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 County results Case: 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% | |||||||||||||||||
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The1972 United States Senate election in New Jersey was held on November 7, 1972. IncumbentRepublicanClifford P. Case defeatedDemocratic nomineePaul J. Krebs with 62.46% of the vote.
Primary elections were held on June 6.[1] Case turned away a challenge from conservative doctor James Ralph.[2] Krebs won a large plurality in the Democratic primary over Daniel Gaby and Joseph Karcher.
As of 2025, this was the last time the Republicans won a U.S. Senate election in New Jersey,[a] the second longest such drought for Republicans in any state after Hawaii (since1970).
Case outperformedRichard Nixon's vote share in theconcurrent presidential election by 0.89%.
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Clifford P. Case (incumbent) | 187,268 | 70.13% | |
| Republican | James W. Ralph | 79,766 | 29.87% | |
| Total votes | 267,034 | 100.00% | ||
Krebs ran with the support of organized labor and theHubert Humphrey presidential campaign, as well as the party establishment in Essex, Hudson and Passaic counties, while Gaby ran as a reform candidate and aligned himself withGeorge McGovern's campaign.[2][3][5]
Although McGovern won the state'spresidential delegate primary easily over Hubert Humphrey, Krebs defeated Gaby by roughly 50,000 votes.
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Paul J. Krebs | 135,000 | 43.16% | |
| Democratic | Daniel M. Gaby | 86,213 | 27.56% | |
| Democratic | Joseph T. Karcher | 51,321 | 16.41% | |
| Democratic | Henry Kielbasa | 40,235 | 12.86% | |
| Total votes | 312,769 | 100.00% | ||
From the start of the post-primary campaign, Krebs faced "virtually insurmountable political odds."[5]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Clifford P. Case (incumbent) | 1,743,854 | 62.46% |  2.44 | |
| Democratic | Paul J. Krebs | 963,573 | 34.51% |  2.47 | |
| American | A. Howard Freund | 40,980 | 1.47% | N/A | |
| Independent | Charles W. Wiley | 33,442 | 1.20% | N/A | |
| Socialist Labor | Jules Levin | 10,058 | 0.36% | 0.12 | |
| Majority | 780,281 | ||||
| Turnout | 2,791,907 | ||||
| Republicanhold | Swing | ||||
