The 1984 United States Senate elections were held on November 6, with the 33 seats of Class 2 contested in regular elections. They coincided with the landslide re-election of PresidentRonald Reagan in the presidential election. In spite of the lopsided presidential race, Reagan's Republican Party suffered a net loss of two Senate seats to the Democrats, although it retained control of the Senate with a reduced 53–47 majority.
Democrats defeated incumbents in Illinois and Iowa, and won an open seat in Tennessee, while Republicans defeated an incumbent in Kentucky. This was the first time since 1972 that Democrats gained Class 2 Senate seats.
The 1984 United States Senate election in Alabama was held on November 6, 1984. Incumbent Democratic Senator Howell Heflin was easily re-elected to a second term. Heflin received 94% of the black vote.[2]
Incumbent Republican Ted Stevens sought re-election to a fourth term. Owing to his popularity and the conservative bent of Alaska, Stevens did not face major opposition, and easily defeated former Alaska Attorney GeneralJohn Havelock in the general election.
The election was very close. Simon prevailed by only 89,126 votes, or 1.86%. Incumbent Percy did well all throughout the state, including the Chicago collar counties. However, Simon received huge numbers out of the heavily populated and Democratic Cook County, which encompasses most of the Chicago Metropolitan Area. Percy led early on and well into the night, but as Cook County began to count all of its votes, Simon pulled ahead. Simon won despite then-president Reagan winning the state easily. Percy called Simon at around 5 A.M. the next day and conceded. Percy also congratulated Simon on his hard-earned victory. Simon was sworn in on January 3, 1985, and served in the senate until January 3, 1997, when he retired. Simon was later succeeded by Dick Durbin, a close friend and fellow Democrat.
Incumbent Republican Roger Jepsen ran for re-election to a second term in the United States Senate. Jepsen was opposed by United States CongressmanTom Harkin, from Iowa's 5th congressional district, who won the Democratic primary uncontested. The general election was full of mudslinging and personal attacks, including the embellishment by both candidates of their military records; Harkin attacked Jepsen for failing to keep his promise to not sell AWACS aircraft to Saudi Arabia.[7] Ultimately, Harkin defeated Jepsen by a wide margin, winning the first of five terms in the Senate.
Incumbent Max Baucus ran for re-election. He easily won renomination in the Democratic primary, and advanced to the general election, where he faced Chuck Cozzens, a former State Representative and the Republican nominee. Despite President Ronald Reagan's strong performance in the state that year, Baucus was able to easily win a second term over Cozzens.
The election was fought between the Republican incumbent Jesse Helms and Democratic GovernorJim Hunt. Helms won the election, the most expensive non-presidential election in United States history up to that point, by a margin significantly reduced from that that Helms achieved in 1978.
1984 North Carolina U.S. Senate Republican primary election[18]
Hunt had a commanding lead in opinion polls for much of the campaign, with one poll in 1983 putting him nineteen points clear of Helms.[19] However, that was changed by the most bitterly contested election in the country that year.[19] Hunt ran a campaign ad connecting Helms to death squads in El Salvador through his association with the Nationalist Republican Alliance, for whom Roberto d'Aubuisson had recently run for the President of El Salvador.[19] In the short time before election day, however, the highly popular incumbent US President Ronald Reagan gave Helms a significant boost[20] by campaigning for him and running a local TV ad praising Helms and asking registered voters in North Carolina to re-elect him.[21]
The election cost a total of $26,379,483 in total reported spending (over twelve times as much as the 1980 race), of which, 64% ($16.9m) was spent by Helms.[22]
Voters Education Project (VEP) in Atlanta study showed that Helms received 63 percent of the white vote and was particularly successful in small towns and rural areas, while receiving less than 1 percent of the black vote in 35 almost-all-black precincts.[23] "Hunt got 37 percent of the white and 98.8 percent of the black vote, according to VEP. But only 61 percent of registered blacks voted, down from 63 percent in 1980."[23] While, It had among the lowest industrial wages in the United States and was third in terms of mobile homes.[23]
Oklahoma
Incumbent Democrat David Boren won re-election to a second term.
Popular incumbent Republican Strom Thurmond cruised to re-election against Democratic challenger Melvin Purvis. Melvin Purvis, a white minister and the son of famous FBI agent Melvin Purvis, won a close race against black photographer Cecil J. Williams. The closeness of the race and the fact that the black candidate did not win propelled Jesse Jackson to request a Justice Department investigation into the primary and he also considered an independent bid for the seat. GovernorRichard Riley and 3rd districtRepresentativeButler Derrick flirted with running, but backed down when Thurmond received endorsements from prominent Democrats in South Carolina.
Democratic Primary
Candidate
Votes
%
Melvin Purvis
149,730
50.2%
Cecil J. Williams
148,586
49.8%
Senator Strom Thurmond easily defeated Robert Cunningham to advance to the general election.
Thurmond received endorsements from former Democratic governor Robert Evander McNair, Charleston mayor Joseph P. Riley Jr., and an assortment of black mayors in the state. He did not face a serious challenge and spent almost $1.5 million on the race whereas Purvis spent less than $10,000. An ironic footnote to the election is the fact that Purvis used Thurmond's age as an issue in the campaign. He claimed Thurmond was too old, yet Purvis died less than two years after the election of a heart attack at age 46.
Although the Senate election coincided with the landslide re-election of President Reagan, who carried Tennessee by a wide margin, this time his victory did not have any coattails, as it did in 1980, and Democrats picked up three Republican seats. One of the Democratic gains was in Tennessee, where moderate democrat Gore won in a landslide:[26]
Incumbent Republican John G. Tower decided to retire, instead of seeking a fifth term. Republican Phil Gramm won the open seat over Democratic State Senator Lloyd Doggett.
The Democratic primary was 45% Hispanic, but included many moderate to conservative voters. Hance positioned himself as the most moderate to conservative candidate, who co-sponsored President Ronald Reagan's tax package.[27] Doggett was the more liberal candidate, attacking Reaganomics and getting endorsements from the Texas teachers' union and Agriculture Commissioner Jim Hightower.[28] Krueger was seen as the front runner and was a moderate who supported the state's oil and gas industry, but had close ties with the Hispanic community because he was Spanish-speaking.[29] Hance attacked both Kroeger and Doggett for supporting amnesty for illegal aliens and supporting gay rights.[30] The initial primary was extremely close between the top three candidates. Each candidate got 31% of the electorate. Hance ranked first, only 273 votes ahead of Doggett and 1,560 votes ahead of Krueger.
Since no candidate passed the 50% threshold, Hance and Doggett qualified for the run-off election. Hance fired his pollster despite ranking first.[31] Krueger endorsed fellow U.S. Congressman Hance, saying "Ultimately, the quality of one's public service depends upon the character that one displays in filling an office."[32][33] In the June election, Doggett very narrowly defeated Hance by just 1,345 votes.
The Republican primary was a highly competitive, multimillion-dollar contest.[36] Gramm recently switched parties in 1983, but he was a conservative who supported Reaganomics. Gramm spent $4 million.[37]
↑ Senator Strom Thurmond was originally elected as a Democrat in 1954, but as a write-in candidate, a special election in 1956 and 1960 before switching to a Republican in 1964. Thurmond won re-election as a Republican in 1966, 1972 and 1978.
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Barone, Michael; Ujifusa, Grant (1985). The Almanac of American Politics 1986: The Senators, the Representatives and the Governors: Their Records and Election Results, Their States and Districts.
Snider, William D. (1985). Helms and Hunt: The North Carolina Senate Race, 1984. University of North Carolina Press.
State Election Commission (1985). Report of the South Carolina State Election Commission 1984-1985. Columbia, SC: State Election Commission. p.62.
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