United States Senate elections, 1978

United States Senate elections, 1978

November 7, 1978
36 of the 100 seats in the United States Senate 51 seats needed for a majority
Majority party Minority party   Leader Robert Byrd Howard Baker Party Democratic Republican Leader's seat West Virginia Tennessee Last election 61 seats 38 seats Seats won 58 41 Seat change 3 3 Popular vote 14,362,402 13,520,147 Percentage 50.6% 47.6% Swing 3.1% 6.1%   Third party   Party Independent Last election 1 seat Seats before 1 Seats won 1 Seat change
Democratic gain   Democratic hold   Republican hold   Republican gain
Majority Leader before election Robert Byrd Democratic Elected Majority Leader Robert Byrd Democratic

The United States Senate election of 1978 in the middle of Democratic President Jimmy Carter's term. Thirteen seats changed hands between parties. The Democrats lost a net of three seats to the Republicans, leaving the balance of the chamber 58-41 in favor of the Democrats.

Results summary

Parties		Total Seats			Popular Vote
		1976	1978	+/-	Vote	%
	Democratic Party	61	58	-3	14,362,402	50.60%
	Republican Party	38	41	+3	13,520,147	47.63%
	Independent	1	1	0	299,624	1.06%
	American Party	0	0	0	35,168	0.12%
	Prohibition Party	0	0	0	34,951	0.12%
	Socialist Worker's Party	0	0	0	29,796	0.10%
	Libertarian Party	0	0	0	25,071	0.09%
	Others	0	0	0	79,479	0.28%
Total		100	100	-	28,386,638	100.0%
Source: Election Statistics - Office of the Clerk

Change in Senate composition

Before the elections

I1	D1	D2	D3	D4	D5	D6	D7	D8	D9
D19	D18	D17	D16	D15	D14	D13	D12	D11	D10
D20	D21	D22	D23	D24	D25	D26	D27	D28	D29
D39	D38	D37	D36	D35	D34	D33	D32	D31	D30
D40	D41	D42	D43	D44	D45	D46	D47	D48	D49
Majority→									D50
D59	D58	D57	D56	D55	D54	D53	D52	D51
D60	D61	R38	R37	R36	R35	R34	R33	R32	R31
R21	R22	R23	R24	R25	R26	R27	R28	R29	R30
R20	R19	R18	R17	R16	R15	R14	R13	R12	R11
R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	R9	R10

As a result of the elections

I1	D1	D2	D3	D4	D5	D6	D7	D8	D9
D19	D18	D17	D16	D15	D14	D13	D12	D11	D10
D20	D21	D22	D23	D24	D25	D26	D27	D28	D29
D39	D38	D37	D36	D35	D34	D33	D32	D31	D30
D40	D41	D42	D43	D44√	D45√	D46√	D47√	D48√	D49√
Majority→									D50O
R41+	D58+	D57+	D56+	D55+	D54+	D53O	D52O	D51O
R40+	R39+	R38+	R37+	R36+	R35+	R34+	R33O	R32O	R31O
R21	R22√	R23√	R24√	R25√	R26√	R27√	R28√	R29√	R30√
R20	R19	R18	R17	R16	R15	R14	R13	R12	R11
R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	R9	R10

Key:	D# Democratic I# Independent, caucusing with the Democrats R# Republican		√ Incumbent re-elected or appointee elected to finish term O Party hold: New senator elected from same party + Party gain: New senator elected from different party

Gains and losses

Republican gains

Republicans took three open seats, including one in Minnesota (a special election was called after the death of Hubert Humphrey (D-MN)), as well as in Mississippi and South Dakota. They also defeated five Democratic incumbents: Floyd Haskell (Colorado), Dick Clark (Iowa), William Hathaway (Maine), Wendell Anderson (Minnesota), and Thomas McIntyre (New Hampshire). The two Republican victories in Minnesota saw the state's Senate delegation change from two Democrats to two Republicans in the same election.

Democratic gains

The Republican gains were offset by Democratic defeats of Edward Brooke (Massachusetts) and Robert Griffin (Michigan), and captures of Republican open seats in Nebraska, New Jersey, and Oklahoma.

Complete list of races

A bolded state name indicates an article about that state's election.

State	Incumbent	Party	Result	Opposing Candidates
Alabama	John Sparkman	Democratic	Retired Democratic hold	Howell Heflin (Democratic) 94.0% Jerome B. Couch (Prohibition) 6.0%
Alabama Special: Class 3	Maryon Pittman Allen	Democratic	Appointee lost nomination to finish term Democratic hold	Donald W. Stewart (Democratic) 55.1% James D. Martin (Republican) 43.3% Michael R. A. Erdey (Libertarian) 0.8% A. J. Killingsworth (Prohibition) 0.8%
Alaska	Ted Stevens	Republican	Re-elected	Ted Stevens (Republican) 75.6% Donald W. Hobbs (Democratic) 24.1%
Arkansas	Kaneaster Hodges, Jr.	Democratic	Retired Democratic hold	David Pryor (Democratic) 76.5% Tom Kelly (Republican) 16.3% John J. Black (Independent) 7.2%
Colorado	Floyd K. Haskell	Democratic	Lost re-election Republican gain	William L. Armstrong (Republican) 58.7% Floyd K. Haskell (Democratic) 40.3% Vedder V. Dorn (United States Party) 0.7% John Shue (National Statesman) 0.3%
Delaware	Joe Biden	Democratic	Re-elected	Joe Biden (Democratic) 58.0% James H. Baxter (Republican) 41.0% Donald G. Gies (American) 1.0%
Georgia	Sam Nunn	Democratic	Re-elected	Sam Nunn (Democratic) 83.1% John W. Stokes (Republican) 16.9%
Idaho	James A. McClure	Republican	Re-elected	James A. McClure (Republican) 68.4% Dwight Jensen (Democratic) 31.6%
Illinois	Charles H. Percy	Republican	Re-elected	Charles H. Percy (Republican) 53.3% Alex Seith (Democratic) 45.5% William R. Roy (Libertarian) 0.5% Patricia Grogan (Socialist Workers) 0.5% Gerald Rose (Socialist Labor) 0.2%
Iowa	Dick Clark	Democratic	Lost re-election Republican gain	Roger Jepsen (Republican) 51.1% Dick Clark (Democratic) 47.9% Gerald Leo Baker (Independent) 0.5% Ben L. Olson (Libertarian) 0.4%
Kansas	James B. Pearson	Republican	Retired Republican hold	Nancy Landon Kassebaum (Republican) 53.9% William R. Roy (Democratic) 42.4% James R. Maher (Conservative) 3.0% Russell Mikels (Prohibition) 0.7%
Kentucky	Walter Huddleston	Democratic	Re-elected	Walter Huddleston (Democratic) 61.0% Louis Guenthner (Republican) 36.9% Anthony A. McCord (American) 2.1%
Louisiana	Bennett Johnston Jr.	Democratic	Re-elected	Bennett Johnston, Jr. (Democratic) 59.4% Woody Jenkins (Democratic) 40.6%
Maine	William Hathaway	Democratic	Lost re-election Republican gain	William Cohen (Republican) 56.6% William Hathaway (Democratic) 33.9% Hayes E. Gahagan (Independent) 7.4% John J. Jannace (Independent) 1.5% Plato Truman (Independent) 0.6%
Massachusetts	Edward Brooke	Republican	Lost re-election Democratic gain	Paul Tsongas (Democratic) 55.1% Edward Brooke (Republican) 44.9%
Michigan	Robert P. Griffin	Republican	Lost re-election Democratic gain	Carl Levin (Democratic) 52.1% Robert P. Griffin (Republican) 47.9%
Minnesota Special: Class 1	Muriel Humphrey	Democratic	Appointee retired Republican gain	David Durenberger (Republican) 61.4% Bob Short (Democratic) 34.6% Paul Helm (American) 2.9% Christine Frank (Socialist) 0.7% Frederick Hewitt (Libertarian) 0.3%
Minnesota	Wendell Anderson	Democratic	Lost re-election Republican gain	Rudy Boschwitz (Republican) 56.6% Wendell Anderson (Democratic) 40.4% Sal Carlone (American) 1.5% William Peterson (Socialist Workers) 0.6% Brian Coyle (Public Interest Independent) 0.5% Jean T. Brust (Workers) 0.2% Leonard Richards (Libertarian) 0.2%
Mississippi	James O. Eastland	Democratic	Retired Republican gain	Thad Cochran (Republican) 45.3% Maurice Dantin (Democratic) 31.8% Charles Evers (Independent) 22.6% Henry Kirksey (Independent) 0.3%
Montana	Paul G. Hatfield	Democratic	Lost renomination Democratic hold	Max Baucus (Democratic) 55.7% Larry Williams (Republican) 44.3%
Nebraska	Carl Curtis	Republican	Retired Democratic gain	J. James Exon (Democratic) 67.6% Donald Shasteen (Republican) 32.3%
New Hampshire	Thomas J. McIntyre	Democratic	Lost re-election Republican gain	Gordon J. Humphrey (Republican) 50.7% Thomas J. McIntyre (Democratic) 48.5% Craig Franklin (Libertarian) 0.8%
New Jersey	Clifford P. Case	Republican	Lost renomination Democratic gain	Bill Bradley (Democratic) 55.3% Jeffrey Bell (Republican) 43.1% Herbert Harry Shaw (Independent) 0.2% Bill Gahres (Independent) 0.2% Jack Moyers (Independent) 0.2% Robert Bowen (Labor) 0.2% J.M. Carter, Jr. (Independent) 0.2% Jasper C. Gould (Independent) 0.2% William R. Thorn (Independent) 0.1% Paul Ferguson (Independent) 0.1% Alice Conner (Independent) 0.1%
New Mexico	Pete Domenici	Republican	Re-elected	Pete Domenici (Republican) 53.4% Toney Anaya (Democratic) 46.6%
North Carolina	Jesse Helms	Republican	Re-elected	Jesse Helms (Republican) 54.5% John Ingram (Democratic) 45.5%
Oklahoma	Dewey F. Bartlett	Republican	Retired Democratic gain	David L. Boren (Democratic) 65.5% Robert B. Kamm (Republican) 32.9% Glenn E. Hager (Independent) 0.5% Riley Donica (Independent) 0.4% Paul Edward Trent (Independent) 0.4% Richard King Carter (Independent) 0.3%
Oregon	Mark Hatfield	Republican	Re-elected	Mark Hatfield (Republican) 61.6% Vernon Cook (Democratic) 38.3%
Rhode Island	Claiborne Pell	Democratic	Re-elected	Claiborne Pell (Democratic) 75.1% James G. Reynolds (Republican) 24.9%
South Carolina	Strom Thurmond	Republican	Re-elected	Strom Thurmond (Republican) 55.6% Charles D. Ravenel (Democratic) 44.4%
South Dakota	James Abourezk	Democratic	Retired Republican gain	Larry Pressler (Republican) 66.8% Don Barnett (Democratic) 33.2%
Tennessee	Howard Baker	Republican	Re-elected	Howard Baker (Republican) 55.5% Jane Eskind (Democratic) 40.3% Thomas Anderson (Independent) 4.0% Fern Lucius Keasler (Independent) 0.2%
Texas	John Tower	Republican	Re-elected	John Tower (Republican) 49.8% Bob Krueger (Democratic) 49.3% Luis A. Diaz de Leon (La Raza Unida) 0.8% Miguel Pendas (Socialist Workers) 0.2%
Virginia	William L. Scott	Republican	Retired Republican hold	John Warner (Republican) 50.2% Andrew P. Miller (Democratic) 49.8%
West Virginia	Jennings Randolph	Democratic	Re-elected	Jennings Randolph (Democratic) 50.5% Arch A. Moore, Jr. (Republican) 49.5%
Wyoming	Clifford Hansen	Republican	Retired Republican hold	Alan K. Simpson (Republican) 62.2% Raymond B. Whitaker (Democratic) 37.8%

See also

• 96th United States Congress
• United States House of Representatives elections, 1978
• United States gubernatorial elections, 1978