Clifton C. Lamborn Republican Clifton C. Lamborn Republican The 1972 Iowa State Senate elections took place as part of the biennial 1972 United States elections.

Iowa voters elected state senators in all of the state senate's 50 districts—the 25 even-numbered seats were up for regularly-scheduled four-year terms and, due to the oddities of redistricting following the 1970 Census, the 25 odd-numbered seats were up for shortened two-year terms.

The Iowa Secretary of State only provides the names of candidates who ran in the 1972 primaries and does not report vote tallies.

In March 1971, a special election in district 11 resulted in G. William "Bill" Gross flipping a seat in favor of the Democrats.

To claim control of the chamber from Republicans, the Democrats needed to net 13 Senate seats.