Montana Pennsylvania 57 43 4 2 Start date November 3, 1970 | 58 seats 42 seats 54 44 25,402,791 19,326,064 | |
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Winner Mike Mansfield | ||
The United States Senate elections, 1970 was an election for the United States Senate, taking place in the middle of Richard Nixon's first term as President. The Democrats lost a net of three seats, while the Republicans and the Conservative Party of New York picked up one net seat each, and former Democrat Harry F. Byrd, Jr. was re-elected as an independent. This was the most recent election in which a third party won a seat in the Senate until Joe Lieberman was elected as a candidate of the Connecticut for Lieberman party in 2006.
Contents
- Results summary
- Democratic holds
- Republican hold
- Republican gain
- Democratic hold
- Democratic gains
- Conservative gain
- Republican gains
- Independent gain
- Getting out the vote
- Complete list of races
- References
Future president George H. W. Bush attempted a second run for a seat in Texas, having previously ran in 1964, and lost again.
Results summary
Source: Election Statistics - Office of the Clerk
Democratic holds
- Florida: Spessard Holland (D) retired and was replaced by Lawton Chiles (D).
- Minnesota: Eugene McCarthy (D) retired and was replaced by former Vice President (and former Senator) Hubert Humphrey (D).
Republican hold
- Delaware: John J. Williams (R) retired and was replaced by William Roth (R). He subsequently (December 31, 1970) resigned to give Roth additional seniority in the next term.
Republican gain
- Ohio: Stephen M. Young (D) retired and was replaced by Robert Taft, Jr. (R).
Democratic hold
- Texas: Ralph Yarborough (D) lost renomination to Lloyd Bentsen (D).
Democratic gains
- California: George Murphy (R) lost re-election to John V. Tunney (D).
- Illinois (Special- Class 3): Ralph Tyler Smith (R) lost re-election to Adlai Stevenson III (D).
Conservative gain
- New York: Charles Goodell (R), who was appointed in September 1969 to finish the term of the late Robert Kennedy, lost election to James L. Buckley (C).
Republican gains
- Connecticut: Thomas J. Dodd (D) dropped out of the Democratic primary, ran as an independent, and lost re-election to Lowell P. Weicker, Jr. (R).
- Maryland: Joseph Tydings (D) lost re-election to John Glenn Beall, Jr. (R).
- Tennessee: Al Gore, Sr. (D) lost re-election to Bill Brock (R).
Independent gain
- Virginia: Harry F. Byrd, Jr. (D) won re-election as an Independent. He broke with the Democratic Party because they asked him to sign an oath of loyalty to the party. Instead of signing the restrictive contract, Byrd ran as an independent. He continued to caucus with the Democrats, and maintained his Democratic seniority.
Getting out the vote
President Nixon said that rather than violent protests, the best way for the American public to get their opinion heard was by voting:
The most powerful four letter word is a clean word, it’s the most powerful four letter word in the history of men, it's called vote. V-O-T-E. My friends, I say that the answer to those that engage in disruption, to those that shout their filthy slogans, to those that try to shout down speakers, it's not to answer in kind, but go to the polls in election day, and in the quiet of that ballot box, stand up and be counted, the great silent majority of America.
Complete list of races
A bold state name indicates an article about that state's election.