Senator Milton Young was narrowly reelected to his sixth term, defeating Democratic-NPL candidate William L.

[1] Only Young filed as a Republican, and the endorsed Democratic candidate was Guy, who had served as governor from 1961 to 1973 and had presumably left the office to seek the Senate seat.

Young and Guy won the primary elections for their respective parties.

Two independent candidates, James R. Jungroth and Kenneth C. Gardner, also filed before the deadline.

Jungroth's platform was based on his opposition to strip mining the state's coal reserves.