United States Senate elections, 1980

November 4, 1980

34 of the 100 seats in the United States Senate 51 seats needed for a majority

	Majority party	Minority party

Leader	Howard Baker	Robert Byrd
Party	Republican	Democratic
Leader's seat	Tennessee	West Virginia
Last election	41 seats	58 seats
Seats won	53	46
Seat change	12	12
Popular vote	26,597,169	30,699,463
Percentage	44.7%	51.6%
Swing	2.9%	1.0%
Seats up	10	24

	Third party

Party	Independent
Last election	1 seat
Seats before	1^*
Seats won	1^*
Seat change
Seats up	0

Democratic hold

Republican hold

Republican gain

^*The Independent caucused with the Democrats and was not up for election.

Majority Leader before election

Robert Byrd
Democratic

Elected Majority Leader

Howard Baker
Republican

The 1980 U.S. Senate elections coincided with Ronald Reagan's victory in the presidential election. Reagan's large margin of victory over incumbent Jimmy Carter pulled in many Democratic voters and gave a huge boost to Republican Senate candidates.

The Republicans gained a net of 12 seats from the Democrats and gained control of the Senate, 53–46–1. Majority and minority leaders Robert Byrd and Howard Baker exchanged places. This election marked the first time since 1954 that the Republican Party controlled either house of Congress. Despite large gains, Republican Senate candidates actually lost the popular vote.

This was the largest Senate swing since 1958, and was the largest Republican gain since 1946, when Republicans also picked up 12 seats.

Results summary

Parties		Total Seats			Popular Vote
Parties		1978	1980	Change	Vote	%
	Democratic Party	58	46	12	30,699,463	51.62%
	Libertarian Party	0	0		401,077	0.67%
	Republican Party	41	53	12	26,597,169	44.73%
	Independent	1	1		112,242	0.19%
	Others	0	0		1,658,979	2.79%
Total		100	100		59,468,930	100.0%
Source: Election Statistics – Office of the Clerk

Change in Senate composition

Before the elections

D₄₀	D₄₁	D₄₂	D₄₃	D₄₄	D₄₅	D₄₆	D₄₇	D₄₈	D₄₉
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
Majority→									D₅₀
R₄₁	D₅₈	D₅₇	D₅₆	D₅₅	D₅₄	D₅₃	D₅₂	D₅₁
R₄₀	R₃₉	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

D₄₀√	D₄₁√	D₄₂√	D₄₃√	D₄₄√	D₄₅O	D₄₆O	R₅₃+	R₅₂+	R₅₁+
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
Majority→
R₅₀+	R₄₉+	R₄₈+	R₄₇+	R₄₆+	R₄₅+	R₄₄+	R₄₃+	R₄₂+	R₄₁O
R₄₀O	R₃₉O	R₃₈O	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

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

Without losing any seats, the Republicans took open seats in Alabama, Alaska, and Florida, and unseated nine incumbents: Herman Talmadge (D-GA), Frank Church (D-ID), Birch E. Bayh II (D-IN), John Culver (D-IA), John A. Durkin (D-NH), Robert Morgan (D-NC), 1972 presidential nominee George S. McGovern (D-SD), Warren Magnuson (D-WA), and Gaylord Nelson (D-WI) (see Reagan's coattails).

Later changes

In 1982, Harrison A. Williams (D-NJ) resigned from the Senate rather than face a vote on his expulsion over the Abscam scandal. He was replaced by Republican Nicholas F. Brady. This is not reflected in the party totals.

Complete list of contests

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

State	Incumbent	Party	Result	Opposing candidate(s)
Alabama	Donald W. Stewart	Democratic	Lost renomination Republican gain	Jeremiah Denton (Republican) 50.2% Jim Folsom, Jr. (Democratic) 47.1%
Alaska	Mike Gravel	Democratic	Lost renomination Republican gain	Frank Murkowski (Republican) 53.7% Clark Gruening (Democratic) 45.9%
Arizona	Barry Goldwater	Republican	Re-elected	Barry Goldwater (Republican) 49.5% Bill Schulz (Democratic) 48.4% Fred R. Easer (Libertarian) 1.4% Lorenzo Torrez (People Over Politics) 0.4% Josefina Otero (Socialist Workers) 0.4%
Arkansas	Dale Bumpers	Democratic	Re-elected	Dale Bumpers (Democratic) 59.1% William Clark (Republican) 40.9%
California	Alan Cranston	Democratic	Re-elected	Alan Cranston (Democratic) 56.5% Paul Gann (Republican) 37.1% David Bergland (Libertarian) 2.4% David Wald (Peace & Freedom) 2.4% Jim Griffin (American Ind.) 1.6%
Colorado	Gary Hart	Democratic	Re-elected	Gary Hart (Democratic) 50.3% Mary E. Buchanan (Republican) 48.7% Earl Higgerson (Statesman) 0.6% Henry John Olshaw (Unaffiliated-American) 0.4%
Connecticut	Abraham A. Ribicoff	Democratic	Retired Democratic hold	Chris Dodd (Democratic) 56.3% James L. Buckley (Republican) 42.9% Jerry Brennan (Libertarian) 0.4% Andrew J. Zemel (Concerned Citizens) 0.4%
Florida	Richard Stone	Democratic	Lost renomination Republican gain	Paula Hawkins (Republican) 51.7% Bill Gunter (Democratic) 48.3%
Georgia	Herman Talmadge	Democratic	Lost re-election Republican gain	Mack Mattingly (Republican) 50.9% Herman Talmadge (Democratic) 49.1%
Hawaii	Daniel Inouye	Democratic	Re-elected	Daniel Inouye (Democratic) 77.9% Cooper Brown (Republican) 18.4%
Idaho	Frank Church	Democratic	Lost re-election Republican gain	Steve Symms (Republican) 49.7% Frank Church (Democratic) 48.8% Larry Fullmer (Libertarian) 1.5%
Illinois	Adlai Stevenson III	Democratic	Retired Democratic hold	Alan J. Dixon (Democratic) 56.0% Dave O'Neal (Republican) 42.5% Bruce Green (Libertarian) 0.6% Sidney Lens (Independent) 0.4% Charles F. Wilson (Communist) 0.2% Michael Soriano (Workers World) 0.1% Burton L. Artz (Socialist Workers) 0.1%
Indiana	Birch Bayh	Democratic	Lost re-election Republican gain	Dan Quayle (Republican) 53.8% Birch Bayh (Democratic) 46.2%
Iowa	John Culver	Democratic	Lost re-election Republican gain	Chuck Grassley (Republican) 53.5% John Culver (Democratic) 45.5% Garry De Young (Independent) 0.5% Robert V. Hengerer (Libertarian) 0.3% John Ingram Henderson (Independent) 0.2%
Kansas	Bob Dole	Republican	Re-elected	Bob Dole (Republican) 63.8% John Simpson (Democratic) 36.2%
Kentucky	Wendell H. Ford	Democratic	Re-elected	Wendell H. Ford (Democratic) 65.1% Mary L. Foust (Republican) 34.9%
Louisiana	Russell B. Long	Democratic	Re-elected	Russell B. Long (Democratic) 57.64% Woody Jenkins (Democratic) 38.75% Jerry Bardwell (Republican) 1.64% Robert M. Ross (Republican) 1.21% Naomi Bracy (No Party) .76%
Maryland	Charles Mathias, Jr.	Republican	Re-elected	Charles Mathias, Jr. (Republican) 66.2% Edward T. Conroy (Democratic) 33.8%
Missouri	Thomas Eagleton	Democratic	Re-elected	Thomas Eagleton (Democratic) 52.0% Gene McNary (Republican) 47.7% Martha Pettit (Socialist Workers) 0.3%
Nevada	Paul Laxalt	Republican	Re-elected	Paul Laxalt (Republican) 58.5% Mary Gojack (Democratic) 37.4%
New Hampshire	John A. Durkin	Democratic	Lost re-election Republican gain	Warren Rudman (Republican) 52.1% John A. Durkin (Democratic) 47.8%
New York	Jacob K. Javits	Republican	Lost re-nomination, lost re-election as the Liberal Party of New York nominee. Republican hold	Al D'Amato (Republican) 44.9% Elizabeth Holtzman (Democratic) 43.5% Jacob K. Javits (Liberal) 11.0% Richard Savadel (Libertarian) 0.36% William R. Scott (Communist) 0.07% Thomas Soto (Workers World) 0.06% Victor A. Nieto (Socialist Workers) 0.06%
North Carolina	Robert Burren Morgan	Democratic	Lost re-election Republican gain	John Porter East (Republican) 50.0% Robert Burren Morgan (Democratic) 49.4%
North Dakota	Milton Young	Republican	Retired Republican hold	Mark Andrews (Republican) 70.3% Kent Johanneson (Democratic) 29.0% Harley McLain (Independent) 0.5% Don J. Klingensmith (Independent) 0.2%
Ohio	John Glenn	Democratic	Re-elected	John Glenn (Democratic) 68.8% James E. Betts (Republican) 28.2% John E. Powers (Independent) 1.9% Rick Nagin (Independent) 1.1%
Oklahoma	Henry Bellmon	Republican	Retired Republican hold	Don Nickles (Republican) 53.5% Andrew Coats (Democratic) 43.5% Charles R. Nesbitt (Independent) 1.9% Robert T. Murphy (Libertarian) 0.9% Paul E. Trent (Independent) 0.2%
Oregon	Bob Packwood	Republican	Re-elected	Bob Packwood (Republican) 52.1% Ted Kulongoski (Democratic) 44.0% Theodora Nathalia Nathan (Libertarian) 3.8%
Pennsylvania	Richard Schweiker	Republican	Retired Republican hold	Arlen Specter (Republican) 50.5% Pete Flaherty (Democratic) 48.0%
South Carolina	Ernest Hollings	Democratic	Re-elected	Ernest Hollings (Democratic) 70.4% Marshall T. Mays (Republican) 29.6%
South Dakota	George McGovern	Democratic	Lost re-election Republican gain	James Abdnor (Republican) 58.2% George McGovern (Democratic) 39.4% Wayne Peterson (Independent) 2.4%
Utah	Jake Garn	Republican	Re-elected	Jake Garn (Republican) 73.6% Dan Berman (Democratic) 25.5%
Vermont	Patrick Leahy	Democratic	Re-elected	Patrick Leahy (Democratic) 49.8% Stewart M. Ledbetter (Republican) 48.5%
Washington	Warren G. Magnuson	Democratic	Lost re-election Republican gain	Slade Gorton (Republican) 54.2% Warren G. Magnuson (Democratic) 45.8%
Wisconsin	Gaylord Nelson	Democratic	Lost re-election Republican gain	Bob Kasten (Republican) 50.2% Gaylord Nelson (Democratic) 48.3%