1996 United States Senate election in Arkansas

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1996 United States Senate election in Arkansas
Flag of Arkansas (1924-2011).svg
←  1990 November 5, 1996 2002  →
  Timothy Hutchinson, official Senate photo portrait (cropped).jpg Winston Bryant (cropped).png
Nominee Tim Hutchinson Winston Bryant
Party Republican Democratic
Popular vote445,942400,241
Percentage52.70%47.30%
1996 United States Senate election in Arkansas results map by county.svg
County results

Hutchinson:     50–60%     60–70%     70–80%

Bryant:     50–60%     60–70%     70–80%
U.S. senator before election

David Pryor
Democratic

Elected U.S. Senator

Tim Hutchinson
Republican

The 1996 United States Senate election in Arkansas was held on November 5, 1996. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator David Pryor decided to retire. Republican Tim Hutchinson won the open seat, becoming the first Republican to win a U.S. Senate seat in Arkansas since Reconstruction in 1872 and the first to ever be popularly elected in the state. He was the first to win this seat since 1870.

Contents

To date, this is the last time that Republicans flipped a Senate seat in a presidential election year despite losing the state in the presidential election.

Democratic primary

Candidates

Withdrew

Declined

Arkansas Attorney General Winston Bryant and Arkansas State Senator Lu Hardin finished in the top two in the primary, and Bryant narrowly defeated Hardin in the runoff.

Results (Primary)

Democratic primary results [1]
PartyCandidateVotes%
Democratic Winston Bryant 129,328 39.99%
Democratic Lu Hardin 71,889 22.23%
Democratic Bill Bristow58,09317.96%
Democratic Sandy McMath42,30313.08%
Democratic Kevin Smith21,7746.74%

Runoff

Democratic Runoff [9]
PartyCandidateVotes%
Democratic Winston Bryant 87,564 52.44%
Democratic Lu Hardin79,41147.56%

Republican primary

Candidates

Results

Huckabee was unopposed for the nomination.

Huckabee withdrawal

Although Huckabee won the Senate nomination unopposed in the May primary, he abandoned his Senate bid when Governor Jim Guy Tucker resigned from office and he became Governor of Arkansas. [10]

Replacement selection

Following Huckabee's withdrawal, several candidates announced their interest in running:

The main candidates were Dickey and Hutchinson, but in light of a potential impasse, some compromise candidates were floated:

On June 11, White, Nelson, and Bethune all endorsed Hutchinson. Shortly thereafter, Jones and Dickey withdrew and endorsed Hutchinson. Brown also withdrew his candidacy to seek Hutchinson's open House seat, which he lost to Hutchinson's younger brother Asa Hutchinson in a special convention. Hutchinson was ratified as the nominee by the Arkansas Republican State Committee. [14]

Results

Hutchinson won election to the U.S. Senate, receiving just over 5% more of the vote than his opponent Bryant. This was despite incumbent U.S. President Bill Clinton being re-elected by a 17-point margin in his home state of Arkansas, though the state had begun to trend more Republican at the time.

1996 United States Senate election in Arkansas [15] [16]
PartyCandidateVotes%
Republican Tim Hutchinson 445,942 52.70%
Democratic Winston Bryant 400,24147.30%
Total votes846,183 100.0%
Republican gain from Democratic

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 "AR US Senate - D Primary 1996". OurCampaigns. Retrieved August 14, 2020.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Lancaster, Bob (May 17, 1996). "Who are these guys?". Arkansas Times. Retrieved August 14, 2020.
  3. 1 2 "Senate Demos Lining up to Retire -- Pryor the Fifth". April 21, 1995.
  4. 1 2 "Democrats See 'Solid South' Slipping Away". Christian Science Monitor. May 1, 1995.
  5. ↑ "Access Books, Audiobooks, Magazines and More!".
  6. ↑ "Pryor Makes It Official, He'S Leaving The Senate". The Washington Post. April 22, 1995. Retrieved June 13, 2022.
  7. ↑ "Mack the Nice: Thomas F. "Mack" McLarty, III". April 29, 2019.
  8. ↑ "Other days". April 28, 2021.
  9. ↑ "AR US Senate - D Runoff 1996" . Retrieved August 14, 2020.
  10. 1 2 3 "AllPolitics - Wanted: A Senate Candidate - May 31, 1996". CNN .
  11. ↑ "Encyclopedia of Arkansas".
  12. ↑ "Encyclopedia of Arkansas".
  13. 1 2 3 4 5 "AllPolitics - Arkansas GOP Gets Top State Office but Loses Top Senate Candidate". CNN .
  14. ↑ "AllPolitics - Bryant, Hutchinson Contend for Open Senate Seat in Arkansas". CNN .
  15. ↑ "Our Campaigns - AR US Senate Race - Nov 05, 1996". www.ourcampaigns.com.
  16. ↑ "Our Campaigns - AR US Senate Race - Nov 05, 2002". www.ourcampaigns.com.
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