1958 United States Senate election in California

1958 United States Senate election in California

← 1952 November 4, 1958 1964 →
 
Nominee Clair Engle Goodwin Knight
Party Democratic Republican
Popular vote 2,927,693 2,204,337
Percentage 57.01% 42.93%

County results
Engle:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%
Knight:      50–60%

U.S. senator before election

William F. Knowland
Republican

Elected U.S. Senator

Clair Engle
Democratic

The 1958 United States Senate election in California was held on November 4, 1958.

Incumbent senator William F. Knowland opted not to run for re-election, choosing instead to run for election as governor. Incumbent governor Goodwin Knight exchanged places with Knowland and lost to U.S. Representative Clair Engle in the midst of a national landslide for the Democratic Party.

Knowland's decision to run for governor came in spite of strong opposition from Knight, who had wanted to run for re-election rather than for the Senate. The bad impression left by the feud between the two politicians, along with labor mobilization against Proposition 18, was a major factor in the Democratic landslide in California in 1958.[1][2]

This was one of 15 seats Democrats gained from the Republican Party in 1958, part of a record swing.

  1. ^ Starr, Kevin (2011). Golden Dreams: California in an Age of Abundance, 1950-1963. Oxford University Press. p. 212-216. ISBN 9780195153774.
  2. ^ Anderson, Totton J. (1959). "The 1958 Election in California". The Western Political Quarterly. 12 (1). [University of Utah, Sage Publications, Inc., Western Political Science Association]: 276–300. ISSN 0043-4078. JSTOR 444055. Retrieved May 7, 2024.

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