1978 United States Senate election in Louisiana

1978 Democratic Senate primary election in Louisiana

←  1972 September 16, 1978 1984  →

Nominee J. Bennett Johnston Woody Jenkins Party Democratic Democratic Popular vote 498,773 340,896 Percentage 59.40% 40.60%

Parish results Johnston:     50–60%     60–70%     70–80%     80–90% Jenkins:     50-60%

U.S. senator before election J. Bennett Johnston Democratic Elected U.S. Senator J. Bennett Johnston Democratic

The open primary election for the 1978 United States Senate election in Louisiana was held on September 16, 1978.

Incumbent Senator J. Bennett Johnston won the election with 59.40% of the vote and was declared elected by a majority, dispelling the need for a general election in November.

Candidates

Democratic Party

• J. Bennett Johnston, incumbent Senator
• Woody Jenkins, State Representative

Results

Primary election

1978 U.S. Senate primary ^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	J. Bennett Johnston (incumbent)	498,773	59.4%
	Democratic	Woody Jenkins	340,896	40.6%
Total votes			839,669	100%

General election

By virtue of Johnston's majority of the vote in the primary election, he was unopposed in the general election. Under Louisiana state law at the time, it was not required to tabulate votes for unopposed candidates. ^[2]

See also

• 1978 United States Senate elections

References

1. "LA US Senate". Our Campaigns. Retrieved August 15, 2019.
2. Clerk of the United States House of Representatives (1979). "Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 7, 1978" (PDF). U.S. Government Printing Office.