The election took place during the Vietnam War, in the middle of Republican President Richard Nixon's first term.

In the House of Representatives, the Democrats picked up twelve seats at the expense of the Republican Party.

[2] In the Senate, Republicans picked up two seats, and James L. Buckley won the election as a member of the Conservative Party of New York.

Nixon and Vice President Spiro Agnew campaigned heavily for Republican candidates, with Nixon encouraging voters to respond to anti-war and civil rights activists by voting the Republican ticket.

In an October speech, he declared, "My friends, I say that the answer to those that engage in disruption--to those that shout their filthy slogans, to those that try to shout down speakers--is not to answer in kind, but go to the polls on election day, and in the quiet of that ballot box, stand up and be counted: the great silent majority of America.