United States Senate election in Minnesota, 1996

United States Senate election in Minnesota, 1996
Minnesota
November 5, 1996

 
Nominee Paul Wellstone Rudy Boschwitz Dean Barkley
Party DFL Republican Reform
Popular vote 1,098,430 901,194 152,328
Percentage 50.3% 41.3% 7.0%

County results
U.S. Senator before election

Paul Wellstone
Democratic

 Elected U.S. Senator

Paul Wellstone
Democratic

The 1996 United States Senate election in Minnesota was held on November 5, 1996. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone won re-election to a second term.[1]

Primary elections

The primary election was held on September 10, 1996.

DFL

1996 Minnesota U.S. Senate Primary Election (Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party)[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
DFL Paul Wellstone 194,699 86.41%
DFL Richard Franson 16,465 7.31%
DFL Ed Hansen 9,990 4.43%
DFL Oloveuse S. Savior 4,180 1.86%
Turnout 225,334

Republican

1996 Minnesota U.S. Senate Primary Election (Republican Party)[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Republican Rudy Boschwitz 158,678 80.59%
Republican Stephen Young 16,324 8.29%
Republican Bert McKasy 12,711 6.46%
Republican Monti Moreno 6,536 3.32%
Republican John J. Zeleniak 2,655 1.35%
Turnout 196,904

General election

Major candidates

Campaign

Boschwitz filed to run a rematch against Wellstone. The incumbent was an unapologetic liberal.[3] Rudy released ads accusing Wellstone of being "embarrassingly liberal" and calling him "Senator Welfare".[4] Boschwitz accused Wellstone of supporting flag burning, a move that some believe possibly backfired.[5] Like the 1990 election, Wellstone had a massive grassroots campaign which inspired college students, poor people and minorities to get involved in politics for the very first time. Prior to that accusation, Boschwitz had significantly outspent Wellstone on campaign advertising and the race was closely contested, but Wellstone went on to beat Boschwitz by a nine-point margin in a three way race (Dean Barkley received 7%).[6]

Results

United States Senate election in Minnesota, 1996
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Paul Wellstone (inc.) 1,098,430 50.32%
Republican Rudy Boschwitz 901,194 41.28%
Reform Dean Barkley 152,328 6.98%
Grassroots Tim Davis 14,139 0.65%
Libertarian Roy Ezra Carlton 5,428 0.25%
Resource Party Howard Hanson 4,381 0.20%
Natural Law Steve Johnson 4,321 0.20%
Socialist Workers Thomas A. Fiske 1,554 0.07%
Independent Write-In 1,130 0.05%
Total votes 2,182,905 100.00%

References

  1. ↑ http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=173
  2. 1 2 "Primary Election Results". OurCampaigns.
  3. ↑ "Star Tribune Archives".
  4. ↑ Welch, William M. (September 11, 1996). "A classic, clear choice in Minnesota Liberal Wellstone vs. conservative Boschwitz". USA TODAY.
  5. ↑ "Pioneer Press: Search Results". September 25, 1996.
  6. ↑ Banisky, Sandy (October 14, 1996). "Incumbent is liberal and proud; Campaign: In Hubert H. Humphrey's home state, a former Republican senator, Rudy Boschwitz, is using his incumbent opponent's views against him.; CAMPAIGN 1996". The Sun.
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