 They turned to former Vice President Richard Nixon, the biggest name at the time in the California Republican Party.Having been elected Senator in 1950 and carrying the state against Kennedy in 1960, they also felt a convincing win could be a springboard for Nixon to challenge Kennedy again in 1964, since he narrowly lost to him in 1960.However, the conservative Joe Shell challenged Nixon in the primary, and received support from the John Birch Society.