Misplaced Pages

1972 United States House of Representatives elections

← 1970 November 7, 1972 1974 →
All 435 seats in the United States House of Representatives 218 seats needed for a majority
Majority party Minority party   Leader Carl Albert Gerald Ford Party Democratic Republican Leader since January 21, 1971 January 3, 1965 Leader's seat Oklahoma 3rd Michigan 5th Last election 255 seats 180 seats Seats won 242 192 Seat change 13 12 Popular vote 37,071,352 33,119,664 Percentage 52.1% 46.5% Swing 1.5% 1.6%   Third party   Party Independent Democratic Last election 0 seats Seats won 1 Seat change 1 Popular vote 137,664 Percentage 0.2% Swing
Results:      Democratic hold      Democratic gain      Republican hold      Republican gain      Independent gain
Speaker before election Carl Albert Democratic Elected Speaker Carl Albert Democratic

The 1972 United States House of Representatives elections were held on November 7, 1972, to elect U.S. Representatives to serve in the 93rd United States Congress. This was the first election held after the 1970 United States redistricting cycle. It coincided with the landslide reelection victory of President Richard M. Nixon. Nixon's Republican Party managed to gain a net of twelve House of Representatives seats from the Democratic Party, although the Democrats retained a majority.

This was the first election in which citizens at least 18 years of age (instead of 21 and older) could vote, due to the recent passage of the 26th Amendment. This was the last time until 2022 that a Democrat would win a House seat in Alaska, and the first time since 1888 that a Republican won a House seat in Louisiana.

Special elections

Six special elections were also held throughout the year, six before November and one concurrent with the November general election.

Summary of results

392 incumbent members sought reelection, but 13 were defeated in primaries and 13 defeated in the general election for a total of 366 incumbents winning.

Parties		Seats				Popular vote
		1970	1972	+/-	Strength	Vote	%	Change
	Democratic Party	255	242	13	55.6%	37,071,352	52.1%	1.5%
	Republican Party	180	192	12	44.2%	33,119,664	46.5%	1.6%
	American Independent Party	0	0		0.0%	233,967	0.3%	0.1%
	Conservative Party	0	0		0.0%	218,143	0.3%	0.1%
	Liberal Party	0	0		0.0%	148,951	0.2%	0.1%
	Independent Democratic	0	1	1	0.2%	137,664	0.2%
	Peace and Freedom Party	0	0		0.0%	63,894	0.1%
	Socialist Workers Party	0	0		0.0%	51,815	0.1%	0.1%
	National Democratic Party	0	0		0.0%	37,618	0.1%
	Taxpayer's Party	0	0		0.0%	28,079	<0.1%
	Action Party	0	0		0.0%	12,075	<0.1%
	Prohibition Party	0	0		0.0%	10,902	<0.1%
	Socialist Labor Party	0	0		0.0%	10,835	<0.1%
	Constitution Party	0	0		0.0%	5,860	<0.1%	0.1%
	Concerned and Capable Party	0	0		0.0%	5,188	<0.1%
	American Independent Conservative Party	0	0		0.0%	3,077	<0.1%
	Communist Party	0	0		0.0%	2,076	<0.1%
	Libertarian Party	0	0		0.0%	2,028	<0.1%
	Less Federal Taxes Party	0	0		0.0%	1,920	<0.1%
	La Raza Unida Party	0	0		0.0%	1,629	<0.1%
	Protest, Progress, Dignity Party	0	0		0.0%	1,556	<0.1%
	People's Party	0	0		0.0%	1,215	<0.1%
	Independent for Congress Party	0	0		0.0%	1,147	<0.1%
	People Over Politics Party	0	0		0.0%	847	<0.1%
	Taxation With Representation Party	0	0		0.0%	408	<0.1%
	Socialist Party	0	0		0.0%	221	<0.1%
	Others	0	0		0.0%	16,274	<0.1%	0.1%
Total		435	435		100.0%	71,188,405	100.0%

Source: "Election Statistics". Office of the Clerk.

Incumbents retiring

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (December 2008)

Democratic gains

• Georgia 5: Fletcher Thompson (R) retired to run for U.S. senator, succeeded by Andrew Young (D)
• New York 6: Seymour Halpern (R), retired, succeeded by Lester L. Wolff (D), who was redistricted
• Oklahoma 1: Page Belcher (R), retired, succeeded by James R. Jones (D)

Democratic holds

• Arkansas 4: David Pryor (D), retired to run for U.S. senator, succeeded by Ray Thornton (D)
• Illinois 11: Roman C. Pucinski (D), retired, succeeded by Frank Annunzio (D), who was redistricted
• Kentucky 6: William P. Curlin Jr. (D), retired, succeeded by John B. Breckinridge (D)
• Louisiana 8: Speedy Long (D), redistricted and retired, succeeded by Gillis William Long (D), who previously held the seat in the 88th Congress
• Maryland 3: Edward Garmatz (D), redistricted and retired, succeeded by Paul Sarbanes (D)
• Mississippi 2: Thomas Abernethy (D), redistricted and retired, succeeded by David R. Bowen (D)
• Missouri 6: William Raleigh Hull Jr. (D), retired, succeeded by Jerry Litton (D)
• North Carolina 4: Nick Galifianakis (D), retired to run for U.S. senator, succeeded by Ike Franklin Andrews (D)
• North Carolina 7: Alton Lennon (D), retired, succeeded by Charlie Rose (D)
• North Dakota 2: Arthur A. Link (D), redistricted retired to run for Governor, succeeded by Mark Andrews (R), who was redistricted
• Oklahoma 2: Ed Edmondson (D), retired to run for U.S. senator, succeeded by Clem McSpadden (D)
• Tennessee 7: Ray Blanton (D), retired to run for U.S. senator, succeeded by Ed Jones (D), who was redistricted
• Texas 2: John Dowdy (D), retired, succeeded by Charles Wilson (D)

Republican gains

• Alabama 2: Elizabeth B. Andrews (D), redistricted and retired, succeeded by William Louis Dickinson (R)
• Illinois 11: Roman C. Pucinski (D), retired, succeeded by Frank Annunzio (D), who was redistricted
• Louisiana 3: Patrick T. Caffery (D), retired, succeeded by Dave Treen (R)
• Maine 2: William Hathaway (D), retired to run for U.S. senator, succeeded by William Cohen (R)
• Mississippi 4: Charles H. Griffin (D), redistricted and retired, succeeded by Thad Cochran (R)
• Mississippi 5: William M. Colmer (D), retired, succeeded by Trent Lott (R)
• South Dakota 2: James Abourezk (D), retired to run for U.S. senator, succeeded by James Abdnor (R)
• Virginia 4: Watkins Moorman Abbitt (D), retired, succeeded by Robert Daniel (R)

Republican holds

• California 20: H. Allen Smith (R), retired, succeeded by Carlos Moorhead (R)
• Idaho 1: James A. McClure (R), retired to run for U.S. senator, succeeded by Steve Symms (R)
• Illinois 15: Cliffard D. Carlson (R), retired, succeeded by Leslie C. Arends (R), who was redistricted
• Illinois 21: William L. Springer (R), retired, succeeded by Edward Rell Madigan (R)
• Missouri 7: Durward Gorham Hall (R), retired, succeeded by Gene Taylor (R)
• New Jersey 12: Florence P. Dwyer (R), retired, succeeded by Matthew John Rinaldo (R)
• New York 31: Alexander Pirnie (R), redistricted and retired, succeeded by Donald J. Mitchell (R)
• New York 33: John H. Terry (R), redistricted and retired, succeeded by William F. Walsh (R)
• North Carolina 9: Charles R. Jonas (R), retired, succeeded by James G. Martin (R)
• Ohio 4: William Moore McCulloch (R), retired, succeeded by Tennyson Guyer (R)
• Ohio 8: Jackson Edward Betts (R), retired, succeeded by Walter E. Powell (R), who was redistricted
• Ohio 16: Frank T. Bow (R), retired, succeeded by Ralph Regula (R)
• Pennsylvania 2: J. Irving Whalley (R), retired, succeeded by John P. Saylor (R), who was redistricted
• Virginia 8: William L. Scott (R), retired to run for U.S. senator, succeeded by Stanford Parris (R)
• Washington 1: Thomas Pelly (R), retired, succeeded by Joel Pritchard (R)
• Wisconsin 8: John W. Byrnes (R), retired, succeeded by Harold Vernon Froehlich (R)

Incumbents defeated

Incumbents defeated in primary

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (April 2009)

1. California 8: George P. Miller (D)
2. California 39: John G. Schmitz (R)
3. Colorado 4: Wayne Aspinall (D)
4. Georgia 1: George Elliott Hagan (D)
5. Michigan 19: Jack H. McDonald (R)
6. Nevada at-large: Walter S. Baring Jr. (D)
7. New Jersey 13: Cornelius Edward Gallagher (D)
8. New York 18: Emanuel Celler (D)
9. New York 22: James H. Scheuer (D)
10. Pennsylvania 3: James A. Byrne (D)
11. Pennsylvania 22: William Sheldrick Conover (R)
12. South Carolina 6: John L. McMillan (D)
13. West Virginia 4: James Kee (D)

Incumbents defeated in general election

1. Colorado 1: Mike McKevitt (R)
2. Connecticut 5: John S. Monagan (D)
3. Illinois 10: Abner J. Mikva (D)
4. Indiana 11: Andrew Jacobs Jr. (D)
5. Iowa 1: Fred Schwengel (R)
6. Iowa 4: John Henry Kyl (R)
7. Massachusetts 9: Louise Day Hicks (D)
8. New York 26: John G. Dow (D)
9. Tennessee 6: William Anderson (D)
10. Texas 5: Earle Cabell (D)
11. Texas 13: Graham B. Purcell Jr. (D)
12. Utah 2: Sherman P. Lloyd (R)
13. Wisconsin 7: Alvin E. O'Konski (R)

Alabama

Alabama was reapportioned from 8 to 7 seats and eliminated the old 3rd district, dividing it between the old 2nd and 4th and making compensating boundary changes elsewhere.

Alaska

Incumbent Nick Begich won re-election three weeks after having disappeared in a plane crash October 16; challenger Don Young would later win a March special election after Begich was declared dead on December 29.

Arizona

Arizona was reapportioned from 3 seats to 4 and carved a new district in the Phoenix suburbs and the northeast from parts of the existing districts.

Arkansas

California

California was reapportioned from 38 to 43 seats, adding one seat in the Bay Area, one in the Central Valley, and 3 in southern California; three went to Democrats, two to Republicans. Despite a retirement and two lost renominations, both parties held their seats in this election, bringing the Democrats up from 20 seats to 23 and the Republicans up from 18 seats to 20.

Colorado

Colorado was reapportioned from 4 to 5 seats, constructing a new 5th district east and south of Denver.

Connecticut

Delaware

Florida

Florida was reapportioned from 12 to 15 seats, adding a seat in central and two in south Florida.

Georgia

Hawaii

Idaho

Illinois

Indiana

Iowa

Iowa was reapportioned from 7 seats to 6, dividing the old 5th district around Des Moines between its neighbors. Its incumbent, Neal Smith, won again in the south-central Iowa 4th district.

Kansas

Kentucky

Louisiana

Louisiana stayed at eight house seats following the 1970 census, but the Eighth District's boundaries were radically altered. New governor Edwin W. Edwards ordered the district to take in territory far to the south and east of its traditional base of Alexandria, which included many African-American and progressive white voters. The change was largely regarded as an election deal between Edwards and former Rep. Gillis Long, who finished third in the Democratic Primary in the 1971 Louisiana Governor's Election behind Edwards and J. Bennett Johnston. Long easily won back the Eighth District seat he lost in 1964 to cousin Speedy Long. Speedy Long retired when his home of LaSalle Parish was shifted to the Fifth District, where incumbent Otto Passman was entrenched.

Maine

Maryland

Maryland's redistricting eliminated a seat in Baltimore in favor of an additional seat in the DC suburbs.

Massachusetts

Michigan

Minnesota

Mississippi

Missouri

Montana

Nebraska

Nevada

New Hampshire

New Jersey

New Mexico

New York

North Carolina

North Dakota

Ohio

Oklahoma

Oregon

Pennsylvania