United States Senate election in North Carolina, 1996

United States Senate election in North Carolina, 1996
North Carolina
November 5, 1996

 
Nominee Jesse Helms Harvey Gantt
Party Republican Democratic
Popular vote 1,345,833 1,173,875
Percentage 52.6% 45.9%

Senator before election

Jesse Helms
Republican

Elected Senator

Jesse Helms
Republican

The North Carolina United States Senate election of 1996 was held on 5 November 1996 as part of the nation-wide elections to the Senate, and coinciding with the 1996 presidential election. The general election was a rematch of the 1990 election: between the Republican incumbent Jesse Helms and the Democrat nominee Harvey Gantt. Helms won re-election to a fifth and final term by a slightly wider margin than in 1990.

Democratic primary

1996 North Carolina U.S. Senate Democratic primary election[1]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Democratic Harvey Gantt 308,337 52.40 +14.88
Democratic Charles Sanders 245,297 41.68 N/A
Democratic Ralph McKinney 34,829 5.92 N/A
Turnout 588,463

Republican primary

Jesse Helms won the Republican Party's nomination unopposed.

Results

1996 North Carolina U.S. Senate election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Republican Jesse Helms (incumbent) 1,345,833 52.64 +0.08
Democratic Harvey Gantt 1,173,875 45.92 -1.49
Libertarian Ray Ubinger 25,396 0.99 N/A
Natural Law Victor Pardo 11,209 0.44 N/A
Turnout 2,556,456

Footnotes

  1. "North Carolina DataNet #46" (PDF). University of North Carolina. April 2008. Retrieved 2009-06-12.