1958 Massachusetts general election

← 1956

November 4, 1958

1960 →

Part of the
1958 United States elections

U.S. President
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U.S. Senate
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Boston

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Springfield

A Massachusetts general election was held on November 4, 1958, in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

The election included:

statewide elections for United States Senator, Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, Secretary of the Commonwealth, Treasurer, and Auditor;
district elections for U.S. Representatives, State Representatives, State Senators, and Governor's Councillors; and
ballot questions at the state and local levels.

Democratic and Republican candidates were selected in party primaries held on September 9, 1958.

Governor

Further information: Massachusetts gubernatorial election, 1958

Democrat Foster Furcolo was re-elected over Republican Charles Gibbons, Socialist Labor candidate Henning A. Blomen, and Prohibition candidate Guy S. Williams.

George Fingold was the only candidate in the Republican primary, however he died nine days before the primary.^[1] Gibbons won the nomination as a write-in candidate.^[2]

Lieutenant governor

1958 Massachusetts Lieutenant Governor election

← 1956

1960 →


Nominee	Robert F. Murphy	Elmer C. Nelson
Party	Democratic	Republican
Popular vote	1,112,001	711,362
Percentage	60.3%	38.6%

Lieutenant Governor before election

Robert F. Murphy
Democratic

Elected Lieutenant Governor

Robert F. Murphy
Democratic

Democrat Robert F. Murphy was re-elected Lieutenant Governor over Republican Elmer C. Nelson, Socialist Labor candidate Francis A. Votano, and Prohibition candidate Harold E. Bassett.

Democratic primary

Candidates

Robert F. Murphy, incumbent Lieutenant Governor

Results

Lt. Governor Murphy was unopposed for renomination.

Republican primary

Candidates

Elmer C. Nelson, former Chair of the Massachusetts Republican Party

Results

Nelson was unopposed for the Republican nomination.

General election

Results

1958 Massachusetts Lieutenant Governor election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Robert F. Murphy	1,112,001	60.34%	9.11
	Republican	Elmer C. Nelson	711,362	38.60%	9.24
	Socialist Labor	Francis A. Votano	11,230	0.61%	0.02
	Prohibition	Harold E. Bassett	8,300	0.45%	0.06
Total votes			1,842,893	100.00%

Attorney general

1958 Massachusetts Attorney General election

← 1956

1960 →


Nominee	Edward J. McCormack Jr.	Christian A. Herter Jr.
Party	Democratic	Republican
Popular vote	973,303	888,385
Percentage	52.0%	47.5%

Attorney General before election

George Fingold
Republican

Elected Attorney General

Edward J. McCormack Jr.
Democratic

Incumbent attorney general George Fingold ran for Governor instead of seeking reelection. He died on August 31, 1958, and Edward J. McCormack Jr., who won the Democratic primary over Endicott Peabody, was chosen by the Massachusetts General Court to finish his term.

McCormack defeated Republican Christian A. Herter Jr., Socialist Workers candidate Charles A. Couper, and Prohibition candidate Gustaf B. Nissan in the general election.

Democratic primary

Candidates

Edward J. McCormack Jr., former Boston City Council member and nominee for Attorney General in 1956
Endicott Peabody, former Governor Council member from Lawrence

Results

1958 Democratic primary^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Edward J. McCormack Jr.	238,477	54.63%
	Democratic	Endicott Peabody	198,016	45.37%
	Write-in		12	0.00%
Total votes			436,505	100.00%

General election

Results

1958 Massachusetts Attorney General election^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Edward J. McCormack Jr.	973,303	52.01%	3.15
	Republican	Christian A. Herter Jr.	888,385	47.47%	3.11
	Socialist Workers	Charles A. Couper	6,048	0.32%	0.03
	Prohibition	Gustaf B. Nissan	3,598	0.19%	0.01
	Write-in		11	0.00%
Total votes			1,871,345	100.00%

Secretary of the Commonwealth

1958 Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth election

← 1956

1960 →


Nominee	Edward J. Cronin	Marion Curran Boch
Party	Democratic	Republican
Popular vote	1,136,783	668,217
Percentage	62.4%	36.7%

Secretary of the Commonwealth before election

Edward J. Cronin
Democratic

Elected Secretary of the Commonwealth

Edward J. Cronin
Democratic

Incumbent Secretary of the Commonwealth Edward J. Cronin defeated Republican Marion Curran Boch, Socialist Labor candidate Fred M. Ingersoll, and Prohibition candidate Julia Kohler in the general election.

General election

Results

1958 Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth election^[4]
	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
Democratic	Edward J. Cronin (incumbent)	1,136,783	62.38%	8.98
Republican	Marion Curran Boch	668,217	36.67%	9.08
Socialist Workers	Fred M. Ingersoll	9,547	0.52%	0.11
Prohibition	Julia Kohler	7,814	0.43%	0.02
Write-in		1	0.00%

Aftermath

Cronin died 20 days after the election.^[5]

Treasurer and Receiver-General

1962 Massachusetts Treasurer election

← 1960

1964 →


Nominee	John Francis Kennedy	John Yerxa
Party	Democratic	Republican
Popular vote	1,140,765	684,954
Percentage	62.0%	37.2%

Treasurer and Receiver-General before election

John Francis Kennedy
Democratic

Elected Treasurer and Receiver-General

John Francis Kennedy
Democratic

Incumbent Treasurer and Receiver-General John Francis Kennedy defeated Woburn Mayor William G. Shaughnessy in the Democratic primary and Republican State Senator John Yerxa, Socialist Labor candidate John Erlandsson, and Prohibition candidate Warren Carberg in the general election.

Democratic primary

Candidates

John Francis Kennedy, incumbent Treasurer
William G. Shaughnessy, mayor of Woburn

Results

1958 Democratic Treasurer primary^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	John Francis Kennedy (incumbent)	256,155	61.78%
	Democratic	William G. Shaughnessy	158,447	38.22%
Total votes			414,602	100.00%

General election

Results

1958 Massachusetts Treasurer and Receiver-General election^[4]
	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
Democratic	John Francis Kennedy (incumbent)	1,140,765	62.00%	8.96
Republican	John Yerxa	684,954	37.23%	9.03
Socialist Workers	John Erlandsson	7,814	0.42%	0.07
Socialist Workers	Warren Carberg	6,382	0.34%	0.01
Write-in		25	0.00%

Auditor

Incumbent Auditor Thomas J. Buckley defeated Republican Thomas H. Adams, Socialist Labor candidate Arne Sortell, and Prohibition candidate John B. Lauder in the general election.

1958 Massachusetts Auditor election^[4]
	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
Democratic	Thomas J. Buckley (incumbent)	1,150,267	63.26%	6.07
Republican	Thomas H. Adams	654,808	36.01%
Socialist Workers	Arne Sortell	7,698	0.42%
Prohibition	John B. Lauder	5,621	0.31%

United States Senator

Further information: United States Senate election in Massachusetts, 1958

Democrat John F. Kennedy was re-elected over Republican Vincent J. Celeste, Socialist Labor candidate Lawrence Gilfedder, and Prohibition candidate Mark R. Shaw.

References

^ "George Fingold is Dead at 49. Massachusetts Attorney General; G.O.P.Candidate for Governor Had Campaigned Saturday --Serving Third Term". New York Times. September 1, 1958.
^ "Our Campaigns - MA Governor- R Primary Race - Sep 09, 1958".
^ Massachusetts Election Statistics 1958. p. 65.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Massachusetts Election Statistics 1958. p. 5.
^ "Edward J. Cronin". New York Times. November 25, 1958.
^ Massachusetts Election Statistics 1958. p. 62.

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