Waters Canoe area, and government spending, crossing party lines to vote for Durenberger. As a result, Durenberger won in a 26.9-percent landslide as the governorship and both U.S. Senate seats switched into Republican hands. Mississippi Democrat James Eastland retired. Republican Thad Cochran won the open seat over Democrat Maurice Dantin, former District Attorney and Independent Charles Evers, Mayor of Fayette. Evers was the first African American elected since the Reconstruction era to be mayor in any Mississippi city in 1969. He ran as an independent, and as a result his campaign divided the Democrats and allowed Cochran to win the senate seat with a 45 percent plurality. This made him the first Republican in a century to win a statewide election in Mississippi for any office except US President. Eastland resigned on December 27, 1978 to give Cochran a seniority advantage over new incoming senators. Montana Following the death of senator Lee Metcalf on January 12, 1978, Montana Supreme Court Chief Justice Paul G. Hatfield was appointed to serve for the remainder of Metcalf's term. Hatfield opted to run for a full term in office, but was overwhelmingly defeated in the Democratic primary by Congressman Max Baucus of the 1st congressional district. Baucus advanced to the general election, where he was opposed by Larry R. Williams, an author and the Republican nominee. Baucus ended up defeating Williams by a solid margin to win his first term in the Senate, and, following Hatfield's resignation on December 12, 1978, he began serving his first term in the Senate. Nebraska Republican Carl Curtis retired instead of seeking a fifth term. In the elections, Democratic nominee J. James Exon won the open seat over Republican Donald Eugene Shasteen. New Hampshire Incumbent Democrat Thomas J. McIntyre decided to run for re-election to a fourth term, but was defeated by Gordon J. Humphrey, the Republican nominee also a professional pilot and conservative activist. New Jersey Republican Clifford P. Case narrowly lost renomination to anti-tax conservative Jeff Bell, but the Democratic nominee, former professional basketball player Bill Bradley, easily won the general election. New Mexico Republican senator Pete Domenici successfully ran for re-election to a second term, defeating Democrat Toney Anaya, Attorney General of New Mexico. North Carolina The general election was fought between the Republican Incumbent Jesse Helms and Democrat John Ingram. Helms won re-election, by a slightly wider margin than in 1972. Jesse Helms won