1978 United States Senate election in Tennessee

For related races, see 1978 United States Senate elections.

1978 United States Senate election in Tennessee

←  1972 November 7, 1978 1984  →

Nominee Howard Baker Jane Eskind Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 642,644 466,228 Percentage 55.54% 40.30%

County results Baker:     50–60%     60–70%     70–80% Eskind:     50–60%     60–70%

U.S. senator before election Howard Baker Republican Elected U.S. Senator Howard Baker Republican

The 1978 United States Senate election in Tennessee took place on November 7, 1978, to elect the U.S. Senator from the state of Tennessee. Two-term popular incumbent Republican U.S. Senator, Howard Baker, who had served as United States Senate Minority Leader since 1977, won reelection over first-time candidate and Democratic Party activist Jane Eskind.

Democratic primary

Candidates:

• Jame Boyd
• Walter Bradley
• Former State Senate Majority Leader Bill Bruce
• Jane Eskind
• James Foster
• Douglas L. Heinsohn
• J. D. Lee
• Virginia Nyabongo
• Charles Gordon Vick

In an open primary on August 3, Eskind defeated eight other candidates: ^[1]

• Eskind – 196,156 (34.52%)
• Bruce – 170,795 (30.06%)
• Lee – 89,939 (15.83%)
• Boyd – 48,458 (8.53%)
• Bradley – 22,130 (3.90%)
• Heinsohn – 17,787 (3.13%)
• Foster – 10,671 (1.88%)
• Nyabongo – 7,682 (1.35%)
• Vick – 4,414 (0.78%)
• Write-in – 147 (0.03%)

Republican primary

Candidates:

• Incumbent United States Senator and Senate Minority Leader Howard Baker
• J. Durelle Boles
• Harvey Howard
• Hubert David Patty
• Dayton Seiler
• Francis Trapp

Baker easily won the August 3 primary: ^[2]

• Baker – 205,680 (83.44%)
• Howard – 21,154 (8.58%)
• Boles – 8,899 (3.61%)
• Patty – 3,941 (1.60%)
• Seiler – 3,831 (1.55%)
• Trapp – 2,994 (1.22%)

General election

Baker won with a 15-point margin in the general election, held on November 7:

General election results ^{[3] [4]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Howard Baker (incumbent)	642,644	55.54%
	Democratic	Jane Eskind	466,228	40.30%
	Independent	Thomas J. Anderson	45,908	3.97%
	Independent	Fern L. Keasler	2,243	0.19%
	Republican hold

See also

• 1978 United States Senate elections

References

1. "Our Campaigns – TN US Senate – D Primary Race – Aug 03, 1978". ourcampaigns.com. Retrieved November 24, 2014.
2. "Our Campaigns – TN US Senate – R Primary Race – Aug 03, 1978". ourcampaigns.com. Retrieved November 24, 2014.
3. "Our Campaigns – TN US Senate Race – Nov 07, 1978". ourcampaigns.com. Retrieved November 24, 2014.
4. Clerk of the United States House of Representatives (1979). "Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 7, 1978" (PDF). U.S. Government Printing Office.