Editing Charles Mathias (section)

===Election of 1968: unseating Brewster===
Leading up to the [[United States Senate]] [[United States Senate elections, 1968|elections of 1968]], Mathias' name was frequently mentioned as a potential challenger to Democratic incumbent [[Daniel Brewster]], his college roommate. Fellow Republican Congressman [[Rogers Morton]] of {{ushr|Maryland|1}} was also considering a run at Brewster's seat, but was dissuaded by Republican party leaders in the state in favor of a Mathias candidacy. Their decision was largely due to the [[geography]] of Mathias' seat. As representative of the 6th district, he already had established [[name recognition]] in both the [[Baltimore]] and [[Washington, D.C.]], metropolitan areas, the more densely populated and liberal areas of the state. Morton's seat was anchored in the more rural [[Eastern Shore of Maryland|Eastern Shore]]. Mathias' seat was also more likely to stay in Republican hands. While Morton's seat had been in Republican hands for all but four years since 1947 due to its [[social conservatism|socially conservative]] bent, it still voted for Democrats downballot. Mathias had also established a more liberal voting record, which was argued to serve him better in a state with a 3-1 Democratic advantage in registered voters.<ref name="Eisen-2Jan1968">{{cite news |first=Jack | last=Eisen | title = Mathias Points for Senate | newspaper = [[The Washington Post]] | page=B1 |date=January 2, 1968 }}</ref>

Mathias officially declared his candidacy for the Senate on February 10, 1968, calling for troop reductions in the [[Vietnam War]], and identifying [[urban blight]], [[racial discrimination]], [[welfare reform]], and improving [[Public school (government funded)|public schools]] as major issues.<ref name="Barnes-11Feb1968"/> As the campaign drew on, the two primary issues became the war and crime. Mathias argued that the [[Operation Rolling Thunder|extensive bombing campaigns in North Vietnam]] should be reduced, while Brewster had argued for increasing bombardment. Brewster adopted a hard line stance on law and order, while Mathias advocated addressing the precipitating causes of [[poverty]] and the low standard of living in urban [[ghetto]]s. [[Campaign finance]]s were also an issue, with controversy erupting over Brewster's receipt of $15,000 in campaign contributions from his Senate staff and their families.<ref name="Homan-6Nov1968"/> On November 5, 1968, Mathias was elected, garnering 48% of the vote to Brewster's 39% and [[perennial candidate]] [[George P. Mahoney]]'s 13%.<ref name="Watson-15Aug1974">{{cite news | first =Douglas | last=Watson | title = Mathias Purge Threat Ends: White House Scandals Boost Senator's Re-election Bid | newspaper = [[The Washington Post]] | page = C1 | date = August 15, 1974 }}</ref>