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 County results Mattingly: 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% Talmadge: 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% | |||||||||||||||||
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The 1980 United States Senate election in Georgia was held on November 4, 1980. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator and former Governor of Georgia Herman Talmadge ran for reelection to a fifth term, but lost narrowly to Mack Mattingly, Chairman of the Georgia Republican Party.
Mattingly benefited considerably from Talmadge's ethical and legal problems, as well as from the unpopularity of incumbent president, and former Georgia governor, Democrat Jimmy Carter. Mattingly became the first Republican Senator from the state since Reconstruction in 1873. This marked the first time that a Republican served a full term in the state's history. This race was part of a landslide national election for Republicans that would come to be known as the Reagan Revolution.[1]
As of 2024, this is the last time an incumbent Democratic Senator lost a bid for re-election while the Democratic nominee for president simultaneously carried that same state's electoral votes.[a] This is also the only U.S. Senate election (as of 2024) in which the Republican nominee carried Fulton County in its current form.
This election was the first time ever that a Republican was elected to the United States Senate from Georgia by popular vote.
- ^ "Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 4, 1980" (PDF). clerk.house.gov. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 20, 2022.
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