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 County results Lodge: 50–60% 60–70% Fitzgerald: 50–60% | |||||||||||||||||
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The1916 United States Senate election in Massachusetts was held on November 7, 1916.Republican incumbentHenry Cabot Lodge defeated Democratic Mayor of BostonJohn F. Fitzgerald to win election to a fifth term.
This was the first United States Senate election in Massachusetts decided by popular vote, as required by theSeventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Henry Cabot Lodge (incumbent) | 104,118 | 100.00% | |
| Write-in | 2 | 0.00% | ||
| Total votes | 104,120 | 100.00% | ||
In 1914 Mayor of BostonJohn F. Fitzgerald was strongly popular in the city, leading him to consider a challenge against the powerful Senator Lodge.[2] When he wavered on whether to run for another term in office, however,James Michael Curley entered the race and usurped him in the January 1914 election. Fitzgerald briefly ran for re-election to another term in office, before withdrawing in December 1913. Though he cited illness, he was in fact being blackmailed by Curley and attorneyDaniel H. Coakley, who had learned of his indiscretions with acigarette girl, Elizabeth "Toodles" Ryan.[3]
The Democratic state convention was held in Springfield on October 7.[4] Fitzgerald addressed the convention, praising President Wilson and criticizing Lodge, his Senate colleagueJohn W. Weeks, and former PresidentTheodore Roosevelt for opposing the President's re-election during war-time.[5]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | John F. Fitzgerald | 64,551 | 100.00% | |
| Write-in | 2 | 0.00% | ||
| Total votes | 64,553 | 100.00% | ||
The first shot of the general election came in September, before the primary elections. At a Lodge campaign rally in Beverly, the Senator made no mention of Fitzgerald, but campaign backer Arthur Black criticized the former mayor's candidacy as a vanity run. Lodge focused his campaign on criticism of President Wilson and support for Republican nomineeCharles Evans Hughes.[7]
Fitzgerald attacked Lodge for his opposition to thedirect election of Senators and theFederal Employees' Compensation Act. He declared that "[Lodge's] career shows a singular lack of touch with the people... it is for private interests that he has stood during his career."[8]
Lodge also faced criticism over his charge of weakness against President Wilson's response to the sinking of theRMSLusitania. Lodge was forced to withdraw his charge.[8]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Henry Cabot Lodge (incumbent) | 267,177 | 51.68% | |
| Democratic | John F. Fitzgerald | 234,238 | 45.31% | |
| Socialist | William N. McDonald | 15,558 | 3.01% | |
| Write-in | All others | 26 | 0.00% | |
| Total votes | 516,999 | 100.00% | ||
In1952, Fitzgerald's grandsonJohn F. Kennedy defeated Lodge's grandsonHenry Cabot Lodge Jr. to win election to this same Senate seat. Fitzgerald's daughterRose Fitzgerald Kennedy would say that her son John had "evened the score" with the Lodges and avenged her father's defeat. A final contest between the two families came in1962, when John Kennedy's youngest brother (and another of Fitzgerald's grandsons)Ted Kennedy defeated younger Lodge's sonGeorge C. Lodge for the same seat.[10]
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