United States Senate elections, 1980

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Republican holds Republican pickups Democratic holds Democratic pickups

The 1980 U.S. Senate elections coincided with Ronald Reagan's election to the Presidency. 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 twelve seats from the Democrats, the largest swing since 1958, and gained control of the Senate, 53-46. Majority and minority leaders Robert Byrd and Howard Baker exchanged places. This marked the first time since 1954 that the Republican Party controlled one of the Houses of Congress

Without losing any seats, the Republicans took open seats in Alabama, Alaska, and Florida, and defeated nine incumbents: Herman Talmadge (D-Ga.), Frank Church (D-Idaho), Birch E. Bayh II (D-Ind.), John Culver (D-Iowa), John A. Durkin (D-N.H.), Robert Morgan (D-N.C.), 1972 presidential nominee George S. McGovern (D-S.D.), Warren Magnuson (D-Wash.), and Gaylord Nelson (D-Wis.) (see Reagan's coattails).

Notable new senators included future Vice-President J. Danforth Quayle (R-Ind.). Alfonse M. D'Amato (R-N.Y.) defeated incumbent liberal Republican icon Jacob Javits (R-N.Y.) in a primary, demonstrating the ascendancy of conservative Republicans.

In 1982, Harrison A. Williams (D-N.J.) had 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.

[edit] Senate contests in 1980

State	Incumbent	Party	Status	Opposing candidate(s)
Alabama	Donald W. Stewart	Democrat	Defeated in primary: Republican victory, 50.2 - 47.1	Jeremiah Denton (Republican) James E. Folsom, Jr. (Democrat)
Alaska	Mike Gravel	Democrat	Defeated in primary: Republican victory, 53.7 - 45.9	Frank H. Murkowski (Republican) Clark S. Gruening (Democrat)
Arizona	Barry Goldwater	Republican	Re-elected, 49.5 - 48.4 - 1.4	Bill Schulz (Democrat) Fred R. Easer (Libertarian)
Arkansas	Dale Bumpers	Democrat	Re-elected, 59.1 - 40.9	Bill Clark (Republican)
California	Alan Cranston	Democrat	Re-elected, 56.5 - 37.1	Paul Gann (Republican)
Colorado	Gary Warren Hart	Democrat	Re-elected, 50.3 - 48.7	Mary E. Buchanan (Republican)
Connecticut	Abraham A. Ribicoff	Democrat	Retired: Democratic victory, 56.3 - 42.9	Christopher J. Dodd (Democrat) James L. Buckley (Republican)
Florida	Richard B. Stone	Democrat	Defeated in primary: Republican victory, 51.7 - 48.3	Paula Hawkins (Republican) Bill Gunter (Democrat)
Georgia	Herman E. Talmadge	Democrat	Defeated, 50.9 - 49.1	Mack Mattingly (Republican)
Hawaii	Daniel K. Inouye	Democrat	Re-elected, 77.9 - 18.4	Cooper Brown (Republican)
Idaho	Frank Church	Democrat	Defeated, 49.7 - 48.8	Steven D. Symms (Republican)
Illinois	Adlai E. Stevenson III	Democrat	Retired: Democratic victory, 56.0 - 42.5	Alan J. Dixon (Democrat) David C. O'Neal (Republican)
Indiana	Birch Bayh	Democrat	Defeated, 53.8 - 46.2	Dan Quayle (Republican)
Iowa	John C. Culver	Democrat	Defeated, 53.5 - 45.5	Charles E. Grassley (Republican)
Kansas	Bob Dole	Republican	Re-elected, 63.8 - 36.2	John Simpson (Democrat)
Kentucky	Wendell H. Ford	Democrat	Re-elected, 65.1 - 34.9	Mary L. Foust (Republican)
Louisiana	Russell B. Long	Democrat	Re-elected, in Primary
Maryland	Charles Mathias, Jr.	Republican	Re-elected, 66.2 - 33.8	Edward T. Conroy (Democrat)
Missouri	Thomas F. Eagleton	Democrat	Re-elected, 52.0 - 47.7	Gene McNary (Republican)
Nevada	Paul Laxalt	Republican	Re-elected, 58.5 - 37.4	Mary Gojack (Democrat)
New Hampshire	John A. Durkin	Democrat	Defeated, 52.1 - 47.8	Warren B. Rudman (Republican)
New York	Jacob K. Javits	Republican	Defeated in primary: Republican victory, 44.9 - 43.5 - 11.0	Alfonse D'Amato (Republican) Elizabeth Holtzman (Democrat) Jacob K. Javits (Liberal)
North Carolina	Robert Burren Morgan	Democrat	Defeated, 50.0 - 49.4	John P. East (Republican)
North Dakota	Milton R. Young	Republican	Retired: Republican victory, 70.3 - 29.0	Mark Andrews (Republican) Kent Johanneson (Democrat)
Ohio	John Glenn	Democrat	Re-elected, 68.8 - 28.2	James E. Betts (Republican)
Oklahoma	Henry Bellmon	Republican	Retired: Republican victory, 53.5 - 43.5	Don Nickles (Republican) Andrew Coats (Democrat)
Oregon	Bob Packwood	Republican	Re-elected, 52.1 - 44.0	Ted Kulongoski (Democrat)
Pennsylvania	Richard S. Schweiker	Republican	Retired: Republican victory, 50.5 - 48.0	Arlen Specter (Republican) Pete Flaherty (Democrat)
South Carolina	Ernest F. Hollings	Democrat	Re-elected, 70.4 - 29.6	Marshall T. Mays (Republican)
South Dakota	George S. McGovern	Democrat	Defeated, 58.2 - 39.4	James Abdnor (Republican)
Utah	Jake Garn	Republican	Re-elected, 73.6 - 25.5	Dan Berman (Democrat)
Vermont	Patrick J. Leahy	Democrat	Re-elected, 49.8 - 48.5	Stewart M. Ledbetter (Republican)
Washington	Warren G. Magnuson	Democrat	Defeated, 54.2 - 45.8	Slade Gorton (Republican)
Wisconsin	Gaylord Nelson	Democrat	Defeated, 50.2 - 48.3	Bob Kasten (Republican)