United States Senate elections, 1972

United States Senate elections, 1972

1970 ← November 7, 1972 → 1974

34 of the 100 seats in the United States Senate 51 seats needed for a majority   Majority party Minority party   Leader Mike Mansfield Hugh Scott Party Democratic Republican Leader's seat Montana Pennsylvania Last election 54 seats 44 seats Seats won 56 42 Seat change +2 -2 Popular vote 17,199,567 19,821,203 Percentage 45.5% 52.4% Swing 6.9% 12.5%

Republican holds   Republican pickups   Democratic holds   Democratic pickups

Majority Leader before election Mike Mansfield Democratic Elected Majority Leader Mike Mansfield Democratic

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 freshmen included future two-time presidential candidate and current Vice President Joe Biden, who staged an upset in the Delaware election, and future conservative icon Jesse Helms.

Contents 1 Results summary 2 Complete list of races 3 See also 4 Senate composition before and after elections

Results summary

Parties		Total Seats									Popular Vote
		Incumbents	Not up	This election					Result	+/-	Vote	%
				Up	Re-elected	Held	Gained	Lost
	Democratic Party	54	40	14	8	2	6	4	56	2	17,199,567	45.49%
	Republican Party	44	24	20	13	1	4	6	42	2	19,821,203	52.42%
	Conservative (N.Y.)	1	1	0	0	0			1		n/a
	Independent	1	1	0	0	0			1		318,238	0.84%
	Others	0	0	0	0	0			0		470,090	1.24%
Total		100	66	34	21	3	10	10	100		37,809,098	100.0%

Source: Election Statistics - U.S. House of Representatives, Office of the Clerk

Complete list of races

State	Incumbent	Party	Results	Opposing candidates
Alabama	John Sparkman	Democratic	Re-elected, 62.3%	Winton M. Blount (Republican) 33.1% John L. 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	Lost re-election, 48.4% Democratic gain	Floyd K. Haskell (Democratic) 49.4% Secundion Salazar (Raza Unida) 1.4% Henry Olshaw (American) 0.8%
Delaware	J. Caleb Boggs	Republican	Lost re-election, 49.1% Democratic gain	Joe Biden (Democratic) 50.5%
Georgia	David H. Gambrell	Democratic	Lost renomination Democratic hold	Sam Nunn (Democratic) 54.0% Fletcher Thompson (Republican) 46.0%
Idaho	Leonard B. Jordan	Republican	Retired Republican hold	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	Lost re-election, 44.1% Democratic gain	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 gain	Walter D. Huddleston (Democratic) 50.9% Louie B. Nunn (Republican) 47.6%
Louisiana	Elaine S. Edwards	Democratic	Retired Democratic hold	J. Bennett Johnston (Democratic) 55.2% John McKeithen (Independent) 23.1% Ben C. Toledano (Republican) 16.1%
Maine	Margaret Chase Smith	Republican	Lost re-election, 46.8% Democratic gain	William Hathaway (Democratic) 53.2%
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) 46.3%
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 gain	Pete Dominici (Republican) 54.0% Jack Daniels (Democratic) 46.0%
North Carolina	B. Everett Jordan	Democratic	Lost renomination Republican gain	Jesse Helms (Republican) 54.0% Nick Galifianakis (Democratic) 46.0%
Oklahoma	Fred R. Harris	Democratic	Retired Republican gain	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 gain	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%
Vermont (Class 1: Special)	Robert Stafford	Republican	Elected to finish term, 64.3%	Randolph T. Major (Democratic) 33.4%
Virginia	William B. Spong, Jr.	Democratic	Lost re-election, 46.1% Republican gain	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%

See also

• United States presidential election, 1972
• United States House elections, 1972

Senate composition before and after elections

Senate composition before the elections I D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R C

Senate composition in the next Congress I D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R C

Key:	C=Conservative	D=Democratic	I=Independent	R=Republican
	Majority
	divider

United States Senate elections Pre-17th Amendment 1788 1790 1792 1794 1796 1798 1800 1802 1804 1806 1808 1810 1812 1814 1816 1818 1820 1822 1824 1826 1828 1830 1832 1834 1836 1838 1840 1842 1844 1846 1848 1850 1852 1854 1856 1858 1860 1862 1864 1866 1868 1870 1872 1874 1876 1878 1880 1882 1884 1886 1888 1890 1892 1894 1896 1898 1900 1902 1904 1906 1908 1910 1912 Post-17th Amendment 1914 1916 1918 1920 1922 1924 1926 1928 1930 1932 1934 1936 1938 1940 1942 1944 1946 1948 1950 1952 1954 1956 1958 1960 1962 1964 1966 1968 1970 1972 1974 1976 1978 1980 1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014 2016 Others: Special elections Disputes See also: House elections Presidential elections Gubernatorial elections

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