United States Senate elections, 1988

United States Senate elections, 1988

1986 ← November 8, 1988 → 1990

35 of the 100 seats in the United States Senate 51 seats needed for a majority   Majority party Minority party   Leader George Mitchell Bob Dole Party Democratic Republican Leader's seat Maine Kansas Last election 55 seats 45 seats Seats before 54 45 Seats won 55 45 Seat change +1 0 Popular vote 35,137,786 31,151,251 Percentage 52.1% 46.2% Swing 2.0% 1.4%

Democratic holds   Democratic pickups   Republican holds   Republican pickups

Majority Leader before election Robert Byrd Democratic Elected Majority Leader George Mitchell Democratic

The United States Senate election, of November 8, 1988 was an election for the United States Senate in which, in spite of the Republican victory by George H. W. Bush in the presidential election, the Republicans suffered a net loss of one seat in the Senate. The Democratic majority in the Senate increased from 54-46 to 55-45.

The Democrats captured four Republican seats, which included an open seat in Virginia and the seats of three incumbents, Chic Hecht of Nevada, Lowell P. Weicker, Jr. of Connecticut, and David K. Karnes of Nebraska. These gains were partially offset by the Republican capture of open seats by Trent Lott in Mississippi and Connie Mack III in Florida, and the defeat of incumbent John Melcher of Montana to Conrad Burns.

Contents 1 Results summary 2 Notable races 2.1 Democratic gains 2.2 Republican gains 2.3 Democratic holds 2.4 Republican holds 3 Complete list of races 4 Senate composition before and after elections 5 See also

Results summary

Summary of the 1988 United States Senate election results

Parties		Total Seats			Popular Vote
		1986	1988	+/-	Vote	%
	Democratic Party	55	55	0	35,137,786	52.12%
	Republican Party	45	45	0	31,151,251	46.20%
	Others	-	-	-	1,135,207	1.68%
Total		100	100	-	67,424,244	100.0%
Source: Election Statistics - Office of the Clerk

Notable races

Democratic gains

• Connecticut: Democratic Attorney General Joe Lieberman narrowly defeated Sen. Lowell P. Weicker, Jr. (R-CT) in his bid for a fourth term. A liberal in an increasingly conservative party, Weicker found himself at odds with his fellow Republicans. This rift would lead many conservatives (such as National Review editor William F. Buckley, Jr.) to endorse Lieberman.
• Nebraska: Sen. David Karnes (R-NE) lost by a large margin to former Governor Bob Kerrey (D). Karnes had been appointed to the Senate following the death of Sen. Edward Zorinsky (D-NE) and, though he survived a tough primary challenge from Rep. Hal Daub (R-NE), he proved no match for the popular Kerrey in the general election.
• Nevada: Sen. Chic Hecht (R-NV) was narrowly defeated by Governor Richard Bryan (D). Hecht had been considered vulnerable for his undistinguished record and a series of verbal gaffes.
• Virginia: Sen. Paul S. Trible, Jr. (R-VA) retired rather than run a contentious re-election race against former Governor Chuck Robb (D). Robb would instead face Republican Maurice Dawkins, a black minister, and defeat him in a landslide.

Republican gains

• Florida: Sen. Lawton Chiles (D-FL) retired rather than run for a fourth term. Congressman Connie Mack III (R-FL) overcame some concerns about his very conservative House record to defeat Rep. Buddy MacKay (D-FL).
• Mississippi: Senate President pro tempore John C. Stennis (D-MS) retired after 41 years in the Senate. House Minority Whip Trent Lott (R-MS) defeated Congressman Wayne Dowdy by a comfortable margin in the increasing Republican Mississippi.
• Montana: Sen. John Melcher (D-MT) was defeated by Republican Conrad Burns. A political novice, Burns would score an upset victory riding on the coattails of Bush's modest Montana victory.

Democratic holds

• New Jersey: Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ) won election to a second term over Republican Wall Street executive Pete Dawkins. Lautenberg's campaign, led by James Carville and Paul Begala, attacked the once favored Dawkins as a carpetbagger (he moved to New Jersey from New York to make his Senate run) and opportunist.
• Wisconsin: Former state Democratic Party Chairman Herb Kohl defeated Republican State Senator Susan Engeleiter for the seat of retiring Sen. William Proxmire (D-WI). Kohl capitalized on his popularity in the state as the heir to the department stores that bear his family's name and as owner of the Milwaukee Bucks NBA team.

Republican holds

• Washington: Former Sen. Slade Gorton (R-WA) defeated Rep. Mike Lowry (D-WA) for the seat of Sen. Daniel J. Evans (R-WA). Gorton won the tight race despite having been voted out of the state's other Senate seat two years earlier.
• Wyoming: Sen. Malcolm Wallop (R-WY) defeated Democratic State Senator John Vinich by less than one percentage point. Wallop became vulnerable due to attacks on his partisan voting record.

Complete list of races

A bolded state name' indicates an article about that state's election. A √ bolded candidate's name indicates the winner.

State	Incumbent	Party	Result	Opposing candidates
Arizona	√ Dennis DeConcini	Democratic	Re-elected, 58.0%	Keith DeGreen (Republican) 42.0% Rich Tompkins (Libertarian) 1.8%
California	√ Pete Wilson	Republican	Re-elected, 52.7%	Leo T. McCarthy (Democratic) 44.0% Maria Elizabeth Muñoz (Peace & Freedom) 1.7% Jack Dean (Libertarian) 0.8% Merton D. Short (American Ind.) 0.7%
Connecticut	Lowell P. Weicker, Jr.	Republican	Lost re-election Democratic gain, 49.0%	√ Joe Lieberman (Democratic) 49.7% Howard Grayson (Libertarian) 0.9% Melissa Fisher (New Alliance) 0.3%
Delaware	√ William V. Roth, Jr.	Republican	Re-elected, 62.1%	Shien Biau Woo (Democratic) 37.9%
Florida	Lawton Chiles	Democratic	Retired Republican gain	√ Connie Mack III (Republican) 50.4% Buddy MacKay (Democratic) 49.6%
Hawaii	√ Spark Matsunaga	Democratic	Re-elected, 76.5%	Maria M. Hustace (Republican) 20.7% Ken Schoolland (Libertarian) 2.8%
Indiana	√ Richard Lugar	Republican	Re-elected, 67.7%	Jack Wickes (Democratic) 32.3%
Maine	√ George J. Mitchell	Democratic	Re-elected, 81.1%	Jasper S. Wyman (Republican) 18.9%
Maryland	√ Paul Sarbanes	Democratic	Re-elected, 61.8%	Alan Keyes (Republican) 38.2%
Massachusetts	√ Ted Kennedy	Democratic	Re-elected, 65.0%	Joseph D. Malone (Republican) 33.9% Mary Fridley (New Alliance) 0.6% Freda Lee Nason (Libertarian) 0.5%
Michigan	√ Donald W. Riegle, Jr.	Democratic	Re-elected, 60.4%	James Whitney Dunn (Republican) 38.5% Dick Jacobs (Libertarian) 0.8% Sally Bier (Workers Against Concessions) 0.3%
Minnesota	√ David Durenberger	Republican	Re-elected, 56.2%	Skip Humphrey (Democratic) 40.9% Polly Mann (Progressive Issues) 2.1% Derrick Grimmer (Grassroots) 0.4% Arlen Overvig (Libertarian) 0.2% Wendy Lyons (Socialist Workers) 0.1%
Mississippi	John C. Stennis	Democratic	Retired Republican gain	√ Trent Lott (Republican) 54.1% Wayne Dowdy (Democratic) 45.9%
Missouri	√ John Danforth	Republican	Re-elected, 67.7%	Jay Nixon (Democratic) 31.7% John Guze (Libertarian) 0.6%
Montana	John Melcher	Democratic	Lost re-election Republican gain, 48.1%	√ Conrad Burns (Republican) 51.9%
Nebraska (Special: Class 1)	David Karnes	Republican	Interim appointee lost election to finish term Democratic gain, 41.7%	√ Bob Kerrey (Democratic) 56.7% Ernie Chambers (New Alliance) 1.6%
Nevada	Chic Hecht	Republican	Lost re-election Democratic gain, 47.1%	√ Richard Bryan (Democratic) 51.3% James Frye (Libertarian) 1.6%
New Jersey	√ Frank Lautenberg	Democratic	Re-elected, 53.5%	Pete Dawkins (Republican) 45.2% Joseph Job (Independent) 0.7% Jerry Zeldin (Libertarian) 0.4% Thomas Fiske (Socialist Workers) 0.2%
New Mexico	√ Jeff Bingaman	Democratic	Re-elected, 63.2%	Bill Valentine (Republican) 36.8%
New York	√ Daniel Patrick Moynihan	Democratic	Re-elected, 67.3%	Robert R. McMillan (Republican) 31.6%
North Dakota	√ Quentin N. Burdick	Democratic	Re-elected, 59.5%	Earl Strinden (Republican) 39.1% Kenneth C. Gardner (Libertarian) 1.5%
Ohio	√ Howard Metzenbaum	Democratic	Re-elected, 56.9%	George Voinovich (Republican) 43.1%
Pennsylvania	√ H. John Heinz III	Republican	Re-elected, 66.4%	Joseph C. Vignola (Democratic) 32.4% Darcy Richardson (Consumer) 0.6% Henry Haller (Libertarian) 0.3% Samuel Cross (Populist) 0.1% Sam Blancato (New Alliance) 0.1%
Rhode Island	√ John Chafee	Republican	Re-elected, 54.3%	Richard A. Licht (Democratic) 45.7%
Tennessee	√ Jim Sasser	Democratic	Re-elected, 65.1%	Bill Anderson (Republican) 34.5% Khalil-Ullah Al-Muhaymin (Independent) 0.4%
Texas	√ Lloyd Bentsen	Democratic	Re-elected, 59.2%	Beau Boulter (Republican) 40.0% Jeff Daiell (Libertarian) 0.8%
Utah	√ Orrin Hatch	Republican	Re-elected, 67.1%	Brian Moss (Democratic) 31.7% Robert J. Smith (American) 0.9% William M. Arth (Socialist Workers) 0.2%
Vermont	Robert Stafford	Republican	Retired Republican hold	√ Jim Jeffords (Republican) 67.9% William Gray (Democratic) 29.8% Jerry Levy (Liberty Union) 1.1% King Milne (Independent) 1.0%
Virginia	Paul S. Trible, Jr.	Republican	Retired Democratic gain	√ Chuck Robb (Democratic) 71.2% Maurice A. Dawkins (Republican) 28.8%
Washington	Daniel J. Evans	Republican	Retired Republican hold	√ Slade Gorton (Republican) 50.7% Mike Lowry (Democratic) 49.3%
West Virginia	√ Robert Byrd	Democratic	Re-elected, 63.2%	M. Jay Wolfe (Republican) 36.8%
Wisconsin	William Proxmire	Democratic	Retired Democratic hold	√ Herb Kohl (Democratic) 52.2% Susan Engeleiter (Republican) 47.8%
Wyoming	√ Malcolm Wallop	Republican	Re-elected, 50.4%	John Vinich (Democratic) 49.6%

Senate composition before and after elections

Senate composition before the elections D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R

Senate composition in the next Congress D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R

Key:	D=Democratic	R=Republican
	Majority
	divider

See also

• United States presidential election, 1988
• United States House elections, 1988
• United States gubernatorial elections, 1988
• United States Senate elections, 1986
• United States Senate elections, 1990

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