Held on November 4, in the middle of Ronald Reagan's second presidential term, the 34 seats of Class 3 were contested in regular elections.

The Republicans had to defend an unusually large number of freshman Senate incumbents who had been elected on President Ronald Reagan's coattails in 1980.

This remains the most recent midterm election cycle in which the sitting president's party suffered net losses while still flipping a Senate seat.

They defeated seven incumbents, all but one of whom had been elected in 1980, and gained open seats held by retiring Republicans in Maryland and Nevada.

[2] Incumbent Senator Jeremiah Denton, a retired Rear Admiral and decorated Vietnam War veteran who six years earlier became the first Republican elected to the Senate from Alabama since Reconstruction, won the Republican primary with little opposition from Richard Vickers.

[3] Shelby won a very narrow victory over Denton (less than one percent), once again making Alabama's Senate delegation entirely Democratic.

Following a highly competitive election in 1980, Murkowski faced a legitimate opponent in Olds, and the contest was fairly close throughout the campaign.

The open seat was won by Republican John McCain, a Congressman and former Navy Officer who beat Democratic State Legislator Richard Kimball.

Congressman Ed Zschau narrowly defeated Bruce Herschensohn in the Republican primary to secure the nomination.

Democratic nominee Tim Wirth and Republican Ken Kramer ran unopposed for the seat.

Congressman Wyche Fowler, who had defeated former White House Chief of Staff Hamilton Jordan in the Democratic primary.

At the time of this announcement, it was expected that then-Governor Harry Hughes would run for the seat being vacated by retiring Senator Mathias.

Congresswoman Barbara Mikulski received the Democratic nomination over fellow Congressman Michael D. Barnes and governor Harry Hughes, the last of whom finished third.

[citation needed] Chavez was accused of making Mikulski's sexual orientation a central issue of the political campaign.

In defending her use of the phrase, Chavez stated the line "San Francisco Democrats" was a reference to Jeane Kirkpatrick's 1984 Republican National Convention "Blame America First" speech, in which Kirkpatrick coined the phrase "San Francisco Liberal.

Incumbent Republican Jim Broyhill, who had been appointed in June 1986 to serve out the rest of John Porter East's term, faced off against the popular Democratic former Governor Terry Sanford.

Jim Broyhill Republican Terry Sanford Democratic Terry Sanford, then the outgoing president of Duke University, first said in September 1985 that he was planning to run for the U.S. Senate the next year but quickly withdrew, as it appeared that the party wanted a "fresh" face, most likely in the person of UNC System President William Friday.

[21] Sanford agreed to run, which led Faircloth and another candidate, Judge Marvin K. Blount Jr., to withdraw before filing their candidacies.

Longtime U.S. Representative Jim Broyhill entered the race with much of the establishment support, but David Funderburk had the backing of the organization of Senator Jesse Helms.

Sanford narrowly defeated incumbent Broyhill on both election ballots, though he received a slightly smaller margin of victory to finish the remainder of East's term due to a lower turnout.

Senator Mark Andrews lost re-election to a second term to Dem-NPL nominee Kent Conrad, State Tax Commissioner.

[31] After winning the party nomination, Weaver was the subject of a House Ethics Committee probe into his campaign finances, and withdrew his candidacy.

Specter was viewed somewhat tepidly by the Pennsylvania electorate entering the race, although both men shared similar moderate profiles.

Don Bailey, the state's incumbent Auditor General, who projected a strong blue collar image and had moderate positions that were often relatively close to Specter's, and Edgar, a Methodist minister and sitting Congressman, who had more liberal viewpoints and was with the Vietnam War-era peace movement and anti-corruption movement following the Watergate scandals, ran for the Democratic nomination.

With little financial assistance, McMaster was unable to mount a credible challenge to Hollings's re-election in what became a difficult year for Republicans.

[37][5] Daschle was uncontested for the Democratic nomination and therefore was able to focus on the general election early, while Abdnor had to fight a challenge from an incumbent governor, Bill Janklow.

[39] Both Leahy and Snelling were well-respected and highly popular in Vermont, and the general feeling was that they would both make good senators.

However, Snelling was felt to be at a disadvantage for several reasons, including the fact that his main campaign plank was deficit reduction, which The Caledonian-Record noted Leahy was already a well-known advocate for, and the fact that Leahy had acquired a reputation as one of the Senate's most knowledgeable figures on the issue of nuclear proliferation, an issue which the Brattleboro Reformer noted that Snelling had no experience with.

[5] Leahy would face one more tough re-election challenge in 1992 against Republican Jim Douglas, handily winning each term thereafter.

Ed Garvey, former Deputy Attorney General of Wisconsin and executive director of the NFLPA, defeated Matt Flynn in the Democratic primary.