United States Senate elections, 1982

United States Senate elections, 1982

1980 ← November 2, 1982 → 1984

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's seat Tennessee West Virginia Last election 53 seats 46 seats Seats before 53 46 Seats won 54 46 Seat change 1 - Popular vote 22,412,928 27,899,651 Percentage 43.4% 54.1% Swing 1.3% 2.5%

Republican holds   Republican pickups   Democratic holds   Democratic pickups

Majority Leader before election Howard Baker Republican Elected Majority Leader Howard Baker Republican

The United States Senate election of November 2, 1982 was an election for the United States Senate following the Republican gains in 1980. Party balance changed by one seat to the Republicans following the election. Incumbents Howard Cannon of Nevada and Harrison Schmitt of New Mexico lost seats to the opposite party, the open seat in Virginia that had been held by independent Harry F. Byrd, Jr. was taken by a Republican, and the open seat in New Jersey that was held by an appointed Republican was taken by a Democrat.

In 1983, Republicans picked up the seat of Henry M. Jackson (D-WA) in a special election. This is not included in the numbers below.

Results summary

Summary of the 1982 United States Senate election results

Parties		Total Seats			Popular Vote
		1980	1982	+/-	Vote	%
	Republican Party	53	54	+1	22,412,928	43.44%
	Democratic Party	46	46	0	27,899,651	54.08%
	Libertarian Party	0	0	-	291,576	0.57%
	Others	1	0	-1	985,840	1.91%
Total		100	100	-	51,589,995	100.0%
Source: Election Statistics - Office of the Clerk

Complete list of races

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

State	Incumbent	Party	Results	Opposing Candidates
Arizona	Dennis DeConcini	Democratic	Re-elected, 56.9%	Pete Dunn (Republican) 40.3% Randall Clamons (Libertarian) 2.8%
California	S. I. Hayakawa	Republican	Retired Republican hold	Pete Wilson (Republican) 51.5% Jerry Brown (Democratic) 44.8% Tena Dietrich (American Ind.) 1.4% David Wald (Peace & Freedom) 1.2% Joseph Fuhrig (Libertarian) 1.1%
Connecticut	Lowell P. Weicker, Jr.	Republican	Re-elected, 50.4%	Toby Moffett (Democratic) 46.1% Lucien DiFazio (Conservative) 2.8% James A. Lewis (Libertarian) 0.7%
Delaware	William V. Roth, Jr.	Republican	Re-elected, 55.2%	David N. Levinson (Democratic) 44.2%
Florida	Lawton Chiles	Democratic	Re-elected, 61.7%	Van B. Poole (Republican) 38.3%
Hawaii	Spark Matsunaga	Democratic	Re-elected, 80.1%	Clarence J. Brown (Republican) 17.0% E Floyd Bernier-Nachtwey (Independent) 2.9%
Indiana	Richard Lugar	Republican	Re-elected, 53.8%	Floyd Fithian (Democratic) 45.6% Raymond James (American) 0.6%
Maine	George Mitchell	Democratic	Appointee elected to full term, 60.9%	David F. Emery (Republican) 39.1%
Maryland	Paul Sarbanes	Democratic	Re-elected, 63.5%	Lawrence Hogan (Republican) 36.5%
Massachusetts	Ted Kennedy	Democratic	Re-elected, 60.8%	Ray Shamie (Republican) 38.3% Howard S. Katz (Libertarian) 0.9%
Michigan	Donald W. Riegle, Jr.	Democratic	Re-elected, 57.7%	Philip Ruppe (Republican) 40.9%
Minnesota	David Durenberger	Republican	Re-elected, 52.6%	Mark Dayton (Democratic) 46.6%
Mississippi	John C. Stennis	Democratic	Re-elected, 64.2%	Haley Barbour (Republican) 35.8%
Missouri	John Danforth	Republican	Re-elected, 50.8%	Harriett Woods (Democratic) 49.1%
Montana	John Melcher	Democratic	Re-elected, 54.4%	Larry Williams (Republican) 41.7% Larry Dodge (Libertarian) 3.9%
Nebraska	Edward Zorinsky	Democratic	Re-elected, 66.6%	Jim Keck (Republican) 28.5% Virginia Walsh (Independent) 4.9%
Nevada	Howard Cannon	Democratic	Lost re-election, 47.7% Republican gain	Chic Hecht (Republican) 50.1%
New Jersey	Nicholas F. Brady	Republican	Retired Democratic gain	Frank Lautenberg (Democratic) 50.9% Millicent Fenwick (Republican) 47.8%
New Mexico	Harrison Schmitt	Republican	Lost re-election, 46.2% Democratic gain	Jeff Bingaman (Democratic) 53.8%
New York	Daniel Patrick Moynihan	Democratic	Re-elected, 65.1%	Florence M. Sullivan (Republican) 34.2%
North Dakota	Quentin N. Burdick	Democratic	Re-elected, 62.8%	Gene Knorr (Republican) 34.0% Anna B. Bourgois (Independent) 3.1%
Ohio	Howard Metzenbaum	Democratic	Re-elected, 56.7%	Paul E. Pfeifer (Republican) 41.1%
Pennsylvania	H. John Heinz III	Republican	Re-elected, 59.3%	Cyril Wecht (Democratic) 39.2%
Rhode Island	John Chafee	Republican	Re-elected, 51.2%	Julius C. Michaelson (Democratic) 48.8%
Tennessee	Jim Sasser	Democratic	Re-elected, 61.9%	Robin Beard (Republican) 38.1%
Texas	Lloyd Bentsen	Democratic	Re-elected, 58.6%	James M. Collins (Republican) 40.5%
Utah	Orrin Hatch	Republican	Re-elected, 58.3%	Ted Wilson (Democratic) 41.3% George Mercier (Libertarian) 0.2% Lawrence R Kauffman (American) 0.2%
Vermont	Robert Stafford	Republican	Re-elected, 50.3%	James A. Guest (Democratic) 47.2%
Virginia	Harry F. Byrd, Jr.	Independent	Retired Republican gain	Paul S. Trible, Jr. (Republican) 51.2% Richard Joseph Davis (Democratic) 48.8%
Washington	Henry M. Jackson	Democratic	Re-elected, 68.9%	Doug Jewett (Republican) 24.3% King Lysen (Independent) 5.3% Jesse Chiang (Libertarian) 1.5%
West Virginia	Robert Byrd	Democratic	Re-elected, 68.5%	Cleve Benedict (Republican) 30.8% William B. Howland (Socialist Workers) 0.7%
Wisconsin	William Proxmire	Democratic	Re-elected, 63.6%	Scott McCallum (Republican) 34.1%
Wyoming	Malcolm Wallop	Republican	Re-elected, 56.7%	Rodger McDaniel (Democratic) 43.3%

Senate composition before and after elections

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

Senate composition 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 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 R R R R R R R R R R

Key:	D=Democratic	I=Independent	R=Republican	V=Vacant
	Majority
	divider

See also

• United States House elections, 1982
• United States gubernatorial elections, 1982