The 1972 United States Senate election in Delaware was held November 7, 1972. Incumbent Republican Senator J. Caleb Boggs ran for a third term in the United States Senate. Boggs faced off against Democrat Joe Biden, a New Castle County councilman. Though Boggs was expected to easily win a third term, Biden narrowly defeated the incumbent on election day, even while fellow Democrat George McGovern lost Delaware by 20.4% in the concurrent presidential election. Biden's victory margin of 3,162 votes made this the closest U.S. Senate election of the year.

Biden won a total of seven terms in the Senate, before being elected vice president in 2008 and in 2012 and president in 2020. At the age of 29, Biden became the youngest person to be elected senator since Rush Holt won in West Virginia in 1934. Delaware was one of fifteen states that were won by Richard Nixon that elected Democrats to the United States Senate.

Primary and candidates Joe Biden (Democrat), New Castle County Council member J. Caleb Boggs (Republican), incumbent senator and former governor of Delaware Henry M. Majka (American) Herbert B. Wood (Prohibition) 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 Hal Haskell in a divisive Senate primary. To avoid a potential primary, President Richard Nixon helped convince Boggs to run again with full party support. Aside from Biden, a New Castle County Councilman, no Democrat wanted to challenge Boggs., p. 43.

General election Campaign Biden's campaign had virtually no money and was given little to no chance of winning. The campaign was managed by Biden's sister, Valerie Biden Owens (who managed his future campaigns), was staffed by other members of the Biden family, and relied upon handed-out newsprint position papers.

Biden did receive some assistance from the AFL–CIO and from Democratic pollster Patrick Caddell. His campaign focused on withdrawal from the Vietnam War, the environment, civil rights, mass transit, more equitable taxation, health care, the public's dissatisfaction with politics-as-usual, and "change". Biden also opposed giving amnesty to draft dodgers. Despite not supporting the legalization of marijuana, he said in a campaign ad: "the possession of marijuana is a misdemeanor—a minor offense. The police should treat it that way, and devote the greater part of their efforts to heroin."

During the summer, Biden trailed Boggs by almost 30 percentage points; however, his energy level, attractive young family, and ability to connect with voters' emotions gave him an advantage over the ready-to-retire Boggs., p. 364. John Marttila served as one of his consultants and had previously worked for Robert Drinan's campaign for the U.S. House of Representatives. Biden's campaign was described as having "no money to speak of" and relied on position papers in newspapers and a few campaign advertisements on the radio. One notable advertisement used by the Biden campaign was a brochure printed in newspaper format that contrasted the world view of the two candidates, e.g. (full page) "To Cale Boggs an unfair tax was the 1948 poll tax"; (opposite page) "To Joe Biden an unfair tax is the 1972 income tax." On November 7, 1972, Biden upset Boggs by a margin of 3,162 votes.

Biden varied his messaging during campaign events throughout the state as well. For example, in the southern parts of the state his pitch was: "thirty years ago, caring for the environment meant picking up bottles and beer cans on Rehoboth Beach ... and now it means saving the beach." In the northern parts of the state in the Wilmington area it was "in 1950, Cale Boggs promised to keep highways growing; in 1970 Joe Biden promises to keep trees growing."

The 2004 Frank Sheeran biography I Heard You Paint Houses, alleged that in the week prior to Election Day, an unidentified lawyer approached Sheeran about preventing the distribution of the local paper because Boggs was running an advertisement unflattering to Biden. Sheeran claimed that he organized a work stoppage, and that Teamsters truck drivers refused to cross a picket line, so the papers were not delivered. While the credibility of Sheeran's account has been called into question, The New York Times did report a work stoppage preventing the delivery of the Friday edition of The Morning News.

Results Despite trailing, on Election Day, Biden defeated Boggs in an upset. There were two other candidates in the 1972 Senate election: Henry M. Majka and Herbert B. Wood. Majka came from the American Party while Wood hailed from the Prohibition Party. Majka managed to receive 803 votes, or 0.3% of the vote, while Wood got 175 votes, or 0.1% of the vote.

Results by subdivision Biden successfully flipped both New Castle County and Kent County away from the Republican Party. This is the only time that Biden has lost Sussex County in his seven elections to the Senate. This would be the last time that Republicans won any counties for this seat until 2002, when Biden still comfortably won re-election. CountyJoe Biden DemocraticJ. Caleb Boggs

RepublicanHenry M. Majka AmericanHerbert B. Wood ProhibitionTotal votes cast # % # % # % # % # Kent 14,598 52.36% 13,121 47.06% 140 0.5% 21 0.08% 27,880 New Castle 85,017 50.32% 83,273 49.29% 532 0.31% 133 0.08% 168,955 Sussex 16,391 49.68% 16,450 49.86% 131 0.4% 21 0.06% 32,993Totals116,00650.48%112,84449.10%8030.35%1750.07%229,828 DistrictJoe Biden DemocraticJ. Caleb Boggs

RepublicanHenry M. Majka AmericanHerbert B. Wood ProhibitionTotal votes cast District 1 3,398 3,481 17 10 6,906= District 2 2,044 1,052 12 4 3,112 District 3 1,804 1,039 6 22,851 District 4 2,112 1,129 4 4 3,249 District 5 3,549 1,357 18 2 4,926 District 6 3,200 3,798 17 9 7,024 District 7 2,836 3,772 25 13 6,646 District 8 2,943 2,911 31 6 5,891 District 9 2,735 2,781 26 7 5,549 District 10 2,835 4,325 11 0 7,171 District 11 2,980 5,280 21 9 8,290 District 12 2,696 4,394 19 4 7,113 District 13 2,420 5,010 29 8 7,467 District 14 3,423 3,589 16 3 7,031 District 15 3,826 2,072 13 0 5,911 District 16 3,127 2,816 20 7 5,970 District 17 2,620 1,662 20 4 4,306 District 18 2,580 1,532 19 5 4,136 District 19 3,295 2,703 11 5 6,014 District 20 3,224 2,209 28 2 5,463 District 21 3,012 2,481 13 3 5,509 District 22 3,248 3,381 23 4 6,656 District 23 3,141 3,108 20 5 6,274 District 24 3,339 2,885 20 2 6,246 District 25 3,369 3,347 11 2 6,729 District 26 2,202 1,927 17 2 4,148 District 27 3,430 4,066 27 5 7,528 District 28 2,575 2,562 24 3 5,164 District 29 3,054 2,604 14 3 5,675 District 30 2,794 2,482 32 2 5,310 District 31 2,633 2,642 32 3 5,310 District 32 2,534 2,792 16 2 5,344 District 33 2,507 2,074 26 5 4,612 District 34 1,141 1,037 9 1 2,188 District 35 2,989 2,094 25 8 5,116 District 36 2,965 2,537 43 9 5,554 District 37 2,882 3,853 20 3 6,758 District 38 2,598 2,432 22 2 5,054 District 39 2,746 2,711 21 3 5,481 District 40 2,617 2,436 11 2 5,066 District 41 2,583 2,481 14 2 5,080Total116,006112,844803175229,828

Aftermath A few weeks later, on December 18, 1972, Biden's wife and daughter died in a car crash which injured his sons. Biden contemplated resigning the Senate seat, and told his brother to talk with governor-elect Sherman W. Tribbitt about his successor. Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield persuaded Biden to stay in the Senate for at least six months. Biden was sworn in at the hospital where his sons were recovering. Biden held the seat until his election as vice president 36 years later.

At the time of the 1972 election, Biden was 29 years old. He turned 30—the minimum age for a U.S. senator—on November 20, 1972, in time for the Senate term beginning January 3, 1973. At the commencement of his Senate term, Biden was the sixth-youngest U.S. senator in history.

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