1978 United States Senate election in North Carolina

United States Senate election in North Carolina, 1978

November 7, 1978

Nominee Jesse Helms John Ingram Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 619,151 516,663 Percentage 54.5% 45.5%

Senator before election Jesse Helms Republican Elected Senator Jesse Helms Republican

The North Carolina United States Senate election of 1978 was held on 7 November 1978 as part of the nationwide elections to the Senate. The general election was fought between the Republican incumbent Jesse Helms and the Democrat nominee John Ingram. Helms won re-election, by a slightly wider margin than in 1972.

Result

1978 North Carolina U.S. Senate election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Jesse Helms	619,151	54.51	+0.50
	Democratic	John Ingram	516,663	45.49	−0.50
Turnout			1,135,814

Primaries

Democratic primary

1978 North Carolina U.S. Senate Democratic primary election – First round

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Luther H. Hodges, Jr.	260,868	40.08	N/A
	Democratic	John Ingram	170,715	26.23	N/A
	Democratic	Lawrence Davis	105,381	16.19	N/A
	Democratic	McNeill Smith	82,703	12.71	N/A
	Democratic	Dave McKnight	9,422	1.45	N/A
	Democratic	William Griffin	8,907	1.37	N/A
	Democratic	Tom Sawyer	8,482	1.30	N/A
Turnout			650,942

1978 North Carolina U.S. Senate Democratic primary election – Second round

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	John Ingram	244,469	54.24	+28.01
	Democratic	Luther H. Hodges, Jr.	206,223	45.76	+5.68
Turnout			450,692

Republican primary

Jesse Helms won the Republican Party's nomination unopposed.