1976 United States Senate election in Missouri

1976 United States Senate election in Missouri

← 1970 November 2, 1976 1982 →

Nominee John Danforth Warren E. Hearnes Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 1,090,067 813,571 Percentage 56.9% 42.5%

County Results Danforth:      50-60%      60-70%      70-80% Hearnes:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%

U.S. Senator before election Stuart Symington Democratic Elected U.S. Senator John Danforth Republican

Elections in Missouri
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v t e

The 1976 United States Senate election in Missouri took place on November 2, 1976. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Stuart Symington decided to retire, instead of seeking a fifth term. Republican John Danforth won the open seat, defeating Democrat Warren Hearnes. (Jerry Litton had won the Democratic nomination earlier, but died in a plane crash on the night of the primary election, and Hearnes was chosen by the party committee.)

Democratic primary

Candidates

• Warren Hearnes, former Governor of Missouri
• Horace Kingery
• Jerry Litton, U.S. Representative from Missouri's 6th congressional district
• Terry Richards
• Lee Sutton, former State Representative
• James W. Symington, U.S. Representative from Missouri's 2nd congressional district and son of incumbent Senator Stuart Symington
• William McKinley Thomas, perennial candidate
• Norman L. Tucker
• Jim C. Tyler
• Charles Wheeler, Mayor of Kansas City

Results

On primary night, Representative Litton and his entire family died in a plane crash en route to his victory party.^[2] To replace Litton on the general election ticket, the Missouri Democratic State Committee held a meeting and elected runner-up Warren Hearnes as the party's nominee. He was chosen over State Treasurer of Missouri Jim Spainhower.

Republican primary

Candidates

• John Danforth, Attorney General of Missouri and nominee for Senate in 1970
• Gregory Hansman, candidate for Lt. Governor in 1972 and Senate in 1974

Results

Independents and third parties

Independent

• Lawrence "Red" Petty, unsuccessful candidate for the American Party nomination for Senate in 1970

General election

Results

General election results^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Republican	John Danforth	1,090,067	56.94%	8.79
	Democratic	Warren E. Hearnes	813,571	42.50%	8.54
	Independent	Lawrence "Red" Petty	10,822	0.57%	N/A
Turnout			1,914,460	100.00%
	Republican gain from Democratic

See also

• 1976 United States Senate elections

References

This page was last edited on 18 February 2020, at 01:12