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![]() County results McConnell: 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% Beshear: 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% | |||||||||||||||||
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Elections in Kentucky |
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The 1996 United States Senate election in Kentucky was held on November 5, 1996. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell won re-election to a third term with a 12.6% margin of victory over Democrat Steve Beshear, who later successfully ran in 2007 and 2011 for Governor of Kentucky.
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Steve Beshear | 177,859 | 66.38% | |
Democratic | Tom Barlow | 64,235 | 23.97% | |
Democratic | Shelby Lanier | 25,856 | 9.65% | |
Total votes | 267,950 | 100.00% |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Republican | Mitch McConnell (incumbent) | 88,620 | 88.59% | |
Republican | Tommy Klein | 11,410 | 11.41% | |
Total votes | 100,030 | 100.00% |
Campaign finance reports as of December 31st, 1996 | |||
---|---|---|---|
Candidate | Raised | Spent | Cash on hand |
Mitch McConnell (R) | $5,030,245 | $5,031,293 | $189,324 |
Steve Beshear (D) | $1,772,276 | $1,770,035 | $1,448 |
Source: Federal Election Commission [3] |
In 1996, Beshear started out trailing against McConnell, with an early general election poll placing McConnell ahead of Beshear 50% to 32%. [4] The campaign ultimately became quite harsh, with the McConnell campaign sending "Hunt Man," a take off of Chicken George dressed in "the red velvet coat, jodhpurs, black riding boots and black helmet of a patrician fox hunter." This was done as a means of criticizing Beshear's membership in a fox hunting club in Lexington, and undercut the Beshear campaign's message that McConnell was a Republican in the mold of Newt Gingrich and that Beshear was the only friend of the working class in the race. [5] Beshear did not make much traction with the electorate during the campaign. By October 1996, Beshear had narrowed the gap between himself and McConnell slightly, with McConnell leading Beshear 50% to 38%. [6]
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Republican | Mitch McConnell (incumbent) | 724,794 | 55.45% | +3.27% | |
Democratic | Steve Beshear | 560,012 | 42.85% | −4.97% | |
Libertarian | Dennis L. Lacy | 8,595 | 0.66% | ||
Natural Law | Patricia Jo Metten | 8,344 | 0.64% | ||
U.S. Taxpayers | Mac Elroy | 5,284 | 0.40% | ||
Write-ins | 17 | 0.00% | |||
Majority | 164,782 | 12.61% | +8.23% | ||
Total votes | 1,307,046 | 100.00% | |||
Republican hold |
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