1980 United States Senate election in South Dakota

1980 United States Senate election in South Dakota

← 1974 November 4, 1980 1986 →

Nominee James Abdnor George McGovern Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 190,594 129,018 Percentage 58.2% 39.4%

County Results Abdnor:      40-50%      50-60%      60-70%      70-80%      80-90% McGovern:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%

U.S. senator before election George McGovern Democratic Elected U.S. Senator James Abdnor Republican

Elections in South Dakota
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v t e

The 1980 United States Senate election in South Dakota was held on November 4, 1980. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator George McGovern ran for re-election to a fourth term, but was defeated by Republican James Abdnor.

Democratic primary

Candidates

• George McGovern, incumbent U.S. Senator
• Larry Schumaker

Results

Republican primary

Candidates

• James Abdnor, U.S. Representative
• Dale Bell

Results

General election

Candidates

• James Abdnor (R), U.S. Representative
• George McGovern (D), incumbent U.S. Senator

Campaign

McGovern was one of several liberal Democratic U.S. senators targeted for defeat in 1980 by the National Conservative Political Action Committee (NCPAC), which put out a year's worth of negative portrayals of McGovern.^[3] They and other pro-life groups especially focused on McGovern's support for pro-choice abortion laws.^[4] McGovern faced a Democratic primary challenge for the first time, from a pro-life candidate.^[5]

Abdnor, a four-term incumbent congressman who held identical positions to McGovern on farm issues, was solidly conservative on national issues, and was well liked within the state.^[4][6] Abdnor's campaign focused on both McGovern's liberal voting record and what it said was McGovern's lack of involvement in South Dakotan affairs.^[4] McGovern made an issue of NCPAC's outside involvement, and that group eventually withdrew from the campaign after Abdnor denounced a letter they had sent out.^[4] Far behind in the polls earlier, McGovern outspent Abdnor 2-to-1, hammered away at Abdnor's refusal to debate him (drawing attention to a slight speech defect Abdnor had), and, showing the comeback pattern of some of his past races in the state, closed the gap for a while.^[4][7][8]

However, McGovern was solidly defeated in the general election, receiving only 39 percent of the vote to Abdnor's 58 percent.^[7] McGovern became one of many Democratic casualties in that year's Republican sweep,^[8] which became known as the "Reagan Revolution". McGovern was one of nine incumbent Senators to lose a general election that year, and his margin of defeat was by far the largest until Doug Jones was defeated by Tommy Tuberville in 2020.^[9]

Results

See also

• 1980 United States Senate elections

References

This page was last edited on 23 December 2020, at 21:34