Mike Gravel Democratic Frank Murkowski Republican The 1980 United States Senate election in Alaska was held on November 4, 1980.

[1] First elected in 1968, the two-term Democratic incumbent Mike Gravel had become known nationally for a filibuster that attempted to end the draft during the Vietnam War and for including the full text of the Pentagon Papers in the Congressional Record, an act which subsequently led to it being put out by a publishing house.

[2] Gravel faced a challenging bid for reelection, complicated by the fact that his triumph over Ernest Gruening years prior had made him a pariah in the Alaska Democratic Party.

Though Gravel had campaigned to be selected as George McGovern's running mate in the 1972 presidential election and had easily won reelection to the Senate in 1974, he had never established a strong political base in Alaska.

[5] Another factor may have been Alaska's blanket primary system, which allowed unlimited cross-over voting across parties and from its large unaffiliated electorate;[6] Republicans believed Gruening would be an easier candidate to defeat in the general election.