1976 United States Senate election in Ohio

1976 United States Senate election in Ohio

←  1970 November 2, 1976 1982  →

Nominee Howard Metzenbaum Robert Taft Jr. Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 1,941,113 1,823,774 Percentage 49.51% 46.52%

County results Metzenbaum:      40–50%     50–60%     60–70% Taft:      40–50%     50–60%     60–70%

U.S. senator before election Robert Taft Jr. Republican Elected U.S. Senator Howard Metzenbaum Democratic

The 1976 United States Senate election in Ohio took place on November 2, 1976. Incumbent Republican senator Robert Taft, Jr. ran for re-election to second term. Democrat Howard Metzenbaum, who had briefly served in the Senate in 1974, unseated Taft in a rematch of the 1970 election. Metzenbaum became the first Jewish senator of Ohio.

Democratic primary

Candidates

• Richard B. Kay, Cleveland attorney and perennial candidate
• Howard Metzenbaum, former State Senator from Lyndhurst and interim United States Senator in 1974
• James D. Nolan, nominee for Ohio Secretary of State in 1966
• James V. Stanton, U.S. Representative from Cleveland

Results

1976 Democratic Senate primary ^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Howard Metzenbaum	576,124	53.58%
	Democratic	James V. Stanton	400,552	37.26%
	Democratic	James D. Nolan	62,979	5.86%
	Democratic	Richard B. Kay	35,522	3.30%
Total votes			1,075,177	100.00%

General election

Results

General election results ^{[2] [3]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Howard Metzenbaum	1,941,113	49.51%	2.06
	Republican	Robert Taft, Jr. (incumbent)	1,823,774	46.52%	3.16
	Independent	John O'Neill	53,657	1.37%	N/A
	American Independent	Donald E. Babcock	36,979	0.94%	1.00
	Independent	Emma Lila Fundaburk	33,285	0.85%	N/A
	Socialist Workers	Melissa Singler	31,805	0.81%	0.11
Majority			117,339	2.99%
Turnout			3,920,613
	Democratic gain from Republican

See also

• 1976 United States Senate elections

References

1. "Our Campaigns - OH US Senate - D Primary Race - Jun 08, 1976".
2. "Statistics of the Presidential and Congressional Election of November 2, 1976" (PDF). U.S. Government Printing Office. Retrieved February 25, 2013.
3. "Our Campaigns - OH US Senate Race - Nov 02, 1976". www.ourcampaigns.com. Retrieved April 19, 2019.