1957 United States Senate special election in Texas

1957 United States Senate special election in Texas

← 1952 April 2, 1957 1958 →

Nominee Ralph Yarborough Martin Dies Jr. Thad Hutcheson Party Democratic Democratic Republican Popular vote 364,605 290,803 219,591 Percentage 38.09% 30.38% 22.94%

County results Congressional district results[a] 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% Hutcheson:      30–40%      40–50%      60–70% Tie:      30–40%

U.S. senator before election William Blakley Democratic Elected U.S. Senator Ralph Yarborough Democratic

Elections in Texas
General elections 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024
Federal government Presidential elections 1848 1852 1856 1860 1872 1876 1880 1884 1888 1892 1896 1900 1904 1908 1912 1916 1920 1924 1928 1932 1936 1940 1944 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 2020 2024 Presidential primaries Democratic 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 2020 2024 Republican 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 2020 2024 U.S. Senate 1846 1847 1851 1853 1857 1859 1859 sp 1870 1871 1875 1876 1881 1882 1887 1888 1892 sp 1893 1894 1899 1901 1905 1907 1911 1913 1913 sp 1916 1918 1922 1924 1928 1930 1934 1936 1940 1941 sp 1942 1946 1948 1952 1954 1957 sp 1958 1960 1961 sp 1964 1966 1970 1972 1976 1978 1982 1984 1988 1990 1993 sp 1994 1996 2000 2002 2006 2008 2012 2014 2018 2020 2024 2026 U.S. House of Representatives 1846 1849 1851 1853 1855 1857 1859 1866 1869 1870 1871 1872 1874 1876 1878 1879 6th sp 1880 1882 1884 1886 1887 2nd sp 1888 1890 1892 9th sp 1894 1896 11th sp 1898 1900 1901 6th sp 1902 4th sp 1903 8th sp 1904 1905 8th sp 1906 1908 1910 1912 1913 10th sp 1914 1916 1918 1919 12th sp 1920 1922 13th sp 1924 1926 1928 1930 17th sp 1931 14th sp 1932 1933 7th sp 8th sp 15th sp 1934 1936 1937 10th sp 1938 1940 1942 1944 1946 6th sp 1947 9th sp 16th sp 1948 15th sp 1950 18th sp 1951 13th sp 1952 7th sp 1954 1956 1958 1960 1961 20th sp 1962 4th sp 13th sp 1963 10th sp 1964 1966 8th sp 1968 3rd sp 1970 1972 1974 1976 1st sp 22nd sp 1978 1980 1982 1983 6th sp 1984 1985 1st sp 1986 1988 1989 12th sp 18th sp 1990 1991 3rd sp 1992 1994 1996 1997 28th sp 1998 2000 2002 2003 19th sp 2004 2006 22nd 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 27th sp 2020 2021 6th sp 2022 34th sp 2024 18th sp
State government Gubernatorial elections 1845 1847 1849 1851 1853 1855 1857 1859 1861 1863 1866 1866 1869 1873 1876 1878 1880 1882 1884 1886 1888 1890 1892 1894 1896 1898 1900 1902 1904 1906 1908 1910 1912 1914 1916 1918 1920 1922 1924 1926 1928 1930 1932 1934 1936 1938 1940 1942 1944 1946 1948 1950 1952 1954 1956 1958 1960 1962 1964 1966 1968 1970 1972 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022 2026 Lieutenant gubernatorial elections 1974 1978 1982 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022 Attorney General elections 2002 2006 2010 2014 2018 2022 Comptroller elections 2010 2014 2018 2022 Senate elections 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020 2022 2024 House of Representatives elections 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020 2022 2024 Constitutional amendments 1972 2005 2007 2021 2023
Austin Mayoral elections 2003 2006 2009 2012 2014 2018 2022 2024 Austin municipal elections 2022 2024
Corpus Christi Mayoral elections 2012 2014 2016 2017 sp 2018 2020
Dallas–Fort Worth Arlington mayoral elections 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 2013 2015 2017 2019 2021 2023 Dallas mayoral elections 1856 1857 1875 1904 1925 1961 1963 1965 1995 1999 2002 sp 2003 2007 2011 2015 2019 2023 Dallas municipal elections 2015 2019 2021 Fort Worth mayoral elections 2003 2007 2009 2011 2015 2017 2019 2021 2023 Denton mayoral elections 2020 2022 Plano municipal elections 2017 2019 2021
El Paso Mayoral elections 2001 2003 2005 2009 2013 2017 2020 2024 Municipal elections 2017 2020 2024
Houston Mayoral elections 1987 1989 1991 1993 1995 1997 1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 2013 2015 2019 2023 Municipal elections 2005 2007 2009
Laredo Mayoral elections 2018 2022
Lubbock Mayoral elections 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 2018 2020 2022 2024
San Antonio Mayoral elections 2005 2007 2009 2011 2013 2015 2017 2019 2021 2023 2025
Government
v t e

The 1957 United States Senate special election in Texas was held on April 2, 1957, to complete the unexpired term of Senator Price Daniel, who resigned to become Governor of Texas. Interim Senator William Blakley did not run for re-election. Ralph Yarborough won the race with a plurality of the vote; no majority was required.

In November 1956, incumbent senator Price Daniel was elected Governor of Texas. He had announced his resignation that September after winning the Democratic nomination, but it only became effective after he took office in January 1957.^[1] Outgoing Governor Allan Shivers appointed William Blakley to fill the seat until a successor could be elected. At the time of his appointment, Blakley was mum about which party he would vote with in the Senate; he had never held political office before. Soon after, he announced that he would serve as a Democrat, ensuring Democratic control in the narrowly-divided Senate.^[2] The special election was scheduled for April 2.^[3] Blakley declined to run in the special election.^[4] The winner would finish Daniel's term ending in 1959.

• Searcy Bracewell (Democratic), state senator from Houston and President pro tempore of the Texas Senate
• Martin Dies Jr. (Democratic), U.S. Representative from Lufkin (representing Texas at-large)
• James P. Hart (Democratic), former justice of the Texas Supreme Court
• Thad Hutcheson (Republican), Houston attorney
• John Coyle White (Democratic), Texas Agriculture Commissioner since 1951
• Ralph Yarborough (Democratic), Travis County District Judge and candidate for governor in 1952, 1954, and 1956

None of these candidates received more than 0.25% of the popular vote.

At the time, Texas held its special elections in a nonpartisan fashion, where all candidates appeared on the ballot in alphabetical order regardless of party affiliation.^[5] This had allowed former senator W. Lee O'Daniel to win a previous special election in 1941 with a plurality of only 30% of the vote.^[6] The Democratic-controlled Texas Legislature introduced a bill in January to alter the election's rules to require a candidate to earn a majority of the vote to win, with a runoff being called if no candidate does so in the first round.^[7] Attorney Thad Hutcheson was the only major Republican candidate in the race, so Republicans saw the crowded Democratic field as an opportunity to win the seat with a plurality of the vote.^[8] As such, Republicans vehemently opposed the passage of the bill.^[9] Several East Texas county judges also opposed the bill due to the additional costs of holding a second election.^[10] Conservative Democrats argued that the bill was necessary to prevent a Republican takeover of the Senate, which had the potential to lead to the passage of civil rights legislation.^[8] Many saw the bill as an attempt to not only defeat Hutcheson, but also to defeat Ralph Yarborough, the only prominent liberal Democrat in the race.^[11] These efforts failed, however, as the Texas Senate did not give the bill the supermajority vote required for it to go into effect prior to the election.^[8]

The Democratic Party had won a 49-47 majority in the U.S. Senate in the 1956 elections, but a Republican victory in this election would have given Republicans control of the chamber through Vice President Richard Nixon's tiebreaking vote.^[5][12] Because of this, Republicans from across the country campaigned for Hutcheson, who drew the endorsements of Nixon and President Dwight Eisenhower.^[13] Most major Texas newspapers endorsed Martin Dies, but other prominent Texas Democrats like interim-Senator Blakley and Senate majority leader Lyndon Johnson did not endorse any candidate.^[14][15] Each candidate's views on regulations for the oil and gas industry emerged as a primary campaign issue. Republicans campaigned on President Eisenhower's inclusion of a natural gas bill in his budget for the year, while Democrats argued that they would be better at managing the industry, as both of their congressional leaders, Johnson and House Speaker Sam Rayburn, were from Texas.^[12][16]

Ralph Yarborough won the race with a plurality of 38% of the vote. The results mirrored several previous races Yarborough had participated in: conflicts between the liberal and conservative branches of the Democratic Party. Yarborough had previously run for governor and attorney general, and he had been defeated both times in the Democratic primary by conservative Democrats. Despite fears that the long list of Democratic candidates in the race would split the vote to allow the Republican Hutcheson to win, Dies emerged as the conservative Democratic frontrunner and placed second, with Hutcheson placing third. No other candidate won a significant portion of the vote. Yarborough's victory ensured that Democrats would maintain control of the U.S. Senate.^[17]

Yarborough became the second person since World War II to win election to the Senate with under 40% of the vote.^[18] Conservative Democrats decried his vote share for being even lower than his performances in his previous gubernatorial runs. They claimed that he had only won because of divisions in the conservative vote. At the same time, Hutcheson performed better than most previous Republican candidates for statewide office.^[19] After the election, the Texas Legislature approved the runoff requirement for special elections to the U.S. Senate.^[20] This requirement would first come into play in 1961, and then again in 1993.

• 1957 United States Senate elections