The President of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces.
Ronald Wilson Reagan was an American politician who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. Prior to his presidency, he was a Hollywood actor and union leader before serving as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 to 1975.
√ William L. Armstrong (Republican) 64.2% Nancy E. Dick (Democratic) 34.6% Craig Green (Libertarian) 0.9% David Martin (Socialist Workers) 0.2% Earl Higgerson (Prohibition) 0.1%
Incumbent lost re-election. New senator elected. Democratic gain.
√ Paul Simon (Democratic) 50.1% Charles H. Percy (Republican) 48.2% Steven Givot (Libertarian) 1.2% Marjorie Pries (Citizens) 0.2% Nelson Gonzalez (Socialist Workers) 0.1% Ishmael Flory (Communist) 0.1%
Incumbent Republican Ted Stevens sought re-election to a third 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.
Theodore Fulton Stevens Sr. was an American politician who served as a United States Senator from Alaska from 1968 to 2009. He was the longest-serving Republican U.S. Senator in history at the time he left office; his record was surpassed in January 2017 by Orrin Hatch from Utah. He was President pro tempore of the United States Senate in the 108th and 109th Congresses from January 3, 2003 to January 3, 2007 and was the third U.S. Senator to hold the title of President pro tempore emeritus.
The Alaska Attorney General is the chief legal advisor to the government of the State of Alaska and to its governor. The Attorney General is appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Alaska Legislature. The position has existed since the early days of the Territory of Alaska, though it was an elected rather than an appointed position prior to statehood. The Attorney General also serves as the Commissioner of the Alaska Department of Law, and is the only commissioner of a principal department of Alaska state government not referred to as "Commissioner" in normal usage. Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy nominated Anchorage attorney Kevin Clarkson to fill the position on December 5, 2018.
Incumbent Democrat David Pryor won re-election to a second term over Republican U.S. Representative Ed Bethune.
David Hampton Pryor is an American politician and former Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives and United States Senator from the State of Arkansas. Pryor also served as 39th Governor of Arkansas from 1975 to 1979 and was a member of the Arkansas House of Representatives from 1960 to 1966. He served as the interim chairman of the Arkansas Democratic Party, following Bill Gwatney's assassination.
Edwin Ruthvin Bethune Jr., known as Ed Bethune, is an American lawyer and lobbyist in Washington, D.C., who was a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from Arkansas from 1979-1985. His last campaign was an unsuccessful challenge in 1984 to the second-term reelection of Democratic U.S. Senator David Hampton Pryor.
Incumbent Democrat Joe Biden won re-election to a third term, defeating Republican challenger John M. Burris, former Majority Leader of the Delaware House of Representatives.
Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. is an American politician who served as the 47th vice president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he represented Delaware in the U.S. Senate from 1973 to 2009.
The Delaware House of Representatives is the lower house of the Delaware General Assembly, the state legislature of the US state of Delaware. It is composed of 41 Representatives from an equal number of constituencies, each of whom is elected to a two-year term. Its members are not subject to term limits. The House meets at the Delaware Legislative Hall in Dover.
Incumbent Democrat Sam Nunn won re-election to a third term over Republican educator, Mike Hicks[4][5]
Samuel Augustus Nunn Jr. is an American lawyer and politician. Currently the co-chairman of the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI), a charitable organization working to prevent catastrophic attacks with nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons, Nunn served for 24 years as a United States Senator from Georgia as a member of the Democratic Party. His political experience and credentials on national defense reportedly made him a potential running mate for Democratic presidential candidates John Kerry (2004) and Barack Obama (2008).
Charles Harting "Chuck" Percy was an American businessman and politician. He was president of the Bell & Howell Corporation from 1949 to 1964. In 1966, he was elected to the United States Senate from Illinois as a Republican; he served for three terms until 1985, when he was defeated by Paul Simon. He was mentioned as a GOP presidential hopeful from 1968 through 1988. During his Senate career, Percy concentrated on business and foreign relations.
The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, which along with the United States House of Representatives—the lower chamber—comprises the legislature of the United States. The Senate chamber is located in the north wing of the Capitol, in Washington, D.C.
Paul Martin Simon was an American author and politician from Illinois. He served in the United States House of Representatives from 1975 to 1985, and in the United States Senate from 1985 to 1997. A member of the Democratic Party, he unsuccessfully ran for the 1988 Democratic presidential nomination.
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.[6] 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[17]
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.[18] However, that was changed by the most bitterly contested election in the country that year.[18] 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.[18] In the short time before election day, however, the highly popular incumbent US President Ronald Reagan gave Helms a significant boost[19] by campaigning for him and running a local TV ad praising Helms and asking registered voters in North Carolina to re-elect him.[20]
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.[21]
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.[22] "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."[22] While, It had among the lowest industrial wages in the United States and was third in terms of mobile homes.[22]
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.
In the Republican primary, held on August 2, Ashe easily emerged as a winner:[24]
Ashe - 145,744 (86.47%)
McNeil - 17,970 (10.66%)
Patty - 4,777 (2.83%)
Write-in - 49 (0.03%)
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 conservative democrat Gore won in a landslide:[25]
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.[26] Doggett was the more liberal candidate, attacking Reaganomics and getting endorsements from the Texas teachers' union and Agriculture Commissioner Jim Hightower.[27] 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.[28] Hance attacked both Kroeger and Doggett for supporting amnesty for illegal aliens and supporting gay rights.[29] 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.[30] 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."[31][32] In the June election, Doggett very narrowly defeated Hance by just 1,345 votes.
The Republican primary was a highly competitive, multimillion-dollar contest.[35] Gramm recently switched parties in 1983, but he was a conservative who supported Reaganomics. Gramm spent $4 million.[36]
Kent Ronald Hance is the former Chancellor of the Texas Tech University System. In his role, he oversaw Texas Tech University, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center and Angelo State University in San Angelo, Texas. He is also a lobbyist and lawyer who was a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from West Texas, having served from 1979 to 1985. After his congressional service, he switched to the Republican Party and in 1990 made an unsuccessful primary race for governor of Texas.
The 1994 United States Senate elections were elections held November 8, 1994, in which the Republican Party was able to take control of the Senate from the Democrats. In a midterm election, the opposition Republicans held the traditional advantage. Congressional Republicans campaigned against the early presidency of Bill Clinton, including his unsuccessful health care plan.
The 1998 United States Senate elections were held on November 3 and 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 (Illinois), 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. With Democrats gaining five seats in the House of Representatives, this marked the first time since 1934 that the out-of-presidency party failed to gain congressional seats in a mid-term election, and the first time since 1822 that the party not in control of the White House failed to gain seats in the mid-term election of a President's second term. These are the last senate elections that resulted in no net change in the balance of power.
The 1996 United States Senate elections coincided with the presidential election, in which Democrat Bill Clinton was re-elected President.
The 1992 United States Senate elections, held November 3, 1992, were elections for the United States Senate that coincided with Bill Clinton's victory the presidential election. Despite the presidential victory, Democrats had a net loss of a seat in the general elections, and only managed to break even by winning a seat in a special election.
The 1990 United States Senate elections were held on Tuesday, November 6, 1990. The Democratic Party increased its majority with a net gain of one seat from the Republican Party. The election took place in the middle of President George H. W. Bush's term, and, as with most other midterm elections, the party not holding the presidency gained seats in Congress.
The 1988 United States Senate elections was an election for the United States Senate in which, in spite of the Republican victory by George H. W. Bush in the presidential election, the Democrats gained a net of one seat in the Senate. Seven seats changed parties, with four incumbents being defeated. The Democratic majority in the Senate increased by one from 54/46 to 55/45.
The 1986 United States Senate elections was an election for the United States Senate in the middle of Ronald Reagan's second presidential term. 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 and regaining control of the Senate for the first time since January 1981. The party not controlling the presidency gained seats, as usually occurs in mid-term elections.
The 1982 United States Senate elections were held on November 2, 1982. They were elections for the United States Senate following Republican gains in 1980. A total of four seats changed hands between parties, and the lone independent, Senator Harry Byrd Jr., retired. Democrats made a net gain of one seat in the elections. A special election in 1983 was then held after the winner of Washington's 1982 election died at the beginning of the term.
The 1980 United States Senate elections coincided with Ronald Reagan's victory in the presidential election. Reagan's large margin of victory over incumbent Jimmy Carter pulled in many Democratic voters and gave a huge boost to Republican Senate candidates.
The 1978 United States Senate elections in the middle of Democratic President Jimmy Carter's term. Thirteen seats changed hands between parties. The Democrats at first lost a net of two seats to the Republicans, and then one more in a special election. Democrats nevertheless retained a 58-41 majority.
The 1976 United States Senate elections was an election for the United States Senate that coincided with Democratic Jimmy Carter's presidential election and the United States Bicentennial celebration. Although almost half of the seats decided in this election changed parties, Carter's narrow victory did not provide coattails for the Democrats, and the balance of the chamber remained the same.
The 1972 United States Senate elections coincided with the landslide re-election of Republican President Richard Nixon. Despite Nixon's victory, Democrats increased their majority by two seats. After the elections, Democrats held 56 seats and Republicans held 42 seats, with 1 Conservative and 1 independent Senator. These were the first elections in which all citizens at least 18 years of age could vote due to the 1971 passage of the 26th Amendment.
The 1966 United States Senate elections was an election on November 8, 1966 for the United States Senate which occurred midway through the second term of President Lyndon B. Johnson. With divisions in the Democratic base over the Vietnam War, and with the traditional mid-term advantage of the party not holding the presidency, the Republicans took three Democratic seats. Despite Republican gains, the balance remained overwhelmingly in favor of the Democrats, who retained a 64–36 majority. This was also the first election that occurred after the Voting Rights Act of 1965 became law.
The 1964 United States Senate elections coincided with the election of President Lyndon B. Johnson by an overwhelming majority, to a full term. His Democratic Party picked up a net two seats from the Republicans. As of 2019, this is the last time either party has had a two-thirds majority in the Senate, which would have hypothetically allowed the Senate Democrats to override a veto, convict and expel certain officials, or invoke cloture without any votes from Republicans. The Senate election coincided with Democratic gains in the House in the same year.
The 1956 United States Senate elections were elections for the United States Senate that coincided with the re-election of President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Although the Democrats gained two seats in regular elections, the Republicans gained back two seats in special elections, leaving the party balance of the chamber remained unchanged.
The 1954 United States Senate elections was a midterm election in the first term of Dwight D. Eisenhower's presidency. Eisenhower's Republican party lost a net of two seats to the Democratic opposition. This small change was just enough to give Democrats control of the chamber with the support of an Independent who caucused with them.
The 1984 South Carolina United States Senate election was held on November 6, 1984 to select the U.S. Senator from the state of South Carolina. Popular incumbent Republican Senator Strom Thurmond cruised to re-election against Democratic challenger Melvin Purvis.
The 1984 United States Senate election in Tennessee took place on November 6, 1984, as a part of the Senate class 2 election.
The 1984 United States Senate election in Texas was held on November 6, 1984. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator John Tower decided to retire, instead of seeking a fifth term. Republican Phil Gramm won the open seat.
References
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.
Bass, Jack; Marilyn W. Thompson (1998). Ol' Strom: An Unauthorized Biography of Strom Thurmond. Longstreet. p.302.
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