United States Senate elections, 1972

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Republican holds Republican pickups Democratic holds Democratic pickups

The 1972 United States Senate election was an election for the United States Senate coinciding with the landslide re-election of Richard Nixon. However, Nixon's victory did not help his allies in the Senate, and the Democrats increased their majority by two seats. The result was a Democratic Senate, with 56 seats, to the Republicans' 42, with one independent and one Conservative senator.

Democratic pickups included open seats in Kentucky and South Dakota, and defeats of Senators Gordon L. Allott of Colorado, J. Caleb Boggs of Delaware, Jack Miller of Iowa, and Margaret Chase Smith of Maine. Republican pickups included open seats in New Mexico, North Carolina, and Oklahoma, and the defeat of incumbent William B. Spong, Jr. of Virginia.

In 1974, William B. Saxbe of Ohio resigned to become Attorney General, and Democrat Howard Metzenbaum was appointed to replace him. This is not included in the party balances.

Notable Freshman include future two time presidential candidate Joe Biden and conservative icon Jessie Helms.

[edit] Senate Contests

State	Incumbent	Party	Status	Opposing Candidates
Alabama	John Sparkman	Democratic	Re-elected, 62.3%	Winton M. Blount (Republican) 33.1% John LeFlore (Nat'l Democratic) 3.0% Jerome Couch (AL Prohibition) 1.0% Herbert Stone (AL Conservative) 0.6%
Alaska	Ted Stevens	Republican	Re-elected, 77.3%	Gene Guess (Democratic) 22.7%
Arkansas	John Little McClellan	Democratic	Re-elected, 60.8%	Wayne H. Babbitt (Republican) 39.1%
Colorado	Gordon L. Allott	Republican	Defeated, 48.4%	Floyd K. Haskell (Democratic) 49.4% Secundion Salazar (Raza Unida) 1.4% Henry Olshaw (American) 0.8%
Delaware	J. Caleb Boggs	Republican	Defeated, 49.1%	Joe Biden (Democratic) 50.5%
Georgia	David H. Gambrell	Democratic	Defeated in primary, Democratic victory	Sam Nunn (Democratic) 54.0% Fletcher Thompson (Republican) 46.0%
Idaho	Leonard B. Jordan	Republican	Retired, Republican victory	James A. McClure (Republican) 52.3% William E. Davis (Democratic) 45.5%
Illinois	Charles H. Percy	Republican	Re-elected, 62.2%	Roman Pucinski (Democratic) 37.4%
Iowa	Jack Miller	Republican	Defeated, 44.1%	Dick Clark (Democratic) 55.1%
Kansas	James B. Pearson	Republican	Re-elected, 71.4%	Arch Tetzlaff (Democratic) 23.0%
Kentucky	John Sherman Cooper	Republican	Retired, Democratic victory	Walter D. Huddleston (Democratic) 50.9% Louie B. Nunn (Republican) 47.6%
Louisiana	Elaine S. Edwards	Democratic	Retired, Democratic victory	J. Bennett Johnston (Democratic) 55.2% John McKeithen (Independent) 23.1% Ben C. Toledano (Republican) 16.1%
Maine	Margaret Chase Smith	Republican	Defeated, 46.8%	William Hathaway (Democratic) 56.6%
Massachusetts	Edward Brooke	Republican	Re-elected, 63.5%	John J. Droney (Democratic) 34.7% Donald Gurewitz (Socialist Workers) 1.7%
Michigan	Robert P. Griffin	Republican	Re-elected, 52.3%	Frank J. Kelley (Democratic) 42.9%
Minnesota	Walter Mondale	Democratic	Re-elected, 56.7%	Phil Hansen (Republican) 42.9%
Mississippi	James Eastland	Democratic	Re-elected, 58.1%	Gil Carmichael (Republican) 38.7%
Montana	Lee Metcalf	Democratic	Re-elected, 52.0%	Henry S. Hibbard (Republican) 48.1%
Nebraska	Carl Curtis	Republican	Re-elected, 53.1%	Terry Carpenter (Democratic) 46.8%
New Hampshire	Thomas J. McIntyre	Democratic	Re-elected, 56.9%	Wesley Powell (Republican) 43.1%
New Jersey	Clifford P. Case	Republican	Re-elected, 62.5%	Paul J. Krebs (Democratic) 34.5%
New Mexico	Clinton Presba Anderson	Democratic	Retired, Republican victory	Pete Dominici (Republican) 54.0% Jack Daniels (Democratic) 46.0%
North Carolina	B. Everett Jordan	Democratic	Defeated in primary, Republican victory	Jesse Helms (Republican) 54.0% Nick Galifianakis (Democratic) 46.0%
Oklahoma	Fred R. Harris	Democratic	Retired, Republican victory	Dewey F. Bartlett (Republican) 51.4% Ed Edmondson (Democratic) 47.6%
Oregon	Mark Hatfield	Republican	Re-elected, 53.7%	Wayne Morse (Democratic) 46.2%
Rhode Island	Claiborne Pell	Democratic	Re-elected, 53.7%	John Chafee (Republican) 45.7%
South Carolina	Strom Thurmond	Republican	Re-elected, 63.3%	Eugene N. Zeigler (Democratic) 36.7%
South Dakota	Karl Earl Mundt	Republican	Retired, Democratic victory	James Abourezk (Democratic) 57.0% Robert W. Hirsch (Republican) 42.9%
Tennessee	Howard Baker	Republican	Re-elected, 61.6%	Ray Blanton (Democratic) 37.9%
Texas	John Tower	Republican	Re-elected, 53.4%	Barefoot Sanders (Democratic) 44.3%
Vermont¹	Robert Stafford	Republican	Re-elected, 64.3%	Randolph T. Major (Democratic) 33.4%
Virginia	William B. Spong, Jr.	Democratic	Defeated, 46.1%	William L. Scott (Republican) 51.5%
West Virginia	Jennings Randolph	Democratic	Re-elected, 66.5%	Louise Leonard (Republican) 33.6%
Wyoming	Clifford Hansen	Republican	Re-elected, 71.3%	Mike Vinich (Democratic) 28.7%