General for Lyndon B. Johnson. However, Johnson and Kennedy feuded. Kennedy decided to run for the Senate in New York in August, and resigned from the Cabinet on September 3, 1964. While many reform Democrats resisted Kennedy, support from Robert F. Wagner Jr., and party bosses like Charles A. Buckley, of The Bronx, and Peter J. Crotty, of Buffalo, helped Kennedy win the nomination at the party convention.


1964 United States Senate elections, New York
During the campaign, Kennedy was frequently met by large crowds. Keating accused Kennedy of being a carpetbagger from Massachusetts. Kennedy responded to these charges in a televised town meeting by saying, "If the senator of the state of New York is going be selected on who's lived here the longest, then I think people are going vote for my opponent. If it's going be selected on who's got the best New York accent, then I think I'm probably out too. But I think if it's going be selected on the basis of who can make the best United States senator, I think I'm still in the contest."


1964 United States Senate elections, New York
The Democratic/Liberal candidate was elected. Campaign help from President Lyndon B. Johnson, as well as the Democratic landslide after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, helped carry Kennedy into office, as Kennedy polled about 1.1 million votes less in New York than Johnson did. The incumbent Keating was defeated.


1964 United States Senate elections, New York
(For Total Votes, the Democratic and Liberal votes for Kennedy are combined.}


1964 United States Senate elections, North Dakota
Incumbent Democratic-NPL Senator Quentin Burdick sought and received re-election to his second term, defeating Republican candidate Thomas S. Kleppe, who later became the United States Secretary of the Interior.


1964 United States Senate elections, North Dakota
Only Burdick filed as a Democratic-NPLer, and the endorsed Republican candidate was Thomas S. Kleppe, who would go on to serve two terms as a Representative for North Dakota's second congressional district from 1967 to 1971. Burdick and Kleppe won the primary elections for their respective parties.


1964 United States Senate elections, Pennsylvania
Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Hugh Scott successfully sought re-election to another term, defeating Democratic nominee Genevieve Blatt.


1964 United States Senate elections, Tennessee, Tennessee (special)
Democrat Ross Bass won the election, he defeated Republican Howard Baker.


1964 United States Senate elections, Texas
Incumbent Democrat Ralph Yarborough defeated future President of the United States George H. W. Bush.


1964 United States Senate elections, Texas
Although Yarborough won this election, he would lose the Democratic Primary six years later, in 1970, to Lloyd Bentsen. Bush later went on to win an election for the United States House of Representatives in 1966; he was elected vice president of the United States in 1980 and was elected president in 1988.


1964 United States Senate elections, Vermont
Incumbent Republican Winston L. Prouty successfully ran for re-election, defeating Democratic candidate Frederick J. Fayette.


1964 United States Senate elections, Virginia
Incumbent Harry F. Byrd was re-elected to a sixth term, defeating Republican Richard A. May and independent James W. Respess.


1964 United States Senate special election in Oklahoma
The 1964 United States Senate election in Oklahoma took place on November 3, 1964. Democratic Senator Robert S. Kerr, who won re-election to his third term in 1960, died in office on January 1, 1963. Governor J. Howard Edmondson resigned from office so that his Lieutenant Governor, George Nigh, could appoint him to the U.S. Senate. Edmondson ran for re-election in the ensuing special election, and faced strong competition from former Governor Raymond D. Gary and State Senator Fred R. Harris.


1964 United States Senate special election in Oklahoma
Edmondson placed first in the primary, but failed to win a majority, with Harris narrowly beating out Gary for second place. In the runoff, Harris defeated Edmondson in a landslide. In the general election, Harris faced former Oklahoma Sooners football coach Bud Wilkinson, the Republican nominee. Even though President Lyndon B. Johnson won Oklahoma by a wide margin over Republican presidential nominee Barry Goldwater, the Senate race was much closer. Ultimately, Harris only narrowly defeated Wilkinson by just 2% of the vote.


1964 United States Senate special election in Tennessee
The 1964 United States Senate special election in Tennessee was held on November 3, 1964, concurrently with the U.S. presidential election as well the other regularly scheduled U.S. Senate election for the seat which was held by Albert Gore Sr. As well as other elections to the United States Senate in other states as well as elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections. Following the death of Senator Estes Kefauver, Governor Frank G. Clement appointed Herbert S. Walters to fill the vacancy until the special election could take place.


1964 United States Senate special election in Tennessee
Democrat Ross Bass won the election, he defeated Republican Howard Baker.


1964 United States elections
The 1964 United States Elections were held on November 3, and elected the members of the 89th United States Congress, as well as the 45th Presidential Election. The Democratic party retained the presidency and added to their majorities in both chambers of Congress. This was the first presidential election after the ratification of the 23rd Amendment, which granted electoral votes to Washington, D.C.


1964 United States elections
Democratic incumbent President Lyndon B. Johnson (who took office on November 22, 1963, upon the death of his predecessor, John F. Kennedy) won a full term, defeating Republican Senator Barry Goldwater from Arizona. Johnson won every state except for Arizona and the Deep South. Johnson won 61% of the popular vote, the largest share of the popular vote since 1820. Goldwater won the Republican nomination on the first ballot, defeating Governor William Scranton of Pennsylvania and Governor Nelson Rockefeller of New York.


1964 United States elections
The Democratic Party picked up 37 seats in the House and 2 seats in the Senate, thereby capturing veto-proof supermajorities in both chambers.


1964 United States elections
In the gubernatorial elections, the Republican Party won a net gain of one seat.


1964 United States gubernatorial elections
United States gubernatorial elections were held November 3, 1964, concurrently with the presidential election. Elections were held in 25 states and 1 territory. This was the last gubernatorial elections for Florida, Massachusetts, Michigan, and Nebraska to take place in a presidential election year. Florida switched its governor election years to midterm years, while the other three expanded their terms from two to four years, this election also coincided with the Senate and the House elections.


1964 United States men's Olympic basketball team
The 1964 United States men's Olympic basketball team represented the United States at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. Entering into the Olympics for the sixth time, the United States men's team had won its last 37 games in a row. In the gold medal game, the USA faced the USSR; they were two undefeated teams that were both favorites to win the gold medal. USA won the gold medal for the sixth Olympics in a row, by beating the USSR, 73–59.


1964 United States men's Olympic basketball team, Roster
The 1964 United States Olympic basketball team featured college and university players. Jerry Shipp led the team with an average of 12.4 points per game.


1964 United States presidential election
The 1964 United States presidential election was the 45th quadrennial presidential election. It was held on Tuesday, November 3, 1964. Incumbent Democratic United States President Lyndon B. Johnson defeated Barry Goldwater, the Republican nominee. With 61.1% of the popular vote, Johnson won the largest share of the popular vote of any candidate since the largely uncontested 1820 election.


1964 United States presidential election
Johnson took office on November 22, 1963, following the assassination of his predecessor, John F. Kennedy. He easily defeated a primary challenge by segregationist Governor George Wallace of Alabama to win the nomination to a full term. At the 1964 Democratic National Convention, Johnson also won the nomination of his preferred running mate, Senator Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota. Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona, a leader of his party's conservative faction, defeated liberal Governor Nelson Rockefeller of New York and Governor William Scranton of Pennsylvania at the 1964 Republican National Convention.


1964 United States presidential election
Johnson championed his passage of the Civil Rights Act and advocated a series of anti-poverty programs collectively known as the Great Society. Goldwater espoused a low-tax, small-government philosophy. Although he supported previous attempts to pass civil rights legislation in 1957 and 1960 as well as the 24th Amendment outlawing the poll tax, Goldwater reluctantly opposed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as he felt that Title II violated individual liberty and states' rights. Democrats successfully portrayed Goldwater as a dangerous extremist, most famously in the "Daisy" television advertisement. The Republicans were divided between its moderate and conservative factions, with Rockefeller and other moderate party leaders refusing to campaign for Goldwater. Johnson led by wide margins in all opinion polls conducted during the campaign, although his lead continued to dwindle throughout.


1964 United States presidential election
Johnson carried 44 states and the District of Columbia, which voted for the first time in this election. Goldwater won his home state and swept the states of the Deep South, most of which had not voted for a Republican presidential candidate since the end of Reconstruction in 1877. This was the last time that the Democratic Party won the white vote, although they came close in 1992. This was the first ever and only election before 1992 in which the Democrats carried Vermont, and the first election since 1912 in which the Democrats carried Maine.


1964 United States presidential election
This was the last election in which the Democratic nominee carried Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, or Oklahoma, and the only election ever in which the Democrat carried Alaska. As such, this was the most recent presidential election in which the entire Midwestern region voted Democratic. Iowa and Oregon would not vote Democratic again until 1988, California, Colorado, Illinois, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, and Vermont would not vote Democratic again until 1992, while Indiana and Virginia would not vote Democratic again until 2008.


1964 United States presidential election
Johnson's landslide victory coincided with the defeat of many conservative Republican Congressmen. The subsequent 89th Congress would pass major legislation such as the Social Security Amendments of 1965 and the Voting Rights Act. The 1964 election marked the beginning of a major, long-term realignment in American politics, as Goldwater's unsuccessful bid significantly influenced the modern conservative movement. The movement of conservatives to the Republican Party continued, culminating in the 1980 presidential victory of Ronald Reagan.


1964 United States presidential election, Assassination of President John F. Kennedy
While on the first stop of his 1964 reelection campaign, President Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963, in Dallas, Texas. Supporters were shocked and saddened by the loss of the charismatic President, while opposition candidates were put in the awkward position of running against the policies of a slain political figure.


1964 United States presidential election, Assassination of President John F. Kennedy
During the following period of mourning, Republican leaders called for a political moratorium, so as not to appear disrespectful. As such, little politicking was done by the candidates of either major party until January 1964, when the primary season officially began. At the time, most political pundits saw Kennedy's assassination as leaving the nation politically unsettled.


1964 United States presidential election, Nominations, Democratic Party, Candidates
The only candidate other than President Johnson to actively campaign was then Alabama Governor George Wallace who ran in a number of northern primaries, though his candidacy was more to promote the philosophy of states' rights among a northern audience; while expecting some support from delegations in the South, Wallace was certain that he was not in contention for the Democratic nomination. Johnson received 1,106,999 votes in the primaries.


1964 United States presidential election, Nominations, Democratic Party, Candidates
At the national convention the integrated Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP) claimed the seats for delegates for Mississippi, not on the grounds of Party rules, but because the official Mississippi delegation had been elected by a white primary system. The national party's liberal leaders supported an even division of the seats between the two Mississippi delegations; Johnson was concerned that, while the regular Democrats of Mississippi would probably vote for Goldwater anyway, rejecting them would lose him the South.


1964 United States presidential election, Nominations, Democratic Party, Candidates
Eventually, Hubert Humphrey, Walter Reuther and the black civil rights leaders including Roy Wilkins, Martin Luther King Jr., and Bayard Rustin worked out a compromise: the MFDP took two seats; the regular Mississippi delegation was required to pledge to support the party ticket; and no future Democratic convention would accept a delegation chosen by a discriminatory poll. Joseph L. Rauh Jr., the MFDP's lawyer, initially refused this deal, but they eventually took their seats.


1964 United States presidential election, Nominations, Democratic Party, Candidates
Many white delegates from Mississippi and Alabama refused to sign any pledge, and left the convention; and many young civil rights workers were offended by any compromise. Johnson biographers Rowland Evans and Robert Novak claim that the MFDP fell under the influence of "black radicals" and rejected their seats. Johnson lost Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia and South Carolina.


1964 United States presidential election, Nominations, Democratic Party, Candidates
Johnson also faced trouble from Robert F. Kennedy, President Kennedy's younger brother and the U.S. Attorney General. Kennedy and Johnson's relationship was troubled from the time Robert Kennedy was a Senate staffer. Then-Majority Leader Johnson surmised that Kennedy's hostility was the direct result of the fact that Johnson frequently recounted a story that embarrassed Kennedy's father, Joseph P. Kennedy, the ambassador to the United Kingdom.


1964 United States presidential election, Nominations, Democratic Party, Candidates
According to his recounting, Johnson and President Franklin D. Roosevelt misled the ambassador, upon a return visit to the United States, to believe that Roosevelt wished to meet in Washington for friendly purposes; in fact Roosevelt planned to—and did—fire the ambassador, due to the ambassador's well publicized views. The Johnson–Kennedy hostility was rendered mutual in the 1960 primaries and the 1960 Democratic National Convention, when Robert Kennedy had tried to prevent Johnson from becoming his brother's running mate, a move that deeply embittered both men.


1964 United States presidential election, Nominations, Democratic Party, Candidates
In early 1964, despite his personal animosity for the president, Kennedy had tried to force Johnson to accept him as his running mate. Johnson eliminated this threat by announcing that none of his cabinet members would be considered for second place on the Democratic ticket. Johnson also became concerned that Kennedy might use his scheduled speech at the 1964 Democratic Convention to create a groundswell of emotion among the delegates to make him Johnson's running mate; he prevented this by deliberately scheduling Kennedy's speech on the last day of the convention, after his running mate had already been chosen. Shortly after the 1964 Democratic Convention, Kennedy decided to leave Johnson's cabinet and run for the U.S. Senate in New York; he won the general election in November. Johnson chose United States Senator Hubert Humphrey from Minnesota, a liberal and civil rights activist, as his running mate.


1964 United States presidential election, Nominations, Republican Party, Primaries
The Republican Party (GOP) was badly divided in 1964 between its conservative and  moderate-liberal factions. Former Vice-president Richard Nixon, who had been beaten by Kennedy in the extremely close 1960 presidential election, decided not to run. Nixon, a moderate with ties to both wings of the GOP, had been able to unite the factions in 1960; in his absence the way was clear for the two factions to engage in a hard-fought campaign for the nomination. Barry Goldwater, a Senator from Arizona, was the champion of the conservatives.


1964 United States presidential election, Nominations, Republican Party, Primaries
The conservatives had historically been based in the American Midwest, but beginning in the 1950s they had been gaining in power in the South and West, and the core of Goldwater's support came from suburban conservative Republicans. The conservatives favored a low-tax, small federal government which supported individual rights and business interests and opposed social welfare programs. The conservatives also favored an internationalist and hawkish foreign policy and resented the dominance of the GOP's moderate wing, which was based in the Northeastern United States. Since 1940, the Eastern moderates had defeated conservative presidential candidates at the GOP's national conventions. The conservatives believed the Eastern Republicans were little different from liberal Democrats in their philosophy and approach to government. Goldwater's chief opponent for the Republican nomination was Nelson Rockefeller, the Governor of New York and the longtime leader of the GOP's liberal faction.


1964 United States presidential election, Nominations, Republican Party, Primaries
In 1961, a group of twenty-two conservatives headed by Ohio Congressman John M. Ashbrook, lawyer and National Review publisher William A. Rusher and scholar F. Clifton White met privately in Chicago to discuss the formation of a grassroots organization to secure the nomination of a conservative as the 1964 Republican candidate. The main headquarters for the organization were established at Suite 3505 of the Chanin Building in New York City, leading members to refer to themselves as the "Suite 3505 Committee."


1964 United States presidential election, Nominations, Republican Party, Primaries
Following the 1962 mid-term elections, they formally backed Goldwater, who notified them that he did not want to run for the presidency. In April 1963, they formed the Draft Goldwater Committee, chaired by Texas Republican Party Chairman Peter O'Donnell. The committee solidified growing conservative strength in the West and South and began working to gain control of state parties in the Midwest from liberal Republicans. Throughout the rest of the year, speculation about a potential Goldwater candidacy grew, and grassroots activism and efforts among conservative Republicans expanded.


1964 United States presidential election, Nominations, Republican Party, Primaries
Initially, Rockefeller was considered the front-runner, ahead of Goldwater. However, in 1963, two years after Rockefeller's divorce from his first wife, he married Margaretta "Happy" Murphy, who was nearly 18 years younger than he and had just divorced her husband and surrendered her four children to his custody. The fact that Murphy had suddenly divorced her husband before marrying Rockefeller led to rumors that Rockefeller had been having an extramarital affair with her. This angered many social conservatives and female voters within the GOP, many of whom called Rockefeller a "wife stealer".


1964 United States presidential election, Nominations, Republican Party, Primaries
After his remarriage, Rockefeller's lead among Republicans lost 20 points overnight. Senator Prescott Bush of Connecticut, the father of President George H. W. Bush and grandfather of President George W. Bush, was among Rockefeller's critics on this issue: "Have we come to the point in our life as a nation where the governor of a great state—one who perhaps aspires to the nomination for president of the United States—can desert a good wife, mother of his grown children, divorce her, then persuade a young mother of four youngsters to abandon her husband and their four children and marry the governor?"


1964 United States presidential election, Nominations, Republican Party, Primaries
In the first primary, in New Hampshire, both Rockefeller and Goldwater were considered to be the favorites, but the voters instead gave a surprising victory to the U.S. ambassador to South Vietnam, Henry Cabot Lodge Jr., Nixon's running mate in 1960 and a former Massachusetts senator. Lodge was a write-in candidate. He went on to win the Massachusetts and New Jersey primaries before withdrawing his candidacy because he had finally decided he did not want the Republican nomination.


1964 United States presidential election, Nominations, Republican Party, Primaries
Despite his defeat in New Hampshire, Goldwater pressed on, winning the Illinois, Texas, and Indiana primaries with little opposition, and Nebraska's primary after a stiff challenge from a draft-Nixon movement. Goldwater also won a number of state caucuses and gathered even more delegates. Meanwhile, Nelson Rockefeller won the West Virginia and Oregon primaries against Goldwater, and William Scranton won in his home state of Pennsylvania. Both Rockefeller and Scranton also won several state caucuses, mostly in the Northeast.


1964 United States presidential election, Nominations, Republican Party, Primaries
The final showdown between Goldwater and Rockefeller was in the California primary. In spite of the previous accusations regarding his marriage, Rockefeller led Goldwater in most opinion polls in California,and he appeared headed for victory when his new wife gave birth to a son, Nelson Rockefeller Jr., three days before the primary. His son's birth brought the issue of adultery front and center, and Rockefeller suddenly lost ground in the polls.


1964 United States presidential election, Nominations, Republican Party, Primaries
Combined with Goldwater conservatives' expanded dedicated efforts and superior organizing,  Goldwater won the primary by a narrow 51–48% margin, thus eliminating Rockefeller as a serious contender and all but clinching the nomination. With Rockefeller's elimination, the party's moderates and liberals turned to William Scranton, the Governor of Pennsylvania, in the hopes that he could stop Goldwater. However, as the Republican Convention began Goldwater was seen as the heavy favorite to win the nomination. This was notable, as it signified a shift to a more conservative-leaning Republican Party.


1964 United States presidential election, Nominations, Republican Party, Convention
The 1964 Republican National Convention at Daly City, California's Cow Palace arena was one of the most bitter on record, as the party's moderates and conservatives openly expressed their contempt for each other. Rockefeller was loudly booed when he came to the podium for his speech; in his speech he roundly criticized the party's conservatives, which led many conservatives in the galleries to yell and scream at him. A group of moderates tried to rally behind Scranton to stop Goldwater, but Goldwater's forces easily brushed his challenge aside, and Goldwater was nominated on the first ballot. The presidential tally was as follows:


1964 United States presidential election, Nominations, Republican Party, Convention
The vice-presidential nomination went to little-known Republican Party Chairman William E. Miller, a Representative from upstate New York. Goldwater stated that he chose Miller simply because "he drives [President] Johnson nuts". This would be the only Republican ticket between 1948 and 1976 that did not include Nixon.


1964 United States presidential election, Nominations, Republican Party, Convention
In accepting his nomination, Goldwater uttered his most famous phrase (a quote from Cicero suggested by speechwriter Harry Jaffa): "I would remind you that extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. And let me remind you also that moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue." For many GOP moderates, Goldwater's speech was seen as a deliberate insult, and many of these moderates would defect to the Democrats in the fall election.


1964 United States presidential election, General election, Campaign
Although Goldwater had been successful in rallying conservatives, he was unable to broaden his base of support for the general election. Shortly before the Republican Convention, he had alienated moderate and liberal Republicans by his vote against the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which Johnson supported following Kennedy's death and signed into law. Goldwater said that he considered desegregation primarily a states' rights issue, rather than a national policy, and believed the 1964 act to be unconstitutional. Goldwater's vote against the legislation helped cause African-Americans to overwhelmingly support Johnson.


1964 United States presidential election, General election, Campaign
Goldwater had previously voted in favor of the 1957 and 1960 Civil Rights acts, but only after proposing "restrictive amendments" to them. Goldwater was famous for speaking "off-the-cuff" at times, and many of his former statements were given wide publicity by the Democrats. In the early 1960s, Goldwater had called the Eisenhower administration "a dime store New Deal", and the former president never fully forgave him or offered him his full support in the election.


1964 United States presidential election, General election, Campaign
In December 1961, he told a news conference that "sometimes I think this country would be better off if we could just saw off the Eastern Seaboard and let it float out to sea", a remark which indicated his dislike of the liberal economic and social policies that were often associated with that part of the nation. That comment came back to hurt him, in the form of a Johnson television commercial, as did remarks about making Social Security voluntary and selling the Tennessee Valley Authority. In his most famous verbal gaffe, Goldwater once joked that the U.S. military should "lob one [a nuclear bomb] into the men's room of the Kremlin" in the Soviet Union.


1964 United States presidential election, General election, Campaign
Goldwater was also hurt by the reluctance of many prominent moderate Republicans to support him. Governors Nelson Rockefeller of New York and George Romney of Michigan refused to endorse Goldwater and did not campaign for him. On the other hand, former Vice President Richard Nixon and Governor William Scranton of Pennsylvania loyally supported the GOP ticket and campaigned for Goldwater, although Nixon did not entirely agree with Goldwater's political stances and said that it would "be a tragedy" if Goldwater's platform were not "challenged and repudiated" by the Republicans. The New York Herald-Tribune, a voice for eastern Republicans (and a target for Goldwater activists during the primaries), supported Johnson in the general election. Some moderates even formed a "Republicans for Johnson" organization, although most prominent GOP politicians avoided being associated with it.


1964 United States presidential election, General election, Campaign
Shortly before the Republican convention, CBS reporter Daniel Schorr wrote from Germany that "It looks as though Senator Goldwater, if nominated, will be starting his campaign here in Bavaria, center of Germany's right wing." He noted that a prior Goldwater interview with the German magazine Der Spiegel was an "appeal to right-wing elements". However, there was no ulterior motive for the trip; it was just a vacation.


1964 United States presidential election, General election, Campaign
Fact magazine published an article polling psychiatrists around the country as to Goldwater's sanity. Some 1,189 psychiatrists appeared to agree that Goldwater was "emotionally unstable" and unfit for office, though none of the members had actually interviewed him. The article received heavy publicity and resulted in a change to the ethics guidelines of the American Psychiatric Association. In a libel suit, a federal court awarded Goldwater $1 in compensatory damages and $75,000 in punitive damages.


1964 United States presidential election, General election, Campaign
Eisenhower's strong backing could have been an asset to the Goldwater campaign, but instead, its absence was clearly noticed. When questioned about the presidential capabilities of the former president's younger brother, university administrator Milton S. Eisenhower, in July 1964, Goldwater replied, "One Eisenhower in a generation is enough." However, Eisenhower did not openly repudiate Goldwater and made one television commercial for Goldwater's campaign. A prominent Hollywood celebrity who vigorously supported Goldwater was Ronald Reagan. Reagan gave a well-received televised speech supporting Goldwater; it was so popular that Goldwater's advisors had it played on local television stations around the nation. Many historians consider this speech—"A Time for Choosing"—to mark the beginning of Reagan's transformation from an actor to a political leader. In 1966, Reagan would be elected Governor of California in a landslide.


1964 United States presidential election, General election, Ads and slogans
Johnson positioned himself as a moderate and succeeded in portraying Goldwater as an extremist. CIA Director William Colby asserted that Tracy Barnes instructed the CIA of the United States to spy on the Goldwater campaign and the Republican National Committee to provide information to Johnson's campaign (Usdin, Steve (May 22, 2018). "When the CIA Infiltrated a Presidential Campaign" (Politico).


1964 United States presidential election, General election, Ads and slogans
Goldwater had a habit of making blunt statements about war, nuclear weapons, and economics that could be turned against him. Most famously, the Johnson campaign broadcast a television commercial on September 7 dubbed the "Daisy Girl" ad, which featured a little girl picking petals from a daisy in a field, counting the petals, which then segues into a launch countdown and a nuclear explosion. The ads were in response to Goldwater's advocacy of "tactical" nuclear weapons use in Vietnam.


1964 United States presidential election, General election, Ads and slogans
"Confessions of a Republican", another Johnson ad, features a monologue from a man who tells viewers that he had previously voted for Eisenhower and Nixon, but now worries about the "men with strange ideas", "weird groups" and "the head of the Ku Klux Klan" who were supporting Goldwater; he concludes that "either they're not Republicans, or I'm not". Voters increasingly viewed Goldwater as a right-wing fringe candidate. His slogan "In your heart, you know he's right" was successfully parodied by the Johnson campaign into "In your guts, you know he's nuts", or "In your heart, you know he might" (as in "he might push the nuclear button"), or even "In your heart, he's too far right".


1964 United States presidential election, General election, Ads and slogans
The Johnson campaign's greatest concern may have been voter complacency leading to low turnout in key states. To counter this, all of Johnson's broadcast ads concluded with the line: "Vote for President Johnson on November 3. The stakes are too high for you to stay home." The Democratic campaign used two other slogans, "All the way with LBJ" and "LBJ for the USA".


1964 United States presidential election, General election, Ads and slogans
The election campaign was disrupted for a week by the death of former president Herbert Hoover on October 20, 1964, because it was considered disrespectful to be campaigning during a time of mourning. Hoover died of natural causes. He had been U.S. president from 1929 to 1933. Both major candidates attended his funeral.


1964 United States presidential election, General election, Ads and slogans
Johnson led in all opinion polls by huge margins throughout the entire campaign.


1964 United States presidential election, Results
The election was held on November 3, 1964. Johnson beat Goldwater in the general election, winning over 61% of the popular vote, the highest percentage since the popular vote first became widespread in 1824. In the end, Goldwater won only his native state of Arizona and five Deep South states—Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia, Alabama and South Carolina—which had been increasingly alienated by Democratic civil rights policies.


1964 United States presidential election, Results
The five Southern states that voted for Goldwater swung over dramatically to support him. For instance, in Mississippi, where Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt had won 97% of the popular vote in 1936, Goldwater won 87% of the vote. Of these states, Louisiana had been the only state where a Republican had won even once since Reconstruction. Mississippi, Alabama and South Carolina had not voted Republican in any presidential election since Reconstruction, whilst Georgia had never voted Republican even during Reconstruction (thus making Goldwater the first Republican to ever carry Georgia).


1964 United States presidential election, Results
The 1964 election was a major transition point for the South, and an important step in the process by which the Democrats' former "Solid South" became a Republican bastion. Nonetheless, Johnson still managed to eke out a bare popular majority of 51–49% (6.307 to 5.993 million) in the eleven former Confederate states. Conversely, Johnson was the first Democrat ever to carry the state of Vermont in a Presidential election, and only the second Democrat, after Woodrow Wilson in 1912 when the Republican Party was divided, to carry Maine in the twentieth century. Maine and Vermont had been the only states that FDR had failed to carry during any of his four successful presidential bids.


1964 United States presidential election, Results
Of the 3,126 counties/districts/independent cities making returns, Johnson won in 2,275 (72.77%) while Goldwater carried 826 (26.42%). Unpledged Electors carried six counties in Alabama (0.19%).


1964 United States presidential election, Results
The Johnson landslide defeated many conservative Republican congressmen, giving him a majority that could overcome the conservative coalition.


1964 United States presidential election, Results
This is the first election to have participation of the District of Columbia under the 23rd Amendment to the US Constitution.


1964 United States presidential election, Results
The Johnson campaign broke two American election records previously held by Franklin Roosevelt: the most Electoral College votes won by a major-party candidate running for the White House for the first time (with 486 to the 472 won by Roosevelt in 1932) and the largest share of the popular vote under the current Democratic/Republican competition (Roosevelt won 60.8% nationwide, Johnson 61.1%). This first-time electoral count was exceeded when Ronald Reagan won 489 votes in 1980. Johnson retains the highest percentage of the popular vote as of the 2020 presidential election.


1964 United States presidential election, Results, Geography of results
Results by county, shaded according to winning candidate's percentage of the vote


1964 United States presidential election, Results, Voter demographics, Close states
Margin of victory over 5%, but less than 10% (40 electoral votes):


1964 United States presidential election, Consequences
Although Goldwater was decisively defeated, some political pundits and historians believe he laid the foundation for the conservative revolution to follow. Among them is Richard Perlstein, historian of the American conservative movement, who wrote of Goldwater's defeat, "Here was one time, at least, when history was written by the losers." Ronald Reagan's speech on Goldwater's behalf, grassroots organization, and the conservative takeover (although temporary in the 1960s) of the Republican party would all help to bring about the "Reagan Revolution" of the 1980s.


1964 United States presidential election, Consequences
Johnson went from his victory in the 1964 election to launch the Great Society program at home, signing the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and starting the War on Poverty. He also escalated the Vietnam War, which eroded his popularity. By 1968, Johnson's popularity had declined and the Democrats became so split over his candidacy that he withdrew as a candidate. Moreover, his support of civil rights for blacks helped split white union members and Southerners away from Franklin Roosevelt's Democratic New Deal Coalition, which would later lead to the phenomenon of the "Reagan Democrat". Of the 14 presidential elections that followed up to 2020, Democrats would win only six times, although in 8 of those elections, a majority, the Democratic candidate received the highest number of popular votes.


1964 United States presidential election, Consequences
The election also furthered the shift of the black voting electorate away from the Republican Party, a phenomenon which had begun with the New Deal. Since the 1964 election, Democratic presidential candidates have almost consistently won at least 80–90% of the black vote in each presidential election.


1964 United States presidential election in Alabama
The 1964 United States presidential election in Alabama was held on November 3, 1964. Alabama voters chose ten representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for President and Vice-President.


1964 United States presidential election in Alabama, Background
The early 1960s had seen Alabama as the epicenter of the Civil Rights Movement, highlighted by numerous black church bombings by the Ku Klux Klan in "Bombingham" (the city of Birmingham), Birmingham city official Eugene "Bull" Connor's use of attack dogs against protesters opposed to racial discrimination in residential land use, and first-term Governor George Wallace's "stand in the door" against the desegregation of the University of Alabama. During the primaries for selecting Democratic presidential electors, there was bitter fighting in all five Deep South states; however, Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia and South Carolina all chose electors pledged to President Lyndon B. Johnson.


1964 United States presidential election in Alabama, Background
However, in Alabama, the May 5, 1964, primary chose a set of unpledged Democratic electors, by a margin of five-to-one, whilst Governor George Wallace refused totally President Johnson's civil rights and desegregation legislation via the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Unlike in Mississippi with the MFDP, no effort to challenge this Wallace-sponsored slate with one loyal to the national party was attempted. Consequently, Johnson would become the third winning president-elect to not appear on the ballot in Alabama, following on from Abraham Lincoln in 1860 and Harry S. Truman in 1948.


1964 United States presidential election in Alabama, Background
Under Wallace's guidance, the Alabama Democratic Party placed this slate of unpledged Democratic electors on the ballot, against the advice of some legal scholars, but after planning to run for president himself (as he would do in 1968), decided against this in July.


1964 United States presidential election in Alabama, Background
Initially it was expected that this slate – the only option for mainstream Democrats in Alabama – would be pledged to Wallace himself, but the Governor released them from pledges to vote for him if elected. Once campaigning began, Wallace supported Republican nominee Barry Goldwater and did nothing to support the unpledged slate against the Arizona Senator, although he did campaign for Democratic candidates for state and local offices.


1964 United States presidential election in Alabama, Background, Popularity of Goldwater among white voters
Republican Barry Goldwater, viewed as a dangerous right-wing extremist in the older Northeastern heartland of the Republican Party, was thrashed there as had been uniformly predicted before the poll, with Texas Governor John Connally saying Goldwater would win only Alabama and Mississippi.


1964 United States presidential election in Alabama, Background, Popularity of Goldwater among white voters
Nevertheless, his opposition to the Civil Rights Act meant Goldwater could capture the "black belt" counties that were historically the basis of Alabama's limited-suffrage single-party politics, at a time when 77 percent of blacks still had not registered to vote.


1964 United States presidential election in Alabama, Background, Popularity of Goldwater among white voters
Goldwater did equally well in those Appalachia counties where Republicans had been competitive in presidential elections even at the height of the "Solid South". Only in the North Alabama counties of Lauderdale, Colbert, Limestone, Jackson and Cherokee – hostile to Goldwater's proposal to privatize the Tennessee Valley Authority – and in Macon County, home of Tuskegee University, did Goldwater not obtain a majority. Even with powerful opposition to TVA privatization, those northern counties voting against Goldwater did so by no more than twelve percent in Limestone County.


1964 United States presidential election in Alabama, Milestones
As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last election in which Sumter County, Greene County, Wilcox County, Lowndes County, and Bullock County voted for the Republican candidate, as well as the last time that Macon County did not vote for the national Democratic candidate.


1964 United States presidential election in Alabama, Milestones
This was the third occasion when a Republican nominee carried Alabama, but the first outside of Reconstruction elections in 1868 and 1872, when Ulysses S. Grant carried the state. Despite Johnson's landslide victory that year, winning 61.1% of the popular vote, the highest percentage to date, he also lost to Goldwater in four other previously solidly Democratic Southern states – Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina and Georgia.


1964 United States presidential election in Alabama, Milestones
With 69.45% of the popular vote, Alabama would prove to be Goldwater's second-strongest state in the 1964 election, after neighboring Mississippi.


1964 United States presidential election in Alaska
The 1964 United States presidential election in Alaska took place on November 3, 1964, as part of the nationwide presidential election. Voters chose three representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1964 United States presidential election in Alaska
Alaska was won by incumbent President Lyndon B. Johnson (D-Texas) with 65.9% of the popular vote against U.S. Senator Barry Goldwater (R-Arizona) with 34.1%. Johnson won the national vote as well, defeating Goldwater and serving a full term after finishing the assassinated John F. Kennedy's term.


1964 United States presidential election in Alaska
This is the first and only presidential election when Alaska has ever voted for a Democratic candidate, partially due to Johnson's landslide victory throughout the rest of the country (except for the Deep South and Goldwater's home state), and partially because during its first four presidential elections Alaska was not anomalously Republican relative to the nation at-large, which the state would become and remain very strongly from 1976 onwards. Indeed, despite Johnson's landslide, Alaska came out of the 1964 election as 4.63 percent more Democratic than the nation at-large on a two-party basis.


1964 United States presidential election in Alaska
At a more local level, all boroughs and census areas voted for Johnson, and the relatively populous boroughs of Matanuska-Susitna, Fairbanks North Star, Ketchikan Gateway and Kodiak Island have never voted for a Democratic candidate since – although Matanuska-Susitna was the most populous amongst fifteen county-equivalents who gave a plurality to Ross Perot in 1992. The Aleutians East have also not voted Democratic since.


1964 United States presidential election in Alaska
Anchorage would not vote for the Democratic candidate again until 2020.


1964 United States presidential election in Alaska
Alaska was one of the three states that voted with a certain party for the first time in this election, the other two being Georgia and Vermont, however, this is also the only time Alaska voted for the Democratic candidate for president.


1964 United States presidential election in Arizona
The 1964 United States presidential election in Arizona took place on November 3, 1964, as part of the 1964 United States presidential election, which was held throughout all 50 states and D.C. Voters chose five representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1964 United States presidential election in Arizona
In a national landslide for incumbent President Lyndon B. Johnson, Arizona was one of only six states carried by Arizona native and U.S Senator Barry Goldwater, and the only state that Goldwater won outside of the Deep South. Johnson successfully carried many Republican strongholds such as Alaska, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, North and South Dakota, Utah, Vermont and Wyoming; however, he lost Arizona by 1.00% or less than 5,000 votes, the smallest margin of any state in the election. Arizona’s result was 23 points more Republican than the country as a whole.


1964 United States presidential election in Arizona
Key to Goldwater’s victory was Maricopa County, the state’s most populated county, which he won by over twenty-one thousand votes, enabling Goldwater to carry the state despite Johnson winning ten of fourteen counties and two of three congressional districts. This is as of the 2020 election the last occasion when Graham, Mohave and Yuma Counties have supported a Democratic presidential candidate – since 2000 Graham and Mohave counties have along with Yavapai County – which has never given a Democratic majority or plurality since Truman in 1948 – been the most Republican in the entire state.


1964 United States presidential election in Arizona
Since gaining statehood in 1912, Arizona had been considered a bellwether state in elections. The previous presidential election was the first where the state did not back the winning candidate. This election, though, marked Arizona’s turn into a firm stronghold of the Republican Party. Starting in 1952 and continuing through 1992, Arizona would vote for the Republican candidate in every presidential election (mostly by relatively large margins, unlike Goldwater’s close victory), and it was the only state during those forty years not to vote for a Democrat at least once.


1964 United States presidential election in Arizona
Bill Clinton would carry the state by a small margin in 1996, but his victory has proven to be an exception, as the state continued supporting Republican candidates up until Joe Biden's narrow victory in the state in the 2020 presidential election. However, the last Democrat to get the majority (50%+) of the vote in the state of Arizona is Harry S. Truman in 1948, which makes Arizona the only state in which a Democrat has not gotten the majority of the vote in or after the latter half of the 20th century.


1964 United States presidential election in Arkansas
The 1964 presidential election in Arkansas was held on November 3, 1964 as part of the 1964 United States presidential election. State voters chose six electors, or representatives to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president. Incumbent President Lyndon B. Johnson won the state of Arkansas with 56.06% of the popular vote, which was a substantial increase upon John F. Kennedy's 50.19% from the preceding election, although the Republican vote remained virtually unchanged at 43.41%. Johnson won all but ten of Arkansas' seventy-five counties, and all four congressional districts. As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last election in which Arkansas voted for a different candidate than neighboring Louisiana.


1964 United States presidential election in Arkansas, Background
Given the segregationism of its long-serving governor Orval Faubus, who had gained almost seven percent of the vote in the preceding presidential election, Arkansas would have seemed potentially likely to succumb to Goldwater due to his opposition to the recent Civil Rights Act. However, the GOP's nomination of the moderate Winthrop Rockefeller in the party's first serious run for governor in the state since Reconstruction took the steam out of a Goldwater challenge. Faubus refused to endorse Goldwater, despite hesitating over this during the summer. In addition, many white southerners commented to the effect that


1964 United States presidential election in Arkansas, Background
Goldwater is right on the black man, and that is very important. But he is so wrong on everything else I can't bring myself to vote for him.


1964 United States presidential election in Arkansas, Background
In mid-July, Texas Governor John Connally had made private polls suggesting that Johnson would lose Arkansas, as well as the hopeless Deep South states of Mississippi and Alabama. Nonetheless, that the increase in black registration in the Natural State had exceeded Kennedy's margin in 1960 suggested that Johnson's civil rights legislation did have some potential to help him, and in early August polls suddenly became confident Johnson would carry the state due to Goldwater's policies of privatizing Social Security and expanding the war in Southeast Asia – a policy that did not play well in this isolationist state. By October, a New York Times poll saw Arkansas as "safe" for Johnson and his leads in polls increased as election day came closer.


1964 United States presidential election in Arkansas, Background
Ultimately, Johnson comfortably carried Arkansas, becoming the twenty-third and last consecutive Democratic presidential nominee to win the state; however, anti-civil rights feeling did cause Arkansas to vote 9.92 percentage points more Republican than the nation at-large – this being the first time in 96 years when it had voted less Democratic than the nation.


1964 United States presidential election in Arkansas, Background
Johnson doubled Kennedy's margin, and reclaimed the counties of Clay, Craighead, Fulton, Marion, Randolph and Sharp, which in 1960 had defected to the GOP for the first time ever or since Reconstruction as a result of powerful anti-Catholicism. Johnson also claimed thirteen other Ozark counties which had supported Nixon in 1960.


1964 United States presidential election in Arkansas, Background
However, in the Delta and south of the state sufficient backlash against black civil rights occurred for Goldwater to claim six counties in those regions from the Democrats. Of these, only state namesake Arkansas County had ever been carried by a Republican since the McKinley era. Ashley County and Drew County voted Republican for the first time since James G. Blaine in 1884, Union County for the first time since Reconstruction, while Goldwater was the first Republican to ever carry Columbia and Howard Counties.


1964 United States presidential election in California
The 1964 United States presidential election in California took place on November 3, 1964 as part of the 1964 United States presidential election. State voters chose 40 representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1964 United States presidential election in California
California voted for the incumbent Democratic President, Lyndon B. Johnson, in a landslide over the Republican nominee, Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona.


1964 United States presidential election in California
As Johnson won nationally in a massive landslide, taking 61.05% of the vote nationwide, and dominating many Northeastern and Midwestern states by record landslide margins, California weighed in as about 4% more Republican than the national average in the 1964 election. Johnson dominated in liberal Northern California, breaking 60% in many counties and even breaking 70% in Plumas County and the city of San Francisco. However, the Western conservative Goldwater, from neighboring Arizona, appealed to residents of conservative Southern California, where Johnson failed to break his nationwide vote average in a single county. Goldwater indeed won six congressional districts in suburban areas of Los Angeles, Orange, and San Diego counties, and carried two heavily populated Southern California counties outright: Orange County and San Diego County, thus holding Johnson below the 60% mark statewide.


1964 United States presidential election in California
Although California has become a strongly Democratic state in recent elections, this was the only presidential election from 1952 to 1988 where the state was carried by a Democrat. Johnson is also the last Democrat to carry the counties of Calaveras, Colusa, Glenn, Kern, Modoc and Tulare, and the last to win the majority of the vote in Butte, El Dorado, Inyo, Kings, Mariposa, Siskiyou and Tuolumne counties, although one or more of Hubert Humphrey, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and Joe Biden have won a plurality in those counties.


1964 United States presidential election in California
This was the last election in which California did not register the most votes cast by state. This was also Barry Goldwater's best state in a now modern day "blue wall", which were states won by the Democrats in every presidential election from 1992 to 2020. Johnson was the only Democrat besides the Democrats from 1992 to 2012 to carry all of the states of that future "blue wall".


1964 United States presidential election in Colorado
The 1964 United States presidential election in Colorado took place on November 3, 1964, as part of the 1964 United States presidential election. State voters chose six representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1964 United States presidential election in Colorado
Colorado was won by incumbent President Lyndon B. Johnson (D–Texas), with 61.27% of the popular vote, against Senator Barry Goldwater (R–Arizona), with 38.19% of the popular vote.


1964 United States presidential election in Colorado
As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last election in which Archuleta County, Baca County, Crowley County, Custer County, Delta County, Douglas County, El Paso County, Fremont County, Grand County, Jackson County, Kiowa County, Kit Carson County, Lincoln County, Logan County, Mesa County, Moffat County, Montezuma County, Montrose County, Morgan County, Park County, Rio Blanco County, Rio Grande County, Sedgwick County, Teller County, Weld County, and Yuma County voted for a Democratic presidential candidate. Arapahoe County, Jefferson County and Ouray County would not vote Democratic again until 2008.


1964 United States presidential election in Connecticut
The 1964 United States presidential election in Connecticut took place on November 3, 1964, as part of the 1964 United States presidential election, which was held throughout all 50 states and D.C. Voters chose eight representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1964 United States presidential election in Connecticut
Connecticut voted overwhelmingly for the Democratic nominee, incumbent President Lyndon B. Johnson of Texas, over the Republican nominee, Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona. Johnson ran with Senator Hubert H. Humphrey of Minnesota, while Goldwater's running mate was Congressman William E. Miller of New York.


1964 United States presidential election in Connecticut
Johnson carried Connecticut by a wide margin of 35.72%. His 67.81% vote share is the largest for a Democrat in Connecticut presidential election history, and the largest for any party since John Quincy Adams in 1828.


1964 United States presidential election in Connecticut
As of 2020, this was the most recent presidential election in which the Democratic nominee carried the towns of Bethlehem, Goshen, Harwinton, Middlebury, New Fairfield, Oxford, Shelton, and Somers.


1964 United States presidential election in Delaware
The 1964 United States presidential election in Delaware took place on November 3, 1964, as part of the 1964 United States presidential election. State voters chose three representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1964 United States presidential election in Delaware
All three counties went blue, and Delaware was won by incumbent President Lyndon B. Johnson (D–Texas), with 60.95% of the popular vote, against Senator Barry Goldwater (R–Arizona), with 38.78% of the popular vote.


1964 United States presidential election in Florida
The 1964 United States presidential election in Florida was held November 3, 1964. All contemporary fifty states and the District of Columbia took part, and Florida voters selected fourteen electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1964 United States presidential election in Florida, Background
Like all former Confederate States, Florida following the end of Reconstruction had become a one-party Democratic state as the introduction of poll taxes and literacy tests  effectively disfranchised the entire black population and many poor whites. Unlike southern states extending into the Appalachian Mountains or Ozarks, or Texas with its German settlements in the Edwards Plateau, Florida completely lacked upland or German refugee whites opposed to secession.


1964 United States presidential election in Florida, Background
Thus its Republican Party between 1872 and 1888 was entirely dependent upon black votes, as one can see from the fact that so late as the landmark court case of Smith v. Allwright, half of Florida’s registered Republicans were still black – although very few blacks in Florida had ever voted within the previous fifty-five years. Thus this disfranchisement of blacks and poor whites by a poll tax introduced in 1889 left Florida as devoid of Republican adherents as Louisiana, Mississippi or South Carolina.


1964 United States presidential election in Florida, Background
Immigration of northerners into the previously undeveloped areas of South Florida, along with fierce anti-Catholicism in the northern Piney Woods, did give Herbert Hoover a freakish victory in 1928, but apart from that the Democratic Party lost only six counties at a presidential level between 1892 and 1944.


1964 United States presidential election in Florida, Background
Things began to change in the late 1940s, as new migrants from traditionally Republican northern states in Central Florida took their Republican voting habits with them at the presidential level, restricting Harry Truman to under half the statewide vote in 1948 and allowing Dwight D. Eisenhower and Richard Nixon to carry the state in the following three elections. The GOP reached over seventy percent in the retirement areas of the southwest coast, and its success was greatest in areas which had historically not had plantation agriculture and favoured little or no economic regulation. In contrast, North Florida’s Piney Woods had remained loyal to the Democratic Party at all levels despite the 1960 Presidential ticket being headed by another Roman Catholic in John F. Kennedy.


1964 United States presidential election in Florida, Background
Between the 1960 and 1964 elections, North Florida was severely affected by civil rights protests, especially over school and university integration. Contrariwise, the retirement communities further south that had become powerfully Republican in presidential elections over the previous fifteen years were extremely hostile to GOP nominee Barry Goldwater’s desire to privatize Social Security.


1964 United States presidential election in Florida, Vote
The two contrasting trends noted previously produced  a major reversal in the voting patterns from the previous four presidential elections: indeed at a county level there was essentially zero correlation between 1960 and 1964 party percentages, and as many as 43% of voters switched parties.


1964 United States presidential election in Florida, Vote
Incumbent President Lyndon Johnson overall won Florida against Goldwater by 42,599 votes, a margin of 2.30%, or a swing of 5.32% from the 1960 result. Increased registration of black voters – it had reached 51% by the time of the election – was crucial to Johnson regaining Florida: in the northern counties of Lafayette and Liberty where no blacks were registered, swings toward Goldwater reached over 100 percentage points.


1964 United States presidential election in Florida, Vote
Florida was the second-closest state win by Johnson after Idaho. As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last election in which the Democratic candidate carried Charlotte County.


1964 United States presidential election in Georgia
The 1964 United States presidential election in Georgia took place on November 3, 1964, as part of the 1964 United States presidential election, which was held on that day throughout all 50 states and The District of Columbia. Voters chose 12 representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president. This would mark the first time ever that Georgia was carried by the Republican nominee in a presidential election.


1964 United States presidential election in Georgia, Background
During the 1960s, the Deep South was in a state of turmoil due to upheavals resulting from the civil rights movement. The Democratic Party had traditionally been the defender of white supremacy and segregation in the South, but ever since acquiring the support of northern blacks in the 1930s, wartime race riots in Detroit, and the ascendancy of Henry A. Wallace to the vice presidency its left wing had become strong supporters of moves to restore black political rights in the former Confederacy.


1964 United States presidential election in Georgia, Background
The growth of protests and marches demanding black civil rights in the region early in the 1960s led the reluctant John F. Kennedy to submit "sweeping Civil Rights legislation to Congress". Following Kennedy's assassination, new President Lyndon Johnson, although a Southerner, pushed decisively for civil rights legislation, which produced the Civil Rights Act of July 1964.


1964 United States presidential election in Georgia, Background
The independence of county governance from the state legislature, and the very large number of counties in the state, produced a split in policy between areas in and north of Atlanta versus the south of the state. In the south of Georgia, local officials behaved similarly to those of Mississippi and organised large-scale, violent "massive resistance" to desegregation and voter registration by blacks.


1964 United States presidential election in Georgia, Background
Although Governor Carl Sanders endorsed Johnson, and was bitterly critical of Republican nominee, Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater's belief that "extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice", he was alone among Georgia's leading officials in doing so. Most state politicians, led by James H. Gray, firmly preferred Goldwater because of his vote against the Civil Rights Act, as did Calvin F. Craig, who headed Georgia's powerful Ku Klux Klan, because he saw the election as battle between Goldwater's "Americanism" and Johnson's "socialism". A "Democrats for Goldwater" group was also organized by the "Citizens' Council".


1964 United States presidential election in Georgia, Polls
The majority of opinion polls between July and early October suggested that, despite this widespread opposition to Johnson's programs, Goldwater would not take the Peach State. In fact, in early August, Georgia was viewed as alongside Arkansas and North Carolina as the most secure southern state for Johnson.


1964 United States presidential election in Georgia, Polls
Nevertheless, those Democratic Party delegates who refused to support Goldwater because of his policies on rural electrification and subsidies to tobacco farmers were concerned that Goldwater could carry Georgia – and the entire South – as early as late August.


1964 United States presidential election in Georgia, Polls
Moreover, in Valdosta in the far south, the region where resistance to black civil rights was most extreme, white union workers in September had been polled as supporting Goldwater 315 to 19, with 1 vote for George Wallace who would carry the state in 1968.


1964 United States presidential election in Georgia, Polls
By the end of September, it was clear that the state was bitterly divided, with the previously rock-solid Democratic south rooting for Goldwater but defections from Republican support during the previous election in the northern counties appearing to be almost as widespread, because there was some hope Johnson could reverse large population declines and entrenched poverty.


1964 United States presidential election in Georgia, Polls
By the end of October, amidst much campaigning in the state by both Johnson and Goldwater, it was generally thought Georgia was leaning towards the Republicans.


1964 United States presidential election in Georgia, Vote
As it turned out Georgia joined Mississippi, Alabama, South Carolina and Louisiana in supporting the Arizona senator as a protest against the Civil Rights Act, although it did so by a smaller margin – 8.25% – than any other Deep South state Goldwater carried. Over-representation of urban areas in polling was blamed for this discrepancy.


1964 United States presidential election in Georgia, Vote
Compared to the previous election, Georgia swung to the Republicans by over 34%, though this masked enormous regional differences. Among the rural areas of the "black belt" and the south of the state, there were enormous swings to Goldwater as the whites – the only people who voted – totally deserted Johnson. For instance, Miller County went from 94% for Kennedy to only 14% for Johnson, and Lee County from 69% for Kennedy to only 19 percent for Johnson.


1964 United States presidential election in Georgia, Vote
In contrast, only 55% of those Georgian voters who supported Nixon in 1960 remained with Goldwater. Deserting of the Republicans in pro-Union and almost entirely white Appalachia gave Towns County to the Democrats for the first time since 1952, and nearly switched Gilmer and Pickens Counties. Illustrating the "bifurcated" political change in the state was that whilst FDR carried the state by 83.83 percentage points in 1932, Herbert Hoover had won Towns County by 48 votes. One of the best examples of Pro-Unionists going to Democrats was Long County, which had only given Kennedy 23 percent of the vote in 1960, but gave Johnson 84% in 1964.


1964 United States presidential election in Georgia, Vote
Goldwater's victory in Georgia in 1964 was the Republican Party's first ever victory in the state in any presidential election. This was an incredible feat, especially given that Goldwater lost to Lyndon B. Johnson in a landslide. The Peach State had long been a Democratic stronghold, which it would remain, Presidential elections aside, well into the 1990s. Between 1852 and 1960, Georgia had supported the Democratic Presidential nominee in every election with the sole exception of 1864, when Georgia had seceded from the Union.


1964 United States presidential election in Georgia, Vote
However, from this election onward, the Peach State has supported Democrats only four times, and two of those occurred when Georgia native Jimmy Carter was on the ballot while fellow southern Democrat Bill Clinton would do so the third time, in 1992, and then Joe Biden would do so narrowly in 2020.


1964 United States presidential election in Georgia, Vote
During the concurrent House elections of 1964 in Georgia, Republicans picked up a seat from the Democrats, that being the Third District House seat won by Howard Callaway who became the first Republican to be elected to the House of Representatives from Georgia since Reconstruction.


1964 United States presidential election in Georgia, Vote
With 54.12% of the popular vote, Georgia would prove to be Goldwater's fifth strongest state in the 1964 election after Mississippi, Alabama, South Carolina and Louisiana.


1964 United States presidential election in Georgia, Vote
Georgia was 1 of the 3 states that voted with a certain party for the first time in this election, the other two being Alaska and Vermont, both of which voted for a Democratic presidential candidate for the first time.


1964 United States presidential election in Hawaii
The 1964 United States presidential election in Hawaii took place on November 7, 1964. All 50 states and the District of Columbia, were part of the 1964 United States presidential election. Hawaii voters chose 4 electors to the Electoral College, which selected the president and vice president of the United States.


1964 United States presidential election in Hawaii
Hawaii was won by incumbent United States President Lyndon B. Johnson of Texas, who was running against Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona. Johnson ran for a second time with Senator Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota, and Goldwater ran with U.S. Representative William E. Miller of New York.


1964 United States presidential election in Hawaii, Democratic victory
President Lyndon B. Johnson won the State of Hawaii by 57.52 points landslide, the best showing for a Democratic presidential candidate ever in the state.


1964 United States presidential election in Idaho
The 1964 United States presidential election in Idaho took place on November 3, 1964, as part of the 1964 United States presidential election, which was held throughout all 50 states and D.C. Voters chose four representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1964 United States presidential election in Idaho
Idaho was one of 44 states carried in a national landslide by incumbent President Lyndon B. Johnson. However, it was the weakest state that Johnson carried in the election. Johnson carried the state by a margin of 5,363 votes, or 1.83%, making Idaho’s vote about 20.75 percent more Republican than the national average. Johnson’s strongest performances were in Clearwater and Lewis counties where he took over 76% of the vote. Goldwater’s strongest performance was Jerome County, taking 63% of the vote. While Johnson carried slightly over half of the state’s 44 counties, Goldwater carried the more populated counties such as Ada, Bonneville, Canyon and Twin Falls, thus keeping the vote close.


1964 United States presidential election in Idaho
This is the last presidential election where Idaho was carried by a Democrat, and although Goldwater lost, this election solidified Idaho as a stronghold of the Republican Party, for the state trended 13.02 percentage points Republican relative to the national swing – the smallest Democratic swing outside the old Confederacy. In eight counties, Goldwater gained a higher proportion of the vote than Richard Nixon had four years earlier – a result observed in only nine other counties outside antebellum slave states. Apart from massively Catholic Emmons County, North Dakota, Camas and Custer were the solitary counties outside antebellum slave states to vote for Kennedy in 1960 and Goldwater in 1964.


1964 United States presidential election in Idaho
No Democrat since Johnson has been able to get forty percent of Idaho’s popular vote, whilst the only Republicans to fail to pass fifty-five percent have been George H. W. Bush in 1992 and Bob Dole in 1996, when strong third-party candidacies from Ross Perot distorted results.


1964 United States presidential election in Idaho
At a more local level, the only counties in Idaho to have ever given a Democrat a majority or plurality since 1968 have been Teton in the far east, Blaine in the centre of the state, and the seven northern counties of, clockwise from north, Bonner, Shoshone, Clearwater, Lewis, Nez Perce, Latah, and Benewah Counties.


1964 United States presidential election in Idaho
Of these, Bonner County was carried only by a narrow Bill Clinton plurality in 1992 as a result of strong support for Ross Perot cutting into the Republican vote whilst Benewah County were carried only by a narrow Carter majority in 1976 and Bill Clinton plurality in 1992. All forty-four Idaho counties voted Republican in 1972, 1980 and 1984, only Blaine County voted for Gore in 2000 and Kerry in 2004, and since then only Latah and Teton Counties have been remotely competitive electorally.


1964 United States presidential election in Idaho
In 2020, the increasingly urbanizing Ada County (which Johnson did not carry) joined this list, as Joe Biden lost by a very narrow margin. As a result, this remains the last election in which Kootenai County, Bannock County, Elmore County, Gem County, Idaho County, Fremont County, Boundary County, Washington County, Valley County, Power County, Boise County, Caribou County, Bear Lake County, Adams County, and Butte County voted for a Democratic presidential candidate.


1964 United States presidential election in Illinois
The 1964 United States presidential election in Illinois took place on November 3, 1964, as part of the 1964 United States presidential election. State voters chose 26 representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1964 United States presidential election in Illinois
Illinois was won by incumbent President Lyndon B. Johnson (D–Texas), with 59.47% of the popular vote, against Senator Barry Goldwater (R–Arizona), with 40.53% of the popular vote. As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last election in which Adams County, DeWitt County, Effingham County, Logan County, Menard County, Morgan County, Scott County, Wabash County, and Wayne County voted for a Democratic presidential candidate. This would be the last time until 1992 that Illinois would go for a Democrat in a presidential election.


1964 United States presidential election in Illinois, Election information, Turnout
Turnout in the preference vote of the primaries was 17.77%, with a total of 917,314 votes cast.


1964 United States presidential election in Illinois, Election information, Turnout
Turnout in the general election was 84.97%, with a total of 4,702,841 votes cast.


1964 United States presidential election in Illinois, Primaries
Both major parties held non-binding state-run preferential primaries on April 14.


1964 United States presidential election in Illinois, Primaries, Democratic
The 1964 Illinois Democratic presidential primary was held on April 14, 1964, in the U.S. state of Illinois as one of the Democratic Party's state primaries ahead of the 1964 presidential election.


1964 United States presidential election in Illinois, Primaries, Democratic
The preference vote was a "beauty contest". Delegates were instead selected by direct-vote in each congressional districts on delegate candidates.


1964 United States presidential election in Illinois, Primaries, Democratic
While he received 3.23% of the vote, Robert F. Kennedy was not an active candidate for the nomination.


1964 United States presidential election in Illinois, Primaries, Republican
The 1964 Illinois Republican presidential primary was held on April 14, 1964, in the U.S. state of Illinois as one of the Republican Party's state primaries ahead of the 1964 presidential election.


1964 United States presidential election in Illinois, Primaries, Republican
The preference vote was a "beauty contest". Delegates were instead selected by direct-vote in each congressional districts on delegate candidates.


1964 United States presidential election in Indiana
The 1964 United States presidential election in Indiana took place on November 3, 1964, as part of the 1964 United States presidential election. State voters chose 13 representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1964 United States presidential election in Indiana
Before this election, Indiana had not voted Democratic since Franklin D. Roosevelt‘s 46-state landslide of 1936, although native son Wendell Willkie in 1940 and Thomas E. Dewey in 1948 only won by very narrow margins. The pre-election period in the Hoosier State was highlighted by a dramatic Democratic primary challenge from Alabama Governor George Wallace, who won considerable backlash white support in suburban areas. However, Wallace lost by worse than one-to-two against solitary opponent Matthew E. Welsh in Indiana and never had any hope of beating incumbent Lyndon Johnson in the presidential race.


1964 United States presidential election in Indiana
Republican candidate Barry Goldwater naturally considered Indiana critical given its GOP loyalty and campaigned in the state during October, when he argued to a severely hostile reaction that America should use nuclear weapons on Vietnam.


1964 United States presidential election in Indiana
The state was won by incumbent President Lyndon B. Johnson (D–Texas), with 55.98% of the popular vote, against Senator Barry Goldwater (R–Arizona), with 43.56% of the popular vote. Powerful hostility to Goldwater's leanings from its Yankee and Appalachia-influenced Northern and Southern regions allowed Johnson to carry the state, although Indiana was still 10.16% more Republican than the nation at-large.


1964 United States presidential election in Indiana
This would be the last time until 2008 that Indiana would vote for a Democrat in a presidential election, and the last time a Democrat won more than 50% of the vote in a presidential election in Indiana.


1964 United States presidential election in Indiana
This is the solitary occasion since the Civil War when Randolph County and Wabash County have voted for a Democratic presidential candidate.


1964 United States presidential election in Indiana
As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last election in which the following counties voted for a Democratic presidential candidate: Allen, Adams, Bartholomew, Brown, Benton, Carroll, Cass, Clay, Clinton, Daviess, Decatur, DeKalb, Elkhart, Fayette, Fountain, Franklin, Grant, Hancock, Henry, Howard, Huntington, Jackson, Jay, Jennings, LaGrange County, Lawrence, Marshall, Miami, Montgomery County, Noble, Orange, Parke, Pulaski, Putnam, Ripley, Shelby, Tipton, Warren, Wells, White, and Whitley; however Tippecanoe County would not vote for a Democrat again until it voted for Obama in 2008.


1964 United States presidential election in Iowa
The 1964 United States presidential election in Iowa took place on November 3, 1964, as part of the 1964 United States presidential election. Iowa voters chose nine representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1964 United States presidential election in Iowa
Iowa was won by incumbent President Lyndon B. Johnson (D–Texas), with 61.88% of the popular vote, against Senator Barry Goldwater (R–Arizona), with 37.92% of the popular vote. As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last election in which Pottawattamie County, Plymouth County, Mahaska County, Mills County, Harrison County, Grundy County, Shelby County, Montgomery County, Fremont County, Ida County, and Osceola County voted for a Democratic presidential candidate. This is also the last time until 1988 that the state would vote for a Democratic presidential candidate.


1964 United States presidential election in Kansas
The 1964 United States presidential election in Kansas took place on November 3, 1964, as part of the 1964 United States presidential election. Voters chose seven representatives, or electors, to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.


1964 United States presidential election in Kansas
Kansas was won by incumbent President Lyndon B. Johnson (D–Texas), with 54.09% of the popular vote, against Senator Barry Goldwater (R–Arizona), with 45.06% of the popular vote.


1964 United States presidential election in Kansas
As of the 2020 presidential election, this is the last time the Democratic candidate won Kansas, as well as the following counties: Allen, Barber, Barton, Bourbon, Clark, Comanche, Cowley, Ellsworth, Franklin, Geary, Gove, Grant, Harvey, Haskell, Kearny, Lane, Lyon, McPherson, Montgomery, Morton, Nemaha, Neosho, Osage, Ottawa, Pratt, Russell, Saline, Sedgwick, Sheridan, Sherman, Stanton, Stevens, Thomas and Trego.