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 County results Hollings: 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% | |||||||||||||||||
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The1980 South Carolina United States Senate election was held on November 4, 1980, to select theU.S. Senator from the state ofSouth Carolina. IncumbentDemocratic SenatorFritz Hollings easily defeatedRepublican challenger Marshall Mays to win his fourth (his third full) term.
TheSouth Carolina Democratic Party held theirprimary for Senator on June 10, 1980.Fritz Hollings, the incumbentSenator, won the Democratic primary against two minor candidates; Nettie Durant Dickerson and William Kreml.
| Democratic Primary | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Votes | % |
| Fritz Hollings | 266,796 | 81.2% |
| Nettie Durant Dickerson | 34,720 | 10.6% |
| William P. Kreml | 27,049 | 8.2% |
TheSouth Carolina Republican Party held theirprimary on June 10, 1980. Marshall Mays, a former state legislator, emerged as the frontrunner and went on to defeat Charlie Rhodes in therunoff election on June 24.
| Republican Primary | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Votes | % |
| Marshall Mays | 14,075 | 42.6% |
| Charlie Rhodes | 11,395 | 34.5% |
| Robert Carley | 7,575 | 22.9% |
| Republican Primary Runoff | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| Marshall Mays | 6,853 | 64.8% | +22.2% |
| Charlie Rhodes | 3,717 | 35.2% | +0.7% |
The Republican Party did not see the race as winnable and Mays received little assistance for his campaign. Hollings did little campaigning for the race and easily won re-election in the midst of an otherwise strong Republican year.
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Fritz Hollings (incumbent) | 612,556 | 70.36% | +0.92% | |
| Republican | Marshall Mays | 257,946 | 29.63% | +0.95% | |
| No party | Write-Ins | 94 | 0.01% | N/A | |
| Majority | 354,610 | 40.73% | −0.03% | ||
| Turnout | 870,596 | 70.5% | +19.2% | ||
| Democratichold | |||||
