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 Third party   Leader Mike Mansfield Hugh Scott James L. Buckley Party Democratic Republican Conservative Leader's seat Montana Pennsylvania New York Last election 54 seats 44 seats 1 seat Seats won 56 42 1 Seat change 2 2 Popular vote 17,199,567 19,821,203 42,348 Percentage 45.5% 52.4% 0.1% Swing 6.9% 12.5% 4.4%

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 1 independent and 1 Conservative senator.

Gains and losses

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.

Appointment

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.

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%
	Independent	1	1	0	0	0			1		318,238	0.84%
	Conservative	1	1	0	0	0			1		42,348	0.11%
	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

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 R =Republican I =Independent	Majority divider

Complete list of races

All elections are class 2 unless otherwise indicated.

Bold states links to a separate article about that state's election.

Bold candidates indicates the winner.

State	Incumbent	Party	Results	Candidates
Alabama	John Sparkman	Democratic	Re-elected	John Sparkman (Democratic) 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	Ted Stevens (Republican) 77.3% Gene Guess (Democratic) 22.7%
Arkansas	John Little McClellan	Democratic	Re-elected	John Little McClellan (Democratic) 60.8% Wayne H. Babbitt (Republican) 39.1%
Colorado	Gordon L. Allott	Republican	Lost re-election Democratic gain	Floyd K. Haskell (Democratic) 49.4% Gordon L. Allott (Republican) 48.4% Secundion Salazar (Raza Unida) 1.4% Henry Olshaw (American) 0.8%
Delaware	J. Caleb Boggs	Republican	Lost re-election Democratic gain	Joe Biden (Democratic) 50.5% J. Caleb Boggs (Republican) 49.1%
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	Charles H. Percy (Republican) 62.2% Roman Pucinski (Democratic) 37.4%
Iowa	Jack Miller	Republican	Lost re-election Democratic gain	Dick Clark (Democratic) 55.1% Jack Miller (Republican) 44.1%
Kansas	James B. Pearson	Republican	Re-elected	James B. Pearson (Republican) 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 Democratic gain	William Hathaway (Democratic) 53.2% Margaret Chase Smith (Republican) 46.8%
Massachusetts	Edward Brooke	Republican	Re-elected	Edward Brooke (Republican) 63.5% John J. Droney (Democratic) 34.7% Donald Gurewitz (Socialist Workers) 1.7%
Michigan	Robert P. Griffin	Republican	Re-elected	Robert P. Griffin (Republican) 52.3% Frank J. Kelley (Democratic) 46.3%
Minnesota	Walter Mondale	Democratic	Re-elected	Walter Mondale (Democratic) 56.7% Phil Hansen (Republican) 42.9%
Mississippi	James Eastland	Democratic	Re-elected	James Eastland (Democratic) 58.1% Gil Carmichael (Republican) 38.7%
Montana	Lee Metcalf	Democratic	Re-elected	Lee Metcalf (Democratic) 52.0% Henry S. Hibbard (Republican) 48.1%
Nebraska	Carl Curtis	Republican	Re-elected	Carl Curtis (Republican) 53.1% Terry Carpenter (Democratic) 46.8%
New Hampshire	Thomas J. McIntyre	Democratic	Re-elected	Thomas J. McIntyre (Democratic) 56.9% Wesley Powell (Republican) 43.1%
New Jersey	Clifford P. Case	Republican	Re-elected	Clifford P. Case (Republican) 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	Mark Hatfield (Republican) 53.7% Wayne Morse (Democratic) 46.2%
Rhode Island	Claiborne Pell	Democratic	Re-elected	Claiborne Pell (Democratic) 53.7% John Chafee (Republican) 45.7%
South Carolina	Strom Thurmond	Republican	Re-elected	Strom Thurmond (Republican) 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	Howard Baker (Republican) 61.6% Ray Blanton (Democratic) 37.9%
Texas	John Tower	Republican	Re-elected	John Tower (Republican) 53.4% Barefoot Sanders (Democratic) 44.3%
Vermont Special: Class 1	Robert Stafford	Republican	Elected to finish term	Robert Stafford (Republican) 64.3% Randolph T. Major (Democratic) 33.4%
Virginia	William B. Spong, Jr.	Democratic	Lost re-election Republican gain	William L. Scott (Republican) 51.5% William B. Spong, Jr. (Democratic) 46.1%
West Virginia	Jennings Randolph	Democratic	Re-elected	Jennings Randolph (Democratic) 66.5% Louise Leonard (Republican) 33.6%
Wyoming	Clifford Hansen	Republican	Re-elected	Clifford Hansen (Republican) 71.3% Mike Vinich (Democratic) 28.7%

See also

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