1980 United States Senate election in Ohio

1980 United States Senate election in Ohio

November 4, 1980

Nominee John Glenn Jim Betts Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 2,770,786 1,137,695 Percentage 68.80% 28.25%

County results Glenn:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90% Betts:      50–60%

U.S. senator before election John Glenn Democratic Elected U.S. Senator John Glenn Democratic

The 1980 United States Senate election in Ohio took place on November 4, 1980. It was concurrent with elections to the United States House of Representatives. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator John Glenn won re-election to a second term in a landslide with nearly 69% of the vote, coinciding with Ronald Reagan's substantial win in the state during the presidential election. Glenn carried all but one of the state's 88 counties, only losing Paulding County.

Glenn won by a state-record 1.6 million votes. He had also won the largest percentage of the popular vote and received the most votes in any U.S. Senate election in the state's history, and as of 2022 (the most recent senate election), Glenn continues to hold the record of highest percentage of popular vote, with Senator George Voinovich coming close to breaking the record in 2004, receiving 63.9% of the vote (just 4.9% less than Glenn).

Also in 2004, Voinovich, however, would beat Glenn's record of receiving the highest number of votes in an election, receiving nearly 3.47 million votes (nearly 694,000 more votes than Glenn got)

General election

Candidates

• Jim Betts, State Representative (Republican)
• John Glenn, incumbent U.S. Senator (Democratic)
• Rick Nagin (Independent)
• John E. Powers (Independent)

Results

1980 United States Senate election in Ohio

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	John Glenn (incumbent)	2,770,786	68.80%
	Republican	Jim Betts	1,137,695	28.25%
	Independent	John E. Powers	76,412	1.90%
	Independent	Rick Nagin	42,410	1.05%
	Democratic hold

See also

• 1980 United States Senate elections