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.

|-

!

| Robert Stafford

| | Republican

| 1960

| | Incumbent resigned September 16, 1971 when appointed U.S. Senator.<br/>New member elected January 7, 1972.<br/>Republican hold.<br/>Winner was re-elected in November.

| nowrap |

|-

!

| George W. Andrews

| | Democratic

| 1944

| | Incumbent died December 25, 1971.<br/>New member elected April 4, 1972.<br/>Democratic hold.<br/>Winner did not run for re-election in November.

| nowrap |

|-

!

| Charlotte Thompson Reid

| | Republican

| 1962

| | Incumbent resigned October 7, 1971 to become Commissioner on the Federal Communications Commission.<br/>New member elected April 4, 1972.<br/>Republican hold.<br/>Winner was re-elected in November.

| nowrap |

|-

!

| James G. Fulton

| | Republican

| 1944

| | Incumbent died October 6, 1971.<br/>New member elected April 25, 1972.<br/>Republican hold.<br/>Winner was not renominated in primary for election to full term in November (see below).

| nowrap |

|-

!

| Edwin Edwards

| | Democratic

| 1965

| | Incumbent resigned May 9, 1972 when elected Governor of Louisiana.<br/>New member elected September 30, 1972.<br/>Democratic hold.<br/>Winner was re-elected in November.

| nowrap |

|-

!

| Richard Harding Poff

| | Republican

| 1952

| | Incumbent resigned August 29, 1972 to become judge of the Supreme Court of Virginia.<br/>New member elected November 7, 1972.<br/>Republican hold.<br/>Winner was also elected the same day to the next term.

| nowrap |

|}

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.

{| style="text-align:center"

|+ ↓

| style="background:; width:55.63%; color:white" | 242

| style="background:; width:0.23%" | 1

| style="background:; width:44.14%; color:white" | 192

|-

| <span style="color:">Democratic</span>

|

| <span style="color:">Republican</span>

|}

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center"

! rowspan=2 colspan=2 | Parties

! colspan=4 | Seats

! colspan=3 | Popular vote

|-

! 1970

! 1972

! +/-

! Strength

! Vote

! %

! Change

|-

|

! Democratic Party

| | 255

| | 242

| data-sort-value="-13" | 13

| | 55.6%

| | 36,780,100

| | 51.7%

| data-sort-value="-1.5%" | 1.9%

|-

|

! Republican Party

| 180

| 192

| data-sort-value="12" | 12

| 44.2%

| 33,064,172

| 46.5%

| | 1.6%

|-

|

! American Independent Party

| 0

| 0

| data-sort-value=0 |

| 0.0%

| 233,967

| 0.3%

| data-sort-value="0.1%" | 0.1%

|-

|

! Conservative Party

| 0

| 0

| data-sort-value=0 |

| 0.0%

| 376,863

| 0.3%

| data-sort-value="-0.1%" | 0.1%

|-

|

! Liberal Party

| 0

| 0

| data-sort-value=0 |

| 0.0%

| 251,807

| 0.2%

| data-sort-value="0.1%" | 0.1%

|-

|

! Independent

| 0

| 1

| data-sort-value="1" | 1

| 0.2%

| 137,664

| 0.2%

| data-sort-value=0 |

|-

|

! Peace and Freedom Party

| 0

| 0

| data-sort-value=0 |

| 0.0%

| 63,894

| 0.1%

| data-sort-value=0 |

|-

|

! Socialist Workers Party

| 0

| 0

| data-sort-value=0 |

| 0.0%

| 51,815

| 0.1%

| data-sort-value="0.1%" | 0.1%

|-

|

! Prohibition Party

| 0

| 0

| data-sort-value=0 |

| 0.0%

| 10,902

| <0.1%

| data-sort-value=0 |

|-

|

! Socialist Labor Party

| 0

| 0

| data-sort-value=0 |

| 0.0%

| 10,835

| <0.1%

| data-sort-value=0 |

|-

|

! Communist Party

| 0

| 0

| data-sort-value=0 |

| 0.0%

| 2,076

| <0.1%

| data-sort-value=0 |

|-

|

! Others

| 0

| 0

| data-sort-value="0" |

| 0.0%

| 206,386

| <0.1%

| data-sort-value="-0.1%" | 0.1%

|-

! colspan=2 | Total

! 435

! 435

! data-sort-value=0 |

! 100.0%

! 71,188,405

! 100.0%

! data-sort-value=0 |

|}

Source:

{|

|- valign=top

|

[[File:93 us house membership.png|thumb|450px|

{| align=center

! colspan=2 | House seats by party holding plurality in state

|-

|

|

|-

|

|

|-

|

|

|}]]

|

[[File:93 us house changes.png|thumb|450px|

{| align=center

! align=center colspan=2 | Change in seats

|-

|

|

|-

|

|

|-

|

|

|-

| colspan=2 align=center |

|}]]

thumb|450px|Results shaded according to winners share of vote

|}

Incumbents retiring

Democratic gains

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

Democratic holds

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

Republican gains

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

Republican holds

  • : H. Allen Smith (R), retired, succeeded by Carlos Moorhead (R)
  • : James A. McClure (R), retired to run for U.S. senator, succeeded by Steve Symms (R)
  • : Cliffard D. Carlson (R), retired, succeeded by Leslie C. Arends (R), who was redistricted
  • : William L. Springer (R), retired, succeeded by Edward Rell Madigan (R)
  • : Durward Gorham Hall (R), retired, succeeded by Gene Taylor (R)
  • : Florence P. Dwyer (R), retired, succeeded by Matthew John Rinaldo (R)
  • : Alexander Pirnie (R), redistricted and retired, succeeded by Donald J. Mitchell (R)
  • : John H. Terry (R), redistricted and retired, succeeded by William F. Walsh (R)
  • : Charles R. Jonas (R), retired, succeeded by James G. Martin (R)
  • : William Moore McCulloch (R), retired, succeeded by Tennyson Guyer (R)
  • : Jackson Edward Betts (R), retired, succeeded by Walter E. Powell (R), who was redistricted
  • : Frank T. Bow (R), retired, succeeded by Ralph Regula (R)
  • : J. Irving Whalley (R), retired, succeeded by John P. Saylor (R), who was redistricted
  • : William L. Scott (R), retired to run for U.S. senator, succeeded by Stanford Parris (R)
  • : Thomas Pelly (R), retired, succeeded by Joel Pritchard (R)
  • : John W. Byrnes (R), retired, succeeded by Harold Vernon Froehlich (R)

Incumbents defeated

Incumbents defeated in primary

  1. : George P. Miller (D)
  2. : John G. Schmitz (R)
  3. : Wayne Aspinall (D)
  4. : George Elliott Hagan (D)
  5. : Jack H. McDonald (R)
  6. : Walter S. Baring Jr. (D)
  7. : Cornelius Edward Gallagher (D)
  8. : Emanuel Celler (D)
  9. : James H. Scheuer (D)
  10. : James A. Byrne (D)
  11. : William Sheldrick Conover (R)
  12. : John L. McMillan (D)
  13. : James Kee (D)

Incumbents defeated in general election

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

Alabama

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

|-

!

| Jack Edwards

| | Republican

| 1964

| Incumbent re-elected.

| nowrap |

|-

! rowspan=2 |

| William Louis Dickinson

| | Republican

| 1964

| Incumbent re-elected.

| rowspan=2 nowrap |

|-

| Elizabeth B. Andrews<br/>

| | Democratic

| 1972

| | Incumbent retired.<br/>Democratic loss.

|-

!

| Bill Nichols<br/>

| | Democratic

| 1966

| Incumbent re-elected.

| nowrap |

|-

!

| Tom Bevill<br/>

| | Democratic

| 1966

| Incumbent re-elected.

| nowrap |

|-

!

| Robert E. Jones Jr.<br/>

| | Democratic

| 1947

| Incumbent re-elected.

| nowrap |

|-

!

| John Hall Buchanan Jr.

| | Republican

| 1964

| Incumbent re-elected.

| nowrap |

|-

!

| Walter Flowers<br/>

| | Democratic

| 1968

| Incumbent re-elected.

| nowrap |

|}

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.

|-

!

| Nick Begich

| | Democratic

| 1970

| Incumbent re-elected posthumously.

| nowrap |

|}

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.

United States Virgin Islands

<!---->

Democrat Ron de Lugo was elected as the first delegate from United States Virgin Islands's at-large congressional district defeating Republican Victor Scheider.

See also

  • 1972 United States elections
  • 1972 United States gubernatorial elections
  • 1972 United States Senate elections
  • 92nd United States Congress
  • 93rd United States Congress

Notes

References

Works cited