1964 Massachusetts gubernatorial election

1964 Massachusetts gubernatorial election

← 1962 November 3, 1964 1966 →

Nominee John Volpe Francis Bellotti Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 1,176,462 1,153,416 Percentage 50.27% 49.29%

County results Municipality results Volpe:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90% Bellotti:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%

Governor before election Endicott Peabody Democratic Elected Governor John Volpe Republican

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v t e

The 1964 Massachusetts gubernatorial election was held on November 3, 1964. Incumbent Governor Endicott Peabody ran for re-election, but was defeated by then-Lieutenant Governor Francis X. Bellotti in the Democratic Party primary. Bellotti went on to lose the general election to former Governor John Volpe.^[1]

The race between Volpe and Bellotti was the first time in Massachusetts history that the two major parties backed sons of Italian immigrants for governor.^[2]

This was the final election held before the governor's term of office was extended from two to four years.

• Francis Bellotti, Lieutenant Governor
• Pasquale Caggiano, perennial candidate
• John J. Droney, Middlesex County District Attorney
• Endicott Peabody, incumbent Governor

• Robert F. Kennedy, U.S. Attorney General (brother of President John F. Kennedy)

• John Volpe, former Governor

• Philip A. Graham, State Senator from Hamilton and Senate Minority Leader^[4]
• Francis W. Perry, State Representative from Duxbury and nominee for Lieutenant Governor in 1962^[4]

• Edward Brooke, Attorney General of Massachusetts (withdrew ahead of convention, ran for re-election)^[4]

Volpe ran unopposed in the Republican primary.

Volpe defeated Bellotti by less than 25,000 votes. Volpe's victory came in a year in which Democrats gained seats in the United States House of Representatives and Senate and Lyndon Johnson won the presidential election in a landslide.^[5]

• 1963–1964 Massachusetts legislature