United States Senate election in Pennsylvania, 1976

United States Senate election in Pennsylvania, 1976

November 2, 1976

Nominee John Heinz Bill Green Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 2,381,891 2,126,977 Percentage 52.4% 46.8%

U.S. Senator before election Hugh Scott Republican Elected U.S. Senator John Heinz Republican

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The 1976 United States Senate election in Pennsylvania was held on November 2, 1976. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator and Minority Leader Hugh Scott decided to retire. Republican John Heinz won the open seat.^[1]

Background

In December 1975, U.S. senator Hugh Scott announced that he would not seek re-election in 1976 at the age of 75 after serving in Congress for 33 years. Scott listed personal reasons and several "well-qualified potential candidates" for the seat among the reasons of his decision to retire. Other reasons, including his support for Richard Nixon and accusations that he had illegally obtained contributions from Gulf Oil were alleged to have contributed to the decision.^[2]

Democratic primary

Candidates

• Bill Green, United States Representative^[3]
• Jeanette Reibman, State Senator^[4]

Results

Republican primary

Candidates

• John Heinz, United States Representative who had served in the House since 1971^[6]
• Arlen Specter, former District Attorney of Philadelphia^[4][7]
• George Packard, former managing editor of the Philadelphia Bulletin^[8]

Results

General election

Candidates

• William Green (D), United States Representative
• John Heinz, United States Representative

Campaign

Heinz was the victor in all but nine counties, defeating opponent William Green, who had a 300,000 vote advantage in his native Philadelphia area. Heinz and Green spend $2.5 million and $900,000, respectively, during the ten month campaign. Much of the money Heinz spent on his campaign was his own, leading to accusations from Green that he was "buying the seat". Heinz replied to this by claiming that the spending was necessary to overcome the Democratic voter registration advantage.^[9]

Results

References