1980 Senate Race
Javits served until 1981; his 1979 diagnosis with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease) led to a 1980 primary challenge by the comparatively lesser-known Long Island Republican county official Alfonse D'Amato. D'Amato received 323,468 primary votes (55.7 percent) to Javits' 257,433 (44.3 percent). Javits' loss to D'Amato stemmed from Javits' continuing illness and his failure to adjust politically to the rightward movement of the GOP.
Following the primary defeat, Javits ran as the Liberal Party candidate in the general election. His candidacy split the Democratic base vote with United States Representative Elizabeth Holtzman of Brooklyn and gave D'Amato a plurality victory by a margin of 1%. Javits received 11% of the vote.
Read more about this topic: Jacob K. Javits
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