1972 United States Senate election in Delaware

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Nominee Joe Biden J. Caleb Boggs Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 116,006 112,844 Percentage 50.48% 49.10%

County results State House district results Biden:     40–50%     50–60%     60–70%     70–80% Boggs:     40–50%     50–60%     60–70%

U.S. senator before election J. Caleb Boggs Republican Elected U.S. Senator Joe Biden Democratic

The1972 United States Senate election in Delaware was held November 7, 1972. IncumbentRepublican SenatorJ. Caleb Boggs ran for a third term in theUnited States Senate. Boggs faced off againstDemocratJoe Biden, aNew Castle County Councilman. Though Boggs was expected to easily win a third term, Biden narrowly defeated the incumbent on election day, even while fellow DemocratGeorge McGovern lost Delawareby 20.4% in the concurrent presidential election. Biden's victory margin of 3,162 votes made this the closestU.S. Senate election of the year.

Biden won atotal of seven terms in the Senate, before being electedvice president in 2008 andin 2012 andpresident in 2020. At the age of 29, Biden became the youngest person to be elected senator sinceRush Holt won in West Virginia in1934. Delaware was one of fifteen states that were won byRichard Nixon that elected Democrats to the United States Senate.

• J. Caleb Boggs (Republican), incumbent senator and former Governor of Delaware^[1]
• Joe Biden (Democrat),New Castle County Council member^[1]
• Henry M. Majka (American)^[1]
• Herbert B. Wood (Prohibition)^[1]

Longtime Delaware political figure and incumbent Republican Senator J. Caleb Boggs was considering retirement, which would likely have left U.S. RepresentativePete du Pont and Wilmington MayorHal Haskell in a divisive Senateprimary. To avoid a potential primary, PresidentRichard Nixon helped convince Boggs to run again with full party support.^[2][3]

Aside from Biden, aNew Castle County Councilman, no Democrat wanted to challenge Boggs.^[4]

Biden's campaign had virtually no money and was given little to no chance of winning.^[5] The campaign was managed by Biden's sister,Valerie Biden Owens (who managed his future campaigns), was staffed by other members of the Biden family, and relied upon handed-out newsprint position papers.^[6]

Biden did receive some assistance from theAFL–CIO and from Democratic pollsterPatrick Caddell.^[4] Biden's campaign focused on withdrawal from theVietnam War, the environment, civil rights, mass transit, more equitable taxation, health care, the public's dissatisfaction with politics-as-usual, and "change".^[4][6] Biden also opposed giving amnesty todraft dodgers. Despite not supporting the legalization ofmarijuana, he said in a campaign ad that: "the possession of marijuana is a misdemeanor—a minor offense. The police should treat it that way, and devote the greater part of their efforts to heroin."^[7]

During the summer, Biden trailed Boggs by almost 30 percentage points;^[4] however, Biden's energy level, attractive young family, and ability to connect with voters' emotions gave him an advantage over the ready-to-retire Boggs.^[8]John Marttila served as one of his consultants and had previously worked forRobert Drinan's campaign for the U.S. House of Representatives.^[6][9] Biden's campaign was described as having "no money to speak of" and relied onposition papers in newspapers and a few campaign advertisements on the radio.^[6] One notable advertisement used by the Biden campaign was a brochure printed in newspaper format that contrasted the world view of the two candidates, e.g. (full page) "To Cale Boggs an unfair tax was the 1948 poll tax"; (opposite page) "To Joe Biden an unfair tax is the 1972 income tax."^[10] On November 7, 1972, Biden upset Boggs by a margin of 3,162 votes.^[6]

Biden varied his messaging during campaign events throughout the state as well. For example, in the southern parts of the state his pitch was: "thirty years ago, caring for the environment meant picking up bottles and beer cans onRehoboth Beach ... and now it means saving the beach." In the northern parts of the state in the Wilmington area it was "in 1950, Cale Boggs promised to keep highways growing; in 1970 Joe Biden promises to keep trees growing."^[7]

A few weeks later on December 18, 1972,Biden's wife and daughter died in a car crash which injured his sons.^[11] Biden contemplated resigning the Senate seat and told his brother to talk with governor-electSherman W. Tribbitt on his successor. Senate Majority LeaderMike Mansfield persuaded Biden to stay in the Senate for at least six months.^[12] Biden was sworn in at the hospital where his sons were recovering.^[13] Biden held the seat until his election asvice president 36 years later.^[14]

At the time of the 1972 election, Biden was 29 years old. He turned 30—the minimum age for a U.S. senator—on November 20, 1972, in time for the Senate term beginning January 3, 1973. At the commencement of his Senate term, Biden was the sixth-youngest U.S. Senator in history.^[15]

A 2004 book contained a story, allegedly fromFrank Sheeran, that in the week prior to Election Day, an unidentified lawyer approached Sheeran about preventing the distribution of the local paper because Senator Boggs was running an advertisement unflattering to Biden. Sheeran claimed that he organized a work stoppage, and that Teamsters truck drivers refused to cross a picket line, so the papers were not delivered.^[16] The credibility of Sheeran's account has been called into question, although an article published inThe New York Times on Friday November 3, 1972, does seem to confirm that a work stoppage took place four days prior to election day, preventing the delivery of a single Friday edition of local paperThe Morning News.^[17]

There were two other candidates in the 1972 Senate election: Henry M. Majka and Herbert B. Wood. Majka came from theAmerican Party while Wood hailed from theProhibition Party. Majka managed to receive 803 votes, or 0.3% of the vote, while Wood got 175 votes, or 0.1% of the vote.^[18]

Biden successfully flipped bothNew Castle County andKent County away from the Republican Party. This is the only time that Biden has lostSussex County in his seven elections to the Senate. This would be the last time that Republicans won any counties for this seat until 2002 when Biden still comfortably won re-election.^[20][21]

• 1972 United States Senate elections

• United States Senate elections in Delaware
• 1972 United States Senate elections
• 1972 Delaware elections
• United States Senate career of Joe Biden

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from August 2017