 | |||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
 County results Heinz: 50–60% 60–70% Green: 40–50% 50–60% 70–80% | |||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
| Elections in Pennsylvania |
|---|
 |
 Government |
The 1976 United States Senate election in Pennsylvania was held on November 2, 1976. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator and Minority Leader Hugh Scott decided to retire. Republican John Heinz won the open seat. [1]
In December 1975, U.S. senator Hugh Scott announced that he would not seek re-election in 1976 at the age of 75 after serving in Congress for 32 years. Scott listed personal reasons and several "well-qualified potential candidates" for the seat among the reasons of his decision to retire. Other reasons, including his support for Richard Nixon and accusations that he had illegally obtained contributions from Gulf Oil were alleged to have contributed to the decision. [2]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | H. John Heinz III | 358,715 | 37.73% | |
| Republican | Arlen Specter | 332,513 | 34.98% | |
| Republican | George Packard | 160,379 | 16.87% | |
| Republican | C. Homer Brown | 46,828 | 4.93% | |
| Republican | Mary Ellen Foltz | 29,160 | 3.07% | |
| Republican | Francis Worley | 20,421 | 2.15% | |
| Write-in | 2,665 | 0.28% | ||
| Total votes | 950,681 | 100.00% | ||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | William J. Green III | 762,733 | 68.71% | |
| Democratic | Jeanette Reibman | 345,264 | 31.10% | |
| Write-in | 2,058 | 0.19% | ||
| Total votes | 1,110,055 | 100.00% | ||
Heinz was the victor in all but nine counties, defeating opponent William Green, who had a 300,000 vote advantage in his native Philadelphia area. Heinz and Green spent $2.5 million and $900,000, respectively, during the ten-month campaign. Much of the money Heinz spent on his campaign was his own, leading to accusations from Green that he was "buying the seat". Heinz replied to this by claiming that the spending was necessary to overcome the Democratic voter registration advantage. [9]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | H. John Heinz III | 2,381,891 | 52.39% |  0.96 | |
| Democratic | William J. Green III | 2,126,977 | 46.79% | 1.41 | |
| Constitution | Andrew J. Watson | 26,028 | 0.57% |  1.79 | |
| Socialist Workers | Frederick W. Stanton | 5,484 | 0.12% | 0.01 | |
| Labor Party | Bernard Salera | 3,637 | 0.08% | 0.08 | |
| Communist Party | Frank Kinces | 2,097 | 0.05% | 0.05 | |
| N/A | Other | 239 | 0.00% | N/A | |
| Total votes | 4,546,353 | 100.00% | |||
| Republican hold | Swing | ||||
Arlen Specter was an American lawyer, author and politician who served as a United States Senator from Pennsylvania from 1981 to 2011. Specter was a Democrat from 1951 to 1965, then a Republican from 1965 until 2009, when he switched back to the Democratic Party. First elected in 1980, he was the longest-serving senator from Pennsylvania, having represented the state for 30 years.
Henry John Heinz III was an American businessman and politician who served as a United States senator from Pennsylvania from 1977 until his death in 1991. An heir to the Heinz family fortune, Heinz entered politics in 1971 when he won a special election to replace Robert Corbett to represent Pennsylvania's 18th congressional district. In 1976, Heinz ran to replace retiring Senate Minority Leader Hugh Scott. Heinz narrowly won in the primary over future Senator Arlen Specter, and defeated William Green III. Heinz won re-election in 1982 and 1988 by large margins. On April 4, 1991, Heinz was killed when his plane, facing mechanical problems, collided with a helicopter inspecting the plane, killing all involved in the crash.
Joseph Merrill Hoeffel III is an American author and politician. A Democrat, Hoeffel was a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1999 to 2005, representing Pennsylvania's 13th congressional district. He also served multiple terms on the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners, and from 1977–84, was a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. A native of Philadelphia, he is a graduate of Boston University and Temple University School of Law.
Since Connecticut became a U.S. state in 1788, it has sent congressional delegations to the United States Senate and United States House of Representatives, beginning with the 1st United States Congress in 1789. Each state elects two senators to serve for six years in general elections, with their re-election staggered. Prior to the ratification of the Seventeenth Amendment in 1913, senators were elected by the Connecticut General Assembly. Each state elects varying numbers of members of the House, depending on population, to two-year terms. Connecticut has sent five members to the House in each congressional delegation since the 2000 United States Census.
Hugh Doggett Scott Jr. was an American politician. A member of the Republican Party, he represented Pennsylvania in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1941 to 1945 and from 1947 to 1959 and in the U.S. Senate, from 1959 to 1977. He served as Senate Minority Leader from 1969 to 1977.
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.
The 1980 United States Senate elections were held on November 4, coinciding with Ronald Reagan's victory in the presidential election. The 34 Senate seats of Class 3 were contested in regular elections. Reagan's large margin of victory over incumbent Jimmy Carter gave a huge boost to Republican Senate candidates, allowing them to flip 12 Democratic seats and win control of the chamber for the first time since the end of the 83rd Congress in January 1955.
The 1976 United States Senate elections was an election for the United States Senate. Held on November 2, the 33 seats of Class 1 were contested in regular elections. They coincided with Democrat Jimmy Carter's presidential election and the United States Bicentennial celebration. Although almost half of the seats decided in this election changed parties, Carter's narrow victory did not provide coattails for the Democratic Party. Each party flipped seven Senate seats, although, one of the seats flipped by Democrats was previously held by a Conservative.
William Joseph Green III is an American politician from Pennsylvania. A Democrat, Green served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1964 to 1977 and as the 94th Mayor of Philadelphia from 1980 to 1984.
The 1991 United States Senate special election in Pennsylvania was held on November 5, 1991, after incumbent Republican Senator John Heinz died in a plane crash on April 4 of that year. Democrat Harris Wofford was appointed to the seat by Governor Bob Casey, and won the general election in a landslide over Republican Dick Thornburgh, a former Governor and U.S. Attorney General. Wofford became Pennsylvania's first Democratic Senator since Joseph S. Clark Jr. left office in 1969. Major-party candidates for this election were chosen by party committees, as the vacancy had happened too late for a primary to be held.
The 2010 United States Senate election in Pennsylvania took place on November 2, 2010, during the 2010 midterm elections. Incumbent Republican-turned-Democrat U.S. Senator Arlen Specter ran for reelection to a sixth term, but lost in the Democratic primary to Joe Sestak. Republican nominee Pat Toomey then won the seat.
The 2004 United States Senate election in Pennsylvania was held on November 2, 2004. Incumbent Republican Senator Arlen Specter won re-election to a fifth term. As of 2024, this is the last time a Republican statewide candidate won Montgomery and Delaware Counties and won more than 25% of the vote in Philadelphia. Specter later lost renomination in 2010 as a Democrat, having joined the party in April 2009.
Electoral history of Arlen Specter, former United States Senator from Pennsylvania (1981–2011), Chairman of the Senate Committees on Intelligence (1995–1997), Veterans' Affairs and Judiciary (2005–2007), as well as a candidate for the 1996 Republican presidential nomination.
The 1998 United States Senate election in Pennsylvania was held November 3, 1998. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Arlen Specter won re-election to a fourth term.
The 1992 United States Senate election in Pennsylvania was held on November 3, 1992. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Arlen Specter narrowly won re-election to a third term, garnering just forty-nine percent of the vote in what was described by The Philadelphia Inquirer as a "massive turnout for Bill Clinton."
The 1986 United States Senate election in Pennsylvania was held on November 4, 1986. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Arlen Specter won re-election to a second term.
The 1980 United States Senate election in Pennsylvania was held on November 4, 1980. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Richard Schweiker decided to retire, instead of seeking a third term.
The Democratic Party primary for the 2010 United States Senate election in Pennsylvania took place on May 18, 2010, when Congressman Joe Sestak defeated incumbent Arlen Specter, which led to the end of Specter's five-term Senatorial career. Just before the start of the primary campaign, after serving in the Senate as a Republican for 29 years, Specter had switched to the Democratic Party in anticipation of a difficult primary challenge by Pat Toomey; Toomey ultimately defeated Sestak in the general election. Political observers and journalists described the race between Specter and Sestak as one of the bitterest and most-watched of all the 2010 primary elections.
The 1944 United States Senate election in Pennsylvania was held on November 7, 1944. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator James J. Davis sought re-election, but was defeated by Democratic nominee Francis J. Myers.
The 1988 United States Senate election in Pennsylvania was held on November 8, 1988. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator John Heinz successfully sought re-election to another term, defeating Democratic nominee Joe Vignola.
