1964 United States Senate Election
In the 1964 elections, Tydings was frequently mentioned as a potential candidate to compete for the United States Senate seat of Republican J. Glenn Beall, Sr. While initially hesitant, Tydings resigned as U.S. Attorney on November 21, 1963 to test his political support across the state. On January 14, 1964, Tydings officially declared his candidacy, stating he was challenging the "old guard" of the Maryland Democratic Party political machine. He also said he would work to bring a "new era of leadership into Maryland".
During the primary election in May 1964, Tydings faced Maryland Comptroller Louis L. Goldstein, who had won the endorsement of both J. Millard Tawes, Governor of Maryland, and Daniel Brewster, the other U.S. Senator from Maryland. Despite the support of the party leaders, Goldstein was trounced by Tydings in the primary, losing by nearly a two-to-one margin.
Having secured his party's nomination, Tydings moved forward to face Beall in the general election. The final election results gave Tydings nearly 63% of 1,081,042 votes cast. His large margin of victory was due at least in part to the landslide win by fellow Democrat Lyndon B. Johnson for President in the same election, which likely increased voter turnout.
Upon his election, Tydings began to lay out his legislative agenda for his upcoming term, which included water conservation, pollution and air purity, and mass transportation. He also expressed interest in serving on the Senate Committee on the District of Columbia. Tydings was permitted to serve on the committee, and was eventually appointed chairman in 1969.
Read more about this topic: Joseph Tydings
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