The most shocking Senate primary upsets

Few incumbent senators have lost bids for their parties’ nomination over the last 60 years, making Sen. Richard Lugar’s (R-Ind.) loss all the more newsworthy. We look at Lugar and nine senators whose losses surprised us the most.

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Sen. Kenneth McKellar (D-Tenn.)

McKellar lost to former vice president Al Gore's father, Albert Gore Sr., in a 1952 primary after six terms in the Senate.

/ AP

Sen. William Fulbright (D-Ark.)

Fulbright lost to a more conservative Democrat, then-governor Dale Bumpers, in 1974, by a lopsided 65-35 margin.

Henry Burroughs / Associated Press

Sen. Robert Bennett (R-Utah)

Bennett finished a surprisingly poor third at the Utah Republican Party convention in 2010 and failed to even qualify for the primary ballot.

Steve C Wilson / AP

Sen. Willis Robertson (D-Va.)

Robertson, the father of televangelist Pat Robertson, lost a 1966 Democratic primary after opposing President Lyndon Johnson's landmark 1964 Civil Rights Act.

/ AP

Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.)

Lieberman lost a 2006 primary to Ned Lamont after becoming the most prominent Democratic supporter of the Iraq war. Just six years prior, he had been his party's vice presidential nominee. Lieberman went on to run as an independent and win, and he identified himself as an "independent Democrat" throughout his final term. Lieberman is not seeking reelection this year.

Melina Mara / THE WASHINGTON POST

Sen. Ernest Gruening (D-Alaska)

Gruening, a former governor of territorial Alaska, lost his 1968 primary to Mike Gravel, despite Gravel's mixed electoral success and lack of connection to the state. Gravel went on to lose a 1980 primary to Gruening's grandson and also waged a quixotic presidential bid in 2008.

Anonymous / AP

Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.)

Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) became only the second six-term senator to lose a primary with his loss May 8 loss to Indiana State Treasurer Richard Mourdock.

Darron Cummings / AP

Sen. Thomas Kuchel (R-Calif.)

Kuchel, right, lost a 1968 primary despite his status as Senate Republican whip. The liberal Republican had declined the endorse several prominent conservatives, including Richard Nixon.

/ ASSOCIATED PRESS

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska)

Murkowski lost a 2010 primary to unheralded businessman Joe Miller, but ran as a write-in candidate in the general election and defeated the by-then-highly unpopular Miller.

John Moore / GETTY IMAGES

Sen. Alan Dixon (D-Ill.)

Dixon, right with Walter Mondale, took just 35 percent of the vote in a 1992 primary, splitting the white vote with another candidate while Carol Moseley Braun shot the gap and became the first African-American female elected to the Senate.

Doug Mills / ASSOCIATED PRESS

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