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1980 United States Senate election in Georgia

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Field	Value
election_name	1980 United States Senate election in Georgia
country	Georgia (U.S. state)
flag_year	1956
type	presidential
ongoing	no
previous_election	1974 United States Senate election in Georgia
previous_year	1974
next_election	1986 United States Senate election in Georgia
next_year	1986
election_date	November 4, 1980
image_size	x150px
image1	MackMattingly.jpg
nominee1	Mack Mattingly
party1	Republican Party (United States)
popular_vote1	803,686
percentage1	50.87%
image2	Herman Talmadge (cropped).tif
nominee2	Herman Talmadge
party2	Democratic Party (United States)
popular_vote2	776,143
percentage2	49.13%
map_image	1980 United States Senate election in Georgia results map by county.svg
map_size	240px
map_caption	County results

title	U.S. Senator
before_election	Herman Talmadge
before_party	Democratic Party (United States)
after_election	Mack Mattingly
after_party	Republican Party (United States)

Mattingly:
Talmadge:
The 1980 United States Senate election in Georgia was held on November 4, 1980. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator and former Governor of Georgia Herman Talmadge ran for reelection to a fifth term, but lost narrowly to Mack Mattingly, Chairman of the Georgia Republican Party.

Mattingly benefited considerably from Talmadge's ethical and legal problems, as well as from the unpopularity of incumbent president, and former Georgia governor, Democrat Jimmy Carter. Mattingly became the first Republican Senator from the state since Reconstruction in 1873. This marked the first time that a Republican served a full term in the state's history. This race was part of a landslide national election for Republicans that would come to be known as the Reagan Revolution.

As of , this is the last time an incumbent Democratic Senator lost a bid for re-election while the Democratic nominee for president simultaneously carried that same state's electoral votes. This is also the only U.S. Senate election (as of ) in which the Republican nominee carried Fulton County in its current form, the first time ever that a Republican was elected to the United States Senate from Georgia by popular vote, and the first of three consecutive elections for this Senate seat where the incumbent was defeated.

Democratic primary

Candidates

Declared

John Francis Collins
Dawson Mathis, U.S. Representative from Albany
Zell Miller, Lieutenant Governor
J. B. Stoner, white supremacist and terrorist
Herman Talmadge, incumbent Senator since 1957
Norman Underwood, Judge of the Georgia Court of Appeals

Campaign

Talmadge's ethical issues made him uniquely vulnerable, especially after being censured in 1979. Because Georgia was seen as a strongly Democratic state, five primary opponents declared their candidacies for the Democratic nomination. Strongest among these candidates was Lieutenant Governor Zell Miller. Miller launched his campaign with support from black voters, organized labor, and the liberal wing of the Georgia Democratic Party. He campaigned against Talmadge on the argument that Talmadge had "disgraced" Georgia. Miller also attacked Talmadge's history as a segregationist and boasted of support from black leaders including Atlanta mayor Maynard Jackson and State Senator Julian Bond.

In the six-man primary held August 5, Miller and Talmadge advanced to a run-off election. Talmadge won the run-off election with 58.6% of the vote.

Results

Republican primary

Candidates

Mack Mattingly, businessman and Chairman of the Georgia Republican Party

Mattingly was unopposed for the Republican nomination.

General election

Results

Notes

References

"Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 4, 1980".
Harris, Art. (23 Aug 1980). "Drawlin' and Brawlin'". Washington Post.
"GA US Senate – D Primary, 1980".
"GA US Senate – D Runoff, 1980".
"United States Senator". Our Campaigns.

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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