United States Senate elections, 1992

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Republican holds Republican pickups Democratic holds One Democratic hold, one pickup Democratic pickups

The 1992 United States Senate election was an election for the United States Senate in which the victory of Bill Clinton in the presidential election was not accompanied by major Democratic gains in the Senate.

Democratic victories over John F. Seymour (R-CA) and Bob Kasten (R-WI) were cancelled out by the defeats of Wyche Fowler (D-GA) and Terry Sanford (D-NC). The election of four new Democratic women to the Senate was notable (referred to in the press as the "Year of the Woman"). Due to a special election in California, both of California's Senate seats were up for election in 1992. These seats were won by Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer.

In 1993, Democratic Senator Lloyd Bentsen (D-TX) resigned to become Secretary of the Treasury. His replacement, Bob Krueger (D-TX), lost a special election to Republican Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX). This election was held in June 1993 and so is not included in the party balance numbers below.

Carol Moseley Braun, D-Illinois, became the first African-American woman to serve in the United States Senate.

1 Notable races
- 1.1 Democratic gains
- 1.2 Republican gains
2 Senate contests in 1992
3 See also
4 Senate composition before and after elections

[edit] Notable races

[edit] Democratic gains

California: Sen. John F. Seymour (R-CA) was defeated in a special election by former San Francisco Mayor Dianne Feinstein. Seymour had been appointed to the seat by Governor Pete Wilson following Wilson's resignation from the Senate after his election as Governor.
Wisconsin: Sen. Bob Kasten (R-WI) survived a close call in his first re-election bid in 1986, but was upset in his bid for a third term by State Senator Russ Feingold. Feingold had won the Democratic primary as an underdog against two millionaire opponents thanks to an effective series of quirky campaign advertisements and he repeated the same formula in the general election against Kasten.

[edit] Republican gains

Georgia: In the initial balloting, Sen. Wyche Fowler (D-GA) narrowly defeated former Republican State Senator Paul Coverdell, but he failed to gain 50% of the vote thanks to the strong showing of the Libertarian candidate and Fowler faced Coverdell in a run-off. Coverdell would win the run-off by an equally narrow margin.
North Carolina: Sen. Terry Sanford (D-NC) became the third straight incumbent to lose this seat after one term when he was defeated by Democrat-turned-Republican Lauch Faircloth. Faircloth's victory was aided by Sanford's health scares and the considerable political organization of the state's other senator, Jesse Helms (R-NC).

[edit] Senate contests in 1992

A bolded state name indicates an article about that state's election.

State	Incumbent	Party	Status	Opposing Candidates
Alabama	Richard Shelby	Democratic	Re-elected, 64.8%	Richard Sellars (Republican) 33.1% Jerome Shockley (Libertarian) 2.0%
Alaska	Frank Murkowski	Republican	Re-elected, 53.0%	Tony Smith (Democratic) 38.4% Mary Jordan (Green) 8.4%
Arizona	John McCain	Republican	Re-elected, 55.8%	Claire Sargent (Democratic) 31.6% Evan Mecham (Independent) 10.5% Kiana Delamare (Libertarian) 1.6% Ed Finkelstein (New Alliance) 0.5%
Arkansas	Dale Bumpers	Democratic	Re-elected, 60.2%	Mike Huckabee (Republican) 39.8%
California¹	John F. Seymour	Republican	Defeated, 38.0%	Dianne Feinstein (Democratic) 54.3% Gerald Horne (Peace & Freedom) 2.8% Paul Meeuwenberg (American Ind.) 2.6% Richard B. Boddie (Libertarian) 2.3%
California	Alan Cranston	Democratic	Retired, Democratic victory	Barbara Boxer (Democratic) 47.9% Bruce Herschensohn (Republican) 43.0% Jerome McCready American Ind. 3.5% Genevieve Torres (Peace & Freedom) 3.5% June R. Genis (Libertarian) 2.2%
Colorado	Tim Wirth	Democratic	Retired, Democratic victory	Ben Nighthorse Campbell (Democratic) 51.8% Terry Considine (Republican) 42.7% Richard Grimes (Independent) 2.7% Matt Noah (Christian Pro-Life) 1.5% Dan Winters (Independent) 1.3%
Connecticut	Christopher Dodd	Democratic	Re-elected, 58.8%	Brook Johnson (Republican) 38.1% Richard D. Gregory (Concerned Citizens) 2.4% Howard A. Grayson, Jr. (Libertarian) 0.7%
Florida	Bob Graham	Democratic	Re-elected, 65.4%	James W. Grant (Republican) 34.6%
Georgia	Wyche Fowler	Democratic	Advanced in primary (49.2%), Defeated in runoff (49.4%)	Paul Coverdell (Republican) 47.7%, 50.6% Jim Hudson (Libertarian) 3.1%
Hawaii	Daniel Inouye	Democratic	Re-elected, 57.3%	Rick Reed (Republican) 26.9% Linda Martin (Green) 13.7% Richard O. Rowland (Libertarian) 2.1%
Idaho	Steve Symms	Republican	Retired, Republican victory	Dirk Kempthorne (Republican) 56.5% Richard H. Stallings (Democratic) 43.5%
Illinois	Alan J. Dixon	Democratic	Defeated in primary, Democratic victory	Carol Moseley-Braun (Democratic) 53.3% Richard Williamson (Republican) 43.1% Chad Koppie (Conservative) 2.0% Andrew B. Spiegel (Libertarian) 0.7% Charles A. Winter (Natural Law) 0.3% Alan J. Port (New Alliance) 0.3% Kathleen Kaku (Socialist Workers) 0.2% John Justice (Populist) 0.2%
Indiana	Dan Coats	Republican	Re-elected, 57.3%	Joseph Hogsett (Democratic) 40.7% Steve Dillon (Libertarian) 1.6% Raymond Tirado (New Alliance) 0.3%
Iowa	Chuck Grassley	Republican	Re-elected, 69.6%	Jean Lloyd-Jones (Democratic) 27.2% Stuart Zimmerman (Natural Law) 1.3% Sue Atkinson (Independent) 0.5% Mel Boring (Independent) 0.4% Rosanne Freeburg (Independent) 0.4% Carl Eric Olsen (Grassroots) 0.3% Richard O'Dell Hughes (Independent) 0.2% Cleve Andrew Pulley (Socialist Workers) 0.1%
Kansas	Bob Dole	Republican	Re-elected, 62.7%	Gloria O'Dell (Democratic) 31.0% Christina Campbell-Cline (Independent) 4.0% Mark B. Kirk (Libertarian) 2.2%
Kentucky	Wendell H. Ford	Democratic	Re-elected, 62.9%	David Williams (Republican) 35.8% James Ridenour (Libertarian) 1.3%
Louisiana	John Breaux	Democratic	Re-elected in primary
Maryland	Barbara Mikulski	Democratic	Re-elected, 71.0%	Alan Keyes (Republican) 29.0%
Missouri	Kit Bond	Republican	Re-elected, 51.9%	Geri Rothman-Serot (Democratic) 44.9% Jeanne Bojarski (Libertarian) 3.2%
Nevada	Harry Reid	Democratic	Re-elected, 51.0%	Demar Dahl (Republican) 40.2% None of These Candidates 2.6% Joe Garcia (Independent American) 2.3% Lois Avery (Natural Law) 1.5% H. Kent Cromwell (Libertarian) 1.5% Harry Tootle (Populist) 0.9%
New Hampshire	Warren Rudman	Republican	Retired, Republican victory	Judd Gregg (Republican) 48.2% John Rauh (Democratic) 45.3% K. Alexander (Libertarian) 3.5%
New York	Al D'Amato	Republican	Re-elected, 44.7%	Robert Abrams (Democratic) 43.6% Norma Segal (Libertarian) 1.5% Mohammad T. Mehdi (New Alliance) 0.8% Stanley Nelson (Natural Law) 0.3% Ed Warren (Socialist Workers) 0.2%
North Carolina	Terry Sanford	Democratic	Defeated, 46.3%	Lauch Faircloth (Republican) 50.4% Bobby Emory (Libertarian) 3.3%
North Dakota²	Jocelyn Burdick	Democratic	Retired, Democratic victory	Kent Conrad (Democratic) 63.3% Jack Dalrymple (Republican) 33.7% Darold Larson (Independent) 3.0%
North Dakota	Kent Conrad	Democratic	Retired, Democratic victory	Byron Dorgan (Democratic) 59.0% Steve Sydness (Republican) 38.9% Tom Asbridge (Independent) 2.1%
Ohio	John Glenn	Democratic	Re-elected, 51.0%	Mike DeWine (Republican) 42.3% Martha Grevatt (Independent) 6.7%
Oklahoma	Don Nickles	Republican	Re-elected, 58.5%	Steve Lewis (Democratic) 38.2% Roy V. Edwards (Independent) 1.6% Thomas D. Ledgerwood II (Independent) 1.6%
Oregon	Bob Packwood	Republican	Re-elected, 52.1%	Les AuCoin (Democratic) 46.5%
Pennsylvania	Arlen Specter	Republican	Re-elected, 49.1%	Lynn Yeakel (Democratic) 46.3% John Perry III (Independent) 4.6%
South Carolina	Ernest Hollings	Democratic	Re-elected, 50.1%	Thomas F. Hartnett (Republican) 46.9% Mark Johnson (Libertarian) 1.9% Robert Barnwell Clarkson II (American) 1.0%
South Dakota	Tom Daschle	Democratic	Re-elected, 64.9%	Charlene Haar (Republican) 32.5% Gus Hercules (Libertarian) 1.3% Kent Hyde (Independent) 1.3%
Utah	Jake Garn	Republican	Retired, Republican victory	Robert Bennett (Republican) 55.4% Wayne Owens (Democratic) 39.7% Anita Morrow (Independent) 2.3%
Vermont	Patrick Leahy	Democratic	Re-elected, 54.2%	Jim Douglas (Republican) 43.3% Jerry Levy (Liberty Union) 1.8% Michael B. Godeck (Freedom for LaRouche) 0.6%
Washington	Brock Adams	Democratic	Retired, Democratic victory	Patty Murray (Democratic) 54.0% Rod Chandler (Republican) 46.0%
Wisconsin	Bob Kasten	Republican	Defeated, 46.0%	Russ Feingold (Democratic) 52.6% Patrick W. Johnson (Independent) 0.7% William Bittner (Libertarian) 0.4% Mervin A. Hanson, Sr. (Independent) 0.1% Robert L. Kundert (Independent) 0.1% Joseph Selliken (Independent) 0.1%

¹ special election held due to resignation of Pete Wilson (R-CA) to become Governor of California
² special election held due to death of Quentin Burdick (D-ND)