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 County results Jackson: 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% | |||||||||||||||||
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The1970 United States Senate election in Washington was held on November 3, 1970. TheDemocratic incumbentHenry M. Jackson won a fourth term in office with alandslide victory overRepublican state senatorCharles Elicker.
In theDemocratic Party primary,Henry M. Jackson, who had served in theUnited States Senate since 1953, faced criticism for his support ofmilitary spending and theVietnam War. This position caused members of the national party involved in peace activism, includingEugene McCarthy,Allard K. Lowenstein, andJohn Kenneth Galbraith, to petition state politicians to challenge Jackson. They found Carl Maxey, the first African American inEastern Washington to qualify as an attorney, who resigned his position as chair of the Washington Democratic Council, an anti-war organization, to run for office. Maxey had previously worked for Jackson on his Senate campaigns but he publicly opposed the Vietnam War, particularly in relation to the drafting of African Americans at disproportionate rates.[1]
In May 1970, Maxey won the endorsement of the King County Democratic Convention. During the same month, President Richard Nixon announced an escalation to the Vietnam War asAmerican forces invaded Cambodia. This decision led to protests across the country and theshooting of four anti-war protests at Kent State University in Ohio. Two months later, at the state party convention held inSpokane, Washington, supporters of Maxey disturbed the speech given by Jackson. The opposition pushed Jackson to the center of his party and he frequently said, "I'm proud of the fact that during my term in the Senate I opposed both McCarthys", comparing Eugene McCarthy andJoe McCarthy.[1]
Jackson had support from stateRepublicans, who donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to his primary campaign. Montgomery Johnson, the state party chairman, and Governor Dan Evans had difficulty finding a Republican challenger as the national party, including Nixon, discouraged any strong opposition. They finally recruited state senator,Charles Elicker, who beat four other candidates to win the party nomination.[2] In the primary on September 15, 1970, Jackson won the Democratic nomination with 497,309 votes and sweeping every county in the state. Maxey won second place in theblanket primary, with 79,201 votes and Elicker came in third with 33,262 votes.[1] The other candidates were two Democrats,John "Hugo Frye" Patric and Clarice Privette, and four Republicans, R. J. "Bob" Odman, William H. Davis, Howard S. Reed and Bill Patrick.[3]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Henry M. Jackson (incumbent) | 497,309 | 73.18% | |
| Democratic | Carl Maxey | 79,201 | 11.65% | |
| Republican | Charles W. Elicker | 33,262 | 4.89% | |
| Republican | Howard S. Reed | 22,293 | 3.28% | |
| Republican | Robert J. "Big Bob" Odman | 14,856 | 2.19% | |
| Democratic | Paul Gumbell | 24,559 | 3.05% | |
| Republican | William H. Davis | 11,207 | 1.65% | |
| Republican | Bill Patrick | 7,976 | 1.17% | |
| Republican | John Patric | 7,267 | 1.07% | |
| Democratic | Clarice L.R. Privette | 6,240 | 0.92% | |
| Total votes | 679,611 | 100.00% | ||
Jackson was announced as the winner on November 3, 1970, three minutes after polls closed on election night. He had set the previous Washington record in 1964, which he broke by receiving 82 percent to Elicker's 16 percent, with two third party candidates sharing the remainder of the vote.[2] Thelandslide victory prompted Elicker to say about his percentage, "I'm thinking of asking for a recount".[5]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Henry M. Jackson (incumbent) | 879,385 | 82.43% |  10.22 | |
| Republican | Charles W. Elicker | 170,790 | 16.01% |  11.78 | |
| Socialist Workers | Karl Bermann | 9,255 | 0.87% | N/A | |
| Buffalo | Edison Fink | 7,377 | 0.69% | N/A | |
| Total votes | 1,066,807 | 100.00% | |||
| Democratichold | Swing | ||||
