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

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

Republican gain

Republican hold

Majority Leader before election

Mike Mansfield
Democratic

Elected Majority Leader

Mike Mansfield
Democratic

The United States Senate elections, 1972 was an election for the United States Senate coinciding with the landslide re-election 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. This was the first election that citizens at least 18 years of age (instead of 21 and older) could vote due to the recent passage of the 26th Amendment.

Source: "Election Statistics". U.S. House of Representatives, Office of the Clerk. Archived from the original on July 25, 2007.

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.

...
Wikipedia