Wealthy, easy-going, friendly, handsome and mild-mannered, Bell had no trouble appealing to voters in both parties, and won his first primary race for Congress by a margin of 50% to 12% over his opponent. He consistently enjoyed a wide spectrum of diverse political endorsements in elections, having been, for example, endorsed in his initial run for Congress by both former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, and by future California Governor and President Ronald Reagan, who, even as recently as 1960, was a nominal Democrat, and served as Chairman of a committee he organized as "Democrats for Al Bell". Late in his political career, during his run for the U.S. Senate in 1976, Bell was endorsed by both Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley, and by well-known actor/director John Wayne.