United States Senate elections, 1968

United States Senate elections, 1968

1966 ← November 5, 1968 → 1970

34 of the 100 seats in the United States Senate 51 seats needed for a majority   Majority party Minority party   Leader Mike Mansfield Everett Dirksen Party Democratic Republican Leader's seat Montana Illinois Last election 64 seats 36 seats Seats before 62 38 Seats won 57 43 Seat change 5 5 Popular vote 24,976,660 23,588,832 Percentage 49.3% 46.5% Swing 1.4% 4.5%

Republican holds   Republican gains   Democratic holds   Democratic gains

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

The 1968 United States Senate elections were elections for the United States Senate which coincided with the 1968 presidential election. Richard Nixon only won the presidential election narrowly, but the Republicans picked up five net seats in the election (not including two appointments that turned seats over to Republicans in the same year).

Republicans won open seats in Arizona and Florida and defeated Democratic incumbents Joseph S. Clark of Pennsylvania, Daniel Brewster of Maryland, A. S. Mike Monroney of Oklahoma and Wayne Morse of Oregon, as well as taking the seat of Frank J. Lausche of Ohio, who had been defeated in a primary by John J. Gilligan. Democrats won an open seat in Iowa as well as taking the seat of Thomas Kuchel of California, who had been defeated in a primary by Max Rafferty.

In addition, Republican Charles Goodell was appointed in September to the seat of assassinated presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy of New York, and Ted Stevens was appointed in December to the seat of deceased Bob Bartlett of Alaska, bringing the net shift up to seven, although Democrats continued to control the chamber 57-43.

Change in Senate composition

Reflects election changes and the appointment of a Republican to replace a Democrat who died after the election.

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 D D D R R R R R R R 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

In the next Congress 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

Key:	D =Democratic R =Republican	Majority divider

Complete list of races

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

All seats were class 3.

State	Incumbent	Party	Result	Opposing Candidates
Alabama	J. Lister Hill	Democratic	Retired Democratic hold	James Allen (Democratic) 70.0% Perry O. Hooper, Sr. (Republican) 22.1% Robert Schwenn (Independent) 8.0%
Alaska	Ernest Gruening	Democratic	Lost renomination Democratic hold	Mike Gravel (Democratic) 45.1% Elmer E. Rasmuson (Republican) 37.4% Ernest Gruening (running as Independent) 17.4%
Arizona	Carl Hayden	Democratic	Retired Republican gain	Barry Goldwater (Republican) 57.2% Roy Elson (Democratic) 42.8%
Arkansas	J. William Fulbright	Democratic	Re-elected	J. William Fulbright (Democratic) 59.2% Charles T. Bernard (Republican) 40.9%
California	Thomas Kuchel	Republican	Lost renomination Democratic gain	Alan Cranston (Democratic) 51.8% Max Rafferty (Republican) 46.9% Paul Jacobs (Peace & Freedom) 1.3%
Colorado	Peter H. Dominick	Republican	Re-elected	Peter H. Dominick (Republican) 58.6% Stephen L.R. McNichols (Democratic) 41.5%
Connecticut	Abraham A. Ribicoff	Democratic	Re-elected	Abraham A. Ribicoff (Democratic) 54.3% Edwin H. May, Jr. (Republican) 45.7%
Florida	George Smathers	Democratic	Retired Republican gain	Edward J. Gurney (Republican) 55.9% LeRoy Collins (Democratic) 44.1%
Georgia	Herman Talmadge	Democratic	Re-elected	Herman Talmadge (Democratic) 77.5% E. Earl Patton (Republican) 22.5%
Hawaii	Daniel Inouye	Democratic	Re-elected	Daniel Inouye (Democratic) 83.4% Wayne C. Thiessen (Republican) 15.0%
Idaho	Frank Church	Democratic	Re-elected	Frank Church (Democratic) 60.3% George V. Hansen (Republican) 39.7%
Illinois	Everett Dirksen	Republican	Re-elected	Everett Dirksen (Republican) 53.0% William G. Clark (Democratic) 46.6%
Indiana	Birch Bayh	Democratic	Re-elected	Birch Bayh (Democratic) 51.7% William Ruckelshaus (Republican) 48.2%
Iowa	Bourke B. Hickenlooper	Republican	Retired Democratic gain	Harold Hughes (Democratic) 50.3% David M. Stanley (Republican) 49.7%
Kansas	Frank Carlson	Republican	Retired Republican hold	Bob Dole (Republican) 60.1% William I. Robinson (Democratic) 38.7%
Kentucky	Thruston Ballard Morton	Republican	Retired Republican hold	Marlow W. Cook (Republican) 51.4% Katherine Peden (Democratic) 47.6%
Louisiana	Russell B. Long	Democratic	Re-elected	Russell B. Long (Democratic)
Maryland	Daniel Brewster	Democratic	Lost re-election Republican gain	Charles Mathias, Jr. (Republican) 47.8% Daniel Brewster (Democratic) 39.1% George P. Mahoney (American Independent) 13.1%
Missouri	Edward V. Long	Democratic	Lost renomination Democratic hold	Thomas Eagleton (Democratic) 51.1% Thomas B. Curtis (Republican) 48.9%
Nevada	Alan Bible	Democratic	Re-elected	Alan Bible (Democratic) 54.8% Ed Fike (Republican) 45.2%
New Hampshire	Norris Cotton	Republican	Re-elected	Norris Cotton (Republican) 59.3% John W. King (Democratic) 40.7%
New York	Jacob K. Javits	Republican	Re-elected	Jacob K. Javits (Republican) 49.7% Paul O'Dwyer (Democratic) 32.7% James L. Buckley (Conservative) 17.3%
North Carolina	Sam Ervin	Democratic	Re-elected	Sam Ervin (Democratic) 60.6% Robert V. Somers (Republican) 39.4%
North Dakota	Milton Young	Republican	Re-elected	Milton Young (Republican) 64.6% Herschel Lashkowitz (Democratic) 33.7%
Ohio	Frank J. Lausche	Democratic	Lost renomination Republican gain	William B. Saxbe (Republican) 51.5% John J. Gilligan (Democratic) 48.5%
Oklahoma	A. S. Mike Monroney	Democratic	Lost re-election Republican gain	Henry Bellmon (Republican) 51.7% A. S. Mike Monroney (Democratic) 46.2%
Oregon	Wayne Morse	Democratic	Lost re-election Republican gain	Bob Packwood (Republican) 50.2% Wayne Morse (Democratic) 49.8%
Pennsylvania	Joseph S. Clark	Democratic	Lost re-election Republican gain	Richard Schweiker (Republican) 51.9% Joseph S. Clark (Democratic) 45.8%
South Carolina	Ernest Hollings	Democratic	Re-elected	Ernest Hollings (Democratic) 61.9% Marshall Parker (Republican) 38.1%
South Dakota	George McGovern	Democratic	Re-elected	George McGovern (Democratic) 56.8% Archie M. Gubbrud (Republican) 43.2%
Utah	Wallace F. Bennett	Republican	Re-elected	Wallace F. Bennett (Republican) 53.7% Milton N. Wellenmann (Democratic) 45.8%
Vermont	George Aiken	Republican	Re-elected	George Aiken (Republican) 99.9% Unopposed
Washington	Warren G. Magnuson	Democratic	Re-elected	Warren G. Magnuson (Democratic) 64.4% Jack Metcalf (Republican) 35.3%
Wisconsin	Gaylord Nelson	Democratic	Re-elected	Gaylord Nelson (Democratic) 61.7% Jerris Leonard (Republican) 38.3%

See also

• United States presidential election, 1968
• United States House of Representatives elections, 1968