1980 United States Senate election in South Dakota

Democratic primary

Candidates

• George McGovern, incumbent U.S. senator
• Larry Schumaker, educator and pro-life activist

Results

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Republican primary

Candidates

• James Abdnor, U.S. representative
• Dale Bell

Results

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.*Marano, Richard Michael, Vote Your Conscience: The Last Campaign of George McGovern, Praeger Publishers, 2003. . pp. 22–23. They and other anti-abortion groups especially focused on McGovern's support for pro-choice abortion laws. McGovern faced a Democratic primary challenge for the first time, from an anti-abortion candidate.

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. 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. 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. 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.

However, McGovern was solidly defeated in the general election, receiving only 39 percent of the vote to Abdnor's 58 percent. McGovern became one of many Democratic casualties in that year's Republican sweep, which became known as the "Reagan Revolution". McGovern was one of nine incumbent senators to lose a general election that year.

Results

References

References

1. "Official Election Returns and Registration Figures for South Dakota, Primary Election, June 3, 1980".
2. Petersen, Iver. (November 5, 1980). "McGovern Fails in Attempt At Fourth Term as Senator". [[The New York Times]].
3. Marano, ''Vote Your Conscience'', p. 27.
4. Marano, ''Vote Your Conscience'', p. 29.
5. Marano, ''Vote Your Conscience'', p. 32.
6. (November 17, 1980). "Nation: Reagan Gets a G.O.P Senate".
7. "Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 4, 1980".