United States Senate elections, 1964

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November 3, 1964

1966 →

33 of the 100 seats in the United States Senate, plus 2 mid-term vacancies
51 seats needed for a majority

	Majority party	Minority party

Leader	Mike Mansfield	Everett Dirksen
Party	Democratic	Republican
Leader's seat	Montana	Illinois
Last election	66 seats	34 seats
Seats won	68	32
Seat change	2	2
Popular vote	30,217,130	22,654,661
Percentage	56.3%	42.2%
Swing	5.9%	6.8%
Seats up	26	9

Democratic gain Democratic hold
Republican gain Republican hold

Majority Leader before election

Mike Mansfield
Democratic

Elected Majority Leader

Mike Mansfield
Democratic

The United States Senate elections, 1964 coincided with the election of President Lyndon B. Johnson by an overwhelming majority, to a full term. His Democratic Party picked up a net two seats from the Republicans. As of 2016, this is the last time either party has had a two-thirds majority in the Senate, which would have hypothetically allowed the Senate Democrats to override a veto, convict and expel certain officials, or invoke cloture without any votes from Republicans. The Senate election coincided with Democratic gains in the House in the same year.

Notably, of the 34 seats up for election this year, 25 of were held by Democrats, who managed to retain 24 of them. A party defending 2/3 of the seats up for election would not make net gains in the Senate again until 2012. Coincidentally, with the same Senate Class, Class 1.

Future President George H. W. Bush ran for a seat in Texas, but lost.

In a close race in Nevada, Democratic incumbent Howard Cannon won re-election over Republican Lieutenant Governor Paul Laxalt by fewer than 100 votes. Laxalt joined Cannon in the Senate when he won Nevada's other seat in 1974.

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