1972Final resultsIncumbent defeated
1972 Democratic primary for Florida Senate District 7
Florida State Senate · Florida
Lew Brantley (D) won with 26.7% of the vote, defeating Bruce A. Smathers (D) by 2.1 points.
Lew BrantleyDemocrat · winner · incumbent
26.7%27,207
Bruce A. SmathersDemocrat
24.6%25,061
Lynwood ArnoldDemocrat · incumbent
23.2%23,629
Roland BlalockDemocrat
14.3%14,592
Bill BeaufortDemocrat
11.1%11,290
101,779 votes
Source: Harvard Dataverse / Carl KlarnerUpdated Sep 30, 2026, 7:29 AM ET