1978 United States Senate election in Maine

← 1972

November 7, 1978

1984 →


Nominee	William Cohen	William Hathaway	Hayes Gahagan
Party	Republican	Democratic	Independent
Popular vote	212,294	127,327	27,824
Percentage	56.59%	33.94%	7.42%

County results
Cohen: 50–60% 60–70% 70–80%

U.S. senator before election

William Hathaway
Democratic

Elected U.S. Senator

William Cohen
Republican

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The 1978 United States Senate election in Maine was held on November 7, 1978. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator William Hathaway ran for re-election to a second term, but was defeated by William Cohen, the Republican U.S. Representative from Maine's 2nd congressional district. This is the last time a Senator from Maine lost re-election.

No incumbent Senator has lost by such a large margin since Hathaway's 22.65-point loss, though James Abdnor in 1980, John Boozman in 2010, and Tommy Tuberville in 2020 all received larger percentages of the vote than Cohen's 56.59% against incumbent Senators.

Background

Elected to the U.S. Senate in 1972 in an upset victory against incumbent Margaret Chase Smith, Hathaway had established himself as a very liberal senator, being ranked an average of 92 percent more liberal than the Senate as a whole during his first term. This put him at risk, considering the conservative nature of Maine before the 1990s. Meanwhile, young former state senator Hayes Gahagan launched an independent campaign, running well to the right of Cohen. Other candidates to join the race were independent John J. Jannace and perennial candidate Plato Truman.

Primaries

Republican primary results

Republican Senate primary results: June 13, 1978
Year		Candidate	Votes	%
1978		William Cohen	69,824	100

Democratic primary results

Democratic Senate primary results: June 13, 1978
Year		Candidate	Votes	%		Candidate	Votes	%
1978		William D. Hathaway (inc.)	48,453	99.83		Write-In	84	0.17

General election

Candidates

William Cohen, U.S. Representative from Bangor
Hayes Gahagan, former State Senator from Caribou (Independent)
William Hathaway, incumbent United States Senator (Democratic)
John J. Jannace (Independent)
Plato Truman (Independent)

Campaign

During the campaign, all candidates hit the campaign trail hard, with Hathaway receiving significant support from Jimmy Carter, Edmund Muskie, Ted Kennedy, and other national Democrats. The biggest surprise, however, came from Hayes Gahagan. Shortly before election day, he held a press conference where he announced that "unknown, subversive agents" had been altering his campaign photos by implanting subliminal images of female genitalia in his hairline.

Results

United States Senate election in Maine, 1978
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	William Cohen	212,294	56.59%	+9.83%
	Democratic	William Hathaway (incumbent)	127,327	33.94%	−19.29%
	Independent	Hayes E. Gahagan	27,824	7.42%
	Independent	John J. Jannace	5,553	1.48%
	Independent	Plato Truman	2,116	0.56%
Majority			84,967	22.65%	+16.19%
Turnout			375,114
	Republican gain from Democratic		Swing

References

"HATHAWAY, William Dodd (1924-2013)". VoteView. Retrieved August 22, 2022.
"Maine". 270towin. Retrieved August 22, 2022.
"The Bangor Daily News from Bangor, Maine · 30". Bangor Daily News. July 29, 1978. Retrieved August 22, 2022.
"ME US Senate". OurCampaigns. Retrieved August 22, 2022.
"ME US Senate - R Primary", OurCampaigns, retrieved August 22, 2022
"ME US Senate - D Primary", OurCampaigns, retrieved August 22, 2022
"Bill Hathaway, U.S. senator from Maine, dies at 89", The Press Herald, June 24, 2013, retrieved August 22, 2022
"Politics & Other Mistakes: No trophies", Daily Bulldog, November 7, 2016, retrieved August 22, 2022
"Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 7, 1978" (PDF). Clerk of the United States House of Representatives. Retrieved July 2, 2014.

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