United States Senate elections, 1970

United States Senate elections, 1970

November 3, 1970

35 of the 100 seats in the United States Senate 51 seats needed for a majority   Majority party Minority party   Leader Mike Mansfield Hugh Scott Party Democratic Republican Leader's seat Montana Pennsylvania Last election 58 seats 42 seats Seats before 57 43 Seats won 54 44 Seat change 4 2 Popular vote 25,402,791 19,326,064 Percentage 52.4% 39.9% Swing 3.1% 6.6%   Third party Fourth party   Party Independent Conservative (N.Y.) Last election 0 seats 0 seats Seats before 0 0 Seats won 1 1 Seat change 1 1

Republican hold   Republican gain   Democratic hold   Democratic gain   Conservative gain   Indepedent gain

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

The United States Senate elections, 1970 was an election for the United States Senate, taking place in the middle of Richard Nixon's first term as President. 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. This was the most recent election in which a third party won a seat in the Senate until Joe Lieberman was elected as a candidate of the Connecticut for Lieberman party in 2006.

Results summary

Parties		Total Seats			Popular Vote
		1968	1970	+/-	Vote	%
	Democratic	57	54	4	25,402,791	52.40%
	Republican	43	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

Change in Senate composition

Before the elections

As a result of the elections

Retirements

Democratic holds

1. Florida: Spessard Holland (D) retired and was replaced by Lawton Chiles (D).
2. Minnesota: Eugene McCarthy (D) retired and was replaced by former Vice President (and former Senator) Hubert Humphrey (D).

Republican hold

1. Delaware: John J. Williams (R) retired and was replaced by William Roth (R). He subsequently (December 31, 1970) resigned to give Roth additional seniority in the next term.

Republican gain

1. Ohio: Stephen M. Young (D) retired and was replaced by Robert Taft, Jr. (R).

Incumbents who lost their seats

Democratic hold

1. Texas: Ralph Yarborough (D) lost renomination to Lloyd Bentsen (D).

Democratic gains

1. California: George Murphy (R) lost re-election to John V. Tunney (D).
2. Illinois (Special- Class 3): Ralph Tyler Smith (R) lost re-election to Adlai Stevenson III (D).

Conservative gain

1. New York: Charles Goodell (R), who was appointed in September 1969 to finish the term of the late Robert Kennedy, lost election to James L. Buckley (C).

Republican gains

1. Connecticut: Thomas J. Dodd (D) dropped out of the Democratic primary, ran as an independent, and lost re-election to Lowell P. Weicker, Jr. (R).
2. Maryland: Joseph Tydings (D) lost re-election to John Glenn Beall, Jr. (R).
3. Tennessee: Al Gore, Sr. (D) lost re-election to Bill Brock (R).

Other changes

Independent gain

1. Virginia: Harry F. Byrd, Jr. (D) won re-election as an Independent. He broke with the Democratic Party because they asked him to sign an oath of loyalty to the party. Instead of signing the restrictive contract, Byrd ran as an independent. He continued to caucus with the Democrats, and maintained his Democratic seniority.

Getting out the vote

President Nixon said that rather than violent protests, the best way for the American public to get their opinion heard was 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, it's 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.

— Richard Nixon, "1970 Election: 1970 Year in Review". UPI.com. 

Complete list of races

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

See also

• United States elections, 1970
  • United States House of Representatives elections, 1970
• 91st United States Congress
• 92nd United States Congress