United States Senate elections, 1974

November 5, 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	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%

	Third party	Fourth party

Party	Independent	Conservative (N.Y.)
Last election	1 seat	1 seat
Seats before	1	1
Seats won	1	1
Seat change

Democratic gain

Democratic hold

Independent hold

Republican gain

Republican hold

Majority Leader before election

Mike Mansfield
Democratic

Elected Majority Leader

Mike Mansfield
Democratic

The U.S. Senate elections of 1974 were held in the wake of the Watergate scandal, Richard M. Nixon's resignation from the presidency, and Gerald Ford's subsequent pardon of Nixon. Economic issues, specifically inflation and stagnation, were also a factor that contributed to the Republican losses.^[1] Democrats made a net gain of three seats from the Republicans. Following the election, the Democratic caucus controlled 60 seats (including one independent) and the Republican caucus controlled 39 seats (including one Conservative). Democrats would gain an additional seat when Democrat John A. Durkin (D-NH) won a 1975 special election that was held after the 1974 election resulted in two recounts and an extended dispute in the Senate. This was the last election to date where a member of a political party other than the Democrats or Republicans had one or more seats in the chamber.

Results summary

Parties		Total Seats									Popular Vote
		Incumbents	Not up	This election					Result	+/-	Vote	%
		Incumbents	Not up	Up	Re-elected	Held	Gained	Lost	Result	+/-	Vote	%
	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%
	Conservative (N.Y.)	1	1	0					1		822,584	2.02%
	Independent	1	1	0					1		199,108	<0.01%
	Others	0							0		1,098,146	2.69%
Total		100	66	34	23	6	5	5	100		40,810,392	100.0%

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

Change in Senate composition

Senate composition before the elections

D₄₉	D₄₈	D₄₇	D₄₆	D₄₅	D₄₄	D₄₃	D₄₂	D₄₁	D₄₀
D₉	D₈	D₇	D₆	D₅	D₄	D₃	D₂	D₁	I₁
D₁₀	D₁₁	D₁₂	D₁₃	D₁₄	D₁₅	D₁₆	D₁₇	D₁₈	D₁₉
D₂₉	D₂₈	D₂₇	D₂₆	D₂₅	D₂₄	D₂₃	D₂₂	D₂₁	D₂₀
D₃₀	D₃₁	D₃₂	D₃₃	D₃₄	D₃₅	D₃₆	D₃₇	D₃₈	D₃₉
D₅₀	← Majority
D₅₁	D₅₂	D₅₃	D₅₄	D₅₅	D₅₆	D₅₇	R₄₁	R₄₀
R₃₀	R₃₁	R₃₂	R₃₃	R₃₄	R₃₅	R₃₆	R₃₇	R₃₈	R₃₉
R₂₉	R₂₈	R₂₇	R₂₆	R₂₅	R₂₄	R₂₃	R₂₂	R₂₁	R₂₀
R₁₀	R₁₁	R₁₂	R₁₃	R₁₄	R₁₅	R₁₆	R₁₇	R₁₈	R₁₉
R₉	R₈	R₇	R₆	R₅	R₄	R₃	R₂	R₁	C₁

Senate composition as a result of the elections

D₄₉√	D₄₈√	D₄₇√	D₄₆√	D₄₅√	D₄₄√	D₄₃√	D₄₂√	D₄₁√	D₄₀√
D₉	D₈	D₇	D₆	D₅	D₄	D₃	D₂	D₁	I₁
D₁₀	D₁₁	D₁₂	D₁₃	D₁₄	D₁₅	D₁₆	D₁₇	D₁₈	D₁₉
D₂₉	D₂₈	D₂₇	D₂₆	D₂₅	D₂₄	D₂₃	D₂₂	D₂₁	D₂₀
D₃₀	D₃₁	D₃₂	D₃₃	D₃₄	D₃₅	D₃₆	D₃₇	D₃₈√	D₃₉√
D₅₀√	← Majority
D₅₁√	D₅₂√	D₅₃O	D₅₄O	D₅₅O	D₅₆O	D₅₇+	D₅₈+	D₅₉+
R₃₀√	R₃₁√	R₃₂√	R₃₃√	R₃₄√	R₃₅√	R₃₆O	R₃₇O	R₃₈+	D₆₀+
R₂₉√	R₂₈√	R₂₇	R₂₆	R₂₅	R₂₄	R₂₃	R₂₂	R₂₁	R₂₀
R₁₀	R₁₁	R₁₂	R₁₃	R₁₄	R₁₅	R₁₆	R₁₇	R₁₈	R₁₉
R₉	R₈	R₇	R₆	R₅	R₄	R₃	R₂	R₁	C₁

Key:

C_#	Conservative, caucusing with the Republicans
D_#	Democratic
I_#	Independent, caucusing with the Democrats
R_#	Republican

√	Incumbent re-elected or appointee elected to finish term
O	Party hold: New senator elected from same party
+	Party gain: New senator elected from different party

Gains and losses

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 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.

Complete list of races

A bolded state indicates an article about that election.

A bolded candidate indicates the winner.

State	Incumbent senator	Incumbent party	Result	Candidates
Alabama	James Allen	Democratic	Re-elected	James Allen (Democratic) 95.8% Alvin Abercrombie (Prohibition) 4.2%
Alaska	Mike Gravel	Democratic	Re-elected	Mike Gravel (Democratic) 58.3% C. R. Lewis (Republican) 41.7%
Arizona	Barry Goldwater	Republican	Re-elected	Barry Goldwater (Republican) 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	Alan Cranston (Democratic) 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 Democratic gain	Gary Hart (Democratic) 57.2% Peter H. Dominick (Republican) 39.5% John M King (Independent) 2.0% Joseph Fred Hyskell (Prohibition) 1.0% Henry John Olshaw (American) 0.3%
Connecticut	Abraham A. Ribicoff	Democratic	Re-elected	Abraham A. Ribicoff (Democratic) 63.7% James H. 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	Herman Talmadge (Democratic) 71.7% Jerry Johnson (Republican) 28.2%
Hawaii	Daniel Inouye	Democratic	Re-elected	Daniel Inouye (Democratic) 82.9% James D. Kimmel (Independent) 17.1%
Idaho	Frank Church	Democratic	Re-elected	Frank Church (Democratic) 56.1% Robert L. Smith (Republican) 42.1% Jean Stoddard (American) 1.8%
Illinois	Adlai Stevenson III	Democratic	Re-elected	Adlai Stevenson III (Democratic) 62.2% George M. Burditt (Republican) 37.2%
Indiana	Birch Bayh	Democratic	Re-elected	Birch Bayh (Democratic) 50.7% Richard Lugar (Republican) 46.4% Don L. Lee (American) 2.8%
Iowa	Harold Hughes	Democratic	Retired Democratic hold	John Culver (Democratic) 52.0% David M. Stanley (Republican) 47.3%
Kansas	Bob Dole	Republican	Re-elected	Bob Dole (Republican) 50.9% William R. Roy (Democratic) 49.1%
Kentucky	Marlow Cook	Republican	Lost re-election Democratic gain	Wendell Ford (Democratic) 53.5% Marlow Cook (Republican) 44.1% William E. Parker (American) 2.4%
Louisiana	Russell B. Long	Democratic	Re-elected	Russell B. Long (Democratic) Unopposed
Maryland	Charles Mathias, Jr.	Republican	Re-elected	Charles Mathias, Jr. (Republican) 57.3% Barbara Mikulski (Democratic) 42.7%
Missouri	Thomas Eagleton	Democratic	Re-elected	Thomas Eagleton (Democratic) 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^[2]	Louis C. Wyman (Republican) 49.7% John A. Durkin (Democratic) 49.7%
New York	Jacob K. Javits	Republican	Re-elected	Jacob K. Javits (Republican) 45.3% Ramsey Clark (Democratic) 38.2% Barbara A. Keating (Conservative) 15.9% Rebecca Finch (Socialist Workers Party) 0.1% William F Dowling Jr (Courage) 0.1% Robert E Massi (Socialist Labor) 0.08% Mildred Edelman (Communist) 0.08% Elijah Boyd Jr (Labor) 0.07%
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	Milton Young (Republican) 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	Henry Bellmon (Republican) 49.4% Ed Edmondson (Democratic) 48.9%
Oregon	Bob Packwood	Republican	Re-elected	Bob Packwood (Republican) 54.9% Betty Roberts (Democratic) 44.2%
Pennsylvania	Richard Schweiker	Republican	Re-elected	Richard Schweiker (Republican) 53.0% Peter F. Flaherty (Democratic) 45.9% George W. Shankey (Constitution) 1.1%
South Carolina	Ernest Hollings	Democratic	Re-elected	Ernest Hollings (Democratic) 69.5% Gwenyfred Bush (Republican) 28.6%
South Dakota	George McGovern	Democratic	Re-elected	George McGovern (Democratic) 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	Warren G. Magnuson (Democratic) 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	Gaylord Nelson (Democratic) 61.8% Tom Petri (Republican) 35.8%

References

↑ James M. Naughton (November 6, 1974). "Senate and House Margins Are Substantially Enlarged". New York Times. Retrieved October 31, 2014.
↑ Election was contested; Louis C. Wyman (R) was seated, then resigned so that a new election could take place. Norris Cotton (R) held the seat temporarily until a new special election in 1975 selected John A. Durkin (D).

United States Senate elections

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(1973 ←) 1974 United States elections (→ 1975)

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