1978 United States Senate elections
Elections leading to the next Congress
In these general elections, the winners were elected for the term beginning January 3, 1979; ordered by state. All of the elections involved the Class 2 seats.

1978 United States Senate elections

Section Title: Elections leading to the next Congress
Table Section Text: In these general elections, the winners were elected for the term beginning January 3, 1979; ordered by state. All of the elections involved the Class 2 seats.

State (linked to summaries below)	Incumbent	Results	Candidates

Senator	Party	Electoral history

Alabama	John Sparkman	Democratic	1946 (Special) 1948 1954 1960 1966 1972	Incumbent retired. New senator elected. Democratic hold	√ Howell Heflin (Democratic) 94.0% Jerome B. Couch (Prohibition) 6.0%

Alaska	Ted Stevens	Republican	1968 (Appointed) 1970 1972	Incumbent re-elected.	√ Ted Stevens (Republican) 75.6% Donald W. Hobbs (Democratic) 24.1%

Arkansas	Kaneaster Hodges, Jr.	Democratic	1977 (Appointed)	Interim appointee retired. New senator elected. Democratic hold	√ David Pryor (Democratic) 76.5% Tom Kelly (Republican) 16.3% John J. Black (Independent) 7.2%

Colorado	Floyd K. Haskell	Democratic	1972	Incumbent lost re-election. New senator elected. Republican gain	√ William L. Armstrong (Republican) 58.7% Floyd K.

Delaware	Joe Biden	Democratic	1972	Incumbent re-elected.	√ Joe Biden (Democratic) 58.0% James H. Baxter (Republican) 41.0% Donald G. Gies (American) 1.0%

Georgia	Sam Nunn	Democratic	1972 (Special) 1972	Incumbent re-elected.	√ Sam Nunn (Democratic) 83.1% John W. Stokes (Republican) 16.9%

Idaho	James A. McClure	Republican	1972	Incumbent re-elected.	√ James A. McClure (Republican) 68.4% Dwight Jensen (Democratic) 31.6%

Illinois	Charles H. Percy	Republican	1966 1972	Incumbent re-elected.	√ Charles H. Percy (Republican) 53.3% Alex Seith (Democratic) 45.5% William R.

Iowa	Dick Clark	Democratic	1972	Incumbent lost re-election. New senator elected. 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	1962 (Appointed) 1962 (Special) 1966	Incumbent retired. New senator elected.	√ Nancy 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	1972	Incumbent re-elected.	√ Walter Huddleston (Democratic) 61.0% Louis Guenthner (Republican) 36.9% Anthony A. McCord (American) 2.1%

Louisiana	J. Bennett Johnston	Democratic	1972 (Appointed) 1972	Incumbent re-elected.	√ J. Bennett Johnston (Democratic) 59.4% Woody Jenkins (Democratic) 40.6%

Maine	William Hathaway	Democratic	1972	Incumbent lost re-election. New senator elected. Republican gain	√ William Cohen (Republican) 56.6% William Hathaway (Democratic) 33.9% Hayes E. Gahagan (Independent) 7.4% John J.

Massachusetts	Edward Brooke	Republican	1966 1972	Incumbent lost re-election. New senator elected. Democratic gain	√ Paul Tsongas (Democratic) 55.1% Edward Brooke (Republican) 44.9%

Michigan	Robert P. Griffin	Republican	1966 (Appointed) 1966 1972	Incumbent lost re-election. New senator elected. Democratic gain	√ Carl Levin (Democratic) 52.1% Robert P. Griffin (Republican) 47.9%

Minnesota	Wendell Anderson	Democratic	1976 (Appointed)	Interim appointee lost election. New senator elected.	√ 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.

Mississippi	James O. Eastland	Democratic	1942 1948 1954 1960 1972	Incumbent retired. New senator elected.	√ 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	1978 (Appointed)	Interim appointee lost nomination. New senator elected.	√ Max Baucus (Democratic) 55.7% Larry Williams (Republican) 44.3%

Nebraska	Carl Curtis	Republican	1954 1960 1966 1972	Incumbent retired. New senator elected. Democratic gain	√ J. James Exon (Democratic) 67.6% Donald Shasteen (Republican) 32.3%

New Hampshire	Thomas J. McIntyre	Democratic	1962 (Special) 1966 1972	Incumbent lost re-election. New senator elected. 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	1954 1960 1966 1972	Incumbent lost renomination. New senator elected. 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.

New Mexico	Pete Domenici	Republican	1972	Incumbent re-elected.	√ Pete Domenici (Republican) 53.4% Toney Anaya (Democratic) 46.6%

North Carolina	Jesse Helms	Republican	1972	Incumbent re-elected.	√ Jesse Helms (Republican) 54.5% John Ingram (Democratic) 45.5%

Oklahoma	Dewey F. Bartlett	Republican	1972	Incumbent retired. New senator elected. Democratic gain	√ David L. Boren (Democratic) 65.5% Robert B.

Oregon	Mark Hatfield	Republican	1966 1972	Incumbent re-elected.	√ Mark Hatfield (Republican) 61.6% Vernon Cook (Democratic) 38.3%

Rhode Island	Claiborne Pell	Democratic	1960 1966 1972	Incumbent re-elected.	√ Claiborne Pell (Democratic) 75.1% James G. Reynolds (Republican) 24.9%

South Carolina	Strom Thurmond	Republican	1954 1954 (Appointed) 1956 (Resigned) 1956 (Special) 1960 1966 1972	Incumbent re-elected.	√ Strom Thurmond (Republican) 55.6% Charles D. Ravenel (Democratic) 44.4%

South Dakota	James Abourezk	Democratic	1972	Incumbent retired. New senator elected. Republican gain	√ Larry Pressler (Republican) 66.8% Don Barnett (Democratic) 33.2%

Tennessee	Howard Baker	Republican	1966 1972	Incumbent 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	1961 (Special) 1966 1972	Incumbent 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	1972	Incumbent retired. New senator elected.	√ John Warner (Republican) 50.2% Andrew P. Miller (Democratic) 49.8%

West Virginia	Jennings Randolph	Democratic	1958 (Special) 1960 1966 1972	Incumbent re-elected.	√ Jennings Randolph (Democratic) 50.5% Arch A. Moore, Jr. (Republican) 49.5%

Wyoming	Clifford Hansen	Republican	1966 1972	Incumbent retired. New senator elected.	√ Alan K. Simpson (Republican) 62.2% Raymond B. Whitaker (Democratic) 37.8%

Sentence(s)

Incumbent Democratic Senator John Sparkman of Alabama retired and was succeeded by Howell Heflin.

final_sentence: Incumbent Democratic Senator John Sparkman of Alabama retired and was succeeded by Howell Heflin.