The United States Senate special election in Ohio of 1954 was held on November 2, 1954 to complete the unexpired term of late Senator Robert A. Taft, who died in office on July 31, 1953. Interim Senator Thomas A. Burke ran to complete the term in office but was narrowly defeated by U.S. Representative George Bender.
 | |||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
 County results Bender: 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% Burke: 50–60% 60–70% | |||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
.jpg)
.jpg)
Background
editOn July 31, 1953, incumbent Republican Senator Robert A. Taft died in office. His term was scheduled to expire in 1957. Governor Frank Lausche appointed Thomas A. Burke, the Democratic Mayor of Cleveland, to fill his seat until a successor could be duly elected.
The special election was scheduled for November 2, 1954, concurrent with the regularly scheduled state and federal elections. Burke ran to complete the term.
Republican primary
editCandidates
edit- George H. Bender, U.S. Representative from Chagrin Falls
- William B. Saxbe, State Representative from Mechanicsburg
Results
edit| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | George H. Bender | 254,390 | 57.40% | |
| Republican | William B. Saxbe | 188,783 | 42.60% | |
| Total votes | 443,173 | 100.00% | ||
General election
edit| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | George Bender | 1,257,874 | 50.06% |  7.48
| |
| Democratic | Thomas A. Burke (incumbent) | 1,254,904 | 49.94% |  7.48
| |
| Total votes | 2,512,778 | 100.0% | |||
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "Republican Primary: May 4, 1954 - Ohio Secretary of State". www.sos.state.oh.us.
- ^ "Statistics of the Presidential and Congressional Election of November 6, 1954" (PDF). U.S. Government Printing Office. Retrieved December 31, 2020.
- ^ "Our Campaigns - OH US Senate - Special Election Race - Nov 02, 1954". www.ourcampaigns.com.