PolitiFinder

1978 Maine U.S. Senate Election

Maine · 5 candidates · See every 1978 U.S. Senate race

Who won the 1978 Maine U.S. Senate Election?

William S. Cohen won the 1978 Maine U.S. Senate Election. William S. Cohen received 212,294 popular votes (56.59%). The main challenger was William D. Hathaway (33.94%).

See the full head-to-head between Cohen and Hathaway

Cohen +22.7 pts · won by 84,967 votes
William S. CohenRepublicanWINNER56.59%
212,294 votes
William D. HathawayDemocratic33.94%
127,327 votes
Hayes E. GahaganIndependent7.42%
27,824 votes
John J. JannaceIndependent1.48%
5,553 votes
Plato TrumanIndependent0.56%
2,116 votes
Popular-vote totals for U.S. Senate elections come from the MIT Election Data and Science Lab (1976–2024).

Data last verified July 28, 2026.