United States Senate elections, 1970

United States Senate elections, 1970

1968 ← November 3, 1970 → 1972

35 of the 100 seats in the United States Senate 51 seats needed for a majority   Majority party Minority party Third party   Leader Mike Mansfield Hugh Scott James L. Buckley Party Democratic Republican Conservative Leader's seat Montana Pennsylvania New York Last election 58 seats 42 seats 0 seats Seats won 54 44 1 Seat change 4 2 1 Popular vote 25,402,791 19,326,064 2,183,572 Percentage 52.4% 39.9% 4.5% Swing 3.1% 6.6% 4.5%

Republican holds   Republican gains   Democratic holds   Democratic gains   Conservative gain   Independent hold

Majority Leader before election Mike Mansfield Democratic Elected Majority Leader Mike Mansfield Democratic

The 1970 United States Senate election was an election for the United States Senate which was a midterm election in the term of President Richard Nixon. The Democrats lost a net of three seats, while the Republicans and the Conservative Party of New York picked up one net seat each, and former Democrat Harry F. Byrd, Jr. was re-elected as an independent.

The Republicans picked up one open seat in Ohio, and defeated incumbents Al Gore, Sr. of Tennessee, Joseph D. Tydings of Maryland, and Thomas J. Dodd of Connecticut (Dodd had been censured by the Senate for using campaign funds for personal use). Democrats picked up the seats of Ralph Tyler Smith of Illinois and George Murphy of California. Conservative James L. Buckley defeated liberal Republican incumbent Charles E. Goodell of New York and a Democratic challenger.

Getting out the vote

Nixon said that rather than violent protests, the best way for the American public to get their opinion heard is by voting.

• "The most powerful four letter word is a clean word, it’s the most powerful four letter word in the history of men, its called vote. V-O-T-E. My friends, I say that the answer to those that engage in disruption, to those that shout their filthy slogans, to those that try to shout down speakers, it's not to answer in kind, but go to the polls in election day, and in the quiet of that ballot box, stand up and be counted, the great silent majority of America."

Results summary

Parties		Total Seats			Popular Vote
		1968	1970	+/-	Vote	%
	Democratic	58	54	4	25,402,791	52.40%
	Republican	42	44	2	19,326,064	39.87%
	Conservative	0	1	1	2,183,572	4.50%
	Others	0	1	1	1,566,033	3.23%
Total		100	100		48,478,460	100.0%

Source: Election Statistics - Office of the Clerk

Senate composition before and after elections

Senate composition before the elections D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R

Senate composition in the next Congress I D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R C

Key:	C =Conservative D =Democratic R =Republican I =Independent	Majority divider

Complete list of races

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

State	Incumbent	Party	Result	Candidates
Alaska Special (Class 2)	Ted Stevens	Republican	Elected to finish term	Ted Stevens (Republican) 59.6% Wendell P. Kay (Democratic) 40.4%
Arizona	Paul Fannin	Republican	Re-elected	Paul Fannin (Republican) 56.0% Sam Grossman (Democratic) 44.0%
California	George Murphy	Republican	Lost re-election Democratic gain	John V. Tunney (Democratic) 53.9% George Murphy (Republican) 44.3% Robert Scheer (Peace and Freedom) 0.9% Charles C. Ripley (American Independent) 0.9%
Connecticut	Thomas J. Dodd	Democratic	Lost re-election Republican gain	Lowell P. Weicker, Jr. (Republican) 41.7% Thomas J. Dodd (Democratic) 24.5% Joseph Duffey (Democratic) 33.8%
Delaware	John J. Williams	Republican	Retired Republican hold	William V. Roth, Jr. (Republican) 58.8% Jacob Zimmerman (Democratic) 40.1%
Florida	Spessard Holland	Democratic	Retired Democratic hold	Lawton Chiles (Democratic) 53.9% William C. Cramer (Republican) 46.1%
Hawaii	Hiram Fong	Republican	Re-elected	Hiram Fong (Republican) 51.6% Cecil Heftel (Democratic) 48.4%
Illinois Special (Class 3)	Ralph Tyler Smith	Republican	Lost election to finish term Democratic gain	Adlai Stevenson III (Democratic) 57.4% Ralph Tyler Smith (Republican) 42.2%
Indiana	Vance Hartke	Democratic	Re-elected	Vance Hartke (Democratic) 50.1% Richard L. Roudebush (Republican) 49.9%
Maine	Edmund Muskie	Democratic	Re-elected	Edmund Muskie (Democratic) 61.9% Neil S. Bishop (Republican) 38.3%
Maryland	Joseph Tydings	Democratic	Lost re-election Republican gain	John Glenn Beall, Jr. (Republican) 50.7% Joseph Tydings (Democratic) 48.1%
Massachusetts	Ted Kennedy	Democratic	Re-elected	Ted Kennedy (Democratic) 62.1% Josiah A. Spaulding (Republican) 37.0%
Michigan	Philip Hart	Democratic	Re-elected	Philip Hart (Democratic) 66.8% Lenore Romney (Republican) 32.9%
Minnesota	Eugene McCarthy	Democratic	Retired Democratic hold	Hubert Humphrey (Democratic) 57.8% Clark MacGregor (Republican) 41.6%
Mississippi	John C. Stennis	Democratic	Re-elected	John C. Stennis (Democratic) 88.4% William R. Thompson (Independent) 11.6%
Missouri	Stuart Symington	Democratic	Re-elected	Stuart Symington (Democratic) 51.1% John Danforth (Republican) 48.1% Gene Chapman (American Independent) 0.8% E. J. DiGirolamo (Independent) 0.04%
Montana	Mike Mansfield	Democratic	Re-elected	Mike Mansfield (Democratic) 60.5% Harold E. Wallace (Republican) 39.5%
Nebraska	Roman Hruska	Republican	Re-elected	Roman Hruska (Republican) 52.5% Frank B. Morrison (Democratic) 47.5%
Nevada	Howard Cannon	Democratic	Re-elected	Howard Cannon (Democratic) 57.7% William J. Raggio (Republican) 41.2%
New Jersey	Harrison A. Williams	Democratic	Re-elected	Harrison A. Williams (Democratic) 54.0% Nelson G. Gross (Republican) 42.2%
New Mexico	Joseph Montoya	Democratic	Re-elected	Joseph Montoya (Democratic) 52.3% Anderson Carter (Republican) 46.6%
New York	Charles Goodell	Republican	Lost election to finish term Conservative gain	James L. Buckley (Conservative) 38.8% Richard Ottinger (Democratic) 36.8% Charles Goodell (Republican) 24.3%
North Dakota	Quentin N. Burdick	Democratic	Re-elected	Quentin N. Burdick (Democratic) 61.3% Thomas S. Kleppe (Republican) 37.8%
Ohio	Stephen M. Young	Democratic	Retired Republican gain	Robert A. Taft, Jr. (Republican) 49.7% Howard Metzenbaum (Democratic) 47.5%
Pennsylvania	Hugh Scott	Republican	Re-elected	Hugh Scott (Republican) 51.4% William G. Sesler (Democratic) 45.4%
Rhode Island	John O. Pastore	Democratic	Re-elected	John O. Pastore (Democratic) 67.5% John McLaughlin (Republican) 31.5%
Tennessee	Al Gore, Sr.	Democratic	Lost re-election Republican gain	Bill Brock (Republican) 51.3% Al Gore, Sr. (Democratic) 47.4%
Texas	Ralph Yarborough	Democratic	Lost renomination Democratic hold	Lloyd Bentsen (Democratic) 53.5% George H. W. Bush (Republican) 46.4%
Utah	Frank Moss	Democratic	Re-elected	Frank Moss (Democratic) 56.2% Laurence J. Burton (Republican) 42.5% Clyde B. Freeman (American Independent) 1.4%
Vermont	Winston L. Prouty	Republican	Re-elected	Winston L. Prouty (Republican) 58.9% Philip H. Hoff (Democratic) 40.2%
Virginia	Harry F. Byrd, Jr.	Democratic	Re-elected as an Independent Independent gain	Harry F. Byrd, Jr. (Independent) 53.5% George Rawlings (Democratic) 31.2% Ray Garland (Republican) 15.3%
Washington	Henry M. Jackson	Democratic	Re-elected	Henry M. Jackson (Democratic) 82.4% Charles W. Elicker (Republican) 16.0% Bill Massey (Socialist Workers) 0.9% E.S. "Pinky" Fisk (Buffalo) 0.7%
West Virginia	Robert Byrd	Democratic	Re-elected	Robert Byrd (Democratic) 77.6% Elmer H. Dodson (Republican) 22.4%
Wisconsin	William Proxmire	Democratic	Re-elected	William Proxmire (Democratic) 70.8% John E. Erickson (Republican) 28.5%
Wyoming	Gale W. McGee	Democratic	Re-elected	Gale W. McGee (Democratic) 55.8% John S. Wold (Republican) 44.2%

See also

• United States House of Representatives elections, 1970