1978 United States Senate election in Maine

Senator William Hathaway ran for re-election to a second term, but was defeated by William Cohen, the Republican U.S. Representative from Maine's 2nd congressional district.No incumbent Senator has lost by such a large margin since Hathaway's 22.65-point loss, though James Abdnor in 1980, John Boozman in 2010, and Tommy Tuberville in 2020 all received larger percentages of the vote than Cohen's 56.59% against incumbent Senators.[2] Meanwhile, young former state senator Hayes Gahagan launched an independent campaign, running well to the right of Cohen.[4] During the campaign, all candidates hit the campaign trail hard, with Hathaway receiving significant support from Jimmy Carter, Edmund Muskie, Ted Kennedy, and other national Democrats.Shortly before election day, he held a press conference where he announced that "unknown, subversive agents" had been altering his campaign photos by implanting subliminal images of female genitalia in his hairline.

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