34 of the 100 seats in the United States Senate 51 seats needed for a majority
Majority party
Minority party
Leader
Howard Baker
Robert Byrd
Party
Republican
Democratic
Leader since
March 5, 1980
January 3, 1977
Leader's seat
Tennessee
West Virginia
Seats before
41
58
Seats after
53
46
Seat change
12
12
Popular vote
26,597,169
30,699,463
Percentage
44.7%
51.6%
Seats up
10
24
Races won
22
12
Third party
Party
Independent
Seats before
1[a]
Seats after
1[a]
Seat change
Seats up
0
Races won
0
Results of the elections: Republican gain Democratic hold Republican hold No election
Majority Leader before election
Robert Byrd
Democratic
Elected Majority Leader
Howard Baker
Republican
The 1980 United States Senate elections were held on November 4, coinciding with Ronald Reagan's victory in the presidential election. The 34 Senate seats of Class 3 were contested in regular elections. Reagan's large margin of victory over incumbent Jimmy Carter gave a huge boost to Republican Senate candidates, allowing them to flip 12 Democratic seats and win control of the chamber for the first time since the end of the 83rd Congress in January 1955.
This is one of only five occasions where ten or more Senate seats changed hands in an election, with the others being in 1920, 1932, 1946, and 1958. This is the earliest Senate election with a Senator that is still serving, that being Chuck Grassley of Iowa.
This was the largest Senate swing since 1958, and was the largest Republican gain since 1946, when the Republicans also picked up 12 seats. This was also the last time the Senate changed hands in a presidential election year until 2020 when Democrats won control, the last time the Republicans gained control of the Senate in a presidential election year, and the last time Maryland elected a Republican to the Senate. These elections were also the last time the winner of the presidential election had coattails in the Senate until 2004.
As of 2023, this is the last election cycle in which an incumbent Democratic senator lost a bid for re-election while the Democratic nominee for president simultaneously carried that same state.[b] Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).
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