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United States · Election results history · 1961
Election 1961 Results

Each election opens in its own mode: the forecast before the votes are counted, the live count while races are still too close to call, and the results once every race is decided.

1961 governor election results by state and county

Democrat Richard J. Hughes narrowly beat former Labor Secretary James P. Mitchell in New Jersey in 1961, and Albertis S. Harrison Jr. kept Virginia Democratic.

2 governor races were held in 1961. Democrats won 2 and Republicans 0.

The closest were New Jersey (D+1.6) and Virginia (D+27.7).

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Early projection, based on early and incomplete polling: the likely matchups, each weighted by the betting markets' odds of both nominations, not a result. Each county is its 2024 presidential margin moved by its state's projected swing; set a national vote and every state, district and county moves by the same amount from our projection. Colours run in 100 steps from a safe Republican to a safe Democratic margin. Boundaries: US Census Bureau.

About the 1961 governor elections

New Jersey and Virginia held the governor elections of 1961, the first year of John F. Kennedy's presidency. The New Jersey race was close. Democrat Richard J. Hughes, a former judge, defeated Republican James P. Mitchell, who had served as secretary of labor under President Eisenhower, by 1.6 points. Hughes succeeded fellow Democrat Robert B. Meyner and later won a second term. In Virginia, Democrat Albertis S. Harrison Jr., the state attorney general, beat Republican H. Clyde Pearson by about 28 points. Harrison was a member of the Byrd organization that still dominated state politics. Neither state changed party, but the New Jersey result showed that the state remained closely fought between the two parties. Both winners were from the same party as the outgoing governor, so the year left the national count of governorships unchanged.

Every race

StateDemocratVotesRepublicanVotesOthersMargin
New Jersey Richard J. Hughes1,084,194 (50.4%) James P. Mitchell1,049,274 (48.7%) 19,194 D+1.6
Virginia Albertis S. Harrison Jr.251,861 (63.9%) H. Clyde Pearson142,567 (36.1%) D+27.7

Margin: the Democrat's share of all votes minus the Republican's. Margins are Democrat minus Republican, of all votes. Certified results, from the states' own archives, the MIT Election Data and Science Lab, Heideman (2026) and Algara & Amlani (2021). By county: "As they were" draws each county as it stood on election day; "Today's" shares the old votes among today's counties by area. County boundaries: Newberry Library, Atlas of Historical County Boundaries (CC BY-NC-SA 2.5). How these results were checked.

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