1980 United States Senate election in South Dakota

none March 2026 September 2023 1980 United States Senate election in South Dakota South Dakota 1963 presidential no 1974 United States Senate election in South Dakota 1974 1986 United States Senate election in South Dakota 1986 November 4, 1980 150x150px JamesAbdnor.jpg James Abdnor Republican Party (United States) 190,594 58.20% George McGovern (D-SD) (3x4-1).jpg George McGovern Democratic Party (United States) 129,018 39.40% 1980 United States Senate election in South Dakota results map by county.svg 260px County results Abdnor: #ffb2b2 40–50% #e27f7f 50–60% #d75d5d 60–70% #d72f30 70–80% #c21b18 80–90%McGovern: #7996e2 50–60% #6674de 60–70% #584cde 70–80% U.S. Senator George McGovern Democratic Party (United States) James Abdnor Republican Party (United States) The 1980 United States Senate election in South Dakota was held on Tuesday November 4, 1980. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator George McGovern ran for re-election to a fourth term, but was defeated by Republican James Abdnor. Democratic primary Candidates George McGovern, incumbent U.S. senator Larry Schumaker, educator and pro-life activist Results thumb|Results by county: #7996E2 McGovern #7996E2 50–60% #6674DE 60–70% #584CDE 70–80% #FF9A50 Schumaker #FF9A50 50–60% #E0854C 60–70% Democratic primary resultshttp://www.sdsos.gov/electionsvoteregistration/electvoterpdfs/72-86/80SDPRIM.pdf Official Election Returns and Registration Figures for South Dakota, Primary Election, June 3, 1980 2011-05-17 2011-07-22 https://web.archive.org/web/20110722012419/http://www.sdsos.gov/electionsvoteregistration/electvoterpdfs/72-86/80SDPRIM.pdf dead George McGovern (incumbent) Democratic Party (United States) 44,822 62.44% Larry Schumaker Democratic Party (United States) 26,958 37.56% 71,780 100.00% Republican primary Candidates James Abdnor, U.S. representative Dale Bell Results Republican primary results James Abdnor Republican Party (United States) 68,196 72.93% Dale Bell Republican Party (United States) 25,314 27.07% 93,510 100.00% 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. 0-275-97189-9. pp. 22–23. They and other anti-abortion groups especially focused on McGovern's support for pro-choice abortion laws.https://select.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F10B10F63B5C11728DDDAC0894D9415B8084F1D3 McGovern Fails in Attempt At Fourth Term as Senator Petersen, Iver The New York Times November 5, 1980 A21 fee required McGovern faced a Democratic primary challenge for the first time, from an anti-abortion candidate.Marano, Vote Your Conscience, p. 27. 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.Marano, Vote Your Conscience, p. 29. 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.Marano, Vote Your Conscience, p. 32. 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,http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,950490,00.html https://archive.today/20130204140646/http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,950490,00.html dead February 4, 2013 Nation: Reagan Gets a G.O.P Senate Time November 17, 1980 which became known as the "Reagan Revolution". McGovern was one of nine incumbent senators to lose a general election that year. Results General election resultshttps://clerk.house.gov/member_info/electionInfo/1980election.pdf Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 4, 1980 clerk.house.gov live https://web.archive.org/web/20220320200405/https://clerk.house.gov/member_info/electionInfo/1980election.pdf March 20, 2022 Republican Party (United States) James Abdnor 190,594 58.20% +11.24% Democratic Party (United States) George McGovern (incumbent) 129,018 39.40% -13.65% Independent (politician) Wayne Peterson 7,866 2.40% N/A 327,478 100.00% N/A Republican Party (United States) Democratic Party (United States) See also 1980 United States Senate elections References 1980 South Dakota Category:1980 South Dakota elections Category:George McGovern