1976 United States Senate election in Nevada

1976 United States Senate election in Nevada
	County results; Cannon: 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80%; Towell: 40–50%
U.S. senator before election; Howard Cannon; Democratic	Elected U.S. Senator ; Howard Cannon; Democratic

The 1976 United States Senate election in Nevada was held on November 2, 1976. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Howard Cannon won re-election to a fourth term despite Republican President Gerald Ford winning the state in the concurrent presidential election in Nevada.

General election

Candidates

Dan Becan (Libertarian)
Howard Cannon, incumbent U.S. Senator (Democratic)
David Towell, former U.S. Representative from Nevada's At-large congressional district (Republican)
Byron D. Young (Independent American)

Campaign

In the Senate, Cannon was known as a moderate in the Democratic Party. He served as chairman of several committees, including the rules committee and the inaugural arrangements committee. Cannon was nearly defeated for re-election in 1964 by Republican Lieutenant Governor Paul Laxalt in one of the closest elections in history. However, he became more popular over the next few years and won re-election in 1970 with nearly 58% of the vote. In 1976, he faced former U.S. Representative David Towell, who served just one term in the U.S. House of Representatives before losing reelection, then running for the Senate. Cannon won re-election with 63% of the vote, one of his best election performances of his career. He won every county in the state, except for Eureka County, which Towell won with just 51% of the vote.

Results

General election results^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Howard Cannon (incumbent)	127,214	63.01%	+5.36%
	Republican	David Towell	63,471	31.44%	−9.73%
	None of These Candidates		5,288	2.62%
	Independent American	Byron D. Young	3,619	1.79%
	Libertarian	Dan Becan	2,307	1.14%
Majority			63,743	31.57%	+15.09%
Turnout			201,899
	Democratic hold		Swing

References

^ "Statistics of the Presidential and Congressional Election of November 2, 1976" (PDF). Clerk of the House of Representatives. p. 28.

[1] "Statistics of the Presidential and Congressional Election of November 2, 1976" (PDF). Clerk of the House of Representatives. p. 28.

[1]