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The 1982 United States Senate election in Pennsylvania was held on November 2, 1982. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator H. John Heinz III successfully sought re-election to another term, defeating Democratic nominee Cyril Wecht.
Cyril Harrison Wecht is an American forensic pathologist. He has been a consultant in numerous high-profile cases, but is perhaps best known for his criticism of the Warren Commission's findings concerning the assassination of John F. Kennedy.
Allegheny County is a county in the southwest of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. As of 2017 the population was 1,223,048, making it the state's second-most populous county, following Philadelphia County. The county seat is Pittsburgh. Allegheny County is included in the Pittsburgh, PA Metropolitan Statistical Area, and in the Pittsburgh Designated Market Area.
John Heinz's Democratic opponent in the 1982 election was Allegheny County commissioner and former coroner Cyril Wecht, who lacked significant name recognition outside of Pittsburgh, his home town. Although the 1982 elections were a setback nationally for incumbent President Ronald Reagan and the Republican Party, neither Heinz nor incumbent Republican governor Dick Thornburgh, who was also up for re-election in 1982, were challenged by Democrats with statewide prominence. Wecht ran a low-budget campaign lacking the assets to boost his name recognition; the Philadelphia Inquirer ran a headline dubbing the race "The Race for Senator No One Seemed to Notice." [1] Despite this, Heinz ran a cautious campaign, running as a moderate due to Pennsylvania's unemployment, 11%, one of the highest in the nation at the time, as well as the declining health of Pennsylvania's coal mining, manufacturing and steel industries. In the end, Heinz won the election by a wide margin, winning 59.3% of the popular vote. Wecht won 39.2% of the popular vote. [1]
A coroner may conduct or order an inquest into the manner or cause of death, and investigate or confirm the identity of an unknown person who has been found dead within the coroner's jurisdiction.
In politics, name recognition is the ability a voter has to identify a candidate's name due to a certain amount of previous exposure through various campaigning methods. It can be described as the awareness voters have about specific candidates resulting from various forms of campaign advertising. Some of the advertising methods used by candidates running for various offices are creating posters, making yard signs, bumper stickers and attempting to get media exposure, are a few examples of how they achieve this. Though candidates can achieve high name recognition and exposure, this does not necessarily mean that the average voter has a good understanding of their ideologies, positions and stances on political issues.
Pittsburgh is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in the United States, and is the county seat of Allegheny County. As of 2017, a population of 305,704 lives within the city limits, making it the 63rd-largest city in the U.S. The metropolitan population of 2,353,045 is the largest in both the Ohio Valley and Appalachia, the second-largest in Pennsylvania, and the 26th-largest in the U.S.
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ± | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | H. John Heinz III (Incumbent) | 2,136,418 | 59.28% | +6.89% | |
| Democratic | Cyril Wecht | 1,412,965 | 39.20% | -7.59% | |
| Libertarian | Barbara I. Karkutt | 19,244 | 0.53% | +0.53% | |
| Socialist Workers | William H. Thomas | 18,951 | 0.53 | +0.41% | |
| Consumer | Liane Norman | 16,530 | 0.46% | +0.46% | |
| Majority | 723,453 | 20.08% | +14.48% | ||
| Totals | 3,604,108 | 100.00% | align="right" | ||
The 2004 United States Senate elections were elections for one-third of the seats in the United States Senate which coincided with the re-election of George W. Bush as president and the United States House election, as well as many state and local elections. Senators who were elected in 1998, known as Senate Class 3, were seeking re-election or retiring in 2004. This was the third consecutive election for Senate Class 3 where the Democrats failed to end up with a net gain. This also marked the first time since 1980 in which a presidential candidate from either party won with coattails in the Senate. As of 2018, these are the last elections held during a Presidential election year in which the Republicans made a net gain of seats.
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