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 County results Curtis: 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% Carpenter: 50–60% 60–70% | |||||||||||||||||
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The1972 Nebraska United States Senate election was held on November 7, 1972. Incumbent Republican SenatorCarl Curtis ran for re-election to a fourth term. He was challenged by State Senator and former CongressmanTerry Carpenter, the Democratic nominee. Despite PresidentRichard Nixon's landslide victory over Democratic challengerGeorge McGovern in thepresidential 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 until1996 that a Republican won a U.S. Senate election in Nebraska.
| 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% | ||
| 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% | ||
| 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% | |||
| Republicanhold | |||||
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