United States Senate elections, 1996

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Republican holds Republican pickups Democratic holds Democratic pickups

The U.S. Senate election, 1996 was an election for United States Senate which coincided with the re-election of Bill Clinton as president. It followed the major Republican gains of 1994. Because of the staggered nature of the Senate, some of the alignment shift of 1994 carried over to this year, even though the Republicans lost seats in the House. The Republicans made a net gain of two seats by capturing the open seats in Alabama, Arkansas, and Nebraska, but Democrat Tim Johnson defeated incumbent Sen. Larry Pressler (R-SD).

1 Results summary
2 Notable Races
- 2.1 Democratic Gains
- 2.2 Republican Gains
3 Senate contests in 1996
4 See also
5 Senate composition before and after elections

[edit] Results summary

**Summary of the 1996 United States Senate election results**
Parties		Breakdown			Total Seats			Popular Vote
Parties		Up	Elected	Not Up	1994	1996	+/-	Vote	%
	Republican Party	19	21		53	55	+2
	Democratic Party	15	13		47	45	-2
Total		34	34	66	100	100	-		100.0%
Source: Election Statistics - Office of the Clerk

[edit] Notable Races

[edit] Democratic Gains

South Dakota: Three-term Sen. Larry Pressler (R-SD) faced a tough challenge from Rep. Tim Johnson (D-SD). Johnson would defeat Pressler by 2 points and become the only candidate to defeat an incumbent in this year's election cycle.

[edit] Republican Gains

Alabama: Sen. Howell Heflin (D-AL), one of the last conservative Democrats in the Senate, retired after three terms. Republican nominee Jeff Sessions, the state Attorney General, defeated Democratic State Senator Roger Bedford in the general election
Arkansas: Popular Sen. David Pryor (D-AR) chose not to seek a fourth term. The Democratic Party in Arkansas had been badly damaged by the resignation of Governor Jim Guy Tucker after being convicted of mail fraud. This helped Rep. Tim Hutchinson (R-AR) defeat Democratic state Attorney General Winston Bryant to become Arkansas' first Republican Senator since Reconstruction.
Nebraska: Democratic Governor Ben Nelson was expected to easily win the race to succeed retiring Sen. J. James Exon (D-NE). Republican businessman Chuck Hagel, however, made it a highly competitive race and pulled off a huge fourteen point upset over the popular governor (Nelson won election to Nebraska's other Senate seat four years later).

[edit] Senate contests in 1996

Winning candidates in bold
Democratic pickups in Blue
Republican pickups in Red

State	Incumbent	Party	Status	Candidates
Alabama	Howell Heflin	Democratic	Retired: Republican victory	Jeff Sessions (Republican) 52.5% Roger Bedford (Democratic) 45.5% Mark Thornton (Libertarian) 1.4% Charles R. Hebner (Natural Law) 0.6%
Alaska	Ted Stevens	Republican	Re-elected, 76.7%	Jeff Whittaker (Green) 12.5% Theresa Obermeyer (Democratic) 10.3%
Arkansas	David Pryor	Democratic	Retired: Republican victory	Tim Hutchinson (Republican) 52.7% Winston Bryant (Democratic) 47.3%
Colorado	Hank Brown	Republican	Retired: Republican victory	Wayne Allard (Republican) 51.4% Tom Strickland (Democratic) 45.7% Randy MacKenzie (Natural Law) 2.9%
Delaware	Joe Biden	Democratic	Re-elected 60%	Raymond J. Clatworthy (Republican) 38.1% Mark Jones (Libertarian) 1.2% Jacqueline Kossoff (Natural Law) 0.6%
Georgia	Sam Nunn	Democratic	Retired: Democratic victory	Max Cleland (Democratic) 48.9% Guy Millner (Republican) 47.5% John Gregory Cashin (Libertarian) 3.6%
Idaho	Larry E. Craig	Republican	Re-elected, 57.0%	Walt Minnick (Democratic) 39.9% Mary J. Charbonneau (Independent) 2.0% Susan Vegors (Natural Law) 1.0%
Illinois	Paul Simon	Democratic	Retired: Democratic victory	Richard J. Durbin (Democratic) 56.1% Al Salvi (Republican) 40.7% Steven H. Perry (Reform) 1.4% Robin J. Miller (Libertarian) 1% Chad Koppie (U.S. Taxpayers) 0.4% James E. Davis (Natural Law) 0.3%
Iowa	Tom Harkin	Democratic	Re-elected, 51.8%	Jim Ross Lightfoot 46.7% (Republican) Sue Atkinson (Independent) 0.8% Fred Gratzon (Natural Law) 0.3% Joe Sulentic (Independent) 0.2% Shirley E. Pena (Socialist Workers) 0.2%
Kansas	Nancy Kassebaum	Republican	Retired: Republican victory	Pat Roberts (Republican) 62.0% Sally Thompson (Democratic) 34.4% Mark S. Marney (Reform) 2.3% Steven Rosile (Libertarian) 1.2%
Kansas¹	Sheila Frahm	Republican	Defeated in Primary: Republican victory	Sam Brownback (Republican) 53.9% Jill Docking (Democratic) 43.3% Donald R. Klaassen (Reform) 2.8%
Kentucky	Mitch McConnell	Republican	Re-elected, 55.5%	Steve Beshear (Democratic) 42.8% Dennis L. Lacy (Libertarian) 0.7% Patricia Jo Metten (Natural Law) 0.6% Mac McElroy (U.S. Taxpayers) 0.4%
Louisiana	Bennett Johnston Jr.	Democratic	Retired: Democratic victory	Mary Landrieu (Democratic) 50.1% Woody Jenkins (Republican) 49.9%
Maine	William Cohen	Republican	Retired: Republican victory	Susan M. Collins (Republican) 49.2% Joe Brennan (Democratic) 43.8% John Rensenbrink (Green) 4% William P. Clarke (U.S. Taxpayers) 3%
Massachusetts	John Kerry	Democratic	Re-elected, 52.2%	William Weld (Republican) 44.7% Susan Gallagher (Conservative) 2.7% Robert Stowe (Natural Law) 0.3%
Michigan	Carl Levin	Democratic	Re-elected, 58.4%	Ronna Romney (Republican) 39.9% Kenneth L. Proctor (Libertarian) 1.0% William Roundtree (Workers World) 0.3% Joseph S. Mattingly (Natural Law) 0.3% Martin P. McLaughlin (Socialist Equality) 0.2%
Minnesota	Paul Wellstone	Democratic (DFL)	Re-elected, 50.3%	Rudy Boschwitz (Republican) 41.3% Dean Barkley (Reform) 7% Tim Davis (Grass Roots) 0.6% Roy Ezra Carlton (Libertarian) 0.2% Steve Johnson (Natural Law) 0.2% Thomas A. Fiske (Socialist Workers) 0.1%
Mississippi	Thad Cochran	Republican	Re-elected, 71.0%	James Hunt (Democratic) 27.4% Ted Weill (Independence) 1.6%
Montana	Max Baucus	Democratic	Re-elected, 49.5%	Dennis Rehberg (Republican) 44.7% Becky Shaw (Reform) 4.7% Stephen Heaton (Natural Law) 1%
Nebraska	J. James Exon	Democratic	Retired: Republican victory	Chuck Hagel (Republican) 57.4% Ben Nelson (Democratic) 42.6%
New Hampshire	Bob Smith	Republican	Re-elected, 49.3%	Dick Swett (Democratic) 46.2% Ken Blevens (Libertarian) 4.5%
New Jersey	Bill Bradley	Democratic	Retired: Democratic victory	Robert Torricelli (Democratic) 52.7% Dick Zimmer (Republican) 42.5% Richard J. Pezzullo (Independent) 1.8% Mary Jo Christian (Independent) 0.8% Paul A. Woomer (Independent) 0.5% Olga L. Rodriguez (Independent) 0.5% Mark Wise (Independent) 0.5% Wilburt Kornegay (Independent) 0.4% Steven J. Baeli (Independent) 0.3%
New Mexico	Pete Domenici	Republican	Re-elected, 64.7%	Art Trujillo (Democratic) 29.8% Abraham Guttman (Green) 4.4% Bruce M. Bush (Libertarian) 1.1%
North Carolina	Jesse Helms	Republican	Re-elected, 52.6%	Harvey Gantt (Democratic) 45.9% Ray Ubinger (Libertarian) 1.0% J. Victor Pardo (Natural Law) 0.4%
Oklahoma	Jim Inhofe	Republican	Re-elected, 56.7%	James Boren (Democratic) 40.1% Bill Maguire (Independent) 1.3% Agnes Marie Regier (Libertarian) 1.2% Chris Nedbalek (Independent) 0.7%
Oregon	Mark Hatfield	Republican	Retired: Republican victory	Gordon H. Smith (Republican) 49.8% Tom Bruggere (Democratic) 45.9% Brent Thompson (Reform) 1.5% Gary Kutcher (Green) 1.0% Paul Mohn (Libertarian) 0.9% Christopher Phelps (Socialist) 0.4% Michael L. Hoyes (Natural Law) 0.3%
Rhode Island	Claiborne Pell	Democratic	Retired: Democratic victory	John F. Reed (Democratic) 63.3% Nancy Mayer (Republican) 35% Donald W. Lovejoy (Independent) 1.7%
South Carolina	Strom Thurmond	Republican	Re-elected, 53.4%	Elliot Close (Democratic) 44.0% Richard T. Quillian (Libertarian) 1.1% Peter J. Ashy (Reform) 0.8% Annette C. Estes (Natural Law) 0.7%
South Dakota	Larry Pressler	Republican	Defeated, 48.7%	Tim Johnson (Democratic) 51.3%
Tennessee	Fred Thompson	Republican	Re-elected, 61.4%	Houston Gordon (Democratic) 36.8% John Jay Hooker (Independent) 0.8% Bruce Gold (Independent) 0.3% Robert O. Watson (Independent) 0.3% Greg Samples (Independent) 0.2% Philip L. Kienlen (Independent) 0.1%
Texas	Phil Gramm	Republican	Re-elected, 54.8%	Victor Morales (Democratic) 43.9% Michael Bird (Libertarian) 0.9% John Huff (Natural Law) 0.4%
Virginia	John Warner	Republican	Re-elected, 52.5%	Mark Warner (Democratic) 47.4%
West Virginia	Jay Rockefeller	Democratic	Re-elected, 76.6%	Betty Burkes (Republican) 23.4%
Wyoming	Alan K. Simpson	Republican	Retired: Republican victory	Michael B. Enzi (Republican) 54.1% Joyce Jansa Corcoran (Democratic) 42.2% W. David Herbert (Libertarian) 2.5% Lloyd Marsden (Natural Law) 1.2%

¹ Special election due to resignation of Bob Dole to pursue the presidency -- next regular election held in 1998
² Smith also lost in 1996, to Democrat Ron Wyden, in a January special election.