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 County results Clark: 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% Zandt: 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% | |||||||||||||||||
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The1962 United States Senate election in Pennsylvania was held on November 6, 1962. Incumbent Democratic U.S. SenatorJoseph S. Clark, Jr. successfully sought re-election to another term, defeating Republican nomineeJames E. Van Zandt.
A Democratic U.S. Senator would not be elected in Pennsylvania until1991, and not again in a regular election until2006. This was the last time the Democrats won the Class 3 Senate seat from Pennsylvania untilJohn Fetterman's victory in2022.[a]
The 1962 Senate race took place alongside agubernatorial race that garnered most of the media's attention. Van Zandt criticized Clark for being an idealisticliberal and stressed ananti-communist platform. He also attacked Clark for Clark's support of theKennedy administration's foreign policy towards both China and Cuba. In return, Clark portrayed Van Zandt as a proponent ofMcCarthyism who would be "trigger happy" as a Senator.[1]
In the end, Clark was re-elected to the United States Senate, winning his second term. He beat Van Zandt in the nine-county area of Southwestern Pennsylvania surroundingPittsburgh by nearly 200,000 votes, but lost Central Pennsylvania and the Philadelphia suburbs to Van Zandt. Clark increased his margin of victory in the Southwest from1956, and his 108,000 vote margin inAllegheny County was an important factor in his victory.[1]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Joseph S. Clark, Jr. (incumbent) | 2,238,383 | 51.07% | ||
| Republican | James E. Van Zandt | 2,134,649 | 48.70% | ||
| Socialist Labor | Arla A. Albaugh | 10,387 | 0.24% | ||
| N/A | Other | 2 | 0.00% | ||
| Democratichold | |||||
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