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 [edit]

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 [edit]

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 [edit]

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 [edit]

Complete list of races [edit]

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.

See also [edit]

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