Election 1980 Results
Each election opens in its own mode: the forecast before the votes are counted, the live count while races are still too close to call, and the results once every race is decided.
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1980 Senate election results by state and county
Ronald Reagan's landslide carried Republicans to 22 of the Senate seats up and a gain of 12, giving them control of the chamber for the first time since the 1950s.
34 Senate races were held in 1980. Democrats won 12 and Republicans 22.
The closest were North Carolina (R+0.6), Idaho (R+1.0) and Arizona (R+1.1). 12 seats changed party: Alabama to the Republicans, Alaska to the Republicans, Florida to the Republicans, Georgia to the Republicans, Idaho to the Republicans, Indiana to the Republicans, Iowa to the Republicans, New Hampshire to the Republicans, North Carolina to the Republicans, South Dakota to the Republicans, Washington to the Republicans and Wisconsin to the Republicans.
Early projection, based on early and incomplete polling: the likely matchups, each weighted by the betting markets' odds of both nominations, not a result. Each county is its 2024 presidential margin moved by its state's projected swing; set a national vote and every state, district and county moves by the same amount from our projection. Colours run in 100 steps from a safe Republican to a safe Democratic margin. Boundaries: US Census Bureau.
About the 1980 Senate elections
Reagan beat Jimmy Carter with 489 electoral votes after a term of high inflation, gas lines and the Iran hostage crisis. The Senate results were a bigger surprise. Republicans won 22 races to the Democrats' 12 and gained 12 seats, ending 26 years of Democratic control. A long list of senior Democrats lost, several to candidates backed by new conservative groups. Frank Church lost Idaho to Steve Symms by a point, and George McGovern was beaten in South Dakota. Birch Bayh lost Indiana to Dan Quayle, John Culver lost Iowa to Charles Grassley, and Gaylord Nelson lost Wisconsin to Robert Kasten. Warren Magnuson lost in Washington, and Herman Talmadge lost Georgia to Mack Mattingly. In North Carolina, John East beat Robert Morgan by 0.6 points, and Jeremiah Denton won Alabama. Some Republicans also had close calls. Barry Goldwater held Arizona by 1.1 points. In New York, Alfonse D'Amato beat Elizabeth Holtzman by 1.4 points after defeating Jacob Javits in the primary, and Arlen Specter won Pennsylvania. Democrats Patrick Leahy and Gary Hart survived narrowly.
Every race
| State | Democrat | Votes | Republican | Votes | Others | Margin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama flip | Jim Folsom Jr. | 610,175 (47.1%) | Jeremiah Denton | 650,362 (50.2%) | 36,220 | R+3.1 |
| Alaska flip | Clark S. Gruening | 72,007 (45.9%) | Frank H. Murkowski | 84,159 (53.7%) | 596 | R+7.8 |
| Arizona | Bill Schulz | 422,972 (48.4%) | Barry Goldwater | 432,371 (49.5%) | 18,895 | R+1.1 |
| Arkansas | Dale Bumpers | 477,905 (59.1%) | Bill Clark | 330,576 (40.9%) | 331 | D+18.2 |
| California | Alan Cranston | 4,704,098 (56.5%) | Paul Gann | 3,091,671 (37.1%) | 528,243 | D+19.4 |
| Colorado | Gary Hart | 590,501 (50.3%) | Mary Estill Buchanan | 571,295 (48.7%) | 11,346 | D+1.6 |
| Connecticut | Christopher J. Dodd | 763,969 (56.3%) | James L. Buckley | 581,884 (42.9%) | 10,222 | D+13.4 |
| Florida flip | Bill Gunter | 1,705,409 (48.3%) | Paula Hawkins | 1,822,460 (51.7%) | 159 | R+3.3 |
| Georgia flip | Herman E. Talmadge | 776,143 (49.1%) | Mack Mattingly | 803,686 (50.9%) | R+1.7 | |
| Hawaii | Daniel K. Inouye | 224,485 (77.9%) | Cooper Brown | 53,068 (18.4%) | 10,453 | D+59.5 |
| Idaho flip | Frank Church | 214,439 (48.8%) | Steve Symms | 218,701 (49.7%) | 6,507 | R+1.0 |
| Illinois | Alan J. Dixon | 2,565,302 (56.0%) | David C. O'Neal | 1,946,296 (42.5%) | 68,431 | D+13.5 |
| Indiana flip | Birch Bayh | 1,015,962 (46.2%) | Dan Quayle | 1,182,414 (53.8%) | R+7.6 | |
| Iowa flip | John Culver | 581,545 (45.5%) | Charles E. Grassley | 683,014 (53.5%) | 12,427 | R+8.0 |
| Kansas | John Simpson | 340,271 (36.2%) | Bob Dole | 598,686 (63.8%) | R+27.5 | |
| Kentucky | Wendell H. Ford | 720,891 (65.1%) | Mary Louise Foust | 386,029 (34.9%) | D+30.3 | |
| Louisiana | Russell B. Long | 484,770 (57.5%) | Jerry C. Bardwell | 13,739 (1.6%) | Woody Jenkins (Democratic) 325,992 (38.7%) |
D+55.9 |
| Louisiana: Decided in the open primary, where the winner took a majority. | ||||||
| Maryland | Edward T. Conroy | 435,118 (33.8%) | Charles McC. Mathias Jr. | 850,970 (66.2%) | R+32.3 | |
| Missouri | Thomas F. Eagleton | 1,074,859 (52.0%) | Gene McNary | 985,399 (47.7%) | 6,707 | D+4.3 |
| Nevada | Mary Gojack | 92,129 (37.4%) | Paul Laxalt | 144,224 (58.5%) | 10,083 | R+21.1 |
| New Hampshire flip | John A. Durkin | 179,455 (47.8%) | Warren Rudman | 195,559 (52.1%) | 46 | R+4.3 |
| New York | Elizabeth Holtzman | 2,618,661 (43.5%) | Al D'Amato | 2,699,652 (44.9%) | Jacob Javits (Liberal) 664,544 (11.0%) |
R+1.4 |
| North Carolina flip | Robert Morgan | 887,653 (49.4%) | John P. East | 898,064 (50.0%) | 11,948 | R+0.6 |
| North Dakota | Kent Johanneson | 86,658 (29.0%) | Mark Andrews | 210,347 (70.3%) | 2,267 | R+41.3 |
| Ohio | John Glenn | 2,770,786 (68.8%) | James E. Betts | 1,137,695 (28.2%) | 118,822 | D+40.6 |
| Oklahoma | Andy Coats | 478,283 (43.5%) | Don Nickles | 587,252 (53.5%) | 32,759 | R+9.9 |
| Oregon | Ted Kulongoski | 501,963 (44.0%) | Bob Packwood | 594,290 (52.1%) | 44,241 | R+8.1 |
| Pennsylvania | Pete Flaherty | 2,122,391 (48.0%) | Arlen Specter | 2,230,404 (50.5%) | 65,247 | R+2.4 |
| South Carolina | Ernest Fritz Hollings | 612,554 (70.4%) | Marshall Mays | 257,946 (29.6%) | D+40.7 | |
| South Dakota flip | George McGovern | 129,018 (39.4%) | James Abdnor | 190,594 (58.2%) | 7,866 | R+18.8 |
| Utah | Dan Berman | 151,454 (25.5%) | Jake Garn | 437,675 (73.6%) | 5,169 | R+48.2 |
| Vermont | Patrick J. Leahy | 104,176 (49.8%) | Stewart M. Ledbetter | 101,421 (48.5%) | 3,527 | D+1.3 |
| Washington flip | Warren G. Magnuson | 792,052 (45.8%) | Slade Gorton | 936,317 (54.2%) | R+8.4 | |
| Wisconsin flip | Gaylord A. Nelson | 1,065,487 (48.3%) | Robert W. Kasten Jr. | 1,106,311 (50.2%) | 32,404 | R+1.9 |
Margin: the Democrat's share of all votes minus the Republican's. Margins are Democrat minus Republican, of all votes. Certified results, from the states' own archives, the MIT Election Data and Science Lab, Heideman (2026) and Algara & Amlani (2021). By county: "As they were" draws each county as it stood on election day; "Today's" shares the old votes among today's counties by area. County boundaries: Newberry Library, Atlas of Historical County Boundaries (CC BY-NC-SA 2.5). How these results were checked.