1976 United States Senate election in Virginia

1976 United States Senate election in Virginia

←  1970 November 2, 1976 1982  →
Turnout	47.0% [1]
Nominee Harry F. Byrd Jr. Elmo Zumwalt Party Independent Democratic Popular vote 890,778 596,009 Percentage 57.19% 38.27%
County and independent city results Byrd:     40–50%     50–60%     60–70%     70–80%     80–90% Zumwalt:     40–50%     50–60%     60–70% Perper:     40–50%
U.S. senator before election Harry F. Byrd Jr. Independent Elected U.S. Senator Harry F. Byrd Jr. Independent

The 1976 United States Senate election in Virginia was held on November 2, 1976. Incumbent Senator Harry F. Byrd Jr. was re-elected to a second term over retired Admiral Elmo Zumwalt and state legislator Martin H. Perper. As of 2025, this is the last statewide race in Virginia won by an independent.

General election

Candidates

• Harry F. Byrd Jr., incumbent U.S. Senator (Independent)
• Elmo Zumwalt, former Naval officer and Chief of Naval Operations (Democratic)
• Martin H. Perper, former member of Virginia state legislature (Independent Republican)

Results

1976 United States Senate election in Virginia ^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Harry F. Byrd Jr. (incumbent)	890,778	57.19%	+3.65%
	Democratic	Elmo Zumwalt	596,009	38.27%	+7.12%
	Independent Republican	Martin H. Perper	70,559	4.53%
	Write-ins		154	0.01%
Majority			294,769	18.93%	−3.45%
Turnout			1,557,500
	Independent hold

Results by county or independent city

1976 United States Senate election in Virginia by county or independent city ^[2]

	Elmo Russell Zumwalt Jr. Democratic		Harry Flood Byrd Jr. Independent		Martin Howard Perper Independent Republican		Various candidates Write-ins		Margin		Total votes cast
	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%
Accomack County	2,574	28.89%	6,023	67.59%	314	3.52%			-3,449	-38.70%	8,911
Albemarle County	6,074	38.26%	9,288	58.50%	514	3.24%	1	0.01%	-3,214	-20.24%	15,877
Alleghany County	1,544	36.85%	2,514	60.00%	132	3.15%			-970	-23.15%	4,190
Amelia County	978	30.91%	2,095	66.21%	91	2.88%			-1,117	-35.30%	3,164
Amherst County	2,280	31.28%	4,832	66.29%	177	2.43%			-2,552	-35.01%	7,289
Appomattox County	866	23.55%	2,649	72.02%	163	4.43%			-1,783	-48.48%	3,678
Arlington County	30,619	50.43%	27,377	45.09%	2,712	4.47%	6	0.01%	3,242	5.34%	60,714
Augusta County	3,880	28.10%	8,945	64.79%	980	7.10%	1	0.01%	-5,065	-36.69%	13,806
Bath County	415	21.67%	1,418	74.05%	82	4.28%			-1,003	-52.38%	1,915
Bedford County	3,017	34.86%	5,207	60.17%	430	4.97%			-2,190	-25.31%	8,654
Bland County	468	24.30%	1,343	69.73%	115	5.97%			-875	-45.43%	1,926
Botetourt County	2,460	35.15%	4,070	58.15%	465	6.64%	4	0.06%	-1,610	-23.00%	6,999
Brunswick County	1,722	33.99%	3,228	63.72%	116	2.29%			-1,506	-29.73%	5,066
Buchanan County	4,654	54.86%	3,334	39.30%	495	5.84%			1,320	15.56%	8,483
Buckingham County	1,026	29.15%	2,354	66.88%	140	3.98%			-1,328	-37.73%	3,520
Campbell County	2,274	20.70%	3,385	30.81%	5,326	48.48%			-1,941 [a]	-17.67%	10,985
Caroline County	1,939	44.81%	2,208	51.03%	180	4.16%			-269	-6.22%	4,327
Carroll County	2,566	35.59%	4,229	58.66%	414	5.74%			-1,663	-23.07%	7,209
Charles City County	1,056	60.97%	558	32.22%	118	6.81%			498	28.75%	1,732
Charlotte County	980	23.51%	3,056	73.30%	133	3.19%			-2,076	-49.80%	4,169
Chesterfield County	10,778	26.05%	29,382	71.01%	1,211	2.93%	4	0.01%	-18,604	-44.96%	41,375
Clarke County	500	18.42%	2,093	77.12%	120	4.42%	1	0.04%	-1,593	-58.70%	2,714
Craig County	747	45.11%	860	51.93%	49	2.96%			-113	-6.82%	1,656
Culpeper County	1,721	27.02%	4,343	68.18%	306	4.80%			-2,622	-41.16%	6,370
Cumberland County	887	37.02%	1,441	60.14%	68	2.84%			-554	-23.12%	2,396
Dickenson County	3,387	49.32%	2,622	38.18%	859	12.51%			765	11.14%	6,868
Dinwiddie County	2,238	38.05%	3,519	59.83%	125	2.13%			-1,281	-21.78%	5,882
Essex County	680	27.90%	1,692	69.43%	65	2.67%			-1,012	-41.53%	2,437
Fairfax County	89,908	46.92%	90,750	47.36%	10,919	5.70%	38	0.02%	-842	-0.44%	191,615
Fauquier County	2,585	30.97%	5,316	63.70%	444	5.32%	1	0.01%	-2,731	-32.72%	8,346
Floyd County	1,023	30.44%	2,146	63.85%	192	5.71%			-1,123	-33.41%	3,361
Fluvanna County	817	31.88%	1,662	64.85%	84	3.28%			-845	-32.97%	2,563
Franklin County	3,068	33.30%	5,711	62.00%	433	4.70%			-2,643	-28.69%	9,212
Frederick County	1,849	21.72%	6,153	72.29%	510	5.99%			-4,304	-50.56%	8,512
Giles County	2,214	37.39%	3,409	57.57%	299	5.05%			-1,195	-20.18%	5,922
Gloucester County	1,694	29.83%	3,765	66.31%	219	3.86%			-2,071	-36.47%	5,678
Goochland County	1,651	39.52%	2,448	58.59%	79	1.89%			-797	-19.08%	4,178
Grayson County	2,094	45.49%	2,272	49.36%	237	5.15%			-178	-3.87%	4,603
Greene County	594	31.56%	1,164	61.85%	124	6.59%			-570	-30.29%	1,882
Greensville County	1,471	45.75%	1,701	52.91%	43	1.34%			-230	-7.15%	3,215
Halifax County	1,725	22.78%	5,409	71.42%	440	5.81%			-3,684	-48.64%	7,574
Hanover County	4,217	24.48%	12,547	72.83%	462	2.68%	1	0.01%	-8,330	-48.35%	17,227
Henrico County	17,724	26.69%	46,576	70.13%	2,108	3.17%	5	0.01%	-28,852	-43.44%	66,413
Henry County	5,798	42.09%	7,394	53.68%	583	4.23%			-1,596	-11.59%	13,775
Highland County	160	14.23%	921	81.94%	43	3.83%			-761	-67.70%	1,124
Isle of Wight County	2,683	40.87%	3,727	56.78%	154	2.35%			-1,044	-15.90%	6,564
James City County	2,192	38.40%	3,329	58.32%	187	3.28%			-1,137	-19.92%	5,708
King and Queen County	525	33.00%	992	62.35%	74	4.65%			-467	-29.35%	1,591
King George County	845	31.04%	1,702	62.53%	175	6.43%			-857	-31.48%	2,722
King William County	1,012	34.52%	1,856	63.30%	64	2.18%			-844	-28.79%	2,932
Lancaster County	1,053	27.32%	2,700	70.06%	101	2.62%			-1,647	-42.73%	3,854
Lee County	3,285	38.95%	4,424	52.45%	725	8.60%			-1,139	-13.50%	8,434
Loudoun County	6,178	37.29%	9,487	57.26%	900	5.43%	2	0.01%	-3,309	-19.97%	16,567
Louisa County	1,691	35.89%	2,830	60.06%	191	4.05%			-1,139	-24.17%	4,712
Lunenburg County	893	25.51%	2,476	70.72%	132	3.77%			-1,583	-45.22%	3,501
Madison County	802	25.39%	2,196	69.52%	161	5.10%			-1,394	-44.13%	3,159
Mathews County	691	23.05%	2,213	73.82%	94	3.14%			-1,522	-50.77%	2,998
Mecklenburg County	2,101	26.06%	5,709	70.80%	253	3.14%			-3,608	-44.75%	8,063
Middlesex County	724	26.81%	1,880	69.63%	96	3.56%			-1,156	-42.81%	2,700
Montgomery County	5,607	37.76%	8,774	59.09%	467	3.15%			-3,167	-21.33%	14,848
Nelson County	1,319	35.41%	2,289	61.45%	117	3.14%			-970	-26.04%	3,725
New Kent County	797	31.78%	1,586	63.24%	125	4.98%			-789	-31.46%	2,508
Northampton County	1,617	38.70%	2,409	57.66%	152	3.64%			-792	-18.96%	4,178
Northumberland County	1,024	27.63%	2,529	68.24%	153	4.13%			-1,505	-40.61%	3,706
Nottoway County	1,438	30.45%	3,106	65.78%	178	3.77%			-1,668	-35.32%	4,722
Orange County	1,401	30.40%	2,965	64.34%	242	5.25%			-1,564	-33.94%	4,608
Page County	1,747	26.94%	4,391	67.72%	345	5.32%	1	0.02%	-2,644	-40.78%	6,484
Patrick County	1,189	27.52%	2,831	65.53%	300	6.94%			-1,642	-38.01%	4,320
Pittsylvania County	3,874	25.28%	10,843	70.75%	608	3.97%			-6,969	-45.47%	15,325
Powhatan County	1,107	32.30%	2,255	65.80%	65	1.90%			-1,148	-33.50%	3,427
Prince Edward County	1,488	30.96%	3,104	64.59%	214	4.45%			-1,616	-33.62%	4,806
Prince George County	1,720	37.77%	2,718	59.68%	116	2.55%			-998	-21.91%	4,554
Prince William County	13,568	46.91%	13,531	46.79%	1,820	6.29%	2	0.01%	37	0.13%	28,921
Pulaski County	3,569	37.74%	5,481	57.96%	406	4.29%			-1,912	-20.22%	9,456
Rappahannock County	608	30.54%	1,265	63.54%	118	5.93%			-657	-33.00%	1,991
Richmond County	452	19.83%	1,771	77.71%	56	2.46%			-1,319	-57.88%	2,279
Roanoke County	8,134	31.80%	16,396	64.09%	1,051	4.11%			-8,262	-32.30%	25,581
Rockbridge County	1,396	30.53%	3,024	66.13%	151	3.30%	2	0.04%	-1,628	-35.60%	4,573
Rockingham County	4,034	27.08%	10,014	67.22%	849	5.70%			-5,980	-40.14%	14,897
Russell County	4,415	47.48%	4,514	48.55%	369	3.97%			-99	-1.06%	9,298
Scott County	3,231	41.48%	4,114	52.82%	443	5.69%	1	0.01%	-883	-11.34%	7,789
Shenandoah County	1,942	21.07%	6,791	73.70%	479	5.20%	3	0.03%	-4,849	-52.62%	9,215
Smyth County	2,814	29.76%	6,394	67.63%	247	2.61%			-3,580	-37.86%	9,455
Southampton County	1,567	30.30%	3,486	67.40%	119	2.30%			-1,919	-37.10%	5,172
Spotsylvania County	2,470	35.60%	4,099	59.07%	369	5.32%	1	0.01%	-1,629	-23.48%	6,939
Stafford County	2,981	33.18%	5,510	61.32%	494	5.50%			-2,529	-28.15%	8,985
Surry County	998	39.98%	1,405	56.29%	93	3.73%			-407	-16.31%	2,496
Sussex County	1,736	46.16%	1,905	50.65%	120	3.19%			-169	-4.49%	3,761
Tazewell County	3,961	33.82%	6,186	52.82%	1,564	13.35%			-2,225	-19.00%	11,711
Warren County	2,177	35.79%	3,607	59.31%	298	4.90%			-1,430	-23.51%	6,082
Washington County	3,612	30.15%	7,966	66.50%	399	3.33%	2	0.02%	-4,354	-36.35%	11,979
Westmoreland County	1,502	38.17%	2,241	56.95%	192	4.88%			-739	-18.78%	3,935
Wise County	5,195	45.91%	5,653	49.96%	467	4.13%			-458	-4.05%	11,315
Wythe County	2,361	32.62%	4,508	62.28%	369	5.10%			-2,147	-29.66%	7,238
York County	3,150	32.37%	6,307	64.81%	275	2.83%			-3,157	-32.44%	9,732
Alexandria City	19,502	56.49%	13,250	38.38%	1,765	5.11%	7	0.02%	6,252	18.11%	34,524
Bedford City	847	40.74%	1,197	57.58%	35	1.68%			-350	-16.84%	2,079
Bristol City	1,663	29.30%	3,887	68.48%	126	2.22%			-2,224	-39.18%	5,676
Buena Vista City	533	32.52%	1,058	64.55%	48	2.93%			-525	-32.03%	1,639
Charlottesville City	5,849	44.70%	6,893	52.68%	333	2.54%	10	0.08%	-1,044	-7.98%	13,085
Chesapeake City	11,214	39.23%	16,402	57.38%	966	3.38%	1	0.00%	-5,188	-18.15%	28,583
Clifton Forge City	599	35.19%	1,039	61.05%	64	3.76%			-440	-25.85%	1,702
Colonial Heights City	1,671	25.75%	4,504	69.40%	315	4.85%			-2,833	-43.65%	6,490
Covington City	1,172	41.37%	1,523	53.76%	138	4.87%			-351	-12.39%	2,833
Danville City	3,313	23.26%	10,313	72.40%	619	4.35%			-7,000	-49.14%	14,245
Emporia City	530	29.20%	1,261	69.48%	24	1.32%			-731	-40.28%	1,815
Fairfax City	3,322	44.54%	3,672	49.24%	461	6.18%	3	0.04%	-350	-4.69%	7,458
Falls Church City	1,992	46.41%	2,076	48.37%	224	5.22%			-84	-1.96%	4,292
Franklin City	635	30.93%	1,365	66.49%	53	2.58%			-730	-35.56%	2,053
Fredericksburg City	1,824	38.02%	2,831	59.02%	142	2.96%			-1,007	-20.99%	4,797
Galax City	846	42.26%	1,095	54.70%	61	3.05%			-249	-12.44%	2,002
Hampton City	14,134	43.27%	17,212	52.69%	1,320	4.04%	1	0.00%	-3,078	-9.42%	32,667
Harrisonburg City	1,418	28.80%	3,242	65.85%	262	5.32%	1	0.02%	-1,824	-37.05%	4,923
Hopewell City	2,655	37.72%	4,124	58.59%	260	3.69%			-1,469	-20.87%	7,039
Lexington City	671	35.22%	1,204	63.20%	30	1.57%			-533	-27.98%	1,905
Lynchburg City	6,850	30.79%	14,602	65.64%	788	3.54%	5	0.02%	-7,752	-34.85%	22,245
Manassas City	1,412	41.43%	1,803	52.90%	191	5.60%	2	0.06%	-391	-11.47%	3,408
Manassas Park City	517	48.68%	489	46.05%	56	5.27%			28	2.64%	1,062
Martinsville City	2,246	37.32%	3,478	57.79%	294	4.89%			-1,232	-20.47%	6,018
Newport News City	15,897	38.71%	24,307	59.18%	864	2.10%	2	0.00%	-8,410	-20.48%	41,070
Norfolk City	29,751	46.82%	31,533	49.62%	2,263	3.56%	2	0.00%	-1,782	-2.80%	63,549
Norton City	496	39.43%	712	56.60%	50	3.97%			-216	-17.17%	1,258
Petersburg City	5,988	50.36%	5,613	47.21%	289	2.43%			375	3.15%	11,890
Poquoson City	476	18.93%	1,991	79.17%	47	1.87%	1	0.04%	-1,515	-60.24%	2,515
Radford City	1,611	42.31%	2,092	54.94%	103	2.70%	2	0.05%	-481	-12.63%	3,808
Richmond City	38,256	49.00%	37,697	48.28%	2,098	2.69%	29	0.04%	559	0.72%	78,080
Roanoke City	13,213	39.35%	18,918	56.34%	1,445	4.30%	3	0.01%	-5,705	-16.99%	33,579
Salem City	2,605	32.12%	5,154	63.56%	345	4.25%	5	0.06%	-2,549	-31.43%	8,109
South Boston City	522	23.55%	1,632	73.61%	63	2.84%			-1,110	-50.07%	2,217
Staunton City	2,263	31.03%	4,504	61.77%	523	7.17%	2	0.03%	-2,241	-30.73%	7,292
Suffolk City	5,845	41.83%	7,815	55.93%	314	2.25%			-1,970	-14.10%	13,974
Virginia Beach City	18,504	31.68%	37,621	64.42%	2,277	3.90%	2	0.00%	-19,117	-32.73%	58,404
Waynesboro City	1,790	32.12%	3,609	64.76%	174	3.12%			-1,819	-32.64%	5,573
Williamsburg City	1,110	38.24%	1,711	58.94%	80	2.76%	2	0.07%	-601	-20.70%	2,903
Winchester City	1,165	18.96%	4,757	77.40%	223	3.63%	1	0.02%	-3,592	-58.44%	6,146
Totals	596,009	38.27%	890,778	57.19%	70,559	4.53%	154	0.01%	-294,769	-18.93%	1,557,500

See also

• 1976 United States Senate elections

Notes

1. In this county or city where Zumwalt ran third behind both Byrd and Perper, margin given is Byrd vote minus Perper vote and percentage margin Byrd percentage minus Perper percentage.

References

1. Leip, David. "1976 Senatorial General Election Results – Virginia". US Election Atlas.
2. "VA US Senate – General Election, November 02, 1976". Our Campaigns.