United States Senate elections, 1974

United States Senate elections, 1974

1972 ← November 5, 1974 → 1976

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 56 seats 42 seats Seats before 56 42 Seats won 60 38 Seat change +4 -4 Popular vote 22,544,761 16,145,793 Percentage 55.2% 39.6% Swing 9.7% 12.8%

Republican holds   Republican pickups   Democratic holds   Democratic pickups

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

The U.S. Senate election of 1974 was held in the wake of the Watergate scandal, Richard M. Nixon's resignation from the presidency, and Gerald Ford's subsequent pardon of Nixon. These circumstances benefited the Democrats, and they made a net gain of three seats from the Republicans. This became four after the Senate voided the contested election in New Hampshire and Democrat John A. Durkin (D-NH) won a special election. After the special election, Democrats possessed 61 seats to 38 for the Republicans, with one Independent who caucused with the Democrats and one Conservative who caucused with the Republicans.

Democrats won open seats in Vermont and Florida and unseated incumbents Peter H. Dominick (R-CO) and Marlow Cook (R-KY). Republicans took an open seat in Nevada, where Republican Paul Laxalt defeated future Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid by 624 votes. The election also produced other close results; Milton Young (R-ND) won reelection against Democrat William L. Guy by only 186 votes and Henry Bellmon (R-OK) won reelection against Democrat Ed Edmondson by half a percent of the vote.

A notable first term Senator was former astronaut John Glenn (D-OH), who defeated sitting Senator Howard Metzenbaum in a primary and went on to win the general election. Other notable freshman included Wendell Ford, the future Senate Whip, and Gary Hart, who would run for president in 1984 and 1988.

Contents 1 Results summary 2 Complete list of races 3 Senate composition before and after elections 4 See also 5 References

Results summary

Parties		Total Seats									Popular Vote
		Incumbents	Not up	This election					Result	+/-	Vote	%
				Up	Re-elected	Held	Gained	Lost
	Conservative (N.Y.)	1	1	0					1		0	0%
	Democratic	57	37	20	15	4	4	1	60	3	22,544,761	55.24%
	Republican	41	27	14	8	2	1	4	38	3	16,145,793	39.56%
	Independent	1	1	0					1		2,119,838	5.20%
	Others	0							0
Total		100	66	35	23	6	5	5	100		40,810,392	100.0%

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

Complete list of races

A bolded state name indicates an article about that state's election.

State	Incumbent	Party	Result	Opposing Candidates
Alabama	James Allen	Democratic	Re-elected, 95.8%
Alaska	Mike Gravel	Democratic	Re-elected, 58.3%	C. R. Lewis (Republican) 41.7%
Arizona	Barry Goldwater	Republican	Re-elected, 58.3%	Jonathan Marshall (Democratic) 41.7%
Arkansas	J. William Fulbright	Democratic	Lost renomination Democratic hold	Dale Bumpers (Democratic) 84.9% John H. Jones (Republican) 15.1%
California	Alan Cranston	Democratic	Re-elected, 60.5%	H. L. Richardson (Republican) 36.2% Jack McCoy (American Independent) 1.7% Gayle M. Justice (Peace and Freedom) 1.6%
Colorado	Peter H. Dominick	Republican	Lost re-election, 39.5% Democratic gain	Gary Hart (Democratic) 57.2%
Connecticut	Abraham A. Ribicoff	Democratic	Re-elected, 63.7%	James A. Brannen III (Republican) 34.3%
Florida	Edward J. Gurney	Republican	Retired Democratic gain	Richard Stone (Democratic) 43.4% Jack Eckerd (Republican) 40.9% John Grady (American) 15.7%
Georgia	Herman Talmadge	Democratic	Re-elected, 71.7%	Jerry Johnson (Republican) 28.2%
Hawaii	Daniel Inouye	Democratic	Re-elected, 82.9%	James D. Kimmel (Independent) 17.1%
Idaho	Frank Church	Democratic	Re-elected, 56.1%	Robert L. Smith (Republican) 42.1%
Illinois	Adlai Stevenson III	Democratic	Re-elected, 62.2%	George M. Burditt (Republican) 37.2%
Indiana	Birch Bayh	Democratic	Re-elected, 50.7%	Richard Lugar (Republican) 46.4%
Iowa	Harold Hughes	Democratic	Retired Democratic hold	John Culver (Democratic) 52.0% David M. Stanley (Republican) 47.3%
Kansas	Bob Dole	Republican	Re-elected, 50.9%	William R. Roy (Democratic) 49.1%
Kentucky	Marlow Cook	Republican	Lost re-election, 44.1% Democratic gain	Wendell Ford (Democratic) 53.5% William E. Parker (American) 2.4%
Louisiana	Russell B. Long	Democratic	Re-elected unopposed
Maryland	Charles Mathias, Jr.	Republican	Re-elected, 57.3%	Barbara Mikulski (Democratic) 42.7%
Missouri	Thomas Eagleton	Democratic	Re-elected, 60.1%	Thomas B. Curtis (Republican) 39.3% Cliff Talmage (Independent) 0.6%
Nevada	Alan Bible	Democratic	Retired Republican gain	Paul Laxalt (Republican) 47.0% Harry Reid (Democratic) 46.6%
New Hampshire	Norris Cotton	Republican	Retired Republican hold[1]	Louis C. Wyman (Republican) 49.7% John A. Durkin (Democratic) 49.7%
New York	Jacob K. Javits	Republican	Re-elected, 45.3%	Ramsey Clark (Democratic) 38.2% Barbara A. Keating (Conservative) 15.9%
North Carolina	Sam Ervin	Democratic	Retired Democratic hold	Robert Burren Morgan (Democratic) 62.1% William E. Stevens (Republican) 37.0%
North Dakota	Milton Young	Republican	Re-elected, 48.4%	William L. Guy (Democratic) 48.3%
Ohio	Howard Metzenbaum	Democratic	Lost renomination Democratic hold	John Glenn (Democratic) 64.6% Ralph J. Perk (Republican) 30.7%
Oklahoma	Henry Bellmon	Republican	Re-elected, 49.4%	Ed Edmondson (Democratic) 48.9%
Oregon	Bob Packwood	Republican	Re-elected, 54.9%	Betty Roberts (Democratic) 44.2%
Pennsylvania	Richard Schweiker	Republican	Re-elected, 53.0%	Peter F. Flaherty (Democratic) 45.9% George W. Shankey (Constitution) 1.1%
South Carolina	Ernest Hollings	Democratic	Re-elected, 69.5%	Gwenyfred Bush (Republican) 28.6%
South Dakota	George McGovern	Democratic	Re-elected, 53.0%	Leo K. Thorsness (Republican) 47.0%
Utah	Wallace F. Bennett	Republican	Retired Republican hold	Jake Garn (Republican) 50.0% Wayne Owens (Democratic) 44.1%
Vermont	George Aiken	Republican	Retired Democratic gain	Patrick Leahy (Democratic) 49.5% Richard W. Mallary (Republican) 46.4%
Washington	Warren G. Magnuson	Democratic	Re-elected, 60.7%	Jack Metcalf (Republican) 36.1% Gene Goosman (American Independent) 2% Clare Fraenzl (Socialist Workers) 0.8% Pat Ruckert (U.S. Labor) 0.4%
Wisconsin	Gaylord Nelson	Democratic	Re-elected, 61.8%	Tom Petri (Republican) 35.8%

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 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 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 D D D D V 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	V=Vacant
	Majority
	divider

See also

• United States House of Representatives elections, 1974
• Watergate Babies

References

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