CALIFORNIA
      Nov. 2, 1976 U.S. Senate

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1976



+S.I. Hayakawa (R)
3,748,973
 		50.12%
John Tunney (D) i
 		3,502,862
 		46.89%
David Wald (P&F)
104,383
 		1.40%
Jack McCoy (AI)
82,739
 		1.11%
Omari Musa (I)
32,639
 		0.42%

7,470,586
Plurality: 246,111 votes (3.23 percentage points).


REPUBLICAN PICK UP
Notes:  In an upset, former San Francisco State University President and general semanticist S.I. Hayakawa (R) defeated Sen. John Tunney (D).  Three other candidates appeared in the November ballot.

Both parties had competitive primaries.  On the Republican side Bob Finch, former lieutenant governor, HEW secretary, and counselor to President Nixon, was perhaps the favorite.  However, Hayakawa, who had made a name confronting radical students at San Francisco State during protests in 1968, won with 38.25% of the vote to 26.49% for Finch and 22.99% for West L.A. congressman Alphonso Bell.  Meanwhile, Tunney endured a divisive primary with anti-war activist Tom Hayden, ultimately winning by 53.79% to 36.69%.

In the general election, one issue the Hayakawa campaign focused on was Tunney's attendance record.  In a 1989 interview (>), Hayakawa noted of Tunney, "He was skiing in Switzerland, and I don't know why he was a senator. He wasn't doing much work as a servant of the people. He was having a damn good time skiing in Switzerland."

Around 400,000 fewer votes were tallied in the Senate race than the presidential race.  The margin in the Senate race, 3.23 percentage points, was wider than in the presidential race, where Ford defeated Carter by just 1.78 percentage points. 


See:
 "From semantics to the U.S. Senate, S.I. Hayakawa." Online Archive of California.





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