Mort Lloyd was a popular television anchor at WDEF-TV in Chattanooga, who had entered the 1974 Democratic primary for Tennessee's 3rd congressional district, to oppose two-term incumbent Republican Congressman LaMar Baker. Lloyd won the primary in the Chattanooga-based district, but he was killed in an airplane crash on his way to celebrate the victory, and the Democratic Party selected his widow to replace him on the ballot. She went on to defeat Baker in the General Election in November. That election saw many Republicans, in competitive and marginal districts, defeated, in large part because of the Watergate scandal.