1976 United States Senate election in Pennsylvania

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]

1976 United States Senate election in Pennsylvania

November 2, 1976

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

County Results Heinz:      50-60%      60-70% Green:      50–60%      70–80%

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

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

Democratic primary results[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	William J. Green III	762,733	68.71
	Democratic	Jeanette Reibman	345,264	31.10
	Democratic	Others	2,058	0.19

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

Republican primary results[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	H. John Heinz III	358,715	37.73
	Republican	Arlen Specter	332,513	34.98
	Republican	George Packard	160,379	16.87
	Republican	Others	99,074	10.43

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 spent $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

General election results[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	H. John Heinz III	2,381,891	52.39%	+0.96%
	Democratic	William J. Green III	2,126,977	46.79%	+1.41%
	Constitution	Andrew J. Watson	26,028	0.57%	-1.79%
	Socialist Workers	Frederick W. Stanton	5,484	0.12%	+0.01%
	Labor Party	Bernard Salera	3,637	0.08%	+0.08%
	Communist Party	Frank Kinces	2,097	0.05%	+0.05%
	N/A	Other	239	0.00%	N/A
Total votes			4,546,353	100.00%
	Republican hold		Swing

See also

• 1976 United States Senate elections

References

1. "Statistics of the Congressional and Presidential Election of November 2, 1976" (PDF). Office of the Clerk of the U.S. House. Retrieved July 9, 2014.
2. "Senate Republican leader Hugh Scott won't run in 1976". St. Petersburg Times. December 5, 1975. Retrieved August 14, 2011.
3. "GREEN, William Joseph, (born 1938)". Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress. Retrieved August 13, 2011.
4. "PA US Senate - R Primary". Our Campaigns. Retrieved August 14, 2011.
5. "PA US Senate - D Primary". Our Campaigns. Retrieved August 14, 2011.
6. "Heinz, Henry John III (1938–1991)". Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress. Retrieved August 13, 2011.
7. "Specter, Arlen (born 1930)". Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress. Retrieved August 14, 2011.
8. "Biography of H. John Heinz III". Archives: Biographies. Carnegie Mellon University. Retrieved August 7, 2012.
9. "John Heinz". Gettysburg Times. November 3, 1976. Retrieved August 14, 2011.