1982 United States Senate elections

November 2, 1982
33 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 since March 5, 1980 January 3, 1977 Leader's seat Tennessee West Virginia Seats before 54 45 Seats after 54 46 Seat change 1 Popular vote 22,412,928 27,899,651 Percentage 43.4% 54.1% Seats up 13 19 Races won 13 20   Third party   Party Independent Seats before 1 Seats after 0 Seat change 1 Seats up 1 Races won 0
Results of the elections:      Democratic gain      Republican gain      Democratic hold      Republican hold      No election
Majority Leader before election Howard Baker Republican Elected Majority Leader Howard Baker Republican

The 1982 United States Senate elections were held on November 2, 1982. They were elections for the United States Senate following Republican gains in 1980. The 33 Senate seats of Class 1 were up for election in 1982. A total of four seats changed hands between parties, with Democrats winning seats in New Jersey and New Mexico, and Republicans taking seats in Nevada and the seat of the lone independent, Senator Harry Byrd Jr., in Virginia. Democrats made a net gain of one seat bringing them to 46 seats, while Republicans stayed at 54 seats for a majority. However, the Democratic gain in New Jersey replaced a Republican that had been appointed earlier in the year.

A special election was also held in Washington state in 1983 that gave Republicans a seat that was previously held by a Democrat, bringing their majority to 55–45. As of 2024, this is the last time Democrats won a U.S. Senate election in Mississippi and the last time Republicans won one in Connecticut.

Results summary

Parties							Total
		Democratic	Republican	Independent	Libertarian	Other
Last elections (1980)		46	53	1	0	0	100
Before these elections		45	54	1	0	0	100
Not up		26	41	0	0	0	67
Up Class 1 (1976→1982)		19	13	1	—	—	33
Incumbent retired		0	2	1	—	—	3
	Held by same party	—	1	0	—	—	1
	Replaced by other party	1 Republican replaced by 1 Democrat 1 Independent replaced by 1 Republican			—	—	2
	Result	1	2	0	—	—	3
Incumbent ran		19[lower-alpha 1]	11	0	—	—	30
	Won re-election	18	10	—	—	—	28
	Lost re-election	1 Republican replaced by 1 Democrat 1 Democrat replaced by 1 Republican		—	—	—	2
	Lost renomination, but held by same party	0	0	—	—	—	0
	Result	19	11	0	—	—	30
Total elected		20	13	0	0	0	33
Net gain/loss		1		1			1
Nationwide vote		27,899,651	22,412,928	146,512	291,576	839,328	51,589,995
	Share	54.08%	43.44%	0.28%	0.57%	1.63%	100%
Result		46	54	0	0	0	100

Source: Office of the Clerk^[1]

Gains, losses, and holds

Change in composition

Race summaries

Closest races

In eleven races the margin of victory was under 10%.

Arizona

Arizona election

Nominee Dennis DeConcini Pete Dunn Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 411,970 291,749 Percentage 56.9% 40.3%

U.S. Senate election results map. Blue denotes counties won by DeConcini. Red denotes those won by Dunn.

U.S. senator before election Dennis DeConcini Democratic Elected U.S. Senator Dennis DeConcini Democratic

Incumbent Democrat Dennis DeConcini won re-election to a second term over Republican Pete Dunn, State Representative.

California

California election

Nominee Pete Wilson Jerry Brown Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 4,022,565 3,494,968 Percentage 51.4% 44.8%

County results

U.S. senator before election S. I. Hayakawa Republican Elected U.S. Senator Pete Wilson Republican

Incumbent Republican S. I. Hayakawa decided to retire after one term. Republican Pete Wilson, Mayor of San Diego and former Assemblyman, won the open seat over Democratic Governor Jerry Brown.

Wilson was known as a fiscal conservative who supported Proposition 13, although Wilson had opposed the measure while mayor of San Diego. However, Brown ran on his gubernatorial record of building the largest state budget surpluses in California history. Both Wilson and Brown were moderate-to-liberal on social issues, including support for abortion rights. The election was expected to be close, with Brown holding a slim lead in most of the polls leading up to Election Day. Wilson hammered away at Brown's appointment of California Chief Justice Rose Bird, using this to portray himself as tougher on crime than Brown was. Brown's late entry into the 1980 Democratic presidential primary, after promising not to run, was also an issue. President Ronald Reagan made a number of visits to California late in the race to campaign for Wilson. Reagan quipped that the last thing he wanted to see was one of his home state's U.S. Senate seats falling into Democrats' hands, especially to be occupied by the man who succeeded him as governor. Despite exit polls indicating a narrow Brown victory, Wilson won by a wide margin.

Connecticut

Connecticut election

Nominee Lowell Weicker Toby Moffett Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 545,987 499,146 Percentage 50.4% 46.1%

County results

U.S. senator before election Lowell P. Weicker Jr. Republican Elected U.S. Senator Lowell P. Weicker Jr. Republican

Incumbent Republican Lowell P. Weicker Jr. won re-election to a third term over Democratic member of the House Toby Moffett.

Delaware

Delaware election

Nominee Bill V. Roth David N. Levinson Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 105,357 84,413 Percentage 55.2% 44.2%

County results

U.S. senator before election Bill V. Roth Republican Elected U.S. Senator Bill V. Roth Republican

Incumbent Republican Bill V. Roth won reelection to a third term over the state's Democratic Insurance Commissioner David N. Levinson.

Florida

Florida election

Nominee Lawton Chiles Van B. Poole Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 1,637,667 1,015,330 Percentage 61.7% 38.3%

County results

U.S. senator before election Lawton Chiles Democratic Elected U.S. Senator Lawton Chiles Democratic

Incumbent Democrat Lawton Chiles won re-election to a third term over Republican state senator Van B. Poole.

Hawaii

Hawaii election

Nominee Spark Matsunaga Clarence Brown Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 245,386 52,071 Percentage 80.1% 17.0%

County results

U.S. senator before election Spark Matsunaga Democratic Elected U.S. Senator Spark Matsunaga Democratic

Incumbent Democrat Spark Matsunaga won re-election to a second term^[6] over Republican Clarence Brown, a retired Foreign Service officer^[7]

Indiana

Indiana election

Nominee Richard Lugar Floyd Fithian Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 978,301 828,400 Percentage 53.8 45.6

County results

U.S. senator before election Richard Lugar Republican Elected U.S. Senator Richard Lugar Republican

Incumbent Republican Richard Lugar faced Democratic United States Representative Floyd Fithian in the general election. Lugar won with a margin of 54% of the vote, compared to Fithian's 46%.

After the 1980 census, the Indiana General Assembly redistricted Indiana's congressional districts, pushing Democratic representative Floyd Fithian's district into more conservative territory.^[9] After redistricting, Fithian, the three term incumbent of Indiana's 2nd congressional district, decided to run for Secretary of State of Indiana, but withdrew from the primary to ultimately run for the United States Senate. He challenged fellow Democrat and one term Indiana State Senator Michael Kendall of Jasper, Indiana, who Fithian earlier encouraged to run for the Senate.^[10] Kendall, who represented Indiana's 47th Senate district and formed the Notre Dame Students for Robert Kennedy organization during the 1968 presidential election,^[11] was seen a young progressive alternative to Fithian, who he called the "ideological twin of Richard Lugar."^[12] After the bitterly contested primary, Fithian prevailed over Kendall, winning with 59% of the vote.^[13]

Incumbent United States Senator Richard Lugar won the republican nomination in an uncontested primary on May 4, 1982.^[14]

In the general election, Lugar faced Fithian and American Party candidate Raymond James.^[1]

On November 5, 1982, Lugar defeated Fithian and James in the general election, winning 74 of Indiana's 93 counties.^[15]

Maine

Maine election

Nominee George J. Mitchell David F. Emery Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 279,819 179,882 Percentage 60.9% 39.1%

County results Mitchell:      50–60%      60–70% Emery:      50-60%

U.S. senator before election George J. Mitchell Democratic Elected U.S. Senator George J. Mitchell Democratic

Incumbent Democrat George J. Mitchell, originally appointed to the seat after Edmund Muskie resigned, won re-election to his full six-year term over Republican U.S. Representative David F. Emery, earning 61% of the vote to Emery's 39%. Mitchell would serve two more terms in the Senate, eventually serving as Senate Majority Leader.

Maryland

Maryland election

Nominee Paul Sarbanes Lawrence Hogan Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 707,356 407,334 Percentage 63.5% 36.5%

County results

U.S. senator before election Paul Sarbanes Democratic Elected U.S. Senator Paul Sarbanes Democratic

Incumbent Democrat Paul Sarbanes won re-election to a second term in office. He defeated the Republican former Representative from Maryland's 5th district and Prince George's County Executive Lawrence Hogan.^[16]

Massachusetts

Massachusetts election

Nominee Ted Kennedy Ray Shamie Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 1,247,084 784,602 Percentage 60.8% 38.3%

Results by town. Red indicates towns carried by Ray Shamie, blue indicates towns carried by Ted Kennedy.

U.S. senator before election Ted Kennedy Democratic Elected U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy Democratic

Incumbent Democrat Ted Kennedy won re-election to his fifth (his fourth full) term over Republican Ray Shamie, a millionaire businessman and metalwork entrepreneur.

Results by county

Michigan

Michigan election

Nominee Don Riegle Philip Ruppe Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 1,728,793 1,223,288 Percentage 57.74% 40.85%

County results Riegle:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80% Ruppe:      50–60%      60–70%

U.S. senator before election Don Riegle Democratic Elected U.S. Senator Don Riegle Democratic

Incumbent Democrat Don Riegle won re-election to a second term, defeating Republican challenger Philip Ruppe, a former U.S. Representative from Houghton.

Minnesota

Minnesota election

Nominee David Durenberger Mark Dayton Party Ind.-Republican Democratic (DFL) Popular vote 949,207 840,401 Percentage 52.6% 46.6%

County results

U.S. senator before election David Durenberger Ind.-Republican Elected U.S. Senator David Durenberger Ind.-Republican

Incumbent Republican David Durenberger won re-election to his second term over Democratic businessman Mark Dayton.^[17]

Dayton campaigning with former VP Walter Mondale.

Dayton, 35, self-financed his campaign. Married to a Rockefeller and heir to a department store, his net worth was an estimated $30 million. Durenberger, who in 1978 and won the special election to finish the term of the late Hubert Humphrey, was largely unknown. He was considered a moderate, but supported Reagan's tax cuts. Dayton ran against Reaganomics. He has also campaigned against tax breaks for the wealthy and even promised "to close tax loopholes for the rich and the corporations—and if you think that includes the Daytons, you're right."^[18] By the end of September, the senate election already became the most expensive election of all time, with over $8 million being spent. Dayton spent over $5 million,^[19] while Durenberger spent over $2 million.^[20]

Mississippi

Mississippi election

Nominee John C. Stennis Haley Barbour Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 414,099 230,927 Percentage 64.2% 35.8%

County results

U.S. senator before election John C. Stennis Democratic Elected U.S. Senator John C. Stennis Democratic

Incumbent Democrat John C. Stennis won re-election to his seventh term over Republican Haley Barbour, a political operative who campaigned for U.S. Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford.

Missouri

Missouri election

Nominee John Danforth Harriett Woods Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 784,876 758,629 Percentage 50.8% 49.2%

County Results Danforth:      50-60%      60-70% Woods:      50–60%      60-70%

U.S. senator before election John Danforth Republican Elected U.S. Senator John Danforth Republican

Incumbent John Danforth, originally elected in the 1976 United States Senate election in Missouri, ran for a second term. In the general election, he narrowly defeated state senator Harriett Woods by just over a percentage point. Danforth would go on to serve two more terms in the Senate.

Montana

Montana election

Nominee John Melcher Larry R. Williams Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 174,861 133,789 Percentage 54.5% 41.7%

County results

U.S. senator before election John Melcher Democratic Elected U.S. Senator John Melcher Democratic

Incumbent John Melcher, who was first elected to the Senate in 1976, opted to run for re-election. He won the Democratic primary after he faced a tough intraparty challenger, and advanced to the general election, where he faced Larry R. Williams, an author and the Republican nominee, and Larry Dodge, the Libertarian nominee. Though his margin was reduced significantly from his initial election, Melcher still comfortably won re-election to his second and final term in the Senate.

During his first term in the Senate, Melcher's relative conservatism for a Democrat prompted a primary challenger in Michael Bond, a housing contractor who campaigned on his opposition to nuclear war. Bond attacked Melcher for voting to increase spending on nuclear arms, and pledged to reduce military spending to $60 billion and to use the savings to reduce interest rates.^[22] During the campaign, Bond came under fire from the state branches of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the Disabled American Veterans for turning in his draft card in 1967 to protest the Vietnam War, who put out a statement, saying, "There is no place in the U.S. Senate for any draft dodger, draft card burner or draft protester of any kind."^[23]

Nebraska

Nebraska election

Nominee Edward Zorinsky Jim Keck Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 363,350 155,760 Percentage 66.6% 28.6%

County results

U.S. senator before election Edward Zorinsky Democratic Elected U.S. Senator Edward Zorinsky Democratic

Incumbent Democrat Edward Zorinsky won re-election.

Nevada

Nevada election

Nominee Chic Hecht Howard Cannon Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 120,377 114,720 Percentage 50.1% 47.7%

U.S. Senate election results map. Red denotes those won by Hecht. Blue denotes counties won by Cannon.   Hecht: 40-50%   Hecht: 50-60%   Hecht: 60-70%   Cannon: 50-60%

U.S. senator before election Howard Cannon Democratic Elected U.S. Senator Chic Hecht Republican

Incumbent Democrat Howard Cannon ran for re-election to a fifth term, but lost to Republican State Senator Chic Hecht.

New Jersey

New Jersey election

Nominee Frank Lautenberg Millicent Fenwick Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 1,117,549 1,047,626 Percentage 50.9% 47.8%

County results

U.S. senator before election Nicholas F. Brady Republican Elected U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg Democratic

Democrat Frank Lautenberg won for the seat held by retiring incumbent Republican Senator Nicholas Brady. Lautenberg won the seat with a margin of 3.2% over member of the House Millicent Fenwick.

Cresitello dropped out of the race on May 27 but remained on the June 8 primary ballot.^[26]

The seat had been occupied by Democrat Harrison A. Williams, who resigned on March 11, 1982, after being implicated in the Abscam scandal. After Williams' resignation, Republican Governor Thomas Kean appointed Republican Nicholas F. Brady to the seat. Brady served in the Senate through the primary and general elections but did not run for the seat himself.

In the general election, Lautenberg faced popular Republican member of the House Millicent Fenwick. She ran on a very progressive platform and polls in the Summer of 1982 put her ahead by 18 points. Even Lautenberg quipped that she was "the most popular candidate in the country."^[28] Lautenberg spent more of his own money, eventually out-spending Fenwick two-to-one. He emphasised President Reagan's unpopularity, reminded the voters that she would be a vote for a Republican majority in the Senate and called Fenwick, who was 72, "eccentric" and "erratic" but denied that he was referring to her age.^[28][29] He did however point out that she would be almost 80 at the end of her first term and was therefore unlikely to gain much seniority in the Senate.^[28] Coincidentally, the age issue would be used against Lautenberg in his own re-election bid in 2008.

Lautenberg won by 51% to 48%, in what was considered a major upset.^[28] Brady, who had just a few days left in his appointed term, resigned on December 27, 1982, allowing Lautenberg to take office several days before the traditional swearing-in of senators, which gave him an edge in seniority over the other freshman senators.

New Mexico

New Mexico election

Nominee Jeff Bingaman Harrison Schmitt Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 217,682 187,128 Percentage 53.8% 46.2%

County Results

U.S. senator before election Harrison Schmitt Republican Elected U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman Democratic

Incumbent Republican Harrison Schmitt was running for re-election to a second term, but lost to Democrat Jeff Bingaman, Attorney General of New Mexico.

New York

New York election

Nominee Pat Moynihan Florence Sullivan Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 3,232,146 1,696,766 Percentage 65.1% 34.2%

County results

U.S. senator before election Pat Moynihan Democratic Elected U.S. Senator Pat Moynihan Democratic

Incumbent Democrat Daniel Patrick Moynihan won re-election to a second term over Republican Assemblywoman Florence Sullivan.

North Dakota

North Dakota election

Nominee Quentin Burdick Gene Knorr Party Democratic–NPL Republican Popular vote 164,873 89,304 Percentage 62.82% 34.03%

County results Burdick:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80% Knorr:      40–50%      50–60%

U.S. Senator before election Quentin Burdick Democratic Elected U.S. Senator Quentin Burdick Democratic

The incumbent, North Dakota Democratic NPL Party (Dem-NPL) Quentin Burdick, sought and received re-election to his fifth term, defeating Republican candidate Gene Knorr.^[1]

Only Burdick filed as a Dem-NPLer, and the endorsed Republican candidate was cattle rancher Gene Knorr. Burdick and Knorr won the primary elections for their respective parties. Burdick's campaign was known for employing more television advertisement spending when compared with his campaigns in the past, as well as making several negative portrayals. Knorr had the support of Vice President George H. W. Bush, who campaigned in state to support his candidacy. The election was also noted as the first where Burdick's age began to become an issue. Burdick, who was 74 during the year of the election, faced a much younger Knorr, who was 41. At one point, Burdick challenged Knorr to a fistfight to prove his vitality; but the challenge, assumed to be a joke, never occurred. After being defeated, Knorr moved to Washington, D.C., where he took the position of staff vice president with Philip Morris International.

One independent candidate, Anna B. Bourgois, also filed before the deadline, running under her self-created party titled God, Family, and Country. Bourgois would later run for North Dakota's other United States Senate seat as an independent in 1986, challenging Mark Andrews. She received over 8,000 votes in the election, which is rather high for an independent. Some attribute her large number of votes to the name of her party – which was based on things that North Dakotans valued. Despite the result, Bourgois' campaign still had little impact on the outcome.

Prior to the 1982 Senate campaign, Knorr had been working in Washington, DC since 1970 when he worked for the Department of Treasury. He began working in Washington, DC, residing in McLean, Virginia after receiving a Juris Doctorate from Northwestern University where he was celebrated in debate. From Treasury, he worked as a lobbyist with Charls E. Walker Associates.

Ohio

Ohio election

Nominee Howard Metzenbaum Paul Pfeifer Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 1,923,767 1,396,790 Percentage 56.66% 41.14%

County Results Metzenbaum:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80% Pfeifer:      50-60%      60-70%

U.S. senator before election Howard Metzenbaum Democratic Elected U.S. Senator Howard Metzenbaum Democratic

Incumbent Democrat Howard Metzenbaum successfully sought re-election to his third term, defeating Republican State Senator from Bucyrus Paul Pfeifer.

Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania election

Nominee John Heinz Cyril Wecht Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 2,136,418 1,412,965 Percentage 59.3% 39.2%

County results

U.S. senator before election H. John Heinz III Republican Elected U.S. Senator H. John Heinz III Republican

Incumbent Republican H. John Heinz III successfully sought re-election to another term, defeating Democratic nominee Cyril Wecht, member of the Allegheny County Board of Commissioners.

John Heinz's Democratic opponent in the 1982 election was Allegheny County commissioner and former coroner Cyril Wecht, who lacked significant name recognition outside of Pittsburgh, his home town. Although the 1982 elections were a setback nationally for incumbent President Ronald Reagan and the Republican Party, neither Heinz nor incumbent Republican governor Dick Thornburgh, who was also up for re-election in 1982, were challenged by Democrats with statewide prominence. Wecht ran a low-budget campaign lacking the assets to boost his name recognition; The Philadelphia Inquirer ran a headline dubbing the race "The Race for Senator No One Seemed to Notice."^[32] Despite this, Heinz ran a cautious campaign, running as a moderate due to Pennsylvania's unemployment, 11%, one of the highest in the nation at the time, as well as the declining health of Pennsylvania's coal mining, manufacturing and steel industries. In the end, Heinz won the election by a wide margin, winning 59.3% of the popular vote. Wecht won 39.2% of the popular vote.^[32]

Rhode Island

Rhode Island election

Nominee John Chafee Julius C. Michaelson Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 175,495 167,283 Percentage 51% 49%

County results

U.S. senator before election John Chafee Republican Elected U.S. Senator John Chafee Republican

Incumbent Republican John Chafee successfully sought re-election to a second term, defeating Democrat Julius C. Michaelson, former Attorney General of Rhode Island.

Tennessee

Tennessee election

Nominee Jim Sasser Robin Beard Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 780,113 479,642 Percentage 61.9% 38.1%

County results

Senator before election Jim Sasser Democratic Elected Senator Jim Sasser Democratic

Democrat Jim Sasser was re-elected with 61.9% of the vote, over Republican Robin Beard, a member of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Texas

Texas election

Nominee Lloyd Bentsen James M. Collins Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 1,818,223 1,256,759 Percentage 58.59% 40.50%

County results Bentsen:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90% Collins:      50–60%      60–70%

U.S. senator before election Lloyd Bentsen Democratic Elected U.S. Senator Lloyd Bentsen Democratic

Incumbent Democrat Lloyd Bentsen successfully ran for re-election to his third term, defeating Republican U.S. Representative James M. Collins.

Democrat incumbent, Lloyd Bentsen, won re-election.

Utah

Utah election

Nominee Orrin Hatch Ted Wilson Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 309,332 219,482 Percentage 58.3% 41.4%

County results

U.S. senator before election Orrin Hatch Republican Elected U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch Republican

Incumbent Republican Orrin Hatch successfully ran for re-election to his second term, defeating Democrat Mayor of Salt Lake City Ted Wilson.

Vermont

Vermont election

Nominee Robert Stafford James A. Guest Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 84,450 79,340 Percentage 50.3% 47.2%

County results

U.S. senator before election Robert Stafford Republican Elected U.S. Senator Robert Stafford Republican

Incumbent Republican Robert Stafford successfully ran for re-election to another term in the United States Senate, defeating Democratic candidate James A. Guest.