Republicans voted for Mathias and Bauman as co-chairmen of the delegation to represent the liberal and conservative wings of the party, respectively. The 1980 nomination contest lacked the "fierce ideological bickering that marked the 1976 state convention", in which Mathias was nearly excluded as a delegate. Despite initial concerns that a strong conservative would run in the 1980 Republican primary, Mathias did not face any major opposition for his seat. He easily won his party's nomination, and was re-elected by a substantial margin in November. His Democratic counterpart in the election, State Senator Edward T. Conroy, positioned himself as more conservative than Mathias. Conroy also made national defense the primary issue of his campaign, where he accused Mathias of being weak. Mathias countered, stating he had voted for over $1.1 trillion in defense spending during his career in the Senate. By winning easy re-election, Mathias became the first Maryland Republican to win election to a third Senate term, and also the only Republican to win the city of Baltimore up to that point. He also secured support from several precincts of Baltimore's Democratic political machine, and several labor unions. Final term (1981–1987) After Republicans gained control of the Senate in 1981, Mathias sought the chairmanship of the Judiciary Committee but was relegated to the relatively mundane chairmanship of the Rules Committee. He was also appointed chairman of the Government Operations Subcommittee on Government Efficiency and the District of Columbia, and accepted a seat on the influential Foreign Relations Committee, though he had to sacrifice his seat on the Appropriations Committee to do so. In 1982, Mathias chaired a bipartisan Senate inquiry into the methods used by the FBI in the Abscam corruption investigation, which found that dozens of officials had been named for accepting bribes without basis. He also served as co-chair of the Joint Committee on Printing from 1981 to 1983 and 1985 to 1987, and as a member of the Joint Committee on the Library from 1983 to 1987. Leading up to the 1986 elections, it was unclear whether Mathias would seek a fourth term. His support of President Reagan was lukewarm, which had further isolated him ideologically from his Republican colleagues. One delegate at the Maryland state party convention had even called Mathias "liberal swine" for his record. Additionally, his frequent difficulties in securing a committee chairmanship along with his low attendance rate were raising questions regarding