The incumbent, Dem-NPL Senator Quentin Burdick, sought and received re-election to his second term, defeating Republican candidate Thomas S. Kleppe, who later became the United States Secretary of the Interior.
Dem-NPL Senator Quentin Burdick, who ran for and won a second term, outperformed Republican candidate Thomas S. Kleppe in the election. Later, Kleppe was appointed as the United States Secretary of the Interior.