← 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 → Presidential election year
Election day
November 7
Incumbent president
Richard Nixon (Republican)
Next Congress
93rd
Presidential election
Partisan control
Republican hold
Popular vote margin
Republican +23.2%
Electoral vote
Richard Nixon (R)
520
George McGovern (D)
17
1972 presidential election results. Red denotes states won by Nixon, blue denotes states won by McGovern. Numbers indicate the electoral votes won by each candidate.
Senate elections
Overall control
Democratic hold
Seats contested
34 of 100 seats (33 seats of Class 2 + 2 special elections)[1]
Net seat change
Democratic +2
1972 Senate results
Democratic gain Democratic hold Republican gain Republican hold
Independent hold
House elections
Overall control
Democratic hold
Seats contested
All 435 voting members
Popular vote margin
Democratic +5.6%
Net seat change
Republican +12
1972 House of Representatives results
Democratic gain Democratic hold Republican gain Republican hold
Independent gain
Gubernatorial elections
Seats contested
20 (18 states, 2 territories)
Net seat change
Democratic +1
1972 gubernatorial election results Territorial races not shown
Democratic gain Democratic hold
Republican gain Republican hold
The 1972 United States elections were held on November 7, and elected the members of the 93rd United States Congress. The election took place during the later stages of the Vietnam War. The Republican Party won a landslide victory in the presidential election, and picked up seats in the House, but the Democratic Party easily retained control of Congress. This was the first election after the ratification of the 26th Amendment granted the right to vote to those aged 18–20.[2]
Incumbent Republican President Richard Nixon won re-election, defeating Democratic Senator George McGovern from South Dakota.[3] Nixon won a landslide victory, taking just under 61% of the popular vote and winning every state but Massachusetts and Washington, D. C. Libertarian John Hospers won the electoral vote of one faithless elector. McGovern won the Democratic nomination, after defeating Washington Senator Henry M. Jackson, Alabama Governor George Wallace, and New York Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm. This was the first presidential election after the McGovern–Fraser Commission (which McGovern himself had chaired) caused an increase in the number of states holding primary elections.[4]
In the House, the Republican Party picked up twelve seats, but Democrats easily retained a majority. In the Senate, the Democratic Party picked up two seats, increasing their majority. The House elections took place after the 1970 United States census and the subsequent congressional re-apportionment.
In the gubernatorial elections, Democrats won a net gain of one seat.
^The Class 2 Senate seat in Georgia held concurrent regular and special elections in November 1972. That special election is not included in the total number of seats contested.
^"Statistics of the Presidential and Congressional Election of November 7, 1972" (PDF). U.S. House of Reps, Office of the Clerk. Retrieved 10 April 2017.
^"1972 Presidential Election". The American Presidency Project. Retrieved 13 August 2011.
^Schulman, Bruce (25 October 2015). "McGovern: Forging a modern political party". Reuters. Archived from the original on 28 October 2012. Retrieved 8 September 2015.
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