United States Senate election in Massachusetts, 1978

United States Senate election in Massachusetts, 1978

November 7, 1978

Nominee Paul Tsongas Edward Brooke Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 1,093,283 890,584 Percentage 55.06% 44.85%

Results by town. Red indicates towns carried by Edward Brooke, blue indicates towns carried by Paul Tsongas.

Senator before election Edward Brooke Republican Elected Senator Paul Tsongas Democratic

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The United States Senate election of 1978 in Massachusetts was held on November 7, 1978, with the incumbent Republican Senator Edward Brooke being defeated by then Democratic Congressman Paul E. Tsongas.

Candidates

Republican

• Edward Brooke, incumbent Senator, former Massachusetts Attorney General.
• Avi Nelson, radio-television host.

Democratic

• Paul Tsongas, Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Massachusetts's 5th congressional district since 1975.
• Kathleen Sullivan, then member of the Boston School Committee. Daughter of New England Patriots owner Billy Sullivan (1915-1998) and later wife of former Mayor of San Francisco Joseph Alioto .
• Paul Guzzi, Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth since 1975, Member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1971-1975.
• Elaine Noble, Member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives since 1975. Noble was the first openly gay or lesbian candidate elected to a state legislature.
• Howard Phillips, Former Nixon Administration official. Served as the acting Director of the Office of Economic Opportunity in 1973.

Results

Primaries

General election

External links and references

• 1978 Congressional Election results

References