Reagan's Coattails - 1980 Senate Democratic Losses

1980 Senate Democratic Losses

The Democratic losses in the Senate in 1980 were:

1. U.S. Sen. George S. McGovern (D-S.D.) (3 terms) lost to U.S. Rep. James Abdnor (R-S.D.)
2. U.S. Sen. Warren G. Magnuson (D-Wash.) (6 terms) lost to Republican T. Slade Gorton III.
3. U.S. Sen. Gaylord A. Nelson (D-Wis.) (3 terms) lost to Republican Robert W. Kasten Jr..
4. U.S. Sen. John A. Durkin (D-N.H.) (1 term) lost to Republican Warren B. Rudman. Durkin resigned his seat in December and Rudman was appointed to fill out the remaining few days of Durkin's term.
5. U.S. Sen. John C. Culver (D-Iowa) (1 term) lost to Republican Charles E. Grassley.
6. U.S. Sen. Birch E. Bayh II (D-Ind.) (3 terms) lost to J. Danforth Quayle.
7. U.S. Sen. Frank F. Church (D-Idaho) (4 terms) lost to Republican Steven D. Symms.
8. U.S. Sen. Herman E. Talmadge (D-Ga.) (4 terms) lost to Republican Mack F. Mattingly.
9. U.S. Sen. Richard B. Stone (D-Fla.) (1 term) lost in the Democratic primary to William D. Gunter Jr.. Gunter lost the general election to Republican Paula Hawkins.
10. U.S. Sen. Maurice R. "Mike" Gravel (D-Alaska) (2 terms), the senator who in 1971 had entered the full text of the Pentagon Papers into the official record of the Senate Subcommittee of Public Buildings and Grounds, was unexpectedly defeated in the Democratic primary by Clark Gruening. Gruening was the grandson of Ernest Gruening, the incumbent Democrat whom Gravel had unseated in the 1968 Democratic primary. The younger Gruening lost the general election to Republican Frank H. Murkowski.
11. U.S. Sen. Donald W. Stewart (D-Ala.) (1 term) lost in the Democratic primary to James E. Folsom Jr.. Folsom lost the general election to Republican Jeremiah A. Denton Jr..
12. U.S. Sen. Robert B. Morgan (D-N.C.) (1 term) lost to Republican John P. East.