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The 1970 United States Senate election in California was held on November 3, 1970.

Incumbent Republican Senator George Murphy lost re-election to a second term to Democratic Congressman John V. Tunney. This election was the first since 1860 in which California sent two Democrats to the U.S. Senate.

Republican primary

Candidates

  • Robert Amequista
  • Robert R. Barry, former U.S. Representative from New York and unsuccessful candidate for Representative from California in 1966, 1967, and 1968
  • Katharine Marros
  • George Murphy, incumbent Senator
  • Norton Simon, billionaire industrialist and philanthropist

Results

1970 Republican U.S. Senate primary[1]
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican George Murphy (incumbent) 1,325,271 64.30%
Republican Norton Simon 670,702 32.54%
Republican Robert R. Barry 30,558 1.48%
Republican Katharine Marros 22,238 1.08%
Republican Robert Amequista 12,336 0.60%
Total votes 2,061,105 100.00

Democratic primary

Candidates

Results

1970 Democratic U.S. Senate primary results[2]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic John V. Tunney 1,010,812 41.58%
Democratic George Brown Jr. 812,463 33.42%
Democratic Kenneth Hahn 417,970 17.19%
Democratic Eileen Anderson 60,977 2.51%
Democratic Arthur Bell Jr. 48,878 2.01%
Democratic Leonard Kurland 43,923 1.81%
Democratic Louis Di Salvo 35,829 1.47%
Total votes 2,430,852 100.00

General election

Candidates

Results

General election results[3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Democratic John V. Tunney 3,496,558 53.86% Increase5.40
Republican George Murphy (incumbent) 2,877,617 44.33% Decrease7.21
American Independent Charles C. Ripley 61,251 0.94% N/A
Peace and Freedom Robert Scheer 56,731 0.87% N/A
Total votes 6,492,157 100.00
Democratic gain from Republican

See also

References

  1. ^ "CA US Senate - R Primary". OurCampaigns. Retrieved November 12, 2019.
  2. ^ "CA US Senate - D Primary". OurCampaigns. Retrieved November 12, 2019.
  3. ^ "Our Campaigns - CA US Senate Race - Nov 03, 1970". OurCampaigns. Retrieved November 12, 2019.
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