1972 United States Senate election in Arkansas

1972 United States Senate election in Arkansas
	County results; McClellan: 50–60% 60–70% 70–80%; Babbitt: 50–60%
U.S. senator before election; John L. McClellan; Democratic	Elected U.S. Senator ; John L. McClellan; Democratic

The 1972 United States Senate election in Arkansas took place on November 7, 1972. Incumbent U.S. Senator John L. McClellan was re-elected to a sixth term in office, defeating U.S. Representative David Pryor in a hotly contested primary. In the general election, McClellan easily defeated Republican physician Wayne Babbitt. This was McClellan's final campaign; he died in his sleep in 1977. Pryor was elected Governor of Arkansas in 1974 and won the race to succeed McClellan in 1978.

This would also mark the last time a Democrat was elected to this seat who was not a member of the Pryor family. Arkansas was one of fifteen states alongside Alabama, Colorado, Delaware, Georgia, Iowa, Louisiana, Maine, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, South Dakota and West Virginia that were won by Republican President Richard Nixon in 1972 that elected Democrats to the United States Senate.

Democratic primary

Candidates

Ted Boswell
Foster Johnson
David Pryor, U.S. Representative from Camden
John L. McClellan, incumbent Senator

Results

1972 Democratic U.S. Senate primary results^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	John L. McClellan (inc.)	220,588	44.70%
	Democratic	David Pryor	204,058	41.35%
	Democratic	Ted Boswell	62,496	12.66%
	Democratic	Foster Johnson	6,358	1.29%
Total votes			493,500	100.00%

Run-off results

Since no candidate received a majority in the initial primary, a run-off election was held on June 13 between McClellan and Pryor.

1972 Democratic U.S. Senate run-off results^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	John L. McClellan (inc.)	242,983	52.00%
	Democratic	David Pryor	224,262	48.00%
Total votes			467,245	100.00%

General election

Results

General election results^[3]^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	John L. McClellan (inc.)	386,398	60.88%	39.11
	Republican	Wayne H. Babbitt	248,238	39.12%	N/A
Total votes			634,636	0.02%

References

[1] "Our Campaigns - AR US Senate - D Primary Race - May 16, 1972".

[2] "Our Campaigns - AR US Senate - D Runoff Race - Jun 13, 1972".

[3] "Our Campaigns - AR US Senate Race - Nov 07, 1972".

[4] Clerk of the United States House of Representatives (1973). "Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 7, 1972" (PDF). U.S. Government Printing Office.

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U.S. Senate	Class 2: 1833 1839–40 1848 S 1853 1859 1868 S 1870 1876 1883 1885 S 1889 1895 1901 1907 1913 S 1913 1918 1924 1930 1936 1937 S 1942 1948 1954 1960 1966 1972 1978 1984 1990 1996 2002 2008 2014 2020 Class 3: 1837 1843 1845 S 1849 1855 1861 1867 1873 1879 1881 S 1885 1891 1897 1903 1909 1914 1916 S 1920 1926 1932 S 1932 1938 1944 1950 1956 1962 1968 1974 1980 1986 1992 1998 2004 2010 2016 2022
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'S,' denotes special election; 'U,' denotes election under Federal (Union) military occupation See also: Political party strength in Arkansas

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Democratic primary

Candidates

Results

Run-off results

General election

Results

See also

References