The 1988 United States Senate elections were elections for the United States Senate. Held on November 8, the 33 seats of Class 1 were contested in regular elections. In spite of the Republican victory by George H. W. Bush in the presidential election, the Democrats gained a net of one seat in the Senate. Seven seats changed parties, with four incumbents being defeated. The Democratic majority in the Senate increased by one to 55–to–45.
This is the last Senate election cycle in which California voted for a Republican, and the last in which Texas and Maine voted for the Democrat[a], and the last time Arizona voted Democratic until 2018. This would also be the last Senate election cycle until 1998 to not have at least one special election during that cycle.
This is also the last Senate election cycle in which no woman was elected to the Senate from either party as all the winners were men.
Results summary
Summary of the 1988 United States Senate election results
Connecticut: Democratic attorney general Joe Lieberman narrowly defeated incumbent Lowell P. Weicker Jr. (R) 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, a moderate Democrat.
Nebraska: Incumbent David Karnes (R) 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) and, though he survived a tough primary challenge from Rep. Hal Daub (R), he proved no match for the popular Kerrey in the general election.
Nevada: Incumbent Chic Hecht (R) was narrowly defeated by Governor Richard Bryan (D). Hecht had been considered vulnerable for his undistinguished record and a series of verbal gaffes.
Virginia: Incumbent Paul S. Trible Jr. (R) 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.
Florida: Incumbent Lawton Chiles (D) retired rather than run for a fourth term. Congressman Connie Mack III (R) overcame some concerns about his very conservative House record to defeat Rep. Buddy MacKay (D).
Montana: Incumbent John Melcher (D) 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.
Washington: Former Sen. Slade Gorton (R) defeated Rep. Mike Lowry (D) for the seat of incumbent Daniel J. Evans (R). Gorton won the tight race despite having been voted out of the state's other Senate seat two years earlier.
Incumbent Democrat Lawton Chiles decided to retire instead of seeking a fourth term. Republican U.S. Representative Connie Mack III won the open seat over Democratic Congressman Buddy Mackay.[1]
This senate election was heavily targeted by both parties. U.S. Representative Mack announced his candidacy back in October 1987.[5] President Ronald Reagan endorsed Mack in June 1988[6] to allow Mack to focus on the general election, and easily won the September 6 Republican primary against U.S. Attorney Robert Merkle.[7] In May 1988, then-Congressman MacKay announced he would run for the open seat,[8] and defeated Insurance Commissioner Bill Gunter in a close October 4 runoff election.[9]
The general election soon became nasty, with Mackay portraying Mack as "extremist."[10] Mack also attacked his opponent in television ads by connecting him to liberal Massachusetts Governor and Democratic presidential nominee Michael Dukakis.[11] Mack had help from vice presidential candidate Dan Quayle.[12] The election was so close there was a recount until Mackay conceded eight days after election day.[13]
Incumbent Republican Richard Lugar was re-elected to a third term over Democratic attorney Jack Wickes.[19][20]
Lugar, a popular incumbent, had token opposition in this election. An April 1988 poll showed that Lugar lead 65% to 23%. By June, Lugar raised over $2 million, while Wickes raised just over $100,000.[21] Lugar agreed to debate Wickes on September 10, 1988.[22]
Lugar won overall with two-thirds of the vote and won 91 of Indiana's 92 counties, Wickes won only the Democratic stronghold of Lake County.
Incumbent Democrat George J. Mitchell won re-election to a second full term over Republican Jasper Wyman, leader of Maine Christian Civic League and businessman.[24] As of 2020, this is the last Senate election in Maine won by a Democrat.
Incumbent Democrat John C. Stennis decided to retire instead of seeking an eighth term (and his seventh full term). Republican Trent Lott won the open seat, beating Democrat Wayne Dowdy, U.S. Congressman from the 4th district.
Incumbent John Melcher, who was first elected to the Senate in 1976 and was re-elected in 1982, ran for re-election. After winning the Democratic primary, he faced Yellowstone County Commissioner Conrad Burns in the general election, and in the general election a grueling campaign followed. Ultimately, Melcher was narrowly defeated in his bid for re-election by Burns.
Republican David Karnes decided to seek election to his first complete term after being appointed to the seat of the late Edward Zorinsky in March 1987, but was soundly defeated by Democratic former governor Bob Kerrey in the November general election.[32]
The campaign was full of political mudslinging, with Lautenberg accusing Dawkins of being a carpetbagger, noting his very brief residency in the state,[34] and also accusing Dawkins' campaign of lying about his war record.[35] Dawkins accused Lautenberg of running a smear campaign against, called him a "swamp dog",[36] and criticized him for saying he voted eight times against a senatorial pay raise without mentioning the fact that he did vote once for the pay raise.[35]
1988 United States Senate election in New Jersey[37]
Only Burdick filed as a Dem-NPLer, and the endorsed Republican candidate was Earl Strinden of Grand Forks, North Dakota, who was President of the University of North Dakota Alumni Association. As in the Burdick's previous re-election campaign, the senator's age became an issue for voters as he was 80 years old during the campaign. However, challenger Strinden commented that he did not want to raise the age issue. Burdick and Strinden won the primary elections for their respective parties.
The Burdick campaign hired high-profile Washington, D.C. campaign consultant Bob Squire of Squire Eskew Communications. To counter the potential age issue, Burdick successfully focused the message on the "clout" he had earned over decades in the Senate, as well as his Chairmanship of Senate Agricultural Appropriations sub-committee and his Chairmanship of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.
One independent candidate, Kenneth C. Gardner, also filed before the deadline, officially calling himself a libertarian. Gardner had previously run for North Dakota's other United States Senate seat an independent in 1974, challenging Milton Young. He only received 853 votes in that election.
Joe Vignola was not expected by Democratic Party leaders to have a substantial chance at defeating the popular incumbent John Heinz, even predicting that Vignola would become "Heinz's 58th variety,"[41] referring to an advertising slogan of the H. J. Heinz Company. Heinz, knowing this, ran a low-profile re-election campaign and was safely ahead in polling. Vignola traveled across Pennsylvania promoting an increase in domestic spending, including education and healthcare, while decreasing the defense budget to compensate. Vignola ran a positive campaign, in contrast with Cyril Wecht six years previously, although many Democratic ward leaders and committee members had given up on the campaign and had stopped campaigning for Vignola.[41]
Heinz easily defeated Vignola to win the election and another term in the Senate, carrying every Pennsylvania county except Philadelphia, Vignola's home town, and by a comfortable 1.49 million vote margin. Heinz performed well in suburban areas, as well as the central, southwestern and northeastern portions of the state. Outside of Philadelphia, Vignola's best county-wide showing was in Mercer County, where he won 36% of the vote, and his poorest county-wide performance was in Snyder County, where he won 12% of the vote. Although Heinz's landslide victory was largely expected among Democratic leaders, Heinz won by a wide margin despite the Democrats' 551,000-voter registration advantage statewide.[41]
Bentsen easily won the Democratic nomination for another term, while Boulter came through a run-off in the Republican primary defeating Wes Gilbreath. After being nominated for the senate Bentsen was chosen by Michael Dukakis as his vice-presidentialrunning mate and therefore ran for both the Senate and the vice-presidency at the same time. Bentsen was always the favorite for the senate election and won with 59.2% of the vote, compared to 40% for Boulter.
As of 2020, this was the last time a Democrat won a United States Senate election in Texas.[45][46]
In the Democratic primary Democratic senator Lloyd Bentsen defeated the same opponent he had beaten in 1982, Joe Sullivan, a psychology professor from San Antonio.[47]
Bentsen had been senator from Texas since first winning election in 1970 and had been re-elected in 1976 and 1982. He was also Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee and the clear favourite for re-election in 1988.[48] Sullivan stood on a platform calling for reduced spending by the federal government, but had been easily defeated by Bentsen in the 1982 Democratic primary.[48] This was repeated in 1988 with Bentsen winning the primary with over 80% of the vote.[47]
Four candidates competed for the Republican nomination; U.S. representative Beau Boulter, former state representative Milton Fox, millionaire Houston businessman Wes Gilbreath and businessman Ned Snead.[50] Boulter was a two-term representative for the 13th district, while Gilbreath was competing in his first election, but spent $500,000 on the primary.[51]
Wes Gilbreath led in the March primary with 36.7%, but as no candidate won a majority, went into a run-off election against Beau Boulter who came second with 30.5%.[49]
There were few policy differences between Boulter and Gilbreath, with both candidates being conservatives who opposed abortion and called for reduced government spending.[52] Gilbreath spent about one million dollars of his money in his contest for the primary,[53] while Boulter spent about $250,000.[52] However Boulter won endorsements from many Texas Republican leaders,[53] including the candidates who had come third and fourth in the March primary, as well as from anti-abortion groups.[52]
Boulter won the April run-off for the Republican nomination with just over 60% of the vote.[52]
In July 1988 the Democratic presidential nominee Michael Dukakis chose Lloyd Bentsen to be the Democratic vice-presidential candidate.[54] As the Texas Democrats had already had their primary for senate candidate, Bentsen could not be replaced on the ballot.[54] Bentsen was however able to run both for the Senate and for vice-president as Lyndon Johnson had gotten Texas law changed in 1960 to allow Johnson to do the same at the 1960 election.[55]
Lloyd Bentsen won the senate election by a clear margin over Beau Boulter, at the same time as he and Michael Dukakis lost the presidential race, [56] with George Bush winning Texas with 56% of the vote compared to 43% for Dukakis.[57] Bentsen's vote total in the senate election was reported to be at the time the highest vote total in any Texas statewide election.[58] Bentsen then returned to the Senate and remained until the next four years when he was appointed the Secretary of the Treasury under President Bill Clinton. Had the Dukakis–Bentsen ticket won, Bentsen would have become U.S. Vice President and forced to resign his Senate seat, which would have led to a 1990 special election. It would also have led Republican Governor Bill Clements to temporarily appoint an interim replacement.
Incumbent Republican Robert Stafford did not run for re-election to another term in the United States Senate. Republican candidate Jim Jeffords defeated Democratic candidate Bill Gray to succeed him.
Former Democratic governor Chuck Robb replaced Republican Senator Paul S. Trible Jr., who opted not to run for re-election. Robb beat Republican Maurice A. Dawkins, minister and black activist.
1988 United States Senate election in Virginia[63]
Incumbent Republican Daniel J. Evans decided to retire instead of running for re-election to a full term, after being appointed to the seat in 1983, and won election to a partial term that same year. Republican former U.S. Senator Slade Gorton, who had just lost a re-election bid in 1986, won the open seat over congressman Mike Lowry.[64]
Incumbent Democrat William Proxmire decided to retire, instead of running for re-election to a sixth full term. Democratic businessman Herb Kohl won the open seat, beating Republican state senator Susan Engeleiter.
Incumbent Republican Malcolm Wallop ran for re-election to a fourth term, and was narrowly re-elected, defeating the Democratic state senator John Vinich by a margin of a little over 1,300 votes.[68]
Despite being a reliably Republican state, Vinich, a Democrat, was able to impressively compete with Wallop. During the campaign, Wallop attacked Vinich as being a tax-and-spend liberal who was beholden to labor and anti-business.[68] Vinich, in turn, cited his "A" score he got from the National Rifle Association of America due to his votes in the Wyoming Legislature to counter Wallop's attacks, and possibly attract conservative voters.[68]
^Angus King, who was elected in 2012 and re-elected in 2018, is an independent who caucuses with the Democrats, but is not actually a member of the party.
^Includes the interim appointee who ran for election.
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