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1958 United States Senate election in West Virginia

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1958 United States Senate election in West Virginia

← 1956 (special) November 4, 1958 1964 →
 
Nominee Robert Byrd Chapman Revercomb
Party Democratic Republican
Popular vote 381,745 263,172
Percentage 59.19% 40.81%

County results
Byrd:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%
Revercomb:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%

U.S. senator before election

Chapman Revercomb
Republican

Elected U.S. Senator

Robert Byrd
Democratic

The 1958 United States Senate election in West Virginia was held on November 4, 1958.

In 1956, Senator Harley M. Kilgore died, and former Senator Chapman Revercomb won this seat in the 1956 special election. The election was held alongside the 1958 midterms, where Republicans had a net loss nationally. Revercomb lost re-election to incumbent Representative Robert Byrd. West Virginia was one of the many states that were flipped from Republican to Democratic in the 1958 midterms, as Democrats also flipped the other Senate seat in the state in a special election. This would be the closest race of Byrd’s Senate career.

This was the last time that Democrats simultaneously flipped both of a state's Senate seats until Georgia's elections in 2020 and 2021, and the last time this would occur for either party until the 1978 elections in Minnesota.

This election, along with the simultaneous special election, is the last time a Senator from West Virginia lost re-election.

Results

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[1]
1958 United States Senate election in West Virginia
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Democratic Robert Byrd 381,745 59.19% +18.39%
Republican Chapman Revercomb (incumbent) 263,172 40.81% −18.39%
Total votes 644,917 100.00% -21.5
Democratic gain from Republican

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "WV US Senate". Retrieved January 12, 2019.