S. I. Hayakawa won with 50.2% of the vote (3,748,973 votes), ahead of John V Tunney with 46.9% (3,502,862 votes).
The margin between the first two candidates was 3.3 percentage points (246,111 votes). The party margin (Republican share minus Democratic share) was a Republican lead of 3.3 points.
7,470,586 votes were counted in this race, for 5 candidates or options.
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