61 seats 38 seats 3 3 50.6% 47.6% Start date November 7, 1978 | 58 41 14,362,402 13,520,147 3.1% 6.1% | |
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Winner Robert Byrd | ||
The United States Senate elections, 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.
Contents
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.