United States Senate election in Pennsylvania, 1976

United States Senate election in Pennsylvania, 1976
Pennsylvania
November 2, 1976
 
Nominee John Heinz Bill Green
Party Republican Democratic
Popular vote 2,381,891 2,126,977
Percentage 52.4% 46.8%

U.S. Senator before election

Hugh Scott
Republican

 Elected U.S. Senator

John Heinz
Republican

The 1976 United States Senate election in Pennsylvania was held on November 2, 1976. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator and Minority Leader Hugh Scott decided to retire. Republican John Heinz won the open seat.[1]

Background

In December 1975, U.S. senator Hugh Scott announced that he would not seek re-election in 1976 at the age of 75 after serving in Congress for 33 years. Scott listed personal reasons and several "well-qualified potential candidates" for the seat among the reasons of his decision to retire. Other reasons, including his support for Richard Nixon and accusations that he had illegally obtained contributions from Gulf Oil were alleged to have contributed to the decision.[2]

Democratic primary

Candidates

Results

Democratic primary results[5]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Democratic William J. Green, III 762,733 68.71
Democratic Jeanette Reibman 345,264 31.10
Democratic Others 2,058 0.19

Republican primary

Candidates

Results

Republican primary results[4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Republican H. John Heinz, III 358,715 37.73
Republican Arlen Specter 332,513 34.98
Republican George Packard 160,379 16.87
Republican Others 99,074 10.43

General election

Candidates

Campaign

Heinz was the victor in all but nine counties, defeating opponent William Green, who had a 300,000 vote advantage in his native Philadelphia area. Heinz and Green spend $2.5 million and $900,000, respectively, during the ten-month campaign. Much of the money Heinz spent on his campaign was his own, leading to accusations from Green that he was "buying the seat". Heinz replied to this by claiming that the spending was necessary to overcome the Democratic voter registration advantage.[9]

Results

General election results[1]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Republican H. John Heinz, III 2,381,891 52.39% +0.96%
Democratic William J. Green, III 2,126,977 46.79% +1.41%
Constitution Andrew J. Watson 26,028 0.57% -1.79%
Socialist Workers Frederick W. Stanton 5,484 0.12% +0.01%
Labor Party Bernard Salera 3,637 0.08% +0.08%
Communist Party Frank Kinces 2,097 0.05% +0.05%
N/A Other 239 0.00% N/A
Totals 4,546,353 100.00%

References

  1. 1 2 "Statistics of the Congressional and Presidential Election of November 2, 1976" (PDF). Office of the Clerk of the U.S. House. Retrieved 9 July 2014.
  2. ↑ "Senate Republican leader Hugh Scott won't run in 1976". St. Petersburg Times. 5 December 1975. Retrieved 14 August 2011.
  3. ↑ "GREEN, William Joseph, (born 1938)". Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress. Retrieved 13 August 2011.
  4. 1 2 3 "PA US Senate - R Primary". Our Campaigns. Retrieved 14 August 2011.
  5. ↑ "PA US Senate - D Primary". Our Campaigns. Retrieved 14 August 2011.
  6. ↑ "HEINZ, Henry John, III, (1938 - 1991)". Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress. Retrieved 13 August 2011.
  7. ↑ "SPECTER, Arlen, (born 1930)". Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress. Retrieved 14 August 2011.
  8. ↑ "Biography of H. John Heinz III". Archives: Biographies. Carnegie Mellon University. Retrieved August 7, 2012.
  9. ↑ "John Heinz". Gettysburg Times. 3 November 1976. Retrieved 14 August 2011.
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