1972 United States Senate election in Delaware

The United States Senate election in Delaware, 1972 was held November 7, 1972. Incumbent Republican United States Senator J. Caleb Boggs ran for a third term in the United States Senate. Boggs faced off against Joe Biden, a New Castle County Councilman. Though Senator Boggs was expected to easily win a third term over the then-unknown Biden, it ended up being the closest Senate election in 1972, and Biden narrowly beat out Boggs by a little over three thousand votes, winning what would be his first of seven terms.

1972 United States Senate election in Delaware

November 7, 1972

Nominee Joe Biden J. Caleb Boggs Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 116,006 112,844 Percentage 50.5% 49.1%

County Results Results by 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

General election campaign

Longtime Delaware political figure and incumbent Republican Senator J. Caleb Boggs was considering retirement, which would likely have left U.S. Representative Pete du Pont and Wilmington Mayor Harry G. Haskell Jr. in a divisive primary fight. To avoid that, U.S. President Richard Nixon helped convince Boggs to run again with full party support.

No other Democrat wanted to run against Boggs besides Biden, a New Castle County Councilman.[1] Biden's campaign had virtually no money and was given no chance of winning.[2] It was managed by his sister Valerie Biden Owens (who would go on to manage his future campaigns as well) and staffed by other members of his family, and relied upon handed-out newsprint position papers.[3] Biden did receive some assistance from the AFL-CIO and Democratic pollster Patrick Caddell.[1] Biden's campaign issues focused on withdrawal from Vietnam, the environment, civil rights, mass transit, more equitable taxation, health care, the public's dissatisfaction with politics-as-usual, and "change".[1][3]

During the summer Biden trailed by almost 30 percentage points,[1] but his energy level, his attractive young family, and his ability to connect with voters' emotions gave the surging Biden an advantage over the ready-to-retire Boggs.[4] Biden won the November 7, 1972 election in an upset by a margin of 3,162 votes.[3]

In 2004, admitted mafia hitman and former Teamsters Local 326 President Frank Sheeran alleged in his memoir that in the week prior to Election Day an unidentified representative of the Biden campaign (described as the campaign's legal counsel) approached him about preventing the distribution of the Wilmington News Journal because Sen. Boggs was running an advertisement unflattering to Biden. In exchange for undisclosed considerations and because Sheeran felt "Biden was better for labor anyway," the Teamsters Union allegedly organized a strike preventing the newspapers from being delivered and sabotaged a shipment of newspaper printing materials and preventing the Wilmington News Journal from being distributed in the week prior to Election day. Sheeran's accusation is unclear as to whether Biden himself was aware of the plot, but after the election Sheeran said he "could always reach out to [Biden] and he would listen."[5][6]

Whether Sheeran's account can be deemed credible has been called into serious question. It conflicts directly with articles in the Wilmington News-Journal on the strike, published on November 6 and November 22, 1972. While there was a newspaper strike in Wilmington in November 1972, it was not a Teamster strike. It was an American Newspaper Guild Local #10 strike. The paper was not printed on the days in question because the Printers Union briefly joined the strike, not because of a picket line "no one would mess with." The paper's deliveries were not shut down for a week, but for only two days. The picket line did not come down on the day after the election, but the Guild remained on strike until Nov. 22, The picket line denoted an economic strike at a primary employer, and would not have been an "informational picket line."

At the time of the election Biden was a little less than 30 years old; age 30 is a constitutional requirement for the U.S. Senate, and he reached that on November 20, in time for the Senate term beginning January 3. After his election he became the sixth-youngest Senator in history.[7]

Results

1972 United States Senate election in Delaware[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Democratic	Joe Biden	116,006	50.48%	+9.59%
	Republican	J. Caleb Boggs (incumbent)	112,844	49.10%	-10.02%
	American	Henry Majka	803	0.35%	N/A
	Prohibition	Herbert B. Wood	175	0.07%	N/A
Total votes			229,828	100.00%	N/A
	Democratic gain from Republican

See also

• 1972 United States Senate elections

References

1. Moritz, Charles, ed. (1987). Current Biography Yearbook 1987. New York: H. W. Wilson Company., p. 43.
2. Broder, John M. (October 23, 2008). "Father's Tough Life an Inspiration for Biden". The New York Times. Retrieved October 24, 2008.
3. Naylor, Brian (October 8, 2007). "Biden's Road to Senate Took Tragic Turn". NPR. Retrieved September 12, 2008.
4. Barone, Michael; Cohen, Richard E. (2008). The Almanac of American Politics. Washington: National Journal Group. ISBN 978-0-89234-117-7., p. 364.
5. https://www.amazon.com/Heard-You-Paint-Houses-Irishman/dp/1586422383
6. Henry I. Miller (August 17, 2012). "Henry Miller: Biden's unhinged, and worse, history". Orange County Register. In the fascinating biography of Teamsters and Mafia hit-man Frank Sheeran, “I Heard You Paint Houses,” the lifelong thug describes a favor he performed while he was president of Teamsters Local 326 in Wilmington, Delaware. In 1972 Sheeran received a visit from “a very prominent lawyer” he knew who was “very big in the Democratic Party” in Delaware. The November general election was approaching, and the race for the U.S. Senate seat held by a Republican was expected to be close. The lawyer wanted help in preventing the distribution of a paid Republican political ad – an insert in the Delaware-wide newspapers – that would run for a week and expose the campaign misrepresentations by the Democratic challenger. Sheeran promised the operative that he “would hire some people and put them on the picket line.” He added, “People nobody would mess with.” The picket line went up, the papers were not delivered all week, and, as Sheeran said, “The day after the election the informational picket line came down, and the newspaper went back to normal and Delaware had a new United States Senator.” His name was Joe Biden. Thereafter, said admitted extortionist, thief and murderer Sheeran, of Biden, “You could reach out for him, and he would listen.”
7. "U.S. Senate: Youngest Senator".
8. http://clerk.house.gov/member_info/electionInfo/1972election.pdf