1982 United States Senate elections

Source: Office of the Clerk == Gains, losses, and holds ==

Retirements Two Republicans and one independent retired instead of seeking re-election. Defeats One Republican and one Democrat sought re-election but lost in the general election. Post-election changes One Democrat died on September 8, 1983, and was later replaced by Republican appointee. == Change in composition ==

Before the elections After the elections == Race summaries ==

Special elections There were no special elections during 1982. Elections leading to the next Congress In these general elections, the winners were elected for the term beginning January 3, 1983; ordered by state. All of the elections involved the Class 1 seats. == Closest races ==

In eleven races the margin of victory was under 10%. == Arizona ==

Incumbent Democrat Dennis DeConcini won re-election to a second term over Republican Pete Dunn, State Representative. == California ==

Incumbent Republican S. I. Hayakawa decided to retire after one term. Republican Pete Wilson, mayor of San Diego and former Assemblyman, won the open seat over Democratic Governor Jerry Brown. Wilson was known as a fiscal conservative who supported Proposition 13, although Wilson had opposed the measure while mayor of San Diego. However, Brown ran on his gubernatorial record of building the largest state budget surpluses in California history. Both Wilson and Brown were moderate-to-liberal on social issues, including support for abortion rights. The election was expected to be close, with Brown holding a slim lead in most of the polls leading up to Election Day. Wilson hammered away at Brown's appointment of California Chief Justice Rose Bird, using this to portray himself as tougher on crime than Brown was. Brown's late entry into the 1980 Democratic presidential primary, after promising not to run, was also an issue. President Ronald Reagan made a number of visits to California late in the race to campaign for Wilson. Reagan quipped that the last thing he wanted to see was one of his home state's U.S. Senate seats falling into Democrats' hands, especially to be occupied by the man who succeeded him as governor. Despite exit polls indicating a narrow Brown victory, Wilson won by a wide margin. == Connecticut ==

Incumbent Republican Lowell P. Weicker Jr. won re-election to a third term over Democratic member of the House Toby Moffett. == Delaware ==

Incumbent Republican Bill V. Roth won reelection to a third term over the state's Democratic Insurance Commissioner David N. Levinson. == Florida ==

Incumbent Democrat Lawton Chiles won re-election to a third term over Republican state senator Van B. Poole. == Hawaii ==

Incumbent Democrat Spark Matsunaga won re-election to a second term over Republican Clarence Brown, a retired Foreign Service officer == Indiana ==

Incumbent Republican Richard Lugar faced Democratic United States Representative Floyd Fithian in the general election. Lugar won with a margin of 54% of the vote, compared to Fithian's 46%. After the 1980 census, the Indiana General Assembly redistricted Indiana's congressional districts, pushing Democratic representative Floyd Fithian's district into more conservative territory. After redistricting, Fithian, the three term incumbent of Indiana's 2nd congressional district, decided to run for Secretary of State of Indiana, but withdrew from the primary to ultimately run for the United States Senate. He challenged fellow Democrat and one term Indiana State Senator Michael Kendall of Jasper, Indiana, who Fithian earlier encouraged to run for the Senate. Kendall, who represented Indiana's 47th Senate district and formed the Notre Dame Students for Robert Kennedy organization during the 1968 presidential election, was seen a young progressive alternative to Fithian, who he called the "ideological twin of Richard Lugar." After the bitterly contested primary, Fithian prevailed over Kendall, winning with 59% of the vote. Incumbent United States Senator Richard Lugar won the republican nomination in an uncontested primary on May 4, 1982. In the general election, Lugar faced Fithian and American Party candidate Raymond James. == Maine ==

Incumbent Democrat George J. Mitchell, originally appointed to the seat after Edmund Muskie resigned, won re-election to his full six-year term over Republican U.S. Representative David F. Emery, earning 61% of the vote to Emery's 39%. Mitchell would serve two more terms in the Senate, eventually serving as Senate Majority Leader. == Maryland ==

Incumbent Democrat Paul Sarbanes won re-election to a second term in office. He defeated the Republican former Representative from Maryland's 5th district and Prince George's County Executive Lawrence Hogan. == Massachusetts ==

Shamie: | title = U.S. Senator | before_election = Ted Kennedy | before_party = Democratic Party (US) | after_election = Ted Kennedy | after_party = Democratic Party (US) }} Incumbent Democrat Ted Kennedy won re-election to his fifth (his fourth full) term over Republican Ray Shamie, a millionaire businessman and metalwork entrepreneur. == Michigan ==

Incumbent Democrat Don Riegle won re-election to a second term, defeating Republican challenger Philip Ruppe, a former U.S. Representative from Houghton. == Minnesota ==

Incumbent Republican David Durenberger won re-election to his second term over Democratic businessman Mark Dayton. . Dayton, 35, self-financed his campaign. Married to a Rockefeller and heir to a department store, his net worth was an estimated $30 million. Durenberger, who in 1978 and won the special election to finish the term of the late Hubert Humphrey, was largely unknown. He was considered a moderate, but supported Reagan's tax cuts. Dayton ran against Reaganomics. He has also campaigned against tax breaks for the wealthy and even promised "to close tax loopholes for the rich and the corporations—and if you think that includes the Daytons, you're right." By the end of September, the senate election already became the most expensive election of all time, with over $8 million being spent. Dayton spent over $5 million, while Durenberger spent over $2 million. == Mississippi ==

Incumbent Democrat John C. Stennis won re-election to his seventh term over Republican Haley Barbour, a political operative who campaigned for U.S. Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford. == Missouri ==

Incumbent John Danforth, originally elected in the 1976 United States Senate election in Missouri, ran for a second term. In the general election, he narrowly defeated state senator Harriett Woods by just over a percentage point. Danforth would go on to serve two more terms in the Senate. == Montana ==

Incumbent John Melcher, who was first elected to the Senate in 1976, opted to run for re-election. He won the Democratic primary after he faced a tough intraparty challenger, and advanced to the general election, where he faced Larry R. Williams, an author and the Republican nominee, and Larry Dodge, the Libertarian nominee. Though his margin was reduced significantly from his initial election, Melcher still comfortably won re-election to his second and final term in the Senate. During his first term in the Senate, Melcher's relative conservatism for a Democrat prompted a primary challenger in Michael Bond, a housing contractor who campaigned on his opposition to nuclear war. Bond attacked Melcher for voting to increase spending on nuclear arms, and pledged to reduce military spending to $60 billion and to use the savings to reduce interest rates. During the campaign, Bond came under fire from the state branches of the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the Disabled American Veterans for turning in his draft card in 1967 to protest the Vietnam War, who put out a statement, saying, "There is no place in the U.S. Senate for any draft dodger, draft card burner or draft protester of any kind." == Nebraska ==