DemocratWilliam Proxmire won a special election to fill the vacancy created by the death of SenatorJoseph R. McCarthy (R-WI). Also,Price Daniel (D-TX) left the Senate to become governor of Texas, and DemocratRalph Yarborough won a special election for that Senate seat. The Democrats thus made a net gain of one seat. However, Congress was out of session at the time of the Democratic gain inWisconsin, and the Republicans gained a Democratic-held seat only weeks after the next session started, when RepublicanJohn D. Hoblitzell Jr. was appointed to fill the vacancy created by the death of SenatorMatthew M. Neely (D-WV).
Ordered by election date.
| State | Incumbent | Results | Candidates | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Senator | Party | Electoral history | |||
| Texas (Class 1) | William A. Blakley | Democratic | 1957(Appointed) | Interim appointee retired when successor elected. New senatorelectedApril 2, 1957. Democratic hold. |
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| Wisconsin (Class 1) | Joseph McCarthy | Republican | 1946 1952 | Incumbent died May 2, 1957. New senatorelectedAugust 28, 1957. Democratic gain. |
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 County Results Yarborough: 30–40% 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% Dies: 20–30% 30–40% 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% | |||||||||||||||||||||
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One-term DemocratPrice Daniel resigned January 14, 1957 to becomeGovernor of Texas. Daniel appointed DemocratWilliam A. Blakley January 15, 1957.
In 1956,Allan Shivers opted not to run for a fourth term asGovernor of Texas; SenatorPrice Daniel, as a sitting U.S. Senator was elected Governor of Texas.
Like his gubernatorial predecessorAllan Shivers and Daniel, Blakley was an "Eisenhower Democrat" who had supportedDwight Eisenhower over the national Democratic Party candidateAdlai Stevenson in1952 and1956.
Blakley, who had gained prominence in Texas politics for his business successes was, at the time, building a $125 million shopping center and a 1,000-room hotel in Dallas. Governor Shivers, who had been considering appointing a Republican candidate to the Senate seat, instead named Blakley to the United States Senate pending a special election for the seat.
Pressured by the Democratic Party in the interests of cooling tensions from the gubernatorial election, Blakley did not seek the remaining term as senator. He hence served for fewer than four months from January 15 to April 28. Ralph Yarborough succeeded him in the special election, winning with aplurality of the vote when the conservatives divided three ways.
Thereafter, Texas law was changed to require a runoff between the two leading candidates in a special election if no one had a majority in the first round). Blakley left the Senate saying "I shall go back to my boots and saddle and ride toward the Western sunset."[4]
Yarborough would bere-elected in 1958 andagain in 1964.
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Ralph W. Yarborough | 364,605 | 38.09% | ||
| Democratic | Martin Dies Jr. | 290,803 | 30.38% | ||
| Republican | Thad Hutcheson | 219,591 | 22.94% | ||
| Democratic | Searcy Bracewell | 33,384 | 3.49% | ||
| Democratic | James P. Hart | 19,739 | 2.06% | ||
| Democratic | John C. White | 11,876 | 1.24% | ||
| Democratic | Ralph W. Hammonds | 2,372 | 0.25% | ||
| Democratic | Elmer Adams | 2,228 | 0.23% | ||
| Democratic | M. T. Banks | 2,153 | 0.23% | ||
| Democratic | Frank G. Cortez | 1,350 | 0.14% | ||
| Democratic | Charles W. Hill | 1,025 | 0.11% | ||
| Democratic | Jacob Bergolofsky | 890 | 0.09% | ||
| Democratic | J. Cal Courtney | 879 | 0.09% | ||
| Democratic | Hugh Wilson | 851 | 0.09% | ||
| Majority | 73,802 | 7.71% | |||
| Turnout | 12.41% (total pop) | ||||
| Democratichold | |||||
Two-term RepublicanJoseph McCarthy died May 2, 1957. In the summer of 1957, a special election was held to fill McCarthy's seat. In theprimaries, voters in both parties turned away from McCarthy's legacy. The Republican primary was won byWalter J. Kohler Jr., who called for a clean break from McCarthy's approach; he defeated former CongressmanGlenn Robert Davis, who charged that Eisenhower was soft on Communism.[7] The Democratic candidate,William Proxmire,[8] called the late McCarthy "a disgrace to Wisconsin, to the Senate, and to America". On August 27, Proxmire won the election, serving in the seat for 32 years.[9][10]
Proxmire would be re-elected five more times, serving until his retirement in 1989.
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 County results Proxmire: 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% | |||||||||||||||||
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| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | William Proxmire | 435,985 | 56.44% | +15.22% | |
| Republican | Walter Kohler | 312,931 | 40.51% | −18.08% | |
| Constitution Party (United States, 1952) | Howard Boyle | 20,581 | 2.66% | ||
| Independent | Donald Wheaton | 2,288 | 0.30% | ||
| Socialist Labor | Georgia Cozzini | 704 | 0.09% | ||
| Majority | 123,054 | 15.93% | |||
| Turnout | 772,489 | ||||
| Democraticgain fromRepublican | |||||
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