The 1968 United States Senate election in Arizona took place on November 5, 1968. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator
Carl Hayden, 91, decided not run for reelection to an eighth term, ending his 57-year-long career in Congress. Hayden's longtime staff member
Roy Elson ran as the Democratic Party nominee to replace him. Elson was defeated by a wide margin, however, by former U.S. Senator and
1964 Republican presidential nominee
Barry Goldwater, who staged a political comeback. Prior to Goldwater's election, the seat had been held for decades by the Democratic Party under Carl Hayden, but after this election remained in Republican Party control continuously for 52 years, until Democrat
Mark Kelly won in the
2020 special election.
Elson had previously challenged U.S. Senator
Paul Fannin in
1964, when Goldwater vacated his seat in order to run for President against
Lyndon B. Johnson.
Democratic primary
Candidates
Roy Elson, staff member to Senator
Carl Hayden, 1964 Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate