challenger Ramsey Clark in a three way election. North Carolina Incumbent Democrat Sam Ervin chose to retire. The general election was fought between the Democratic nominee Robert Morgan and the Republican nominee William Stevens. North Dakota Incumbent Republican Milton Young was re-elected to his sixth term, defeating North Dakota Democratic-NPL Party candidate William L. Guy, a former Governor of North Dakota. Only Young filed as a Republican, and the endorsed Democratic candidate was William L. Guy of Bismarck, North Dakota, who had served as Governor of the state 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. Guy, who was very popular as governor throughout the state, and Young, who had a high approval rating as senator for the state, created the closest ever election for one of North Dakota's senate seats. Young won the election by only 177 votes, and Guy retired from politics. 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. Gardner would later run for the state's other seat in 1988 against then incumbent Quentin Burdick. Ohio Incumbent Democrat Howard Metzenbaum was running for election his first full term after he was appointed in 1974 by Ohio governor John J. Gilligan to fill out the Senate term of William B. Saxbe, who had resigned to become United States Attorney General. Metzenbaum lost the primary election to retired astronaut John Glenn, who went on to win the general election and win every county in the state over Republican Ralph Perk, Mayor of Cleveland Oklahoma Incumbent Republican Henry Bellmon narrowly won re-election to a second term, beating Representative Ed Edmondson by nearly 4,000 votes. Oregon Incumbent Republican Bob Packwood won re-election to a second term. Betty Roberts was chosen to replace former U.S. senator Wayne Morse, who won the Democratic primary but died before the general election. The Democratic primaries were held on May 28, 1974. Incumbent senator Bob Packwood was running for re-election after his upset victory against popular incumbent Democrat Wayne Morse in 1968 made him the youngest member of the Senate. In the Democratic primary, former senator Morse, trying to win back the seat he had for 24 years before losing to Packwood six years earlier, faced Oregon