The 1958 United States Senate election in West Virginia was held on November 4, 1958.
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County results Byrd: 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% Revercomb: 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% | |||||||||||||||||
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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
editParty | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
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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- ^ "WV US Senate". Retrieved January 12, 2019.