Ed Brooke is elected to the Senate from Massachusetts.

The first African-American elected to the U.S. Senate by popular vote and the first elected since Reconstruction, Brooke (R) defeats former governor Endicott “Chub” Peabody (D) by more than 400,000 votes. In Boston, Brooke receives 85,254 and Peabody 110,122. He is reelected until 1978.*