The 1970 United States Senate elections was an election for the United States Senate. It took place on November 3, with the 33 seats of Class 1 contested in regular elections. Special elections were also held to fill vacancies. These races occurred 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.

Quick Facts 35 of the 100 seats in the United States Senate 51 seats needed for a majority, Majority party ...

1970 United States Senate elections

← 1968 November 3, 1970 1972 →
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 since January 3, 1961 September 24, 1969 Leader's seat Montana Pennsylvania Seats before 57 43 Seats after 54 44 Seat change 3 1 Popular vote 25,435,247[1] 19,373,972[1][lower-alpha 1] Percentage 52.4% 39.9% Seats up 24 10 Races won 22 11   Third party Fourth party   Party Conservative Independent Seats before 0 0 Seats after 1 1[2] Seat change 1 1 Popular vote 2,183,572[1] 516,149[1] Percentage 4.5% 1.1% Seats up 0 1 Races won 1 1
Results of the elections:      Democratic gain      Democratic hold      Republican gain      Republican hold      Independent gain      Conservative gain      No election
Majority Leader before election Mike Mansfield Democratic Elected Majority Leader Mike Mansfield Democratic

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This was the first time that Republicans gained Senate seats while losing House seats, which also occurred in 2018. This also occurred for Democrats in 1914, 1962, and 2022.^[3]

This was the most recent election in which a third party won a seat in the Senate until 2006. As of 2024^[update], this is also the most recent cycle in which Democrats won Senate elections in Utah and Wyoming, and the most recent in which Republicans won a Senate election in Hawaii.

More information Parties, Total ...

Parties							Total
		Democratic	Republican	Conservative	Independent	Other
Last elections (1968)		58	42	0	0	0	100
Before these elections		57	43	0	0	0	100
Not up		32	33	—	0	—	65
Up		25	10	—	—	—	35
Class 1 (1964→1970)		25	8	—	—	—	33
Special: Class 2		0	1	—	0	—	1
Special: Class 3		0	1	—	0	—	1
Incumbent retired		3	1	—	0	—	4
	Held by same party	2	1	—	—	—	3
	Replaced by other party	1 Democrat replaced by 1 Republican		—	—	—	1
	Result	2	2	0	0	0	4
Incumbent ran		22[lower-alpha 2][lower-alpha 3]	9[lower-alpha 3]	—	—	—	31
	Won re-election	17	6[lower-alpha 4]	—	—	—	23
	Won re-election but changed party	1 Democrat re-elected as an Independent				—	1
	Lost re-election	2 Republicans replaced by 2 Democrats 3 Democrats replaced by 3 Republicans 1 Republican replaced by 1 Conservative			—	—	6
	Lost renomination, but held by same party	1	0	—	—	—	1
	Result	20	9	1	1	0	31
Total elected		22	11	1	1	0	35
Net gain/loss		3	1	1	1		2
Nationwide vote		25,435,247	19,373,972[lower-alpha 1]	2,183,572	516,149	1,049,884	48,558,824
	Share	52.38%	39.90%	4.50%	1.06%	2.16%	100%
Result		54	44	1	1	0	100

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Source: Office of the Clerk^[1]

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.

Fourteen races had a margin of victory under 10%:

Quick Facts Nominee, Party ...

Alaska special election

← 1966 1972 →

Nominee Ted Stevens Wendell P. Kay Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 47,908 32,456 Percentage 59.61% 40.39%

Results by state house district Stevens:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80% Kay:      50–60%

U.S. senator before election Ted Stevens Republican Elected U.S. senator Ted Stevens Republican

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Republican Ted Stevens was appointed December 24, 1968 to finish the term of Democrat Bob Bartlett, who had died in office. The open primary was held August 25, 1970, in which Stevens received 40,411 votes (55.91%), Key received 29,459 votes (23.94%), State senator Joe Josephson received 12,730 votes (18.22%) and Fritz Singer (R) received 1,349 votes (1.93%).^[5][6] In the November 3, 1970 special election to finish the term, he ran against the Democratic Speaker of the Alaska House of Representatives Wendell P. Kay. Stevens easily won with almost 60% of the vote.^[7]

Quick Facts Nominee, Party ...

Arizona election

← 1964 1976 →

Nominee Paul Fannin Sam Grossman Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 228,284 179,512 Percentage 55.98% 44.02%

County results Fannin:      50–60%      60–70% Grossman:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%

U.S. senator before election Paul Fannin Republican Elected U.S. senator Paul Fannin Republican

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Incumbent Republican Paul Fannin decided to run for re-election to a second term, running unopposed in the Republican primary. Fannin defeated Democratic businessman Sam Grossman in the general election.

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California election

← 1964 1976 →

Nominee John V. Tunney George Murphy Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 3,496,558 2,877,617 Percentage 53.86% 44.33%

County results Tunney:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70% Murphy:      40–50%      50–60%

U.S. senator before election George Murphy Republican Elected U.S. senator John V. Tunney Democratic

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In 1964, Republican actor George Murphy defeated Democrat and Lyndon B. Johnson's Press Secretary, Pierre Salinger, in a close contest with about 52% of the vote. Murphy faced a primary challenge from billionaire Norton Simon, who took nearly 33% of the vote in the Republican primary. Democrats nominated John V. Tunney after a close-fought contest between Tunney and Representative George Brown Jr..

In the general election, Murphy lost re-election to Tunney by nearly ten points. Murphy's recent surgery and staunch support for the lingering Vietnam War worked against him, as did reports that he had continued to receive a salary from Technicolor after taking office.^[10] Tunney's successful Senate race in 1970 was reportedly the inspiration for the 1972 Robert Redford film The Candidate.^[11]

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Connecticut election

← 1964 1976 →

Nominee Lowell P. Weicker Jr. Joseph Duffey Thomas J. Dodd Party Republican Democratic Independent Popular vote 454,721 368,111 266,497 Percentage 41.74% 33.79% 24.46%

County results Municipality results Weicker:      30–40%      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80% Duffey:      30–40%      40–50% Dodd:      30–40%      40–50%

U.S. senator before election Thomas J. Dodd Democratic Elected U.S. senator Lowell P. Weicker Jr. Republican

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Republican Lowell P. Weicker Jr. defeated Democrat Joseph Duffey and incumbent Thomas J. Dodd who ran this time as an independent. Dodd entered the race at the last minute and split the Democratic vote, allowing Weicker to win with only 42% of the vote.

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1970 United States Senate election in Delaware

← 1964 1976 →

Nominee William Roth Jacob W. Zimmerman Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 94,979 64,740 Percentage 58.83% 40.10%

County Results Roth:      50-60%      60-70%

U.S. senator before election John J. Williams Republican Elected U.S. senator William Roth Republican

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Republican John J. Williams was originally elected in 1946 to the U.S. Senate. Williams was easily re-elected three more times but decided to retire in 1971. Republican Representative William Roth faced Democrat potato farmer Jacob Zimmerman in the general election. Roth defeated Zimmerman by a landslide eighteen percentage points in the general election. He was re-elected in 1976, 1982, 1988, and 1994 before losing re-election to Democrat Tom Carper in 2000. This was despite the state trending Democratic; Roth himself served most of his tenure with future President Joe Biden. Four-term Republican John J. Williams decided to retire, rather than run for re-election. Republican William Roth easily defeated Democrat Jacob Zimmerman by a margin of eighteen percentage points, and went on to serve thirty years in the Senate.

Quick Facts Nominee, Party ...

1970 United States Senate election in Florida

← 1964 November 3, 1970 1976 →

Nominee Lawton Chiles Bill Cramer Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 902,438 772,817 Percentage 53.9% 46.1%

County results Chiles:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90% Cramer:      50–60%      60–70%

U.S. senator before election Spessard Holland Democratic Elected U.S. Senator Lawton Chiles Democratic

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Incumbent Democrat Spessard Holland retired instead of seeking a fifth term. During the Democratic primary, former Governor C. Farris Bryant and State senator Lawton Chiles advanced to a run-off, having received more votes than Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives Frederick H. Schultz, attorney Alcee Hastings, and State Representative Joel T. Daves, III. Chiles soundly defeated Bryant in the run-off election, scoring a major upset due to his comparatively small name recognition prior to the election. To acquire name recognition and media coverage, Chiles walked about 1,003 miles (1,614 km) across the state of Florida and was given the nickname "Walkin' Lawton".

The Republican primary exposed an in-party feud between Governor Claude R. Kirk Jr. and U.S. Representative William C. Cramer. In the election, Cramer handily defeated G. Harrold Carswell and body shop owner George Balmer; the former was a Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals judge favored by Kirk and had been rejected as a Supreme Court of the United States nominee a few months prior to the primary. Chiles won the election by a relatively small margin of 7.8%, receiving 902,438 votes against Cramer's 772,817 votes.

Incumbent Spessard Holland, who served in the Senate since 1946, decided to retire rather than seek a fifth term.^[13] Although the Democratic Party had dominated state elections since the Reconstruction Era, Claude R. Kirk Jr. and Edward Gurney, both Republicans, were elected senator and Governor in 1966 and 1968, respectively.^[14]

Quick Facts Nominee, Party ...

1970 United States Senate election in Hawaii

← 1964 1976 →

Nominee Hiram Fong Cec Heftel Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 124,163 116,597 Percentage 51.57% 48.43%

Fong:      50–60%

U.S. senator before election Hiram Fong Republican Elected U.S. senator Hiram Fong Republican

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Republican Hiram Fong had served as the inaugural Class 1 senator from the state of Hawaii since 1959. From the state's admission into the union, voters tended to lean Democratic, and this trend only continued over time. Fong initially won election to each of his first two terms with 53% of the vote, but in 1970 he faced backlash from voters for his support of the Vietnam War. Cecil Heftel, owner of a radio conglomerate, won the Democratic nomination.

Fong was narrowly re-elected over Heftel with 52% of the vote in what would prove to be the closest election of his career. This would ultimately mark the last time that Republicans won a U.S. Senate seat in the state of Hawaii or win more than 44% of the vote.

Quick Facts Turnout, Nominee ...

Illinois special election

← 1968 1974 →
Turnout	67.43%
Nominee Adlai Stevenson III Ralph Tyler Smith Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 2,065,054 1,519,718 Percentage 57.37% 42.22%
County Results Stevenson:      50–60%      60–70% Smith:      50–60%      60–70%
U.S. senator before election Ralph Tyler Smith Republican Elected U.S. senator Adlai Stevenson III Democratic

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A special election was held to fill the remainder of the term of Republican Everett Dirksen, who had died in office. Republican Ralph Tyler Smith had been appointed to fill the seat after Dirksen's death, and he lost the special election to Democrat Adlai Stevenson III.

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Indiana election

← 1964 1976 →

Nominee Vance Hartke Richard Roudebush Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 870,990 866,707 Percentage 50.12% 49.88%

County Results Hartke:      50–60%      60–70% Roudebush:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%

U.S. senator before election Vance Hartke Democratic Elected U.S. Senator Vance Hartke Democratic

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Democrat Vance Hartke was first elected in 1958 over Republican Harold W. Handley with 56% of the vote. He won re-election in 1964 (a landslide year for Democrats) with a lower share of 54%.

In 1970, he faced his closest contest to date against Republican Representative Richard L. Roudebush. Unlike voters in Hawaii, Indiana voters generally supported the Vietnam War, but Hartke opposed the war. This led Roudebush to run a close race that ultimately was decided after a recount. Hartke won by just about 4,200 votes.

This would be Hartke's last win in a U.S. Senate election. In 1976, he was defeated by Republican Richard Lugar.

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Maryland election

← 1964 1976 →

Nominee J. Glenn Beall Jr. Joseph Tydings Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 484,960 460,422 Percentage 50.71% 48.14%

County results Beall:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80% Tydings:      50–60%      60–70%

U.S. senator before election Joseph Tydings Democratic Elected U.S. Senator J. Glenn Beall Jr. Republican

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In 1970, Republican J. Glenn Beall ran for re-election to a third term in the U.S. Senate but was defeated by Democrat Joseph Tydings in a landslide, 63-37%. Tydings ran for re-election to a second term in 1970.

Republicans nominated Representative J. Glenn Beall Jr., the son of J. Glenn Beall. Tydings faced a primary challenge from segregationist George P. Mahoney but won with 53% of the vote. However, Republican Glenn Beall Jr. won the general election with nearly 51% of the vote to 48% for Tydings. He would serve just one term, losing in 1976 to Democrat Paul Sarbanes.

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Massachusetts election

← 1964 1976 →

Nominee Ted Kennedy Josiah Spaulding Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 1,202,856 715,978 Percentage 62.2% 37.0%

County Results Municipality Results Kennedy   40–50%   50–60%   60–70%   70–80%   80–90% Spaulding   40–50%   50–60%   60–70%   70–80%   80–90%

U.S. senator before election Ted Kennedy Democratic Elected U.S. senator Ted Kennedy Democratic

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Incumbent Democrat Ted Kennedy defeated his challengers. This was Kennedy's first election run since the 1969 Chappaquiddick incident. Kennedy won 62.2%, down from 74.3% that he won in the previous election in 1964; this decrease was due to numerous factors including Chappaquiddick and a far more favorable environment for the Republicans than the Democratic landslide year of 1964.

The Republican nominee was Josiah Spaulding, a businessman and Republican leader in Massachusetts. He led a group of delegates at the 1968 Republican National Convention who unsuccessfully sought to nominate Nelson A. Rockefeller over Richard Nixon.^[17]

Other candidates were Lawrence Gilfedder (Socialist Labor) and Mark R. Shaw (Prohibition), a former Prohibition Party candidate for U.S. senator from Massachusetts in 1946, 1952, 1958, 1969, 1962, and 1966. He was the party's candidate for governor of Massachusetts in 1948 and 1956. In 1964, he was the Prohibition Party's candidate for vice-president of the United States.^[18]

Quick Facts Nominee, Party ...

1970 United States Senate election in Minnesota

← 1964 November 3, 1970 1976 →

Nominee Hubert H. Humphrey Clark MacGregor Party Democratic (DFL) Republican Popular vote 788,256 568,025 Percentage 57.75% 41.62%

County results Humphrey:      40-50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80% MacGregor:      50-60%

U.S. senator before election Eugene J. McCarthy Democratic (DFL) Elected U.S. Senator Hubert H. Humphrey Democratic (DFL)

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Incumbent Democrat Eugene McCarthy retired instead of seeking a third term. Former Democratic U.S. senator, Vice President and 1968 presidential nominee Hubert Humphrey defeated Republican U.S. Representative Clark MacGregor.

Quick Facts Nominee, Party ...

1970 United States Senate election in Missouri

← 1964 November 3, 1970 1976 →

Nominee Stuart Symington John Danforth Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 1,090,067 813,571 Percentage 51.03% 48.15%

County Results Symington:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80% Danforth:      50-60%      60-70%      70-80%

U.S. senator before election Stuart Symington Democratic Elected U.S. Senator Stuart Symington Democratic

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Incumbent Democrat Stuart Symington was originally elected in 1952 over Republican James P. Kem with 54% of the vote. He won re-election in landslide victories with 66% of the vote in 1958 and 1964. He ran for a fourth term in 1970.

Symington faced little primary opposition. Republican Missouri Attorney General John Danforth won the Republican primary. In the general election, Symington led in polling, but Danforth closed the gap during the campaign and ran closely against Symington. Symington defeated Danforth 51-48%. This would be Symington's closest election to the U.S. Senate, and Danforth would succeed him in 1976, serving for three terms.

Quick Facts Nominee, Party ...

1970 United States Senate election in Montana

← 1964 November 3, 1970 1976 →

Nominee Mike Mansfield Harold E. Wallace Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 150,060 97,809 Percentage 60.54% 39.46%

County results Mansfield:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80% Wallace:      50-60%      60-70%

U.S. senator before election Mike Mansfield Democratic Elected U.S. Senator Mike Mansfield Democratic

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Democratic incumbent Mike Mansfield, the Senate Majority Leader who was first elected to the Senate in 1952, and was re-elected in 1958 and 1964, ran for re-election. Mansfield won the primary against several opponents, and advanced to the general election, where he was opposed by Harold E. Wallace, a sporting goods salesman and the Republican nominee. While his margin of victory decreased slightly from 1964, Mansfield still managed to defeat Wallace overwhelmingly, winning his fourth and (what would turn out to be his) final term in the Senate.

Quick Facts Nominee, Party ...

1970 United States Senate election in Nebraska

← 1964 November 3, 1970 1976 →

Nominee Roman Hruska Frank B. Morrison Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 240,894 217,681 Percentage 52.49% 47.43%

County results Hruska:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80% Morrison:      50–60%      60–70%

U.S. senator before election Roman Hruska Republican Elected U.S. Senator Roman Hruska Republican

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The incumbent Republican Roman Hruska was re-elected.

Quick Facts Nominee, Party ...

Nevada election

← 1964 1976 →

Nominee Howard Cannon William Raggio Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 85,187 60,838 Percentage 57.7% 41.2%

County results Cannon:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70% Raggio:      50–60%      60–70%

U.S. senator before election Howard Cannon Democratic Elected U.S. senator Howard Cannon Democratic

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Democrat Howard Cannon, the incumbent since 1959, won re-election to a third term over William Raggio, the Washoe County District Attorney.

In the Senate, Cannon was known as a moderate in the Democratic Party. He served as chairman of several committees, including the rules committee and the inaugural arrangements committee. Cannon was nearly defeated for re-election in 1964 by Republican Lieutenant Governor Paul Laxalt in one of the closest election in history. However, he became more popular over the next few years and defeated D.A. William Raggio, whose 1970 senate campaign began his long political career. Raggio ran for the Nevada Senate in 1972 and won. He then served there for decades to come.