Election 1988 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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1988 Senate election results by state and county
George H.W. Bush won the presidency, but Democrats took 19 of the Senate seats up and kept their 55-45 majority as gains and losses cancelled out.
33 Senate races were held in 1988. Democrats won 19 and Republicans 14.
The closest were Connecticut (D+0.7), Wyoming (R+0.7) and Florida (R+0.9). 7 seats changed party: Connecticut to the Democrats, Florida to the Republicans, Mississippi to the Republicans, Montana to the Republicans, Nevada to the Democrats, Virginia to the Democrats and Washington 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 1988 Senate elections
Bush beat Michael Dukakis with 426 electoral votes. In the Senate, Democrats won 19 races and Republicans 14, and the balance of the chamber did not change. Several seats changed hands in each direction. In Connecticut, Joe Lieberman beat Lowell Weicker by 0.7 points, and Democrats also gained Nevada, where Governor Richard Bryan unseated Chic Hecht, and Virginia, where Chuck Robb won easily. Republicans took Florida, where Connie Mack beat Buddy MacKay by 0.8 points for the seat left by Lawton Chiles, and Mississippi, where Trent Lott won the seat John Stennis had held for more than 40 years. Conrad Burns unseated John Melcher in Montana, and Slade Gorton returned to the Senate from Washington. In Wyoming, Malcolm Wallop held on by 0.7 points. Herb Kohl won an open seat in Wisconsin, and Pete Wilson was re-elected in California before running for governor two years later.
Every race
| State | Democrat | Votes | Republican | Votes | Others | Margin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arizona | Dennis Deconcini | 660,403 (56.7%) | Keith Degreen | 478,060 (41.1%) | 26,076 | D+15.7 |
| California | Leo McCarthy | 4,287,253 (44.0%) | Pete Wilson | 5,143,409 (52.8%) | 312,936 | R+8.8 |
| Connecticut flip | Joe Lieberman | 688,499 (49.8%) | Lowell Weicker | 678,454 (49.0%) | 16,563 | D+0.7 |
| Delaware | S. B. Woo | 92,378 (37.9%) | William V. Roth, Jr. | 151,115 (62.1%) | R+24.1 | |
| Florida flip | Buddy Mackay | 2,016,553 (49.6%) | Connie Mack | 2,051,071 (50.4%) | 585 | R+0.9 |
| Hawaii | Spark Matsunaga | 247,941 (76.6%) | Maria M. Hustace | 66,987 (20.7%) | 8,948 | D+55.9 |
| Indiana | Jack Wickes | 668,778 (31.9%) | Richard G. Lugar | 1,430,525 (68.1%) | R+36.3 | |
| Maine | George J. Mitchell | 452,581 (81.3%) | Jasper S. Wyman | 104,164 (18.7%) | D+62.6 | |
| Maryland | Paul S. Sarbanes | 999,166 (61.8%) | Alan L. Keyes | 617,537 (38.2%) | 362 | D+23.6 |
| Massachusetts | Edward M. Kennedy | 1,693,344 (65.0%) | Joseph D. Malone | 884,267 (33.9%) | 28,614 | D+31.0 |
| Michigan | Donald W. Riegle, Jr. | 2,116,865 (60.4%) | Jim Dunn | 1,348,219 (38.5%) | 40,901 | D+21.9 |
| Minnesota | Skip Humphrey | 856,694 (40.9%) | David Durenberger | 1,176,210 (56.2%) | 60,634 | R+15.3 |
| Mississippi flip | Wayne Dowdy | 436,339 (46.1%) | Trent Lott | 510,380 (53.9%) | R+7.8 | |
| Missouri | Jay Nixon | 660,045 (31.8%) | John Danforth | 1,407,416 (67.7%) | 11,414 | R+36.0 |
| Montana flip | John Melcher | 175,809 (48.1%) | Conrad Burns | 189,445 (51.9%) | R+3.7 | |
| Nebraska | Bob Kerrey | 378,717 (56.7%) | Dave Karnes | 278,250 (41.7%) | 10,893 | D+15.0 |
| Nevada flip | Richard Bryan | 175,548 (50.2%) | Chic Hecht | 161,336 (46.1%) | 12,765 | D+4.1 |
| New Jersey | Frank R. Lautenberg | 1,599,905 (53.6%) | Peter M. Dawkins | 1,349,937 (45.2%) | 37,792 | D+8.4 |
| New Mexico | Jeff Bingaman | 321,983 (63.3%) | Bill Valentine | 186,579 (36.7%) | 36 | D+26.6 |
| New York | Daniel Patrick Moynihan | 4,048,649 (67.0%) | Robert R. McMillan | 1,875,784 (31.1%) | 116,547 | D+36.0 |
| North Dakota | Quentin N. Burdick | 171,899 (59.4%) | Earl Strinden | 112,937 (39.1%) | 4,334 | D+20.4 |
| Ohio | Howard M. Metzenbaum | 2,480,038 (57.0%) | George V Voinovich | 1,872,716 (43.0%) | 151 | D+14.0 |
| Pennsylvania | Joe Vignola | 1,416,764 (32.4%) | John Heinz | 2,901,715 (66.5%) | 48,119 | R+34.0 |
| Rhode Island | Richard Licht | 180,717 (45.4%) | John Chafee | 217,273 (54.6%) | R+9.2 | |
| Tennessee | Jim Sasser | 1,020,061 (65.1%) | Bill Andersen | 541,033 (34.5%) | 6,087 | D+30.6 |
| Texas | Lloyd Bentsen | 3,149,806 (59.2%) | Beau Boulter | 2,129,228 (40.0%) | 44,572 | D+19.2 |
| Utah | Brian H. Moss | 203,364 (31.7%) | Orrin G. Hatch | 430,089 (67.1%) | 7,249 | R+35.4 |
| Vermont | Bill Gray | 71,460 (29.8%) | James M. Jeffords | 163,183 (68.0%) | 5,465 | R+38.2 |
| Virginia flip | Charles S. Robb | 1,474,086 (71.2%) | Maurice A. Dawkins | 593,652 (28.7%) | 1,159 | D+42.6 |
| Washington flip | Mike Lowry | 904,183 (48.9%) | Slade Gorton | 944,359 (51.1%) | R+2.2 | |
| West Virginia | Robert C. Byrd | 410,983 (64.8%) | M. Jay Wolfe | 223,564 (35.2%) | D+29.5 | |
| Wisconsin | Herbert H. Kohl | 1,128,625 (52.1%) | Susan Engeleiter | 1,030,440 (47.5%) | 9,125 | D+4.5 |
| Wyoming | John P. Vinich | 89,821 (49.6%) | Malcolm Wallop | 91,143 (50.4%) | R+0.7 |
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.