How America Votes
1978 U.S. Senate election results by state. About a third of the Senate is up in each cycle; states without a race that year are uncolored. Certified returns, presented as numbers only.
Democratic wins
16
Republican wins
19
Other / independent
0
35 races decided in 1978
Republican wonDemocratic wonIndependent / other
Which party received the most votes, as a solid color.Winning margin as a share of all votes cast.Total votes cast, all candidates.
Hover a state for its Senate result; click to open that state's page. Uncolored states had no Senate race in 1978. Where a state also held a special election, the map shows the regularly scheduled race and the table below lists both.
Races
| State | Winner | Democratic | Republican | Other | Margin | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | Howell Heflin | 547,054 | 0 | 34,951 | — | 582,005 |
| Alabamaspecial | Donald Stewart | 401,852 | 316,170 | 11,820 | D +11.7 | 729,842 |
| Alaska | Ted Stevens | 29,574 | 92,783 | 0 | R +51.5 | 122,741 |
| Arkansas | David Pryor | 395,506 | 84,308 | 37,211 | D +60.2 | 517,138 |
| Colorado | William L. Armstrong | 330,148 | 480,801 | 8,307 | R +18.4 | 819,256 |
| Delaware | Joseph R. Biden Jr. | 93,930 | 66,479 | 1,663 | D +16.9 | 162,072 |
| Georgia | Sam Nunn | 536,320 | 108,808 | 0 | D +66.3 | 645,128 |
| Idaho | James A. McClure | 89,635 | 194,412 | 0 | R +36.9 | 284,047 |
| Illinois | Charles H. Perey | 1,448,187 | 1,698,711 | 37,707 | R +7.9 | 3,184,764 |
| Iowa | Roger W. Jepsen | 395,066 | 421,598 | 7,912 | R +3.2 | 824,576 |
| Kansas | Nancy Landon Kassebaum | 317,602 | 403,354 | 27,883 | R +11.5 | 748,839 |
| Kentucky | Walter D. Huddleston | 290,730 | 175,766 | 10,244 | D +24.1 | 476,783 |
| Louisiana | J. Bennett Johnston Jr. | 1 | 0 | 0 | — | 1 |
| Maine | William S. Cohen | 127,327 | 212,294 | 35,493 | R +22.7 | 375,114 |
| Massachusetts | Paul E. Tsongas | 1,093,283 | 890,584 | 1,833 | D +10.2 | 1,985,700 |
| Michigan | Carl Levin | 1,484,193 | 1,362,165 | 272 | D +4.3 | 2,846,630 |
| Minnesota | Rudolph E. Boschwitz | 638,375 | 894,092 | 48,083 | R +16.2 | 1,580,622 |
| Minnesotaspecial | David Durenberger | 538,675 | 957,908 | 60,915 | R +26.9 | 1,558,376 |
| Mississippi | Thad Cochran | 187,541 | 267,302 | 135,393 | R +13.5 | 590,236 |
| Montana | Max Baucus | 160,353 | 127,589 | 0 | D +11.4 | 287,942 |
| Nebraska | James J. Exon | 334,096 | 159,706 | 0 | D +35.3 | 493,802 |
| New Hampshire | Gordon J. Humphrey | 127,945 | 133,745 | 2,070 | R +2.2 | 263,760 |
| New Jersey | Bill Bradley | 1,082,960 | 844,200 | 30,355 | D +12.2 | 1,957,515 |
| New Mexico | Pete V. Domenici | 160,045 | 183,442 | 0 | R +6.8 | 343,487 |
| North Carolina | Jesse Helms | 516,663 | 619,151 | 0 | R +9.0 | 1,135,814 |
| Oklahoma | David Lyle Boren | 493,953 | 247,857 | 12,454 | D +32.6 | 754,264 |
| Oregon | Mark Hatfield | 341,616 | 550,165 | 0 | R +23.4 | 892,518 |
| Rhode Island | Claiborne Pell | 229,557 | 76,061 | 0 | D +50.2 | 305,618 |
| South Carolina | Strom Thurmond | 280,146 | 351,917 | 0 | R +11.4 | 632,063 |
| South Dakota | Larry Pressler | 84,767 | 170,832 | 0 | R +33.7 | 255,599 |
| Tennessee | Howard H. Baker | 466,228 | 642,644 | 48,151 | R +15.2 | 1,157,094 |
| Texas | John G. Tower | 1,139,149 | 1,151,376 | 22,015 | R +0.5 | 2,312,540 |
| Virginia | John William Warner | 608,511 | 613,232 | 0 | R +0.4 | 1,222,256 |
| West Virginia | Jennings Randolph | 249,034 | 244,317 | 0 | D +1.0 | 493,351 |
| Wyoming | Raymond B. Whitaker | 82,908 | 50,456 | 0 | D +24.3 | 133,364 |
Races that went to a runoff show the runoff result. Margins are the popular-vote gap as a share of all votes cast in the race.