1972 United States Senate election in Virginia

* * *

| <- 1966 | November 7, 1972 | 1978 ->

|
|

Turnout| 44.7%[1]
|  |  |

|
|

Nominee  | William L. Scott | William Spong, Jr. |
Party  | Republican | Democratic
Popular vote  | 718,337 | 643,963
Percentage  | 51.45% | 46.12%

* * *

County and independent city results
Scott: 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80%
Spong: 40–50% 50–60% 60–70%

* * *

| U.S. senator before election

William B. Spong, Jr.
Democratic

| Elected U.S. Senator

William Lloyd Scott
Republican

|

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* v
* t
* e

The 1972 United States Senate election in Virginia was held on November 7, 1972. Republican U.S. Representative William L. Scott defeated incumbent Democratic Senator William Spong Jr. Scott was the first Republican U.S. Senator from Virginia to be elected in over a century, as the most recent Republican Senator was John F. Lewis, who had served during the Reconstruction era until 1875.

He was the first Republican to ever win this seat, and the first non-Democrat since 1889. This is the last time a candidate not named Warner won Virginia's Class 2 Senate seat.

## General election

[edit]

### Candidates

[edit]

* Horace H. Henderson (Independent)
* William Lloyd Scott, U.S. Representative from Fairfax (Republican)
* William B. Spong, Jr., incumbent U.S. senator (Democratic)

### Results

[edit]

United States Senate election in Virginia, 1972[2] Party  | Candidate  | Votes  | %  | ±%

|
|
|
|

| Republican | William Lloyd Scott | 718,337  | 51.45%  | +22.05%
| Democratic | William B. Spong, Jr. (incumbent)  | 643,963  | 46.12%  | −12.48%
| Independent | Horace E. Henderson  | 33,912  | 2.43%  |
| Write-ins  |  | 56  | <0.01%  | −0.01%
Majority  | 74,374  | 5.33%  | −19.77%
Turnout | 1,396,268  |  |
| Republican gain from Democratic

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections". uselectionatlas.org. Retrieved March 7, 2013.
2. ^ "Our Campaigns - VA US Senate Race - Nov 07, 1972".

## See also

[edit]

* 1972 United States Senate elections

* v
* t
* e

(1970 <-)  1972 United States elections (-> 1974)

President|

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