1978 United States Senate election in Tennessee

1978 United States Senate election in Tennessee
	County results; Baker: 50–60% 60–70% 70–80%; Eskind: 50–60% 60–70%
U.S. senator before election; Howard Baker; Republican	Elected U.S. Senator ; Howard Baker; Republican

The 1978 United States Senate election in Tennessee took place on November 7, 1978, to elect the U.S. Senator from the state of Tennessee. Two-term popular incumbent Republican U.S. Senator, Howard Baker, who had served as United States Senate Minority Leader since 1977, won reelection over first-time candidate and Democratic Party activist Jane Eskind.

Democratic primary

Candidates:

In an open primary on August 3, Eskind defeated eight other candidates:^[1]

Eskind – 196,156 (34.52%)
Bruce – 170,795 (30.06%)
Lee – 89,939 (15.83%)
Boyd – 48,458 (8.53%)
Bradley – 22,130 (3.90%)
Heinsohn – 17,787 (3.13%)
Foster – 10,671 (1.88%)
Nyabongo – 7,682 (1.35%)
Vick – 4,414 (0.78%)
Write-in – 147 (0.03%)

Candidates:

Baker easily won the August 3 primary:^[2]

Baker – 205,680 (83.44%)
Howard – 21,154 (8.58%)
Boles – 8,899 (3.61%)
Patty – 3,941 (1.60%)
Seiler – 3,831 (1.55%)
Trapp – 2,994 (1.22%)

Baker won with a 15-point margin in the general election, held on November 7:

General election results^[3]^[4]
	Candidate	Votes	%
Republican	Howard Baker (incumbent)	642,644	55.54%
Democratic	Jane Eskind	466,228	40.30%
Independent	Thomas J. Anderson	45,908	3.97%
Independent	Fern L. Keasler	2,243	0.19%
Republican hold