The 1964 Massachusetts gubernatorial election was held on November 3, 1964. Incumbent Governor Endicott Peabody ran for re-election, but was defeated by then-Lieutenant Governor Francis X. Bellotti in the Democratic Party primary. Bellotti went on to lose the general election to former Governor John Volpe.
The race between Volpe and Bellotti was the first time in Massachusetts history that the two major parties backed sons of Italian immigrants for governor.
This was the final election held before the governor's term of office was extended from two to four years.
Democratic primary
Candidates
- Francis Bellotti, lieutenant governor
- Pasquale Caggiano, former state representative from Lynn and perennial candidate
- John J. Droney, Middlesex County district attorney
- Endicott Peabody, incumbent governor
Declined
- Robert F. Kennedy, U.S. attorney general and brother of John F. Kennedy (ran for U.S. Senate in New York)
Republican primary
Candidates
- John Volpe, former governor
Defeated at convention
- Philip A. Graham, state senator from Hamilton and Senate minority leader
- Francis W. Perry, state representative from Duxbury and nominee for lieutenant governor in 1962
Withdrew
- Edward Brooke, attorney general of Massachusetts (withdrew ahead of convention; ran for re-election)
Results
Volpe ran unopposed in the Republican primary.
General election
Candidates
- Francis Bellotti, lieutenant governor (Democratic)
- John Volpe, former governor (Republican)
- Francis A. Votano (Socialist Labor)
- Guy S. Williams (Prohibition)
Results
Volpe defeated Bellotti by less than 25,000 votes. Volpe's victory came in a year in which Democrats gained seats in the United States House of Representatives and Senate and Lyndon Johnson won the presidential election in a landslide.
Results by county
Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic