United States Senate election in Massachusetts, 1978

United States Senate election in Massachusetts, 1978

1972 ← November 7, 1978 → 1984

Nominee Paul Tsongas Edward Brooke Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 1,093,283 890,584 Percentage 55.06% 44.85%

Senator before election Edward Brooke Republican Elected Senator Paul Tsongas Democratic

Elections in Massachusetts
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The United States Senate election of 1978 in Massachusetts was held on November 7, 1978 with the incumbent Republican Senator Edward Brooke being defeated by then Democratic Congressman Paul E. Tsongas.

Candidates

Republican

• Edward Brooke, incumbent Senator, former Massachusetts Attorney General.
• Avi Nelson, radio-television host.

Democratic

• Paul Tsongas, Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Massachusetts's 5th congressional district since 1975.
• Kathleen Sullivan Alioto, member of the Boston School Committee. Wife of former Mayor of San Francisco Joseph Alioto and daughter of New England Patriots owner Billy Sullivan.
• Paul Guzzi, Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth since 1975, Member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1971-1975.
• Elaine Noble, Member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives since 1975. Noble was the first openly gay or lesbian candidate elected to a state legislature.
• Howard Phillips, Former Nixon Administration official. Served as the acting Director of the Office of Economic Opportunity in 1973.

Results

Primaries

Republican primary
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Edward Brooke	146,351	53.25
	Republican	Avi Nelson	128,388	46.27
		All others	78	0.03

Democratic primary
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Paul Tsongas	296,915	35.55
	Democratic	Paul Guzzi	258,960	31.01
	Democratic	Kathleen Sullivan Alioto	161,036	19.28
	Democratic	Howard Phillips	65,397	7.83
	Democratic	Elaine Noble	52,464	6.28
		All others	379	0.05

General election

General election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Paul E. Tsongas	1,093,283	55.06
	Republican	Edward Brooke	890,584	44.85
		All others	1,833	0.09
Total votes			1,985,700	68.01%

External links and references

• 1978 Congressional Election results