The 1970 United States Senate elections was an election for the United States Senate. It took place on November 3, with the 33 seats of Class 1 contested in regular elections. Special elections were also held to fill vacancies. These races occurred in the middle of Richard Nixon's first term as president. The Democrats lost a net of three seats, while the Republicans and the Conservative Party of New York picked up one net seat each, and former Democrat Harry F. Byrd Jr. was re-elected as an independent.

This was the first time that Republicans gained Senate seats while losing House seats, which also occurred in 2018. This also occurred for Democrats in 1914, 1962, and 2022.

This was the most recent election in which a third party won a seat in the Senate until 2006. , this is also the most recent cycle in which Democrats won Senate elections in Utah and Wyoming, and the most recent in which Republicans won a Senate election in Hawaii.

Since the deaths of Lowell Weicker and James L. Buckley in 2023, this is the latest Senate election cycle where all first-elected members are deceased.

Results summary + ↓ 54 1 1 44 Democratic I C Republican

Parties Total Democratic Republican Conservative Independent Other Last elections (1968) 58 42 0 0 0 100 Before these elections 57 43 0 0 0 100 Not up 32 33 — 0 — 65 Up 25 10 — — — 35 25 8 — — — 33 0 1 — 0 — 1 0 1 — 0 — 1 Incumbent retired 3 1 — 0 — 4 2 1 — — — 3 1 Democrat replaced by 1 Republican — — — 1 Result 2 2 0 0 0 4 Incumbent ran 22 9 — — — 31 17 6 — — — 23 1 Democrat re-elected as an Independent — 1 2 Republicans replaced by 2 Democrats 3 Democrats replaced by 3 Republicans 1 Republican replaced by 1 Conservative — — 6 1 0 — — — 1 Result 20 9 1 1 0 31 Total elected 22 11 1 1 0 35 Net gain/loss 3 1 1 1 2 Nationwide vote 25,435,247 19,373,972 2,183,572 516,149 1,049,884 48,558,824 Share 52.38% 39.90% 4.50% 1.06% 2.16% 100% Result 54 44 1 1 0 100

Source: Office of the Clerk

Getting out the vote President Nixon said that rather than violent protests, the best way for the American public to get their opinion heard was by voting:

Gains, losses, and holds Retirements One Republican and three Democrats retired instead of seeking re-election.

StateSenatorReplaced by Delaware Florida Minnesota Ohio

Defeats One Republican and four Democrats sought re-election but lost in the primary or general election. One Republican sought election to finish the unexpired term but lost in the special election and one Republican sought election to a full term but lost in the general election.

StateSenatorReplaced by California Connecticut Illinois Maryland New York Tennessee Texas

Independent gain One Democrat ran as an Independent in the general election.

StateSenatorReplaced by Virginia

Post-election changes

StateSenatorReplaced by Georgia Louisiana Vermont

Change in composition Before the elections D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D Majority → D R R R D D D D D D R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R

After the elections D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D Majority → D R R R R C I D D D R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R

Key: C Conservative (New York) D Democratic R Republican I Independent

Race summary

Special elections during the 91st Congress In these special elections, the winner was seated during 1970 or before January 3, 1971; ordered by election date, then state.

State Incumbent Results Candidates Senator Party Electoral history Alaska(Class 2) Ted Stevens Republican 1968 Interim appointee elected. Illinois(Class 3) Ralph Tyler Smith Republican 1969 Interim appointee lost election.Democratic gain.

Elections leading to the next Congress In these general elections, the winners were elected for the term beginning January 3, 1971; ordered by state.

All of the elections involved the Class 1 seats.

State Incumbent Results Candidates Senator Party Electoral history Arizona Republican 1964 Incumbent re-elected. California Republican 19641964 Incumbent lost re-election.Democratic gain.Incumbent resigned January 1, 1971 to give successor preferential seniority.Winner appointed January 2, 1971. Connecticut Democratic 19581964 Incumbent lost renomination, then ran as an Independent candidate but lost re-election.Republican gain. Delaware Republican 1946195219581964 Incumbent retired.Republican hold.Incumbent resigned December 31, 1970 to give successor preferential seniority.Winner appointed January 1, 1971. Florida Democratic 1946 1946195219581964 Incumbent retired.Democratic hold. Hawaii Republican 19591964 Incumbent re-elected. Indiana Democratic 19581964 Incumbent re-elected. Maine Democratic 19581964 Incumbent re-elected. Maryland Democratic 1964 Incumbent lost re-election.Republican gain. Massachusetts Democratic 1962 1964 Incumbent re-elected. Michigan Democratic 19581964 Incumbent re-elected. Minnesota DFLThe Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party is affiliated nationally with the Democratic Party (United States). 19581964 Incumbent retired.DFL hold. Mississippi Democratic 1947 195219581964 Incumbent re-elected. Missouri Democratic 195219581964 Incumbent re-elected. Montana Democratic 195219581964 Incumbent re-elected. Nebraska Republican 1954 19581964 Incumbent re-elected. Nevada Democratic 19581964 Incumbent re-elected. New Jersey Democratic 19581964 Incumbent re-elected. New Mexico Democratic 1964 1964 Incumbent re-elected. New York Republican 1968 Interim appointee lost election.Conservative gain. North Dakota Democratic-NPL 1960 1964 Incumbent re-elected. Ohio Democratic 19581964 Incumbent retired.Republican gain. Pennsylvania Republican 19581964 Incumbent re-elected. Rhode Island Democratic 1950 195219581964 Incumbent re-elected. Tennessee Democratic 195219581964 Incumbent lost re-election.Republican gain. Texas Democratic 1957 19581964 Incumbent lost renomination.Democratic hold. Utah Democratic 19581964 Incumbent re-elected. Vermont Republican 19581964 Incumbent re-elected. Virginia Democratic 1965 1966 Incumbent ran as an Independent and re-elected.Independent gain. Washington Democratic 195219581964 Incumbent re-elected. West Virginia Democratic 19581964 Incumbent re-elected. Wisconsin Democratic 1957 19581964 Incumbent re-elected. Wyoming Democratic 19581964 Incumbent re-elected.

Closest races Fourteen races had a margin of victory under 10%:

State Party of winner Margin Indiana Democratic 0.2% New York Conservative (flip) 2.0% Ohio Republican (flip) 2.2% Maryland Republican (flip) 2.6% Missouri Democratic 3.0% Hawaii Republican 3.2% Tennessee Republican (flip) 3.9% Nebraska Republican 5.0% New Mexico Democratic 5.7% Pennsylvania Republican 6.0% Texas Democratic 7.1% Florida Democratic 7.8% Connecticut Republican (flip) 7.9% California Democratic (flip) 9.6%

Alaska (special)

Republican Ted Stevens was appointed December 24, 1968 to finish the term of Democrat Bob Bartlett, who had died in office. The open primary was held August 25, 1970, in which Stevens received 40,411 votes (55.91%), Key received 29,459 votes (23.94%), State senator Joe Josephson received 12,730 votes (18.22%) and Fritz Singer (R) received 1,349 votes (1.93%). In the November 3, 1970 special election to finish the term, he ran against the Democratic Speaker of the Alaska House of Representatives Wendell P. Kay. Stevens easily won with almost 60% of the vote.

Arizona

Incumbent Republican Paul Fannin decided to run for re-election to a second term, running unopposed in the Republican primary. Fannin defeated Democratic businessman Sam Grossman in the general election.

California

In 1964, Republican actor George Murphy defeated Democrat and Lyndon B. Johnson's Press Secretary, Pierre Salinger, in a close contest with about 52% of the vote. Murphy faced a primary challenge from billionaire Norton Simon, who took nearly 33% of the vote in the Republican primary. Democrats nominated John V. Tunney after a close-fought contest between Tunney and Representative George Brown Jr.

In the general election, Murphy lost re-election to Tunney by nearly ten points. Murphy's recent surgery and staunch support for the lingering Vietnam War worked against him, as did reports that he had continued to receive a salary from Technicolor after taking office. Tunney's successful Senate race in 1970 was reportedly the inspiration for the 1972 Robert Redford film The Candidate.Christensen, Terry, and Hass, Peter. Projecting Politics: Political Messages in American Films, p. 146

Connecticut

Republican Lowell P. Weicker Jr. defeated Democrat Joseph Duffey and incumbent Thomas J. Dodd who ran this time as an independent. Dodd entered the race at the last minute and split the Democratic vote, allowing Weicker to win with only 42% of the vote.

Delaware

Republican John J. Williams was originally elected in 1946 to the U.S. Senate. Williams was easily re-elected three more times but decided to retire in 1971. Republican Representative William Roth faced Democrat potato farmer Jacob Zimmerman in the general election. Roth defeated Zimmerman by a landslide eighteen percentage points in the general election. He was re-elected in 1976, 1982, 1988, and 1994 before losing re-election to Democrat Tom Carper in 2000. This was despite the state trending Democratic; Roth himself served most of his tenure with future President Joe Biden.

Four-term Republican John J. Williams decided to retire, rather than run for re-election. Republican William Roth easily defeated Democrat Jacob Zimmerman by a margin of eighteen percentage points, and went on to serve thirty years in the Senate.

Florida

Incumbent Democrat Spessard Holland retired instead of seeking a fifth term. During the Democratic primary, former Governor C. Farris Bryant and State senator Lawton Chiles advanced to a run-off, having received more votes than Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives Frederick H. Schultz, attorney Alcee Hastings, and State Representative Joel T. Daves, III. Chiles soundly defeated Bryant in the run-off election, scoring a major upset due to his comparatively small name recognition prior to the election. To acquire name recognition and media coverage, Chiles walked about across the state of Florida and was given the nickname "Walkin' Lawton".

The Republican primary exposed an in-party feud between Governor Claude R. Kirk Jr. and U.S. Representative William C. Cramer. In the election, Cramer handily defeated G. Harrold Carswell and body shop owner George Balmer; the former was a Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals judge favored by Kirk and had been rejected as a Supreme Court of the United States nominee a few months prior to the primary. Chiles won the election by a relatively small margin of 7.8%, receiving 902,438 votes against Cramer's 772,817 votes.

Incumbent Spessard Holland, who served in the Senate since 1946, decided to retire rather than seek a fifth term. Although the Democratic Party had dominated state elections since the Reconstruction Era, Claude R. Kirk Jr. and Edward Gurney, both Republicans, were elected senator and Governor in 1966 and 1968, respectively."Cramer v. Kirk," p. 403

Hawaii

Republican Hiram Fong had served as the inaugural Class 1 senator from the state of Hawaii since 1959. From the state's admission into the union, voters tended to lean Democratic, and this trend only continued over time. Fong initially won election to each of his first two terms with 53% of the vote, but in 1970 he faced backlash from voters for his support of the Vietnam War. Cecil Heftel, owner of a radio conglomerate, won the Democratic nomination.