The 1960 United States Senate elections coincided with the election of John F. Kennedy as president on November 8, 1960. The 33 seats of Class 2 were contested in regular elections. A special election was also held on June 28, 1960, for a mid-term vacancy in North Dakota where Democrats flipped a seat to expand their majority to 66–34. As Majority Leader Lyndon Johnson was elected Vice President, Mike Mansfield became the new majority leader.

The Republicans gained two seats at the expense of the Democrats. However, Republican Senator-elect Edwin Keith Thomson of Wyoming died December 9, 1960, and was replaced by appointee Democratic John J. Hickey at the beginning of the Congress, reducing Republican gains to one seat. However, this was canceled out by a 1961 special election where Republican John Tower flipped Johnson's Senate seat. The Democrats nonetheless retained a commanding lead in the Senate with 64 seats to 36.

Results summary + ↓ 64 36 Democratic Republican

Parties Total Democratic Republican Other Last elections (1958) 64 34 0 98 Before these elections 66 34 0 100 Not up 43 23 0 66 Up 23 11 — 34 22 11 — 33 1 0 — 1 Incumbent retired 4 1 — 5 3 1 — 4 1 Democrat replaced by 1 Republican — 1 Result 3 2 0 5 Incumbent ran 19 10 — 29 18 10 — 28 1 Democrat replaced by 1 Republican — 1 0 0 — 0 Result 18 11 0 29 Total elected 21 13 0 34 Net gain/loss 2 2 2 Nationwide vote 18,547,250 14,894,867 218,893 33,661,010 Share 55.10% 44.25% 0.65% 100% Result 64 36 0 100

Source:

Gains, losses, and holds Retirements Two Republicans and four Democrats retired instead of seeking re-election.

StateSenatorReplaced by Iowa Montana North Dakota (special) Oregon Rhode Island Wyoming

Defeats One Democrat sought re-election but lost in the general election.

StateSenatorReplaced by Delaware

Post-election changes Four Republicans died and two Democrats resigned, and were all replaced by appointees. One Republican senator-elect died December 9, 1960, before the next Congress began, and was replaced by a Democratic appointee. In Texas, a 1961 special election was held prior to the 1962 United States Senate elections, where John Tower won the special election to succeed Democratic appointee William A. Blakley, who lost election to finish the term. StateSenatorReplaced by Idaho(Class 2) Kansas(Class 2) Massachusetts(Class 1) New Hampshire(Class 2) South Dakota(Class 3) Texas(Class 2) Wyoming(Class 2) Texas(Class 2)

Change in composition After the June special election D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D Majority → D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R

Before the November elections D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D Majority → D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R

Result of the November elections D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D Majority → D D D D D D D D D D D D D D R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R

Beginning of the next Congress D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D Majority → D D D D D D D D D D D D D D R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R

Key: D Democratic R Republican

Race summaries

Special elections during the 86th Congress In these special elections, the winner was seated during 1960 or before January 3, 1961; ordered by election date.

State Incumbent Results Candidates Senator Party Electoral history North Dakota(Class 1) Republican 1959 Interim appointee retired.New senator elected June 28, 1960 and seated August 8, 1960.Democratic-NPL gain. Missouri(Class 3) Democratic 1960 Interim appointee elected November 8, 1960. Oregon(Class 2) Democratic 1960 Interim appointee retired.New senator elected November 8, 1960 and seated the following day.Winner was also elected to the next term, see below.Democratic hold.

Elections leading to the next Congress In these general elections, the winners were elected for the term beginning January 3, 1961; ordered by state.

All of the elections involved the Class 2 seats.

State Incumbent Results Candidates Senator Party Electoral history Alabama Democratic 1946 19481954 Incumbent re-elected. Alaska Democratic 1958 Incumbent re-elected. Arkansas Democratic 194219481954 Incumbent re-elected. Colorado Republican 1954 Incumbent re-elected. Delaware Democratic 19481954 Incumbent lost re-election.Republican gain. Georgia Democratic 1932 1936194219481954 Incumbent re-elected. Idaho Republican 1946 1948 1949 1950 1954 Incumbent re-elected. Illinois Democratic 19481954 Incumbent re-elected. Iowa Republican 1954 Incumbent retired.Republican hold. Kansas Republican 19481954 Incumbent re-elected. Kentucky Republican 1946 1948 1952 1954 1956 Incumbent re-elected. Louisiana Democratic 1936194219481954 Incumbent re-elected. Maine Republican 19481954 Incumbent re-elected. Massachusetts Republican 1944 19481954 Incumbent re-elected. Michigan Democratic 1954 Incumbent re-elected. Minnesota DFL 19481954 Incumbent re-elected. Mississippi Democratic 194219481954 Incumbent re-elected. Montana Democratic 1934 1936194219481954 Incumbent retired.Democratic hold. Nebraska Republican 1954 Incumbent re-elected. New Hampshire Republican 1936194219481954 Incumbent re-elected. New Jersey Republican 1954 Incumbent re-elected. New Mexico Democratic 19481954 Incumbent re-elected. North Carolina Democratic 1958 1958 Incumbent re-elected. Oklahoma Democratic 19481954 Incumbent re-elected. Oregon Democratic 1960 Interim appointee retired.Winner also elected to finish the term; see above.Democratic hold. Rhode Island Democratic 1936194219481954 Incumbent retired.Democratic hold. South Carolina Democratic 1954 (write-in)1954 1956 1956 Incumbent re-elected. South Dakota Republican 19481948 1954 Incumbent re-elected. Tennessee Democratic 19481954 Incumbent re-elected. Texas Democratic 19481954 Incumbent re-elected, but resigned at the end of the term to become U.S. Vice President.William A. Blakley was appointed to begin the next term. Virginia Democratic 1946 19481954 Incumbent re-elected. West Virginia Democratic 1958 Incumbent re-elected. Wyoming Democratic 1954 Incumbent retired.New senator elected, but died before Congress began.Republican gain.Joe Hickey (D) was appointed to begin the next term.

Closest races Eleven races had a margin of victory under 10%:

State Party of winner Margin North Dakota (special) Democratic (flip) 0.5% Montana Democratic 1.4% Delaware Republican (flip) 1.4% Michigan Democratic 3.7% Iowa Republican 3.8% Idaho Republican 4.6% South Dakota Republican 4.8% Missouri (special) Democratic 6.4% Colorado Republican 7.5% Oregon Democratic 9.2% Illinois Democratic 9.4%

Rhode Island was the tipping point state with a margin of 37.8%.

Alabama

Incumbent John J. Sparkman won re-election, having served since 1946. He faced nominal opposition from Republican Julian E. Elgin in the then-deeply Democratic state of Alabama. Sparkman served from 1946 to 1979 in the Senate before retiring and being succeeded by Howell Heflin.

Alaska

Incumbent Democrat Bob Bartlett was easily re-elected to his second (his first full) term in the U.S. Senate over Republican dentist Lee McKinley after originally being elected in 1958 upon Alaska's anticipated admission as a state into the United States. Bartlett had previously served as the last delegate from Alaska to Congress.

Arkansas Incumbent senator John L. McClellan was re-elected to a fourth term with nominal opposition from write-in independent candidate Marvin Fuchs, who received just 449 of 377,485 votes.

Colorado

Incumbent Gordon Allott was re-elected to a second term in office, defeating lieutenant governor Robert Knous by just under eight percentage points. He would wind up winning re-election in 1966 before retiring in 1973, replaced by Democrat Floyd Haskell.

Delaware

J. Allen Frear ran for re-election to a third term, but he was defeated by Republican governor J. Caleb Boggs by a narrow 1% margin. Boggs would be re-elected in 1966, but he would lose re-election to a third term in 1972 to future U.S. President Joe Biden.

Georgia Incumbent Richard B. Russell Jr. was re-elected to a sixth term in office, running unopposed in the tantamount Democratic primary and facing nominal opposition in the deeply-Democratic Georgia.

Idaho

Henry Dworshak ran for re-election to a third term, defeating R.F. McLaughlin by just under five percentage points.

Illinois

Incumbent Paul H. Douglas successfully ran for re-election to a third term, defeating Republican Samuel Witwer.

Iowa Incumbent Republican Thomas Martin decided to retire, leaving this seat open. Republican Jack Miller won the open seat, defeating Democrat Herschel C. Loveless and riding the coattails of Richard Nixon's victory in the state.

Kansas

Kentucky Incumbent John Sherman Cooper ran for re-election, defeating Keen Johnson by nearly 20%. This was the first time Cooper had won an election to a full Senate term, though he had previously served two partial terms.

Louisiana

Maine

Incumbent Republican Margaret Chase Smith, the first woman to serve in both houses of Congress, was overwhelmingly re-elected to a third term, defeating Lucia Cormier. This was the first election in which a woman was nominated by both major parties for the office of U.S. Senate, meaning a woman was going to be elected regardless of who won.

Massachusetts

Republican incumbent Leverett Saltonstall was re-elected to another term after being elected in 1944 in a special election. He defeated Democrat Thomas O'Connor Jr.

Michigan Democrat Patrick V. McNamara was narrowly re-elected against Republican Alvin Bentley, having served one full term prior.

Minnesota

Democrat Hubert Humphrey, who would later become vice president, was re-elected over Republican challenger P. Kenneth Peterson. He had served since 1949.

Mississippi

Incumbent James Eastland, who had represented Mississippi in the Senate since 1943, was elected to another term in a landslide with 92% of the vote.

Missouri (special)

Following the death of incumbent Thomas C. Hennings, Democrat Edward V. Long, incumbent Lieutenant Governor of Missouri, ran against Republican Lon Hocker for the open seat. Long defeated Hocker by just under seven percentage points.

Montana

After the retirement of incumbent Democrat James E. Murray, Democrat and representative Lee Metcalf and Republican Orvin Fjare ran for the open seat. Metcalf kept the seat Democratic, winning by just over 1%. This was despite Richard Nixon winning Montana in the concurrent presidential election.

Nebraska Republican Carl Curtis, who had served since 1955, was re-elected to a second term over Democrat Robert Conrad by nearly 17 percentage points. Curtis won all but four counties in the state.

New Hampshire

Bridges died less than a year into his fifth term. With New Hampshire's other Senator Norris Cotton up for re-election in 1962 and following Bridges death. Both of New Hampshire's Senate seats would be up in the 1962 midterms.

New Jersey

Incumbent Republican Clifford P. Case won re-election against Democrat Thorn Lord. Case would win re-election a few more times in 1966 and 1972, before losing in the 1978 Republican primary.

New Mexico

North Carolina

Incumbent Democrat B. Everett Jordan was re-elected to his first full term after winning a special election in 1958. He defeated Republican Kyle Hayes by a slightly slimmer margin than he defeated his Republican challenger in 1958.

North Dakota (special)