 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
 County results D'Amato: 40-50% 50-60% 60-70% Holtzman: 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Elections in New York State |
|---|
 |
The 1980 United States Senate election in New York was held on November 4, 1980. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Jacob Javits was defeated in the primary by Al D'Amato. D'Amato went on to win the general election over Elizabeth Holtzman and Javits, who remained in the race as the candidate of the Liberal Party of New York.
Even as early as his time in the U.S. House in the 1940s, Jacob Javits had been one of the most liberal members of the Republican Party. [1] However, his electability in an otherwise Democratic-leaning state and considerable influence within the Senate allowed him to maintain strength within the party, [2] and he had been able to win election to four terms in the Senate even as his views became less and less popular among Republican loyalists. By 1979, he had become the longest-serving U.S. Senator in New York state history. [2]
For years, Javits had been considered politically "invincible," but had become vulnerable in 1980 in part due to the rise of the Conservative Party of New York, [2] which had cut into the Republican base. Conservatives argued that no Republican could win a general election without their endorsement. [3] In 1970, liberal Republican Senator Charles Goodell lost re-election to Conservative James L. Buckley. In Javits's prior two re-elections in 1968 and 1974, he had been held to less than a majority by strong Conservative performances.
Javits also faced criticisms from liberals in the state over his tepid opposition to the Vietnam War nearly a decade prior; among other things, he had failed to co-sponsor Goodell's amendment to set a deadline for American withdrawal from Vietnam. [2] Javits had also been outflanked by Buckley in 1974, when the Conservative Senator called for the resignation of Richard Nixon while Javits demurred. [2]
Before 1980, Javits had never faced a primary challenge. However, amid widespread speculation that he would not run, two challengers entered the race: Queens attorney James Eagan, a political unknown, and Hempstead supervisor Al D'Amato. [3] D'Amato, who locked up support from Republican leaders on Long Island and had strong ties to the Conservative Party which would ensure his cross-endorsement, was considered a serious threat. [3] On January 17, former Representative Bruce Caputo announced that he would enter the race for the Conservative and Republican nominations, assuming Javits ran. [4] Both he and D'Amato argued that a Conservative-Republican fusion would be unbeatable if Javits remained on the Liberal ticket. [4]
However, neither Caputo nor D'Amato were the Conservatives' first choice. Most speculation surrounded Representative Jack Kemp, a leading Conservative Party fundraiser and active supporter of Ronald Reagan's campaign for President. [5] Kemp was all but assured of the Conservative nomination if he desired it. [4] He told supporters that he would not challenge Javits, [3] but publicly said there was "a good chance" he would run if Javits retired. [4] The Conservatives withheld their formal endorsement from D'Amato, Caputo, or any other candidate in hopes that Javits would not run and Kemp would. [3]
Javits initially said he would announce his intent before February 12, but delayed that decision two weeks, citing his health. Javits also refused to fundraise before formally announcing his campaign despite changes in the law that would have allowed it. [3] When he did finally announce his re-election bid on February 25, Javits shocked supporters by revealing had been diagnosed with a form of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, better known as Lou Gehrig's disease, eighteen months earlier. [6] Javits said his diagnosis was "indolent." Dr. Jerome B. Posner of the Sloan-Kettering Institute confirmed that the disease would not affect Javits's cognition and said he believed Javits could serve out the six-year term. [6] (Javits ultimately died in March 1986, roughly one year before his term would have ended.)
Javits's announcement livened the race, which instantly centered on his long record. [7] Though some continued to urge Kemp to run, he ruled himself out. Thus, the primary campaign essentially became a two-stage contest: between Caputo and D'Amato for the Conservative nomination and then between the Conservative choice and Javits for the Republican nomination, though Caputo pledged he would remain in the race if he lost the Conservative nomination, disputing the assumption that the two would split the anti-Javits vote. [7] Caputo, considered a "handsome, media-wise candidate" with "something of a national reputation," [7] was considered a stronger opponent against Javits but faced an uphill battle against D'Amato, who was considered the more conservative of the two, although unknown outside of Long Island. [7] D'Amato campaigned on Caputo's support for the Humphrey–Hawkins Full Employment Act and opposition to the B-1 bomber. [7]
On March 22, the Conservative state committee gave their informal endorsement to D'Amato, pledging to formalize the nomination in June. There was considerable haggling over whether the committee would weight their votes by party support, which D'Amato favored since most of his strength was in the Conservative base of Queens, Nassau, and Suffolk. The final weighted vote backed D'Amato over Caputo nearly two-to-one. [8]
In preliminary speeches, D'Amato backers stressed his long standing in the Conservative Party and his ability to get on the Republican primary ballot without resorting to an expensive petition drive, since he had the necessary party committee support. [8]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conservative | Al D'Amato | 155,877 | 65.63% | |
| Conservative | Bruce Caputo | 80,587 | 33.93% | |
| Conservative | James Eagan | 1,048 | 0.44% | |
| Total votes | 237,512 | 100.00% | ||
After the announcement, Caputo said he would remain in the race. D'Amato said he would contest the general election even if he lost the primary. [8]
Few initially believed that D'Amato could unseat Javits in the primary. [9]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Al D'Amato | 323,468 | 55.68% | |
| Republican | Jacob Javits (incumbent) | 257,433 | 44.32% | |
| Total votes | 580,901 | 100.00% | ||
The Democratic field included four major candidates. Bess Myerson was the early favorite, having the support of Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan, New York City mayor Ed Koch, and Governor Hugh Carey. [7] [11] Nevertheless, Myerson's campaign was reliant on her statewide celebrity status as a former Miss America winner and TV personality. If she faltered, most expected Representative Elizabeth Holtzman to take the lead. She had already unseated House dean Emanuel Celler in 1972, and as a member of the House Judiciary Committee, took a leading role in the Nixon impeachment hearings. [7] The third leading candidate, former mayor of New York City John Lindsay, was considered popular with minority voters but struggled to escape his controversial eight-year tenure as mayor, which some city residents blamed for the near-bankruptcy of the city in 1975. [7]
Holtzman rose quickly in the primary, despite her difficulty expressing criticism of Senator Javits, who remained popular with the same liberal Democrats who supported her campaign. [9] During the campaign, Holtzman boasted that she was "never been hand-picked by the bosses. I have never been hand-picked by anyone.", in a thinly-veiled dig to her opponents. Holtzman touted her legislative record, implicitly criticizing Myerson's lack of actual political experience, [9] and her support for women's rights, having secured an extension for the Equal Rights Amendment's 1979 ratification. [12] Myerson also struggled to define herself ideologically, and by late March Holtzman had already pulled ahead in at least one poll. [9]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Elizabeth Holtzman | 378,567 | 40.74% | |
| Democratic | Bess Myerson | 292,767 | 31.51% | |
| Democratic | John Lindsay | 146,815 | 15.80% | |
| Democratic | John J. Santucci | 36,770 | 11.96% | |
| Total votes | 854,919 | 100.00% | ||
Although Elizabeth Holtzman sought the Liberal Party nomination, the party stuck with Javits, a decision which was to prove pivotal in the general election.
D'Amato, also running on the Conservative line, proceeded to defeat Democratic U.S. Representative Elizabeth Holtzman and Javits, who ran on the Liberal Party ticket. In the traditionally liberal state of New York, Javits split the Democratic vote with Holtzman, to give D'Amato a close victory. [14]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Al D'Amato | 2,272,082 | 37.77% | ||
| Conservative | Al D'Amato | 275,100 | 4.57% |  11.36 | |
| Right to Life | Al D'Amato | 152,470 | 2.53% | N/A | |
| Total | Al D'Amato | 2,699,652 | 44.88% | N/A | |
| Democratic | Elizabeth Holtzman | 2,618,661 | 43.54% |  5.31 | |
| Liberal | Jacob Javits (incumbent) | 664,544 | 11.05% | ||
| Libertarian | Richard Savadel | 21,465 | 0.36% | N/A | |
| Communist | William R. Scott | 4,161 | 0.07% | 0.01 | |
| Workers World | Thomas Soto | 3,643 | 0.06% | ||
| Socialist Workers | Victor A. Nieto | 2,715 | 0.05% | 0.10 | |
| Write-in | 73 | 0.00% | |||
| Majority | 80,991 | 1.34% | |||
| Total votes | 6,014,914 | 100.00% | |||
| Republican hold | Swing | ||||
The Liberal Party of New York is a political party in New York. Its platform supports a standard set of socially liberal policies, including abortion rights, increased spending on education, and universal health care.
Alfonse Marcello D'Amato is an American attorney and Republican former senator, from the state of New York. He represented New York in the United States Senate from 1981 to 1999.
The Conservative Party of New York State is an American political party founded in 1962 following conservative dissatisfaction with the Republican Party in New York. Running on the Conservative Party line, James L. Buckley won election to the U.S. Senate in 1970 and served for one term. Since 2010, the party has held "Row C" on New York ballots—the third-place ballot position, directly below the Democratic and Republican parties—because it received the third-highest number of votes of any political party in the 2010, 2014 and 2018 New York gubernatorial elections. The party is known for its strategy of attempting to influence the Republican Party in a more conservative direction.
Jacob Koppel Javits was an American lawyer and politician. During his time in politics, he represented the state of New York in both houses of the United States Congress. A member of the Republican Party, he also served as the state's Attorney General. Generally considered a liberal Republican, he was often at odds with his own party. A supporter of labor unions, Great Society and civil rights, he played a key role in the passing of civil rights legislation. An opponent of the War in Vietnam, he drafted the War Powers Resolution in 1973.
The 1998 United States Senate elections were held on November 3, with the 34 seats of Class 3 contested in regular elections. This was seen as an even contest between the Republican Party and Democratic Party. While the Democrats had to defend more seats up for election, Republican attacks on the morality of President Bill Clinton failed to connect with voters and anticipated Republican gains did not materialize. The Republicans picked up open seats in Ohio and Kentucky and narrowly defeated Democratic incumbent Carol Moseley Braun, but these were cancelled out by the Democrats' gain of an open seat in Indiana and defeats of Republican Senators Al D'Amato and Lauch Faircloth. The balance of the Senate remained unchanged at 55–45 in favor of the Republicans.
The 1992 United States Senate elections, held November 3, 1992, were elections for the United States Senate. The 34 seats of Class 3 were contested in regular elections, along with special elections to fill vacancies. They coincided with Bill Clinton's victory in the presidential election. This was the first time since 1956 that the balance of the Senate remained the same.
The 1986 United States Senate elections were elections for the United States Senate. Held on November 4, in the middle of Ronald Reagan's second presidential term, the 34 seats of Class 3 were contested in regular elections. The Republicans had to defend an unusually large number of freshman Senate incumbents who had been elected on President Ronald Reagan's coattails in 1980. Democrats won a net of eight seats, defeating seven freshman incumbents, picking up two Republican-held open seats, and regaining control of the Senate for the first time since January 1981. This remains the most recent midterm election cycle in which the sitting president's party suffered net losses while still flipping a Senate seat.
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 1968 United States Senate elections were elections for the United States Senate. Held on November 5, the 34 seats of Class 3 were contested in regular elections. They coincided with the presidential election of the same year. The Republicans picked up five net seats in the Senate. This saw Republicans win a Senate seat in Florida for the first time since Reconstruction.
The 1956 United States Senate elections were elections for the United States Senate that coincided with the re-election of President Dwight D. Eisenhower. The 32 seats of Class 3 were contested in regular elections, and three special elections were held to fill vacancies. Although Democrats gained two seats in regular elections, the Republicans gained two seats in special elections, leaving the party balance of the chamber unchanged.
Elizabeth Holtzman is an American attorney and politician who served in the United States House of Representatives from New York's 16th congressional district as a member of the Democratic Party from 1973 to 1981. She then served as district attorney of Kings County from 1982 to 1989, and as the 40th Comptroller of New York City from 1990 to 1993.
Arthur Jay Finkelstein was a New York state-based Republican Party (GOP) consultant who worked for conservative and right-wing candidates in the United States, Canada, Israel, Central Europe, and Eastern Europe over four decades.
Bruce Faulkner Caputo is an American lawyer and politician from New York. He is most notable for his service as a member of the New York State Assembly and the United States House of Representatives.
From January 29 to June 4, 1996, voters of the Republican Party chose its nominee for president in the 1996 United States presidential election. Senator Bob Dole of Kansas, the former Senate majority leader, was selected as the nominee through a series of primary elections and caucuses culminating in the 1996 Republican National Convention held from August 12 to 15, 1996, in San Diego, California; Dole resigned from the Senate in June 1996 once he became the presumptive nominee to concentrate on his presidential campaign.
The 1994 New York gubernatorial election was an election for the state governorship held on November 8, 1994. Incumbent Democratic Governor Mario Cuomo ran for a fourth term, but was defeated by Republican George Pataki in an upset victory. Pataki had previously been described by the New York Daily News as "a little-known Republican state senator." The conservative New York Post attributed the result to how voters "had grown tired of the 12-year incumbent Cuomo and his liberalism."
The United States Senate election of 1956 in New York was held on November 6, 1956. Incumbent Senator Herbert H. Lehman retired after one term in the Senate. Republican Attorney General of New York Jacob K. Javits defeated Mayor of New York City Robert F. Wagner Jr. to win the open seat.
The 1968 New York state election was held on November 5, 1968, to elect a judge of the New York Court of Appeals and a U.S. Senator, as well as all members of the New York State Assembly and the New York State Senate.
The 1970 United States Senate election in New York was held on November 3, 1970, to elect New York's Class I Senator in its delegation. Representative Charles Goodell had been appointed by Governor Nelson Rockefeller to serve the remainder of Robert F. Kennedy's senatorial term, following Kennedy's assassination.
The 1992 United States Senate election in New York took place on November 3, 1992, alongside other elections to the United States Senate in other states, as well as elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections. Incumbent Senator Al D'Amato narrowly won re-election to a third term. As of 2024, this is the last time the Republicans won a U.S. Senate election in New York. This is also the last time that a Senate candidate was voted for in and was elected to the United States Senate in New York at the same time that a presidential candidate of a different political party was voted for in and had won New York.
The 1968 United States Senate election in New York was held on November 5, 1968. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Jacob Javits defeated Democratic challenger Paul O'Dwyer and Conservative Party challenger James Buckley in a three-way race.
