United States Senate elections, 1982

United States Senate elections, 1982

November 2, 1982
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 54 45 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%   Third party   Party Independent Last election 1 seat Seats before 1 Seats won 0 Seat change 1
Democratic gain   Democratic hold   Republican hold   Republican gain
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 Republican gains in 1980. A total of four seats changed hands between parties, and the lone independent, Senator Harry Byrd, retired. Democrats made a net gain of one seat in the election.

Results summary

Parties		Total Seats			Popular Vote
		1980	1982	+/-	Vote	%
	Democratic Party	46	47	1	27,899,651	54.08%
	Libertarian Party	0	0		291,576	0.57%
	Republican Party	53	53		22,412,928	43.44%
	Others	1	0	1	985,840	1.91%
Total		100	100		51,589,995	100.0%

Source: Election Statistics - Office of the Clerk

Change in Senate composition

Before the elections

D1	D2	D3	D4	D5	D6	D7	D8	D9	D10
D20	D19	D18	D17	D16	D15	D14	D13	D12	D11
D21	D22	D23	D24	D25	D26	D27	D28	D29	D30
D40	D39	D38	D37	D36	D35	D34	D33	D32	D31
D41	D42	D43	D44	D45	I1	R54	R53	R52	R51
Majority→
R41	R42	R43	R44	R45	R46	R47	R48	R49	R50
R40	R39	R38	R37	R36	R35	R34	R33	R32	R31
R21	R22	R23	R24	R25	R26	R27	R28	R29	R30
R20	R19	R18	R17	R16	R15	R14	R13	R12	R11
R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	R9	R10

As a result of the elections

D1	D2	D3	D4	D5	D6	D7	D8	D9	D10
D20	D19	D18	D17	D16	D15	D14	D13	D12	D11
D21	D22	D23	D24	D25	D26	D27	D28	D29	D30
D40√	D39√	D38√	D37√	D36√	D35√	D34√	D33√	D32√	D31
D41√	D42√	D43O	D44√	D45+	D46+	R54+	R53+	R52O	R51√
Majority→
R41√	R42√	R43√	R44√	R45√	R46√	R47√	R48√	R49√	R50√
R40√	R39√	R38√	R37√	R36	R35	R34	R33	R32	R31
R21	R22	R23	R24	R25	R26	R27	R28	R29	R30
R20	R19	R18	R17	R16	R15	R14	R13	R12	R11
R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	R9	R10

Key:	D# Democratic I# Independent, caucusing with the Democrats R# Republican		√ Incumbent re-elected or appointee elected to finish term O Party hold: New senator elected from same party + Party gain: New senator elected from different party

Gains and losses

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.

Later changes

In 1983, Henry M. Jackson (D-WA) died, and a Republican, Dan Evans, was appointed to fill the vacancy, holding on to the seat in a special election later that year. This is not included in the numbers below.

Complete list of races

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

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

See also

• 98th United States Congress
• United States House elections, 1982
• United States gubernatorial elections, 1982