The1954 United States Senate election in Oklahoma took place on November 2, 1954. Incumbent Democratic SenatorRobert S. Kerr ran for re-election to a second term. He faced strong competition in the Democratic primary from former GovernorRoy J. Turner, and though he won a sizable victory over Turner in the primary, he fell shy of an outright majority. Turner, however, withdrew from the race before a runoff election could be held. On the Republican side, U.S. Attorney Fred Mock won the nomination following a runoff against newspaper publisher Raymond Fields. In the general election, Kerr ended up easily defeating Mock, but with a significantly reduced victory from1948.
Following the Democratic primary, Kerr had a sizable lead over Turner, but fell just short of a majority, thereby triggering a runoff election. However, several weeks after the primary, Turner withdrew from the runoff, announcing that he would not be able to adequately finance his campaign.[3] After Turner's withdrawal, David C. Shapard, who placed a distant third in the primary, announced that he would attempt to force a runoff with Kerr.[1] The State Election Board denied Kerr's request, and he appealed to the state Supreme Court,[4] which quickly denied his appeal, concluding that his claim had no "apparent merit."[5]
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