1972 United States Senate election in Nebraska
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The 1972 Nebraska United States Senate election was held on November 7, 1972. Incumbent Republican Senator Carl Curtis ran for re-election to a fourth term. He was challenged by State Senator and former Congressman Terry Carpenter, the Democratic nominee. Despite President Richard Nixon's landslide victory over Democratic challenger George McGovern in the presidential election in Nebraska, Curtis only defeated Carpenter with 53% of the vote, a narrower margin than many observers predicted.[1] This was the last time until 1996 that a Republican won a U.S. Senate election in Nebraska.
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November 7, 1972
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 County results Curtis: 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% Carpenter: 50–60% 60–70% | |||||||||||||||||
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Democratic primary
Candidates
- Terry Carpenter, State Senator, former U.S. Representative from Nebraska's 5th congressional district
- Wallace C. Peterson, University of Nebraska–Lincoln economics professor[2]
- Wayne W. Ziebarth, State Senator[3]
- Don Searcy, Kearney State College geography professor[4]
- John DeCamp, State Senator[3]
- Phillys Person Lyons, housewife[5]
Results
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Terry Carpenter | 52,779 | 28.97% | |
| Democratic | Wallace C. Peterson | 49,569 | 27.21% | |
| Democratic | Wayne W. Ziebarth | 42,181 | 23.15% | |
| Democratic | Don Searcy | 25,854 | 14.19% | |
| Democratic | John DeCamp | 7,582 | 4.16% | |
| Democratic | Phillys Person Lyons | 4,121 | 2.26% | |
| Democratic | Write-ins | 90 | 0.05% | |
| Total votes | 182,176 | 100.00% | ||
Republican primary
Candidates
Results
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Carl T. Curtis (inc.) | 141,213 | 74.04% | |
| Republican | Ronald L. Blauvelt | 30,138 | 15.80% | |
| Republican | Christine Millard Kneifl | 10,941 | 5.74% | |
| Republican | Otis Glebe | 8,143 | 4.27% | |
| Republican | Write-ins | 286 | 0.15% | |
| Total votes | 190,721 | 100.00% | ||
General election
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Carl Curtis (inc.) | 301,841 | 53.09% | −7.95% | |
| Democratic | Terry Carpenter | 265,922 | 46.77% | +8.02% | |
| Write-in | 817 | 0.14% | — | ||
| Majority | 35,919 | 6.32% | −15.98% | ||
| Total votes | 568,580 | 100.00% | |||
| Republican hold | |||||