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The GOP was still in a weak position in 1978 (still post-Watergate) and didn’t have any strong leaders in D.C. that could go out and drastically help pad the numbers in Congress.

Because the GOP had done (relatively) well in the 1972 Senate elections, there wasn’t a whole lot of targets for 1978. They still did fairly well in 1978 knocking off 4 weak freshmen (an indicator for 1980 that the 1974 class would be in trouble) and a 5th retired of his own accord.

In Colorado, GOP Rep. Bill Armstrong routed Sen. Floyd Haskell by a 59-40% margin (of course, we failed to take out Gary Hart in 1980, but because the weakest of the 3 nominees was put up, a woman, and she still almost beat Hart).

In Iowa, Ex-Lt. Gov. Roger Jepsen took out Sen. Dick Clark, 51-48% (unfortunately, Jepsen would be a key seat lost in 1984 to the execrable Tom Harkin).

In Maine, Rep. Bill Cohen took out 1972 fluke upset winner over Margaret Chase Smith, Sen. Bill Hathaway, by a massive 57-34% margin.

Minnesota was the “big haul” (much like Tennessee in 1994), where the Governorship and both Senate seats all flipped to Republican. David Durenberger took Humphrey’s seat by a wide 61-35% margin over centrist Dem pro-lifer Bob Short. Rudy Boschwitz similarly blitzed Sen. Wendy Anderson (who made a huge error in appointing himself to Walter Mondale’s seat as Governor), 57-40%.

In Mississippi, then-Rep. Thad Cochran won the Senate seat for the first time since Reconstruction when James Eastland retired. But what worked in his favor is that the Dems split the vote, as he won with just 45%. White Dems nominated Maurice Dantin (who got 32%) and Black Dems nominated Charles Evers (a future Republican), and he got 23%. This racial and party split worked to the advantage of the GOP in the state with the federal races.

In New Hampshire, little-known Gordon Humphrey achieved probably the biggest GOP upset of the cycle, taking out 3-term Dem. Sen. Tom McIntyre by 51-49%, whom the GOP had tried desperately to defeat in 1962, 1966 and 1972.

In South Dakota, freshman Democrat Sen. Jim Abourezk opted out of running again rather than face bitter rival (and world-class flake) Rep. Larry Pressler. Pressler won 67-33% against desultory opposition. Abourezk, even in the private sector, would remain a huge thorn in Pressler’s side and took personal credit 18 years later in 1996 for helping Pressler lose to Rep. Tim Johnson.

The GOP losses were Massachusetts Senator Ed Brooke, who was weak going into the election, with both an ugly divorce and almost losing to Avi Nelson in the primary because of his very left-wing record. The left was somewhat torn on supporting him, they did want to support “a Black guy”, but he was still a Republican. Then Rep. Paul Tax-on-Gas may have tried running slightly to his right (may have). Conservatives in MA were voting for DINO Ed King for Governor, and then might’ve pushed Tsongas over the top, and he did win by a wide 10% margin (55-45%). Avi Nelson would’ve probably been a stronger candidate, though MA being what it is, Tsongas still probably would’ve won.

Michigan was a heartbreaker. Sen. Bob Griffin really wanted to retire after 2 terms and a partial (although he’d been in D.C. for 22 years since he was just 33), but vacillated, missed scores of votes in 1977 and changed his mind just as Rep. Phil Ruppe was gearing up to run (and Ruppe dropped out entirely, including reelection to his House seat and later made a run in 1982 against Sen. Don Riegle). Carl Levin exploited his absences and GOP dissatisfaction with Griffin (the huge problem was that Griffin was so convinced in 1976 that Ford would win, I think he expected that would open up more opportunities for him, and he was obviously depressed by the results and didn’t show up enough to work).

In hindsight, Griffin should’ve retired outright and let Ruppe run instead. He might’ve been able to hold the seat as Levin wouldn’t have been able to run against an “absent” and “flaky” Senator. Levin won 52-48%. Not since 1972 have we won that seat (Gary Peters now occupies it - hopefully John James will take it back after 42 years).

Nebraska’s Carl Curtis retired and left the GOP with a weak candidate who was obliterated by Gov. Jim Exon, 68-32%. Curtis probably should’ve run again, though Exon still probably would’ve prevailed. It was unfortunate that with Zorinsky’s win 2 years earlier, a heavy GOP state like NE would have 2 Dem Senators.

New Jersey had the Socialist-left incumbent RINO Cliff Case running in the primary, but was taken out by Conservative Jeff Bell. The bitterness of the campaign allowed Dem Ben Bradley to win by a 55-43% margin over Bell. Bradley might still have won had Case been the nominee again. Conservatives were not going to vote for him.

Oklahoma freshman GOP Sen. Dewey Bartlett was dying of lung cancer and opted not to run (he died in March 1979). The GOP ran a poor candidate, Robert Kamm (OSU-Stillwater President) against Gov. David Boren, whose approvals were stratospheric, and he won 66-33%.

Other than these, the only other GOP opportunities were the special election in AL (where former Rep. Jim Martin managed 43% to left-leaning Don Stewart’s 55%), and the GOP didn’t contest Howell Heflin’s race that year.

Against then-freshman Biden in DE (he won 58% against a lesser-known opponent).

KY freshman Dem Dee Huddleston, who won 61-37%.

Montana, where Larry Williams (father of actress Michelle Williams) ran a respectable race against Rep. Max Baucus, though still lost 56-44%.

And the last being in West Virginia, where ex-Gov. Arch Moore should’ve been the victor, but lost by a single point to long-time incumbent Dem Jennings Randolph (whose race was largely bankrolled by then-Gov. Jay Rockefeller, outspending Moore 5-to-1, so that Rockefeller could ease himself into the seat in 1984, or earlier if the past-his-prime Randolph croaked). Had Moore won instead of going back to the Governorship in 1985, when he got in serious trouble, he’d have probably held the seat from 1979 until at least 1997 and Rockefeller would’ve been shut out (unless he would’ve taken on Robert Byrd).