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.

1 Results summary
2 Change in Senate composition
- 2.1 Before the elections
- 2.2 As a result of the elections
3 Gains and losses
4 Later changes
5 Complete list of races
6 See also

Results summary

Parties		Total Seats			Popular Vote
Parties		1980	1982	+/-	Vote	%
	Democratic Party	46	46	1	27,899,651	54.08%
	Libertarian Party	0	0		291,576	0.57%
	Republican Party	53	54		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

D₄₀	D₃₉	D₃₈	D₃₇	D₃₆	D₃₅	D₃₄	D₃₃	D₃₂	D₃₁
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
D₄₁	D₄₂	D₄₃	D₄₄	D₄₅	I₁	R₅₄	R₅₃	R₅₂	R₅₁
Majority→									R₅₁
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

D₄₁√	D₄₂√	D₄₃O	D₄₄√	D₄₅+	D₄₆+	R₅₄+	R₅₃+	R₅₂O	R₅₁√
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
Majority→									R₅₁√
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, Republicans picked up the seat of Henry M. Jackson (D-WA) in a special election. 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%

(1980 ←) 1982 United States elections (→ 1984)

U.S. Senate	Arizona California Connecticut Delaware Florida Hawaii Indiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Jersey New Mexico New York North Dakota Ohio Pennsylvania Rhode Island Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming

U.S. House	Alabama Alaska Arkansas Arizona California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming

State governors	Delaware Indiana Missouri Montana New Hampshire North Carolina North Dakota Rhode Island Utah Vermont Washington West Virginia

United States Senate elections

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Special elections Election disputes List of elections in the United States

United States Senate elections, 1982