United States Senate elections, 1996

November 5, 1996

Class 2 (33 of the 100) seats in the United States Senate and one mid-term vacancy from Class 3 51 seats needed for a majority

	Majority party	Minority party

Leader	Trent Lott	Tom Daschle
Party	Republican	Democratic
Leader's seat	Mississippi	South Dakota
Last election	52 seats	48 seats
Seats before	53	47
Seats won	55	45
Seat change	2	2
Popular vote	24,211,395	23,490,651
Percentage	49.4%	47.9%
Swing	0.5%	3.9%
Seats up	19	15

Democratic gain

Democratic hold

Republican hold

Republican gain

Majority Leader before election

Trent Lott
Republican

Elected Majority Leader

Trent Lott
Republican

The 1996 elections to the United States Senate coincided with the 1996 presidential election, in which Democrats Bill Clinton and Al Gore were reelected President and Vice President of the United States, respectively.

Despite the reelection of Clinton and Gore, and despite Democrats picking up a net two seats in the elections to the United States House of Representatives held the same day, the Republicans had a net gain of two seats in the Senate, following major Republican gains two years previously in the 1994 elections.

The Republicans captured open seats in Alabama, Arkansas, and Nebraska. In South Dakota, Democrat Tim Johnson narrowly defeated incumbent Republican Larry Pressler.

Results summary

Does not include Oregon's January 1996 special election, which was not held at the same time as this election.

Result		45	55	—	—	100
Parties						Total
Parties		Democratic	Republican	Libertarian	Other	Total
Last election: 1994		47	53	—	—	100
End of last (104th) Congress		47	53	—	—	100
Not Up		32	34	—	—	66
Up		15	19	—	—	34
Incumbent retired	Held by same party	5	4	—	—	9
Incumbent retired	Replaced by other party	3	0	—	—	3
Incumbent ran	Won re-election	7	13	—	—	20
	Lost re-election	0	1	—	—	1
	Lost renomination, but held by same party	0	1	—	—	1
Summary	Won	12	18	—	—	30
	Lost	3	1	—	—	4
	Gained	1	3	—	—	4
Elected		13	21	—	—	34
Change		2	2
Popular Vote	Votes	23,490,651	24,211,395	362,208	939,895	49,004,149
Popular Vote	Share	47.94%	49.41%	0.74%	1.92%	100%

Sources:

Party Division in the Senate, 1789-Present, via Senate.gov
Statistics of the Presidential and Congressional Election of November 5, 1996, via Clerk.House.gov

Change in Senate composition

Senate composition before the elections

D₄₁	D₄₂	D₄₃	D₄₄	D₄₅	D₄₆	D₄₇	R₅₃	R₅₂	R₅₁
D₁	D₂	D₃	D₄	D₅	D₆	D₇	D₈	D₉	D₁₀
D₂₀	D₁₉	D₁₈	D₁₇	D₁₆	D₁₅	D₁₄	D₁₃	D₁₂	D₁₁
D₂₁	D₂₂	D₂₃	D₂₄	D₂₅	D₂₆	D₂₇	D₂₈	D₂₉	D₃₀
D₄₀	D₃₉	D₃₈	D₃₇	D₃₆	D₃₅	D₃₄	D₃₃	D₃₂	D₃₁
Majority→
R₄₁	R₄₂	R₄₃	R₄₄	R₄₅	R₄₆	R₄₇	R₄₈	R₄₉	R₅₀
R₄₀	R₃₉	R₃₈	R₃₇	R₃₆	R₃₅	R₃₄	R₃₃	R₃₂	R₃₁
R₂₁	R₂₂	R₂₃	R₂₄	R₂₅	R₂₆	R₂₇	R₂₈	R₂₉	R₃₀
R₂₀	R₁₉	R₁₈	R₁₇	R₁₆	R₁₅	R₁₄	R₁₃	R₁₂	R₁₁
R₁	R₂	R₃	R₄	R₅	R₆	R₇	R₈	R₉	R₁₀

Senate composition as a result of the elections

D₄₁ O	D₄₂ O	D₄₃ O	D₄₄ O	D₄₅ +	R₅₅ +	R₅₄ +	R₅₃ +	R₅₂ O	R₅₁ O
D₁	D₂	D₃	D₄	D₅	D₆	D₇	D₈	D₉	D₁₀
D₂₀	D₁₉	D₁₈	D₁₇	D₁₆	D₁₅	D₁₄	D₁₃	D₁₂	D₁₁
D₂₁	D₂₂	D₂₃	D₂₄	D₂₅	D₂₆	D₂₇	D₂₈	D₂₉	D₃₀
D₄₀ O	D₃₉ √	D₃₈ √	D₃₇ √	D₃₆ √	D₃₅ √	D₃₄ √	D₃₃ √	D₃₂	D₃₁
Majority→
R₄₁ √	R₄₂ √	R₄₃ √	R₄₄ √	R₄₅ √	R₄₆ √	R₄₇ O	R₄₈ O	R₄₉ O	R₅₀ O
R₄₀ √	R₃₉ √	R₃₈ √	R₃₇ √	R₃₆ √	R₃₅ √	R₃₄	R₃₃	R₃₂	R₃₁
R₂₁	R₂₂	R₂₃	R₂₄	R₂₅	R₂₆	R₂₇	R₂₈	R₂₉	R₃₀
R₂₀	R₁₉	R₁₈	R₁₇	R₁₆	R₁₅	R₁₄	R₁₃	R₁₂	R₁₁
R₁	R₂	R₃	R₄	R₅	R₆	R₇	R₈	R₉	R₁₀

Key:

D_#	Democratic
R_#	Republican

√	Incumbent re-elected or appointee elected to finish term
O	Party hold: New senator elected from same party
+	Party gain: New senator elected from different party

Gains, losses, and holds

Democratic gains

South Dakota: Three-term Sen. Larry Pressler (R) faced a tough challenge from Rep. Tim Johnson (D). Johnson would defeat Pressler by 51% to 49% and become the only candidate to defeat an incumbent in this year's election cycle.

Democratic holds

Georgia: Incumbent Senator Sam Nunn decided not to run for re-election and gave his endorsements to Secretary of State Max Cleland, the democratic nominee. However, Cleland faced a tough election against Republican Businessman Guy Milner who accused Cleland on rejecting war request and raising taxes for the rich. However Cleland claimed Milner was rich already and if elected would use the advantage of the senate for his wealth. Cleland won by a very narrow margin.

Illinois: Two-term incumbent Senator Paul Simon decided not to seek reelection. The Democratic nominee was Congressman Richard Durbin, who had Simon's strong support. In the general election, he defeated Republican state Representative Al Salvi by a comfortable margin.

Louisiana: Four-term Senator Bennett Johnson decided not to run for reelection. In the general election, state Treasurer Mary Landrieu faced up against longtime state Representative Woody Jenkins, who had run against Johnson in 1978. In the closest U.S. Senate race of the year, Landrieu won by less than 1%, a margin which held up to a recount.

Republican gains

Alabama: Sen. Howell Heflin (D), 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) 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) 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). 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).

Summary of contests

Separate election

Date	State (Linked to individual election articles in bold)	Incumbent	Party	Result	Candidates
January 30, 1996	Oregon Special: Class 3	Bob Packwood	Republican	Resigned Winner elected to finish term ending January 3, 1999 Democratic gain	Ron Wyden (Democratic) 47.8% Gordon H. Smith (Republican) 46.2% Karen Shilling (American Independent) 2.1% Gene Nanni (Libertarian) 1.3% Vickie Valdez (Socialist) 0.7% Lou Gold (Pacific Green) 0.6%

November elections

State (Linked to individual election articles)	Incumbent Senator	Incumbent party	Result	Candidates (Winning candidates in bold)
Alabama	Howell Heflin	Democratic	Retired Republican gain	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	Ted Stevens (Republican) 76.7% Jeff Whittaker (Green) 12.5% Theresa Obermeyer (Democratic) 10.3%
Arkansas	David Pryor	Democratic	Retired Republican gain	Tim Hutchinson (Republican) 52.7% Winston Bryant (Democratic) 47.3%
Colorado	Hank Brown	Republican	Retired Republican hold	Wayne Allard (Republican) 51.4% Tom Strickland (Democratic) 45.7% Randy MacKenzie (Natural Law) 2.9%
Delaware	Joe Biden	Democratic	Re-elected	Joe Biden (Democratic) 60% Raymond J. Clatworthy (Republican) 38.1% Mark Jones (Libertarian) 1.2% Jacqueline Kossoff (Natural Law) 0.6%
Georgia	Sam Nunn	Democratic	Retired Democratic hold	Max Cleland (Democratic) 48.9% Guy Millner (Republican) 47.5% John Gregory Cashin (Libertarian) 3.6%
Idaho	Larry E. Craig	Republican	Re-elected	Larry E. Craig (Republican) 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 hold	Dick 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	Tom Harkin (Democratic) 51.8% Jim Ross Lightfoot (Republican) 46.7% 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 hold	Pat Roberts (Republican) 62.0% Sally Thompson (Democratic) 34.4% Mark S. Marney (Reform) 2.3% Steven Rosile (Libertarian) 1.2%
Kansas Special: Class 3	Bob Dole (resigned June 11, 1996) Sheila Frahm	Republican	Appointee lost renomination Winner elected to finish term ending January 3, 1999 Republican hold	Sam Brownback (Republican) 53.9% Jill Docking (Democratic) 43.3% Donald R. Klaassen (Reform) 2.8%
Kentucky	Mitch McConnell	Republican	Re-elected	Mitch McConnell (Republican) 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 hold	Mary Landrieu (Democratic) 50.1% (21.51% in jungle primary) Woody Jenkins (Republican) 49.9% (26.23% in jungle primary)
Maine	William Cohen	Republican	Retired Republican hold	Susan M. Collins (Republican) 49.2% Joseph E. Brennan (Democratic) 43.8% John Rensenbrink (Green) 4% William P. Clarke (U.S. Taxpayers) 3%
Massachusetts	John Kerry	Democratic	Re-elected	John Kerry (Democratic) 52.2% William Weld (Republican) 44.7% Susan Gallagher (Conservative) 2.7% Robert Stowe (Natural Law) 0.3%
Michigan	Carl Levin	Democratic	Re-elected	Carl Levin (Democratic) 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	Paul Wellstone (Democratic-Farmer-Labor) 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	Thad Cochran (Republican) 71.0% James Hunt (Democratic) 27.4% Ted Weill (Independence) 1.6%
Montana	Max Baucus	Democratic	Re-elected	Max Baucus (Democratic) 49.5% Dennis Rehberg (Republican) 44.7% Becky Shaw (Reform) 4.7% Stephen Heaton (Natural Law) 1%
Nebraska	J. James Exon	Democratic	Retired Republican gain	Chuck Hagel (Republican) 56.1% Ben Nelson (Democratic) 41.7%
New Hampshire	Bob Smith	Republican	Re-elected	Bob Smith (Republican) 49.3% Dick Swett (Democratic) 46.2% Ken Blevens (Libertarian) 4.5%
New Jersey	Bill Bradley	Democratic	Retired Democratic hold	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	Pete Domenici (Republican) 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	Jesse Helms (Republican) 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	Jim Inhofe (Republican) 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 hold	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 hold	Jack Reed (Democratic) 63.3% Nancy J. Mayer (Republican) 35% Donald W. Lovejoy (Independent) 1.7%
South Carolina	Strom Thurmond	Republican	Re-elected	Strom Thurmond (Republican) 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	Lost re-election Democratic-gain	Tim Johnson (Democratic) 51.3% Larry Pressler (R) 48.7%
Tennessee	Fred Thompson	Republican	Re-elected	Fred Thompson (Republican) 61.4% J. 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	Phil Gramm (Republican) 54.8% Victor Morales (Democratic) 43.9% Michael Bird (Libertarian) 0.9% John Huff (Natural Law) 0.4%
Virginia	John Warner	Republican	Re-elected	John Warner (Republican) 52.5% Mark Warner (Democratic) 47.4%
West Virginia	Jay Rockefeller	Democratic	Re-elected	Jay Rockefeller (Democratic) 76.6% Betty Burks (Republican) 23.4%
Wyoming	Alan K. Simpson	Republican	Retired Republican hold	Mike Enzi (Republican) 54.1% Kathy Karpan (Democratic) 42.2% W. David Herbert (Libertarian) 2.5% Lloyd Marsden (Natural Law) 1.2%