1978 United States Senate election in Virginia

The 1978 United States Senate election in Virginia was held on November 7, 1978. Incumbent Republican Senator William L. Scott did not run for re-election to a second term. Republican former Secretary of the Navy John Warner narrowly defeated Democratic Attorney General of Virginia Andrew P. Miller to succeed him. Originally, this election was a match between Republican Richard Obenshain and Miller, then Obenshain died in a plane crash, leaving the party in disarray. Warner was then nominated to run in Obenshain's place, and his victorious election thrust him into a thirty-year career in the United States Senate, which started with this election.

1978 United States Senate election in Virginia

← 1972 November 7, 1978 1984 →

Nominee John Warner Andrew P. Miller Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 613,232 608,511 Percentage 50.17% 49.79%

County and independent city results Warner:      50–60%      60–70% Miller:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%

U.S. senator before election William Lloyd Scott Republican Elected U.S. Senator John Warner Republican

Republican nomination

Candidates

• Linwood Holton, former Governor of Virginia (1970–1974) and U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Legislative Affairs (1974–1975)
• Nathan H. Miller, State Senator from Harrisonburg
• Richard D. Obenshain, Chairman of the Virginia Republican Party since 1972 and nominee for Attorney General in 1969
• John Warner, former United States Secretary of the Navy

Convention

1978 Virginia Republican Convention[1]
Ballot	1	2	3	4	5	6
Obenshain	1,192	1,261	1,338	1,521	1,516	1,580
Warner	853	908	996	1,338	1,393	1,474
Holton	780	751	620	0	0	0
Miller	262	160	122	201	166	0

Obenshain's victory set up the general election as a rematch of the 1969 Attorney General race between him and Andrew P. Miller, the Democratic nominee who defeated Obenshain in 1969.

Aftermath

On August 2, Obenshain died in a twin-engine plane crash, effectively shaking up this election. He was then replaced by Warner after other recruits turned down the chance to be nominated in respect for Obenshain.^[2][3]

General election

Candidates

• Andrew P. Miller, Attorney General of Virginia (Democratic)
• John Warner, former United States Secretary of the Navy (Republican)

Results

United States Senate election in Virginia, 1978^[4][5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	John Warner	613,232	50.17%	−1.28%
	Democratic	Andrew P. Miller	608,511	49.79%	+3.67%
	Write-ins		513	0.04%	+0.04%
Majority			4,721	0.39%	−4.94%
Turnout			1,222,256
	Republican hold

See also

• 1978 United States Senate elections