United States Senate election in Pennsylvania, 1976

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United States Senate election in Pennsylvania, 1976
Flag of Pennsylvania.svg
  1970 November 2, 1976 1982  

  John Heinz.jpg William J. Green.jpg
Nominee John Heinz Bill Green
Party Republican Democratic
Popular vote2,381,891 2,126,977
Percentage52.4% 46.8%

Pennsylvania Senatorial Election Results by County, 1976.svg


U.S. Senator before election

Hugh Scott
Republican

Elected U.S. Senator

John Heinz
Republican

The 1976 United States Senate election in Pennsylvania was held on November 2, 1976. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator and Minority Leader Hugh Scott decided to retire. Republican John Heinz won the open seat. [1]

Republican Party (United States) Major political party in the United States

The Republican Party, also referred to as the GOP, is one of the two major political parties in the United States; the other is its historic rival, the Democratic Party.

Party leaders of the United States Senate Wikimedia list article

The Senate Majority and Minority Leaders are two United States Senators and members of the party leadership of the United States Senate. These leaders serve as the chief Senate spokespeople for the political parties respectively holding the majority and the minority in the United States Senate, and manage and schedule the legislative and executive business of the Senate. They are elected to their positions in the Senate by the party caucuses: the Senate Democratic Caucus and the Senate Republican Conference.

Hugh Scott American politician

Hugh Doggett Scott Jr. was an American lawyer and politician. A member of the Republican Party, he represented Pennsylvania in the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate. He served as Senate Minority Leader from 1969 to 1977.

Contents

Background

In December 1975, U.S. senator Hugh Scott announced that he would not seek re-election in 1976 at the age of 75 after serving in Congress for 33 years. Scott listed personal reasons and several "well-qualified potential candidates" for the seat among the reasons of his decision to retire. Other reasons, including his support for Richard Nixon and accusations that he had illegally obtained contributions from Gulf Oil were alleged to have contributed to the decision. [2]

Richard Nixon 37th president of the United States

Richard Milhous Nixon was the 37th president of the United States from 1969 to 1974. He had previously served as the 36th vice president of the United States from 1953 to 1961, and prior to that as both a U.S. representative and senator from California.

Gulf Oil former global oil company

Gulf Oil was a major global oil company from 1901 until March 15, 1985. The eighth-largest American manufacturing company in 1941 and the ninth-largest in 1979, Gulf Oil was one of the so-called Seven Sisters oil companies. Prior to its merger with Standard Oil of California, Gulf was one of the chief instruments of the Mellon family fortune; both Gulf and Mellon Financial had their headquarters in Pittsburgh.

Democratic primary

Candidates

Jeanette F. Reibman is a former Democratic member of the Pennsylvania State Senate. She also served in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. She was the first female Pennsylvania State Senator, and us one of only two women to have been elected to the Senate for Lehigh and Northhampton counties as of 2015, along with Lisa Boscola.

Pennsylvania State Senate

The Pennsylvania State Senate is the upper house of the Pennsylvania General Assembly, the Pennsylvania state legislature. The State Senate meets in the State Capitol building in Harrisburg. Senators are elected for four year terms, staggered every two years such that half of the seats are contested at each election. Even numbered seats and odd numbered seats are contested in separate election years. The President Pro Tempore of the Senate becomes the Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania in the event of the sitting Lieutenant Governor's removal, resignation or death. In this case the President Pro Tempore and Lieutenant Governor would be the same person. The Pennsylvania Senate has been meeting since 1791.

Results

Democratic primary results [5]
PartyCandidateVotes%
Democratic William J. Green III 762,733 68.71
Democratic Jeanette Reibman 345,264 31.10
Democratic Others 2,058 0.19

Republican primary

Candidates

Arlen Specter American politician; former United States Senator from Pennsylvania

Arlen Specter was an American lawyer, author, and politician who served as United States Senator for Pennsylvania. Specter was a Democrat from 1951 to 1965, then a Republican from 1965 until 2009, when he switched back to the Democratic Party. First elected in 1980, he represented Pennsylvania in the U.S. Senate for 30 years.

The Office of the District Attorney of Philadelphia is the largest prosecutor's office in Pennsylvania, and one of the largest in the nation. It serves the more than 1.5 million citizens of the City and County of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The current District Attorney of Philadelphia is Larry Krasner. The district attorney represents the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the City & County of Philadelphia in all criminal and other prosecutions.

<i>Philadelphia Bulletin</i> newspaper in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

The Philadelphia Bulletin was a daily evening newspaper published from 1847 to 1982 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was the largest circulation newspaper in Philadelphia for 76 years and was once the largest evening newspaper in the United States. Its widely known slogan was: "In Philadelphia, nearly everybody reads The Bulletin."

Results

Republican primary results [4]
PartyCandidateVotes%
Republican H. John Heinz III 358,715 37.73
Republican Arlen Specter 332,513 34.98
Republican George Packard 160,379 16.87
Republican Others 99,074 10.43

General election

Candidates

Campaign

Heinz was the victor in all but nine counties, defeating opponent William Green, who had a 300,000 vote advantage in his native Philadelphia area. Heinz and Green spend $2.5 million and $900,000, respectively, during the ten-month campaign. Much of the money Heinz spent on his campaign was his own, leading to accusations from Green that he was "buying the seat". Heinz replied to this by claiming that the spending was necessary to overcome the Democratic voter registration advantage. [9]

Results

General election results [1]
PartyCandidateVotes%±
Republican H. John Heinz III 2,381,891 52.39% +0.96%
Democratic William J. Green III 2,126,977 46.79% +1.41%
Constitution Andrew J. Watson 26,028 0.57% -1.79%
Socialist Workers Frederick W. Stanton 5,484 0.12% +0.01%
Labor Party Bernard Salera 3,637 0.08% +0.08%
Communist Party Frank Kinces 2,097 0.05% +0.05%
N/A Other 239 0.00% N/A
Totals4,546,353100.00%

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 "Statistics of the Congressional and Presidential Election of November 2, 1976" (PDF). Office of the Clerk of the U.S. House. Retrieved July 9, 2014.
  2. "Senate Republican leader Hugh Scott won't run in 1976". St. Petersburg Times. December 5, 1975. Retrieved August 14, 2011.
  3. "GREEN, William Joseph, (born 1938)". Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress. Retrieved August 13, 2011.
  4. 1 2 3 "PA US Senate - R Primary". Our Campaigns. Retrieved August 14, 2011.
  5. "PA US Senate - D Primary". Our Campaigns. Retrieved August 14, 2011.
  6. "Heinz, Henry John III (1938–1991)". Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress. Retrieved August 13, 2011.
  7. "Specter, Arlen (born 1930)". Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress. Retrieved August 14, 2011.
  8. "Biography of H. John Heinz III". Archives: Biographies. Carnegie Mellon University. Retrieved August 7, 2012.
  9. "John Heinz". Gettysburg Times. November 3, 1976. Retrieved August 14, 2011.