The 1942 United States Senate special election in Colorado took place on November 3, 1942. Democratic Senator
Alva B. Adams died in office on December 1, 1941, and Republican Governor
Ralph L. Carr appointed
Denver oilman
Eugene Millikin to fill the vacancy. Millikin ran for election for the remainder of Adams's term. He was opposed in the general election by James A. Marsh, the former chairman of the state Democratic Party. Aided in part by the
nationwide Republican landslide, Millikin easily defeated Marsh to serve out the remainder of the term.
Most of the competitive Democratic primaries in 1942 emerged in the races for the
regular Senate seat and for
Governor. Former state party chairman James A. Marsh was seen as the frontrunner for the special election, along with
Oscar Chapman, the
U.S. Assistant Secretary of the Interior and
Alva Adams's former campaign manager.[1] However, Chapman ultimately announced that he would not run, and Marsh won the nomination unopposed.[2]