1980 United States Senate election in Alabama

← 1978 (special) November 4, 1980 1986 →

Nominee Jeremiah Denton Jim Folsom Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 650,363 610,175 Percentage 50.2% 47.1%

County results Denton:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70% Folsom:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%

U.S. senator before election Donald Stewart Democratic Elected U.S. Senator Jeremiah Denton Republican

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The 1980 United States Senate election in Alabama took place on November 4, 1980, alongside other elections to the United States Senate in other states as well as elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Donald Stewart, elected in a special election to finish the term of the seat left vacant by the death of Senator James B. Allen, decided to run for a full term, but was defeated in the primary by Jim Folsom. In November, Folsom narrowly lost the general election to Republican Jeremiah Denton.

Denton was the first Republican elected to the Senate from Alabama since the end of Reconstruction and the first Republican elected since the passage of the 17th amendment requiring the direct election of senators. He would lose reelection in the 1986 election to Democratic nominee Richard Shelby who later joined the Republican Party in 1994.^[1]

Candidates[edit]

Democratic[edit]

• Jim Folsom, Public Service Commissioner
• Donald Stewart, incumbent U.S. Senator

Republican[edit]

• Jeremiah Denton, U.S. Navy veteran
• Armistead I. Selden Jr., former Democratic Representative and Ambassador

Results[edit]

1980 United States Senate election in Alabama^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Jeremiah Denton	650,362	50.15%
	Democratic	Jim Folsom	610,175	47.05%
	Conservative	Michael R. A. Erdey	15,989	1.23%
	Libertarian	William A. Crew	13,098	1.01%
	National Democrat	Sallie M. Hadnott	2,973	0.23%
	Statesman Party	Jim Partain	2,649	0.20%
	Socialist Workers	Mohammed Oliver	1,511	0.12%
Majority			40,187	3.10%
Turnout			1,296,757
	Republican gain from Democratic

See also[edit]

• 1980 United States Senate elections
• Reagan's coattails

References[edit]