1972 United States Senate election in Mississippi

The 1972 United States Senate election in Mississippi was held on November 7, 1972. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator James Eastland won re-election to his sixth term. To date, this was the last time that the Democrats won the Class 2 Senate seat in Mississippi. Mississippi was one of fifteen states alongside Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Delaware, Georgia, Iowa, Louisiana, Maine, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, South Dakota and West Virginia that were won by Republican President Richard Nixon in 1972 that elected Democrats to the United States Senate.

Declared

 * James Eastland, incumbent Senator
 * Louis Fondren, State Representative
 * Taylor Webb, president of the Mississippi Economic Council

Withdrew

 * C. L. McKinley, pipefitter (to run as an independent candidate)

Candidates

 * Gil Carmichael, businessman
 * James Meredith, Civil Rights Movement icon

Campaign
Meredith ran as an anti-Nixon candidate, while Carmichael supported President Nixon's re-election.

Candidates

 * Gil Carmichael, businessman (Republican)
 * James Eastland, incumbent Senator since 1943 (Democratic)
 * C.L. McKinley, pipefitter (Independent)
 * Prentiss Walker, former Congressman and Republican nominee for Senate in 1966 (Independent)