1976 United States elections (BMC)

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1976 United States elections
1974          1975          1976          1977          1978
Presidential election year
Election dayNovember 2
Incumbent presidentWilliam Taft Jr. (Republican)
Next Congress95th
1976 Presidential election
Partisan controlDemocratic gain
Popular vote marginDemocratic +1.7%
Electoral vote
Jeane Kirkpatrick (D)326
Nelson Rockefeller (R)212
1976 BMC.png
1976 presidential election results. Red denotes states won by Rockefeller, blue denotes states won by Kirkpatrick. Numbers indicate the electoral votes won by each candidate.
1976 Senate elections
Overall controlDemocratic gain
Seats contested34 of 100 seats
Net seat changeDemocratic +3
1976 Senate 2.png
1976 presidential election results.

 Democratic gain   Democratic hold 

 Republican gain   Republican hold 
1976 House elections
Overall controlDemocratic gain
Seats contestedAll 435 voting members
Popular vote marginDemocratic +9.4%

The 1976 United States elections was held on November 2, and elected the members of the 95th United States Congress. The Democratic Party won the presidential election and gained control of Congress.

Democratic Governor Jeane Kirkpatrick of Oklahoma defeated Republican former Secretary of State Nelson Rockefeller. Kirkpatrick won the popular vote by nearly two points and finished with 326 electoral votes, taking a mix of states.

Democrats narrowly won the U.S. Senate, while obtaining a large gain in seats in the U.S. House, overturning a substantial Republican majority. Democrats won the nationwide popular vote for the House of Representatives by a margin of 9.4 percentage points.

Senate

Retirements

Democrats gained a net of one seat from retirements.

Democratic holds

  1. Michigan: Philip Hart (D) retired and was replaced by Richard H. Austin (D).
    • Hart then died December 27, 1976 and Austin was appointed to finish the term.
  2. Montana: Mike Mansfield (D) retired and was replaced by John Melcher (D).
  3. Rhode Island: John Pastore (D) retired and was replaced by Florence K. Murray (D).
    • Pastore then resigned December 28, 1976 and Chafee was appointed to finish the term.

Democratic gains

  1. Hawaii: Hiram Fong (R) retired and was replaced by Eric Shinseki (D).

Republican hold

No Republicans retired from the U.S. Senate in 1976 to be succeeded by a Republican.

Republican gains

No Democrats retired from the U.S. Senate in 1976 to be succeeded by a Republican.

Incumbents who lost

Democrats gained a net of two seats through defeating incumbent Republican Senators.

Democratic gains

  1. Nevada: Paul Laxalt (R) loses re-election to Howard Cannon (D).
  2. Ohio: Robert Taft III (R) loses re-election to Howard Metzenbaum (D).
    • Taft then resigned December 28, 1976 and Metzenbaum was appointed to finish the term.
  3. Tennessee: Don Kuykendall (R) loses re-election to Pauline Gore (D).

Republican gains

  1. New Mexico: Joseph Montoya (R) loses re-election to Harrison Schmidt (D).

Results summary

Before the elections

D1 D2 D3 D4 D5 D6 D7 D8 D9 D10
D20 D19 D18 D17 D16 D15 D14 D13 D12 D11
D21 D22 D23 D24 D25 D26 D27 D28 D29 D30
D40
NM
Ran
D39
MT
Retired
D38
MS
Ran
D37
MN
Ran
D36
MI
Retired
D35
FL
Retired
D34
MA
Ran
D33
MD
Retired
D32
ME
Ran
D31
D41
RI
Retired
D42
TX
Ran
D43
WA
Ran
D44
WV
Ran
D45
WI
Ran
D46
WY
Ran
I1
VA
Ran
R53
VT
Ran
R52
UT
Ran
R51
TN
Ran
Majority→ R50
PA
Ran
R41
HI
Retired
R42
IN
Ran
R43
MO
Ran
R44
NE
Ran
R45
NV
Ran
R46
NJ
Ran
R47
NY
Ran
R48
ND
Ran
R49
OH
Ran
R40
DE
Ran
R39
CT
Ran
R38
CA
Ran
R37
AZ
Ran
R36 R35 R34 R33 R32 R31
R21 R22 R23 R24 R25 R26 R27 R28 R29 R30
R20 R19 R18 R17 R16 R15 R14 R13 R12 R11
R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6 R7 R8 R9 R10

Election results

D1 D2 D3 D4 D5 D6 D7 D8 D9 D10
D20 D19 D18 D17 D16 D15 D14 D13 D12 D11
D21 D22 D23 D24 D25 D26 D27 D28 D29 D30
D40
MT
Hold
D39
MS
Re-elected
D38
MN
Re-elected
D37
MI
Hold
D36
MA
Re-elected
D35
MD
Hold
D34
ME
Re-elected
D33
FL
Re-elected
D32
HI
Gain
D31
D41
NV
Gain
D42
OH
Gain
D43
RI
Hold
D44
TN
Gain
D45
TX
Re-elected
D46
WA
Re-elected
D47
WV
Ran
D48
WI
Ran
D49
WY
Ran
I1
VA
Re-elected
Majority→
R41
IN
Re-elected
R42
MO
Re-elected
R43
NE
Re-elected
R44
NJ
Re-elected
R45
NM
Gain
R46
NY
Re-elected
R47
ND
Re-elected
R48
PA
Re-elected
R49
UT
Re-elected
R50
VT
Re-elected
R40
DE
Re-elected
R39
CT
Re-elected
R38
CA
Re-elected
R37
AZ
Re-elected
R36 R35 R34 R33 R32 R31
R21 R22 R23 R24 R25 R26 R27 R28 R29 R30
R20 R19 R18 R17 R16 R15 R14 R13 R12 R11
R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6 R7 R8 R9 R10

Change in composition