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 County results Mead: 50–60% 60–70% Barton: 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% | ||||||||||||||||||||
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The1940 United States Senate election in New York was held on November 5, 1940. IncumbentDemocratic SenatorJames M. Mead, first elected in 1938 to fill vacancy caused by the death ofRoyal S. Copeland,[1] was re-elected to a full term in office, defeating RepublicanBruce Barton.
At the Republican convention in White Plains on September 27,Bruce Barton was nominated without opposition. His nomination came at the urging of presidential candidateWendell Willkie. He focused his acceptance speech on the need to deny President Roosevelt an unprecedented third term in office, which he insinuated would lead to dictatorship through an end to free elections, end of labor unionism, the end of Congress and Congress's power to declare war, the end of protection for racial and religious minorities, and the establishment of a permanent conscripted peacetime army "á la Hitler and Mussolini."[2]
Without a declared opponent, Senator Mead was assured re-nomination. At the state convention at the Manhattan Center on September 30, Mead gave a speech praising President Roosevelt,James A. Farley,Edward J. Flynn, SenatorRobert F. Wagner, and GovernorHerbert Lehman. He fully embraced Roosevelt's bid for a third term, arguing that the Founding Fathers had not intended any limit on the term of president, and argued for religious tolerance and national unity. His nomination was confirmed unanimously in a night session of the convention.[3]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | James M. Mead | 2,893,407 | 47.06% | |
| American Labor | James M. Mead | 381,359 | 6.20% | |
| Total | James M. Mead (Incumbent) | 3,274,766 | 53.26% | |
| Republican | Bruce Barton | 2,842,942 | 46.66% | |
| Prohibition | Stephen W. Paine | 4,944 | 0.08% | |
| Total votes | 6,148,562 | 100.00% | ||
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