Candidates • Emanuel Braude • Walter Buchanan, candidate for U.S. Representative in 1934 and 1962 • Demos Cordeiro •
Alan Cranston, California Controller • Harold E. Fields • Lynn Johnston, candidate for U.S. Representative in 1963 •
George H. McLain, perennial candidate, nativist, and pensioner advocate • Henry A. Mermel • Mark Morris • Guido Joseph Pavia, resident of
Napa •
Pierre Salinger,
White House Press Secretary Declined to run •
Stanley Mosk, California Attorney General (appointed to California Supreme Court)
Withdrew •
Clair Engle, incumbent Senator (died July 30)
Campaign On August 24, 1963, Senator Clair Engle underwent surgery to remove a
brain tumor, which left him partially paralyzed, forcing him to miss several Senate sessions. Despite this, he was expected to recover and proceeded with his re-election campaign. By March 1964, California State Controller
Alan Cranston had entered the race and received the endorsement of the California Democratic Council. On April 13, 1964, Engle's illness was evident as he attempted to introduce a resolution to delay construction of the
Bodega Bay Nuclear Power Plant. He was given permission to speak but was physically unable, and a colleague presented the resolution instead. Engle officially ended his re-election campaign on April 28, 1964, just four days after undergoing his second operation in eight months. He chose not to endorse either Cranston or Salinger. A major point of contention during the primary and general elections was Salinger's eligibility to run. Though he was born in San Francisco and attended high school there, he was working at the
White House at the time and officially a resident of Virginia, meaning he could not vote for himself.
Results ==Republican primary==