1980 United States Senate election in South Dakota
Template:Short description Script error: No such module "Unsubst". Script error: No such module "infobox".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". Template:ElectionsSD The 1980 United States Senate election in South Dakota was held on Tuesday 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, educator and Pro-Life activist
Results
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Script error: No such module "Political party". | George McGovern (incumbent) | Script error: No such module "string". | 62.44% | |
| Script error: No such module "Political party". | Larry Schumaker | Script error: No such module "string". | 37.56% | |
| Total votes | Script error: No such module "string". | 100.00% | ||
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Republican primary
Candidates
- James Abdnor, U.S. Representative
- Dale Bell
Results
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Script error: No such module "Political party". | James Abdnor | Script error: No such module "string". | 72.93% | |
| Script error: No such module "Political party". | Dale Bell | Script error: No such module "string". | 27.07% | |
| Total votes | Script error: No such module "string". | 100.00% | ||
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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.[2] They and other anti-abortion groups especially focused on McGovern's support for pro-choice abortion laws.[3] McGovern faced a Democratic primary challenge for the first time, from an anti-abortion candidate.[4]
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.[3][5] 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.[3] 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.[3] 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.[3][6][7]
However, McGovern was solidly defeated in the general election, receiving only 39 percent of the vote to Abdnor's 58 percent.[6] McGovern became one of many Democratic casualties in that year's Republican sweep,[7] 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 Blanche Lincoln was unseated by John Boozman in 2010.[8]
Results
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | <templatestyles src="Template:Tooltip/styles.css" />±%Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Script error: No such module "Political party". | James Abdnor | Template:Replace | 58.20% | Script error: No such module "String". | |
| Script error: No such module "Political party". | George McGovern (incumbent) | 129,018 | 39.40% | Script error: No such module "String". | |
| Script error: No such module "Political party". | Wayne Peterson | 7,866 | 2.40% | Script error: No such module "String". | |
| Total votes | 327,478 | 100.00% | N/A | ||
| Script error: No such module "Political party". gain from Script error: No such module "Political party". | |||||
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See also
References
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- ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ *Marano, Richard Michael, Vote Your Conscience: The Last Campaign of George McGovern, Praeger Publishers, 2003. Template:ISBN. pp. 22–23.
- ↑ a b c d e Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Marano, Vote Your Conscience, p. 27.
- ↑ Marano, Vote Your Conscience, p. 29.
- ↑ a b Marano, Vote Your Conscience, p. 32.
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