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The 1980 United States Senate election in South Dakota was held on Tuesday November 4, Incumbent United States Senator George McGovern ran for re-election to a fourth term, but was defeated by Republican James Abdnor.
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County results Abdnor: 40-50% 50-60% 60-70% 70-80% 80-90% McGovern: 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% | |||||||||||||||||
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| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | George McGovern (incumbent) | 44,822 | 62.44% | |
| Democratic | Larry Schumaker | 26,958 | 37.56% | |
| Total votes | 71,780 | 100.00% | ||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | James Abdnor | 68,196 | 72.93% | |
| Republican | Dale Bell | 25,314 | 27.07% | |
| Total votes | 93,510 | 100.00% | ||
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.[2] They and other anti-abortion groups especially focused on McGovern's support for pro-choice abortion laws.[3] McGovern faced a Democratic primary challenge for the first time, from an anti-abortion candidate.[4]
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.[3][5] 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.[3] 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.[3] 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.[3][6][7]
However, McGovern was solidly defeated in the general election, receiving only 39 percent of the vote to Abdnor's 58 percent.[6] McGovern became one of many Democratic casualties in that year's Republican sweep,[7] which became known as the "Reagan Revolution". McGovern was one of nine incumbent Senators to lose a general election that year, and his margin of defeat was by far the largest until Blanche Lincoln was unseated by John Boozman in 2010.[8]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | James Abdnor | 190,594 | 58.20% | +11.24% | |
| Democratic | George McGovern (incumbent) | 129,018 | 39.40% | −13.65% | |
| Independent | Wayne Peterson | 7,866 | 2.40% | N/A | |
| Total votes | 327,478 | 100.00% | N/A | ||
| Republican gain from Democratic | |||||
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