1988 United States Senate election in Connecticut

1988 United States Senate election in Connecticut
	Lieberman: 40–50% 50–60% 60–70%; Weicker: 40–50% 50–60% 60–70%; Tie: 40–50%
U.S. senator before election; Lowell Weicker; Republican	Elected U.S. Senator ; Joe Lieberman; Democratic

The 1988 United States Senate election in Connecticut took place on November 8, 1988. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Lowell Weicker ran for re-election to a fourth term, but was narrowly defeated by Democrat Joe Lieberman, the Connecticut Attorney General and eventual 2000 nominee for Vice President of the United States, who would remain in office until 2013. This is the last time a Connecticut Senator lost re-election.

Both Weicker and Lieberman would go on to win state-wide elections as independents, in 1990 for governor and in 2006 for Senate respectively. Joe Lieberman's swearing-in marked the first time since 1971 that Democrats held both Senate seats from Connecticut.

Lieberman was often considered to the right of Weicker, with him benefiting from the support of National Review founder William F. Buckley Jr., and his brother, former U.S. Senator from New York James Buckley, with William Buckley running columns in support of Lieberman.

General election

Candidates

Joe Lieberman (D), Connecticut Attorney General
Lowell P. Weicker Jr. (R), incumbent U.S. Senator since 1971
Howard A. Grayson Jr. (L)
Melissa M. Fisher (NAP)

Debates

Dates	Lieberman	Weicker	Link
October 22, 1988	Participant	Participant	C-SPAN

Fundraising

Campaign finance reports as of December 31, 1988
Candidate	Raised	Spent	Cash on hand
Joe Lieberman (D)	$2,650,603	$2,570,779	$79,824
Lowell Weicker (R)	$2,781,538	$2,681,294	$52,517
Source: Federal Election Commission^[1]

Results

General election results^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Joe Lieberman	688,499	49.91%
	Republican	Lowell Weicker (incumbent)	677,903	49.15%
	Libertarian	Howard A. Grayson Jr.	12,409	0.90%
	New Alliance	Melissa M. Fisher	4,154	0.30%
Total votes			1,379,362	100.0%
	Democratic gain from Republican

References

[1] "Candidate financial totals". Federal Election Commission.

[2] "Our Campaigns - CT US Senate Race - Nov 08, 1988".

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