1972 United States Senate election in Texas

The 1972 United States Senate election in Texas was held on November 7, 1972. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator John Tower won re-election to a third term.

1972 United States Senate election in Texas

November 7, 1972

Nominee John Tower Barefoot Sanders Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 1,822,877 1,511,985 Percentage 53.4% 44.3%

County Results Tower:      40–50%      50-60%      60-70%      70-80% Sanders:      30–40%      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90% Amaya:      40–30%

U.S. senator before election John Tower Republican Elected U.S. Senator John Tower Republican

Democratic primary

Candidates

• Thomas M. Cartlidge
• Barefoot Sanders, U.S. District Judge of North Texas and former State Representative
• Alfonso Veloz, candidate for Governor in 1968
• Hugh Wilson, candidate for Senate in 1957 and 1961
• Ralph Yarborough, former U.S. Senator (1957–71)

Results

1972 Democratic U.S. Senate primary[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Ralph Yarborough	1,032,606	49.99%
	Democratic	Barefoot Sanders	787,504	38.12%
	Democratic	Hugh Wilson	125,460	6.07%
	Democratic	Thomas M. Cartlidge	66,240	3.21%
	Democratic	Alfonso Veloz	53,938	2.61%
Total votes			2,065,748	100.00%

Although he received over one million votes, Yarborough was 269 short of a majority. He and Sanders advanced to a runoff election held June 3.

Runoff campaign

1972 Democratic U.S. Senate runoff[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Democratic	Barefoot Sanders	1,008,499	52.08%	11.96
	Democratic	Ralph Yarborough	928,132	47.93%	2.03
Total votes			1,936,631	100.00%

Republican primary

Candidates

• John G. Tower, incumbent U.S. Senator since 1961

Results

General election results[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Republican	John Tower	1,822,877	53.4%
	Democratic	Barefoot Sanders	1,511,985	44.3%
	Raza Unida	Flores Amaya	63,543	1.9%
	Socialist Workers	Tom Leonard	14,464	0.4%

References

1. "US Senate - D Primary". OurCampaigns.com. Retrieved 4 April 2020.
2. "US Senate - D Runoff". OurCampaigns.com. Retrieved 4 April 2020.
3. http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=6485