United States Senate elections, 1972

November 7, 1972

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%

	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 1972 United States Senate election was an election for the United States Senate coinciding with the landslide reelection of Republican President Richard Nixon. Despite Nixon's victory, Democrats increased their majority by two seats. After the election, Democrats held 56 seats and Republicans held 42 seats, with 1 Conservative and 1 independent Senator.

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	54	40	14	8	2	6	4	56	2	17,199,567	45.49%
	Republican	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.

Change in Senate composition

Senate composition before the elections

D₅₁	D₅₂	D₅₃	D₅₄	R₄₄	R₄₃	R₄₂	R₄₁	R₄₀
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
D₄₉	D₄₈	D₄₇	D₄₆	D₄₅	D₄₄	D₄₃	D₄₂	D₄₁	D₄₀
D₅₀	← Majority
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

D₅₁+	D₅₂+	D₅₃+	D₅₄+	D₅₅+	D₅₆+	R₄₂+	R₄₁+	R₄₀+
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
D₄₉O	D₄₈√	D₄₇√	D₄₆√	D₄₅√	D₄₄√	D₄₃√	D₄₂√	D₄₁√	D₄₀
D₅₀O	← Majority
R₃₀√	R₃₁√	R₃₂√	R₃₃√	R₃₄√	R₃₅√	R₃₆√	R₃₇√	R₃₈O	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

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

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.

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	Allen J. Ellender (died July 27, 1972) Elaine S. Edwards	Democratic	Appointee did not run for full term Democratic hold	J. Bennett Johnston (Democratic) 55.2% John McKeithen (Independent) 23.1% Ben C. Toledano (Republican) 16.1% Hall M. Lyons (American Party), 2.7%
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 Domenici (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%
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%

United States Senate elections

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Special elections Election disputes Results by state List of elections in the United States House elections Presidential elections Gubernatorial elections

(1971 ←) 1972 United States elections (→ 1973)

President	United States presidential election, 1972 Democratic primaries Republican primaries Democratic convention Republican convention

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