The North Carolina United States Senate election of 1972 was held on 7 November 1972 as part of the
nationwide elections to the Senate, and coinciding with the
1972 presidential election. The general election was fought between the
Republican nominee
Jesse Helms and the
Democratic nominee
Rep. Nick Galifianakis. Helms won the election, becoming the first Republican to win a Senate seat in North Carolina since 1897, and the first to hold this seat since 1871.
Three-term Representative Nick Galifianakis defeated two-term incumbent Senator
B. Everett Jordan in the
second ballot in the Democratic primary. Galifianakis was seen as an anti-establishment liberal in North Carolina,[1][2] although an opponent of
busing. This was the first time ever that a Republican won a full term to this Senate seat in North Carolina.