Election 1972 Results
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1972 Senate election results by state and county
Nixon won 49 states, yet Democrats split the Senate races 16 to 16 and made a small net gain, with 29-year-old Joe Biden winning in Delaware.
33 Senate races were held in 1972, plus 2 special elections. Democrats won 16 and Republicans 17.
The closest were Colorado (D+1.0), Delaware (D+1.4) and Kentucky (D+3.3). 11 seats changed party: Alaska to the Republicans, Colorado to the Democrats, Delaware to the Democrats, Iowa to the Democrats, Kentucky to the Democrats, Maine to the Democrats, New Mexico to the Republicans, North Carolina to the Republicans, Oklahoma to the Republicans, South Dakota to the Democrats and Virginia to the Republicans.
Early projection, based on early and incomplete polling: the likely matchups, each weighted by the betting markets' odds of both nominations, not a result. Each county is its 2024 presidential margin moved by its state's projected swing; set a national vote and every state, district and county moves by the same amount from our projection. Colours run in 100 steps from a safe Republican to a safe Democratic margin. Boundaries: US Census Bureau.
About the 1972 Senate elections
Nixon beat George McGovern with 520 electoral votes, but his landslide did little for Republican Senate candidates. Each party won 16 races, and Democrats made a net gain of two seats. Democrats took Colorado, Delaware, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine and South Dakota, while Republicans gained North Carolina, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Virginia. In Delaware, county councilman Joe Biden beat J. Caleb Boggs by 1.4 points. He was 29 on election day and turned 30, the minimum age, before taking his seat. In Colorado, Floyd Haskell unseated Gordon Allott by a point. In Maine, William Hathaway beat Margaret Chase Smith, ending her 24 years in the Senate. Dick Clark took Iowa after walking the length of the state. Republicans gained in the South. Jesse Helms won North Carolina, beginning 30 years in the Senate, and Bill Scott took Virginia from William Spong Jr. Pete Domenici won New Mexico, and Dewey Bartlett won Oklahoma.
Every race
| State | Democrat | Votes | Republican | Votes | Others | Margin |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | John Sparkman | 654,491 (62.3%) | Winton M. Blount | 347,523 (33.1%) | 49,085 | D+29.2 |
| Alaska flip | Gene Guess | 21,791 (22.7%) | Ted Stevens | 74,216 (77.3%) | R+54.6 | |
| Arkansas | John L. McClellan | 386,398 (60.9%) | Wayne H. Babbitt | 248,238 (39.1%) | D+21.8 | |
| Colorado flip | Floyd K. Haskell | 457,545 (49.4%) | Gordon Allott | 447,957 (48.4%) | 20,591 | D+1.0 |
| Delaware flip | Joe Biden | 116,006 (50.5%) | J. Caleb Boggs | 112,844 (49.1%) | 978 | D+1.4 |
| Georgia | Sam Nunn | 635,970 (54.0%) | Fletcher Thompson | 542,331 (46.0%) | 407 | D+7.9 |
| Georgia (special) | Sam Nunn | 404,890 (52.0%) | Fletcher Thompson | 362,501 (46.5%) | 11,519 | D+5.4 |
| Idaho | Bud Davis | 140,913 (45.5%) | James A. McClure | 161,804 (52.3%) | 6,885 | R+6.8 |
| Illinois | Roman Pucinski | 1,721,031 (37.3%) | Charles H. Percy | 2,867,078 (62.2%) | 20,271 | R+24.9 |
| Iowa flip | Dick Clark | 662,637 (55.1%) | Jack Miller | 530,525 (44.1%) | 10,171 | D+11.0 |
| Kansas | Arch Tetzlaff | 200,764 (23.0%) | James B. Pearson | 622,591 (71.4%) | 48,347 | R+48.4 |
| Kentucky flip | Walter D. Huddleston | 528,550 (50.9%) | Louie B. Nunn | 494,337 (47.6%) | 14,974 | D+3.3 |
| Louisiana | J. Bennett Johnston | 598,987 (55.2%) | Ben Toledano | 206,846 (19.1%) | John J. McKeithen (Independent) 250,161 (23.1%) |
D+36.2 |
| Maine flip | William Hathaway | 224,270 (53.2%) | Margaret Chase Smith | 197,040 (46.8%) | D+6.5 | |
| Massachusetts | John J. Droney | 823,278 (34.7%) | Edward Brooke | 1,505,932 (63.5%) | 41,466 | R+28.8 |
| Michigan | Frank J. Kelley | 1,577,178 (46.3%) | Robert P. Griffin | 1,781,065 (52.3%) | 48,663 | R+6.0 |
| Minnesota | Walter Mondale | 981,340 (56.7%) | Phil Hansen | 742,121 (42.9%) | 8,192 | D+13.8 |
| Mississippi | James Eastland | 375,102 (58.1%) | Gil Carmichael | 249,779 (38.7%) | 20,865 | D+19.4 |
| Montana | Lee Metcalf | 163,609 (52.0%) | Henry S. Hibbard | 151,316 (48.0%) | D+3.9 | |
| Nebraska | Terry Carpenter | 265,922 (46.8%) | Carl T. Curtis | 301,841 (53.1%) | 817 | R+6.3 |
| New Hampshire | Thomas J. McIntyre | 184,495 (56.9%) | Wesley Powell | 139,852 (43.1%) | 7 | D+13.8 |
| New Jersey | Paul J. Krebs | 963,573 (34.5%) | Clifford P. Case | 1,743,854 (62.5%) | 84,480 | R+28.0 |
| New Mexico flip | Jack Daniels | 173,815 (45.9%) | Pete Domenici | 204,253 (54.0%) | 262 | R+8.1 |
| North Carolina flip | Nick Galifianakis | 677,293 (46.0%) | Jesse Helms | 795,248 (54.0%) | R+8.0 | |
| Oklahoma flip | Ed Edmondson | 478,212 (47.6%) | Dewey F. Bartlett | 516,934 (51.4%) | 10,002 | R+3.9 |
| Oregon | Wayne Morse | 425,036 (46.2%) | Mark Hatfield | 494,671 (53.7%) | 1,126 | R+7.6 |
| Rhode Island | Claiborne Pell | 221,942 (53.7%) | John H. Chafee | 188,990 (45.7%) | 2,500 | D+8.0 |
| South Carolina | Eugene N. Zeigler | 241,056 (36.7%) | Strom Thurmond | 415,806 (63.3%) | 172 | R+26.6 |
| South Dakota flip | James Abourezk | 174,773 (57.0%) | Robert W. Hirsch | 131,613 (43.0%) | D+14.1 | |
| Tennessee | Ray Blanton | 440,599 (37.8%) | Howard Baker Jr. | 716,539 (61.5%) | 7,057 | R+23.7 |
| Texas | Barefoot Sanders | 1,511,985 (44.3%) | John G. Tower | 1,822,877 (53.4%) | 79,056 | R+9.1 |
| Vermont (special) | Randolph T. Major | 23,842 (33.4%) | Robert T. Stafford | 45,888 (64.3%) | 1,618 | R+30.9 |
| Virginia flip | William B. Spong Jr. | 643,963 (46.1%) | William Lloyd Scott | 718,337 (51.4%) | 33,968 | R+5.3 |
| West Virginia | Jennings Randolph | 486,310 (66.5%) | Louise Leonard | 245,531 (33.5%) | D+32.9 | |
| Wyoming | Mike Vinich | 40,753 (28.7%) | Clifford P. Hansen | 101,314 (71.3%) | R+42.6 |
Margin: the Democrat's share of all votes minus the Republican's. Margins are Democrat minus Republican, of all votes. Certified results, from the states' own archives, the MIT Election Data and Science Lab, Heideman (2026) and Algara & Amlani (2021). By county: "As they were" draws each county as it stood on election day; "Today's" shares the old votes among today's counties by area. County boundaries: Newberry Library, Atlas of Historical County Boundaries (CC BY-NC-SA 2.5). How these results were checked.