The Democratic Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. Tracing its heritage back to Thomas Jefferson and James Madison's Democratic-Republican Party, the modern-day Democratic Party was founded around 1828 by supporters of Andrew Jackson, making it the world's oldest active political party.
William Jefferson Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Prior to the presidency, he was the governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981, and again from 1983 to 1992, and the attorney general of Arkansas from 1977 to 1979. A member of the Democratic Party, Clinton was ideologically a New Democrat and many of his policies reflected a centrist "Third Way" political philosophy.
Despite the re-election 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. As such, Clinton became the first president re-elected since Theodore Roosevelt in 1904 to win either of his terms without any Senate coattails.
The Republicans captured open seats in Alabama, Arkansas, and Nebraska. In South Dakota, Democrat Tim Johnson narrowly defeated incumbent Republican Larry Pressler.
Timothy Peter Johnson is a retired American politician who served as a United States Senator from South Dakota from 1997 to 2015. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the United States Representative for South Dakota's at-large congressional district from 1987 to 1997 and in the state legislature from 1979 to 1987. Johnson chose not to seek reelection in 2014.
Larry Lee Pressler is an American politician from South Dakota. He served two terms in the U.S. House of Representatives (1975–79) and three terms in the U.S. Senate (1979–97), losing re-election to Tim Johnson (1996). He was the first Vietnam veteran to be elected to the Senate.
The 1996 election marked the first time since 1980 that the Republican party made gains in the Senate for two consecutive election cycles.
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.
South Dakota is a U.S. state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux Native American tribes, who compose a large portion of the population and historically dominated the territory. South Dakota is the seventeenth largest by area, but the fifth smallest by population and the 5th least densely populated of the 50 United States. As the southern part of the former Dakota Territory, South Dakota became a state on November 2, 1889, simultaneously with North Dakota. Pierre is the state capital and Sioux Falls, with a population of about 187,200, is South Dakota's largest city.
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.
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 GovernorJim 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 GovernorBen 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).
Incumbent Democrat Howell Heflin decided to retire. A 75-year-old conservative Democrat, who was re-elected in 1990 with over 60% remained until the election of Doug Jones[1], the last member of the Democratic Party who won a Senate seat in Republican-turning Alabama (his colleague, Richard Shelby, elected twice as a Democrat, switched to Republican in 1994 and still remains in the Senate). Republican Jeff Sessions won the open seat, becoming just the second Republican U.S. Senator elected to represent Alabama since Reconstruction (Richard Shelby became a Republican in 1994, but he was elected as a Democrat).
Since 1980, conservative Alabama voters have increasingly voted for Republican candidates at the Federal level, especially in Presidential elections. By contrast, Democratic candidates have been elected to many state-level offices and, until 2010, comprised a longstanding majority in the Alabama Legislature.
Incumbent Republican Ted Stevens ran for re-election to a fifth term. Stevens faced off against Democratic nominee Theresa Obermeyer, a former member of the Anchorage School Board,[3] and Green Party nominee Jed Whittaker, a commercial fisherman.
The race drew national attention for Obermeyer's erratic behavior: she blamed Stevens for her husband's failure to pass the bar exam and contended that he had passed the bar by fraud. She "trailed" him to campaign events, frequently wearing a prisoner's outfit and once dragging a ball and chain behind her. During the campaign, she was arrested and served 30 days in prison in California and Oregon for probation violations.[4]
Stevens was re-elected in an overwhelming landslide and Whittaker finished ahead of Obermeyer.
Remnant of Whittaker's campaign bumper sticker, photographed on a light pole on South Cushman Street in Fairbanks in 2014. The bumper sticker read "Tired of Ted? Vote for Jed!".
Incumbent Democrat Sam Nunn decided to retire instead of seeking a fifth term. Republicans nominated Guy Millner, a multi-millionaire businessman who was also the unsuccessful candidate who ran against Zell Miller in the 1994 gubernatorial election. Millner emerged as the victor from a crowded 6-person primary in July 1996. However, Max Cleland, the Secretary of State of Georgia ran unopposed in the Democratic primary.
Despite being held by Democrats since 1852, the election for this seat became tightly contested between Cleland and Millner. It was the closest race for that seat since at least 1852. Nonetheless, Max Cleland defeated Guy Millner on November 5. Max Cleland narrowly edged out a victory with 1,103,993 votes (48.87%) to Guy Millner's 1,073,969 votes (47.54%) – a margin of 1.33%.
The Class 2 United States Senate seat had been reliably Democratic, with a member of that party holding it since 1852. Additionally, no Republican had ever held at seat since it was established in 1789. In fact, during the previous election, Sam Nunn was unanimously re-elected and defeated Mike Hicks by an almost 60% margin in 1984. Republican Paul Coverdell narrowly unseated Democrat Wyche Fowler in Georgia's other United States Senate seat in 1992. On October 9, 1995, 4-term incumbent Class 2 Senator Sam Nunn announced his retirement.[13] This left the seat open for the first time since 1972.
After the retirement of Sam Nunn, Democrats began seeking a successor for him. Eventually, Secretary of State of Georgia Max Cleland entered the race. Cleland was the only Democratic candidate to file for election, thus he became the nominee by default on July 9, 1996. During the primary, he received 517,697 votes – 100%.
Republicans also saw opportunity with an open Senate seat in Georgia. Six candidates filled to enter the Primary Election and become the Republican Nominee after July 9, 1996.
After the Republican Primary, Guy Millner emerged as the nominee. Charles Bullock, a political scientist at the University of Georgia, noted that defeated rival Johnny Isakson was more likely to win the moderate vote due to his pro-choice views on abortion. Several polls earlier that year showed Cleland defeating both Millner and Isakson. In contrast to Isakson's opinion, Guy Millner was opposed to abortion except in the case of rape, incest, or to save the life of the mother. Johnny Isakson was later elected United States Senator after Zell Miller retired from his seat in 2004. Opponent Max Cleland quickly labeled Millner as an extremist, saying that "I think people in this state want to elect a moderate ... not an extremist, not an ideologue, and not somebody hung up on some ideological agenda." In response, Millner began campaigning on other issues to capture more moderate voters.[14]
On Election Day, Democratic nominee Max Cleland narrowly won against Republican Guy Millner. It was one of the closest United States Senate Elections in the history of Georgia. Cleland received 1,103,993 votes to Millner's 1,073,969 votes. Libertarian candidate Jack Cashin obtained 81,262 votes, while only 8 people voted for Independent Arlene Rubinstein.
Incumbent Democrat Paul Simon opted to retire rather than seek a third term. In the Democratic primary, Congressman Dick Durbin emerged victorious, while State RepresentativeAl Salvi won the Republican primary. Though the election was initially anticipated to be close, Durbin defeated Salvi by a comfortable double-digit margin of victory, allowing him to win what would be the first of several terms in the Senate.
Incumbent Democrat Tom Harkin sought re-election to a third term, and he was challenged by Congressman Jim Ross Lightfoot from Iowa's 3rd congressional district. Lightfoot had won the Republican primary against two opponents, while Harkin had won his primary uncontested, so both moved on to the general election, where they engaged in a toughly-fought campaign. Ultimately, Harkin was successful in his bid, and defeated Lightfoot, albeit by the thinnest margin of his career.
Incumbent Republican Nancy Kassebaum decided to retire instead of seeking a fourth term. Republican Pat Roberts won the open seat, beating the Democratic Kansas State Treasurer Sally Thompson.
Term limits were an issue during the campaign; while Roberts said that he was not totally opposed to term limits, he was wary of limits that did not apply to current members of Congress, saying that the proposed limits should apply to everyone. While Thompson signed the national term limits pledge from the group Americans for Limited Terms, Roberts declined to do so, becoming the only major party candidate for the U.S. Senate in the 1996 elections to not sign the pledge.[20] However, he did say that "I plan only to serve two terms in the U.S. Senate."[21] In 2014, he was elected to a fourth term in office.
Incumbent Republican Sheila Frahm, who was recently appointed to the seat, was defeated in the primary by Sam Brownback, who went on to win the general election over Jill Docking, businesswoman and daughter-in-law of former Kansas Governor Robert Docking. Brownback would remain in office until 2011, when he resigned his seat to run for Governor of Kansas in 2010, which he eventually won.
Incumbent Republican Mitch McConnell won re-election to a third term with a 12.6% margin of victory over Steve Beshear, former Lieutenant Governor. McConnell's landslide victory occurred at the same time President Bill Clinton was re-elected to a second term, winning by a 7.5% margin nationwide, but carrying Kentucky by a 0.9% margin.
In 1996, Beshear started out trailing against McConnell, with an early general election poll placing McConnell ahead of Beshear 50% to 32%.[25] 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.[26] 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%.[27]
Incumbent Democrat J. Bennett Johnston chose to retire. After the jungle primary election, state treasurer Mary Landrieu went into a runoff election with State Representative Woody Jenkins of Baton Rouge, a former Democrat who had turned Republican two years earlier. She prevailed by 5,788 votes out of 1.7 million cast, the narrowest national result of the thirty-three races for the U.S. Senate that year and one of the closest election margins in Louisiana history. At the same time, Democrat Bill Clinton carried Louisiana by a considerable margin of 927,837 votes to 712,586 cast for Republican Bob Dole.
It believed[by whom?] that the Democratic stronghold of New Orleans pushed Landrieu over the finish line. Jenkins refused to concede and charged massive election fraud, orchestrated by the Democratic political organization of New Orleans, provided Landrieu's narrow margin of victory. He took his case to the Republican-controlled U.S. Senate and petitioned for Landrieu's unseating pending a new election. In a hearing, carried live by C-SPAN, the Senate Rules Committee in a party-line 8-7 vote agreed to investigate the charges. The decision briefly placed Landrieu's status in the U.S. Senate under a cloud.
Only a month into the probe, however, it emerged that Thomas "Papa Bear" Miller, a detective hired by Jenkins to investigate claims of fraud, had coached witnesses to claim they had participated in election fraud. Three witnesses claimed Miller had paid them to claim that they had either cast multiple votes for Landrieu or drove vans of illegal voters across town. The others told such bizarre tales that FBI agents dismissed their claims out of hand. It also emerged that Miller had several felony convictions on his record, including a guilty plea to attempted murder. The Democrats walked out of the probe in protest, but the probe continued.[30]
The investigation dragged on for over ten months, angering the Democrats and exacerbating partisan friction in the day-to-day sessions of the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee to which Landrieu was assigned as a freshman member of the 105th Congress. Finally, in October 1997, the Rules Committee concluded that while there were major electoral irregularities, none of them were serious enough to burden Louisiana with a new election at that stage. It recommended that the results stand.
The Landrieu-Jenkins contest was not the only U.S. Senate election in 20th century Louisiana in which the results were hotly disputed. Future Senator John H. Overton claimed the renomination and hence reelection of Senator Joseph E. Ransdell was tainted by fraud. In 1932, Senator Edwin S. Broussard claimed that his primary defeat by Overton was fraudulent. In both cases, the Senate seated the certified winners, Ransdell and Overton, respectively.
Incumbent Republican William Cohen decided to retire instead of seeking a fourth term. To replace him, Congressman and former Governor of MaineJoseph E. Brennan won the Democratic primary while political consultant and 1994 nominee for Governor of MaineSusan Collins won the Republican primary. A competitive general election ensued, but Collins ultimately won out over Brennan, keeping the seat in the Republican column. With Collins' election to the Senate in 1996, Maine became only the second state after California to have two sitting women senators.
On November 29, 1995, Governor Bill Weld announced his candidacy for the Senate seat occupied by former U.S. Senator Kerry with a formal announcement on March 27, 1996. Kerry's previous two opponents in 1984 and 1990 had no prior elected office experience. The election was one of many competitive senate elections in 1996.
At the federal level, Democrats controlled both U.S. Senate seats and eight of ten U.S. House seats. No Republican won a senate election since 1972. In the 1984 presidential election, President Ronald Reagan won 49 of 50 states, with Massachusetts being his worst performance (excluding Walter Mondale's home-state of Minnesota. Reagan carried the state with just 51% of the vote. In 1994, incumbent Democrat Ted Kennedy won re-election against businessman Mitt Romney with just 58% of the vote, the lowest percentage since his first senate election campaign in 1962.
The first debate between Weld and Kerry was held in Faneuil Hall on April 8 with a second debate held on June 3. A third debate was held at the Emerson Majestic Theater on July 2. The Weld and Kerry campaigns agreed to eight debates and a spending cap of $6.9 million negotiated at Senator Kerry's Beacon Hill home on August 7; Senator Kerry later mortgaged his house to raise funds in October. On the same day the spending cap was agreed upon, Governor Weld jumped into the Charles River. He later spoke at the 1996 Republican National Convention on August 14 before debating U.S. Senator Kerry again on August 19. Senator Kerry spoke at the 1996 Democratic National Convention and debated Governor Weld again on September 16.
Boschwitz filed to run a rematch against Wellstone. The incumbent was an unapologetic liberal.[36] Rudy released ads accusing Wellstone of being "embarrassingly liberal" and calling him "Senator Welfare".[37] Boschwitz accused Wellstone of supporting flag burning, a move that some believe possibly backfired.[38] 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%).[39] Despite losing, Barkley would end up serving the last few months of this term after being appointed to fill the seat after Wellstone died in a plane crash 11 days before the 2002 elections.
Incumbent Democrat Max Baucus, who was first elected in 1978 and was re-elected in 1984 and 1990, ran for re-election. He was unopposed in the Democratic primary, and moved on to the general election, where he faced a stiff challenge in Denny Rehberg, the Lieutenant Governor of Montana and the Republican nominee. Despite Bob Dole's victory over Bill Clinton and Ross Perot in the state that year in the presidential election, Baucus managed to narrowly win re-election over Rehberg to secure a fourth term in the Senate.
Incumbent Republican Bob Smith won re-election to a second term. Smith had established himself as the most conservative Senator from the Northeast, and Bill Clinton's coattails nearly caused his defeat. On the night of the election many American media networks incorrectly projected that Swett had won.[44]
Incumbent Democrat Bill Bradley decided to retire instead of seeking a fourth term. Democratic Congressman Robert G. Torricelli won the election, beating Republican Congressman Dick Zimmer.
Zimmer was the front-runner for the GOP nomination from the start, getting endorsements from Republican leaders across the state, including Gov. Christine Todd Whitman. Both DuHaime, a pro-life candidate, and La Rossa, a pro-gun candidate, attempted to portray Mr. Zimmer as too liberal for the party. But Zimmer treated the two challengers as if they did not exist.[46]
Democratic U.S. Representative Robert Torricelli easily won his party primary unopposed. Republican U.S. Representative Dick Zimmer won his party's nomination easily. Torricelli defeated Zimmer in the general election by 10 points, a margin less than President Bill Clinton, who carried New Jersey by almost 18%. Independents made up 4.8% of the vote.
Like other Democratic candidates around the country, Torricelli tried to portray "Zig-Zag Zimmer" as a clone of House Speaker Newt Gingrich and flip flopping on his positions on issues like Medicare, gun control and an increase in the minimum wage during the campaign. Zimmer tried to cast his opponent as a tax-and-spend liberal with ethical flaws. Military morale was also a part of the campaign.
The election was a rematch of the 1990 election: between the Republican incumbent Jesse Helms and the Democratic nominee Harvey Gantt. Helms won re-election to a fifth and final term by a slightly wider margin than in 1990.
1996 North Carolina U.S. Senate Democratic primary election[50]
Incumbent Republican Mark Hatfield decided to retire after thirty years in the Senate. Oregon State SenatePresidentGordon H. Smith, who had run for the Senate earlier that year, won the Republican primary, while businessman Tom Bruggere won a contested Democratic primary. The contest between Smith and Bruggere was one of the toughest that year, but ultimately, Smith was able to keep the seat in the Republican column and defeated Bruggere by a narrow margin.
This was the second Senatorial race for Gordon Smith in 1996; he had previously lost to Ron Wyden in the special election to fill Bob Packwood's seat.
Both candidates spent heavily from their own resources. Bruggere won the Democratic nomination with $800,000 of his own money in the primary race,[54] and was one of 134 candidates for the U.S. Congress to finance their own elections in excess of $50,000 in that cycle.[55] Smith had already spent $2.5 million of his own money earlier that same year in an unsuccessful effort to defeat Democrat Ron Wyden in the 1996 special election to replace Bob Packwood, who had resigned.[54]
Shortly after their respective primary victories, the rivals met for a highly publicized lunch, and agreed to run issue-oriented campaigns. However, in the final weeks of the campaign, Bruggere supporters ran advertisements alleging a pollution problem with Smith's frozen foods business, which the Smith campaign characterized as a breach of that agreement.[54] A Boston Globe profile highlighted their similarities as corporate candidates with minimal political experience.[54]
In the general election race, most Oregon daily newspapers endorsed Smith over Bruggere.[56] The race was close, with neither side claiming victory for several days after the election, as absentee ballots were tallied. After all votes were counted, Smith won by 4 percentage points.[57] It was the last of the 1996 Senate elections to be determined; overall, the Republicans gained two seats in the Senate, increasing their majority from 53 to 55 seats.[58]
A special election was held on January 30, 1996 to fill the seat vacated by Republican Bob Packwood, who had resigned from the Senate due to sexual misconduct allegations.
The South Carolina Democratic Party held their primary on June 11, 1996. Elliott Springs Close, a 43-year-old political novice from Columbia, entered the Democratic primary and faced token opposition from black photographer Cecil J. Williams. Close was a wealthy heir of a textile business, a brother-in-law of President Clinton'schief of staffErskine Bowles, who styled himself as a fiscal conservative and a social moderate. Even though he proclaimed himself as such, he took positions that would align himself with the liberal wing of the Democratic party. Close would not have voted to balance the budget, he agreed with the Don't ask, don't tell policy of the military initiated by Clinton and he supported continuing welfare as a federal entitlement program.
Democratic Primary
Candidate
Votes
%
Elliott Springs Close
102,953
62.1%
Cecil J. Williams
62,783
37.9%
The South Carolina Republican Party held their primary on June 11, 1996 and the contest pitted 93-year-old incumbent Senator Strom Thurmond against two relatively unknown candidates. Secretary of State James Miles was the only Republican statewide official who had not endorsed Strom Thurmond and it was rumored that he was considering entering the primary. Thurmond's press secretary, Mark Goodin, criticized Miles for not endorsing Thurmond and told those who contributed to Miles campaign fund that they were contributing to a contest against Thurmond, not the state's other Senator, Democrat Fritz Hollings. Miles soon endorsed Thurmond which left Harold G. Worley, a state representative from Myrtle Beach, and Charlie Thompson, an educator from Charleston, as the only opponents to Thurmond's election. Worley spent $600,000 of his own money and based his campaign almost solely on Thurmond's age. He questioned Thurmond's mental ability to make decisions and whether he had the capacity to fill out a full term, which would put Thurmond at one-hundred years old. Nevertheless, Thurmond cruised to a primary victory and Worley only carried Horry County.
The race between Thurmond and Close boiled down to whether Thurmond could retain the affection of voters who had re-elected him over and over or whether Close could convince the voters that Thurmond's age was an impediment to effective service for the state. Thurmond therefore adopted a non-confrontational approach to the campaign. He chose to not debate Close, not only because he had not debated an opponent since Olin D. Johnston in the 1950 Senate election, but also because it would only emphasize the 50-year age difference between the candidates. Thurmond energetically traversed the state greeting the voters and pointed out to them that with his experience, he could more effectively serve the state than a political neophyte.
Close ran television advertisements that highlighted the age issue by declaring that although Thurmond had admirably served the state for over fifty years, it was time for someone new to represent South Carolina. He poured almost a million dollars into his campaign, but his campaign never remained focused. For instance, trying to not appear too wealthy, Close traded his fancy foreign car for a Cadillac. He acquired a speeding ticket in the Cadillac and a newspaper criticized him for driving a luxury automobile. Frustrated, Close then switched his Cadillac for a Buick. Another instance of his jumbled campaign came when said that his family's textile factories did not lay off an employee during the Great Depression. Yet a week after this statement, three mills were closed and 850 employees were out of work.
By the day of the election on November 5, polls had shown that the voters thought it was time for Thurmond to retire, but they did not want to throw him out of office. Close spent almost a million dollars of his fortune to defeat Thurmond and his decision to raise a million dollars from outside sources was attacked by the Thurmond campaign of a lack of confidence by Close in his own campaign. Thurmond spent a little more than $2.6 million on the race and was said to have "dodged the bullet" by The State reporter Lee Bandy after his victory.[66] The campaign aides of Thurmond stated he could have been defeated had either former GovernorRichard Riley or 5th district congressmanJohn M. Spratt, Jr. run against him.
Incumbent Republican Larry Pressler ran for re-election to a fourth term, but narrowly lost to Democratic nominee Tim Johnson by 9,000 votes.
Pressler and Johnson swapped leads in their own polls all year. The two candidates also swapped charges. Pressler said that Johnson was too liberal for the state, while Johnson contended that Pressler was beholden to the out-of-state interests that have fattened his campaign coffers.
Seeking a fourth term, Pressler noted his seniority; his close ties to his longtime Senate colleague, Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole; and, most emphatically, the power he wielded as the chairman of the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee.
Yet the massive changes in telecommunications law that he shepherded through the Senate since becoming chairman last year proved to be a mixed blessing politically for Pressler.
Political action committees related to industries affected by the legislation were generous donors to his campaign, and Pressler assured South Dakota voters that, over the long run, the bill will lower prices and provide jobs. But both telephone and cable television rates had gone up in South Dakota that year, leading Pressler to pull an ad stating that phone rates were going down.
Despite this apparently negative short-term effect, Pressler said that Johnson's votes against the "telecom" bill, along with his opposition to the GOP's seven-year balanced-budget plan and changes in farm policy, proved Johnson votes inconsistently with his moderate rhetoric.
"You say one thing in South Dakota and vote liberal all the time in Washington," intoned an announcer in a Pressler TV ad. In another ad, which Pressler called "the essence of my campaign," the senator himself called Johnson a liberal.
Johnson countered that Pressler's vote for the deficit- reducing budget-reconciliation package was a blow against the interests of farmers and seniors, two groups that helped fuel Pressler's victories in the past. Johnson also warned that farmers will be more vulnerable in years of poor yield under the new farm law. The so-called Freedom To Farm Act received mixed reviews from major agriculture groups in the state. The results were 51% for Johnson and 49% for Pressler.
Republican Senator Fred Thompson ran for re-election to a full six-year term. Thompson defeated the Democratic challenger, Covington lawyer Houston Gordon in the general election.
United States Senate election in Tennessee, 1996[67]
Incumbent Republican Phil Gramm won re-election to a third term over Democratic Navy veteran Victor Morales.
Morales, who never ran for public office before, pulled a major upset in the primary by defeated three politicians: U.S. Congressman John Wiley Bryant, U.S. Congressman Jim Chapman, and former State Supreme Court litigator John Odam. In the March run-off, he defeated Bryant with 51% of the vote. He became the first minority in Texas history to become a United States Senate nominee from either major party. Despite having no staff, raising only $15,000, and not accepting any special interest money he obtained 2.5 million votes.[68]
Gramm previously ran for President earlier in the year, but lost to fellow U.S. Senator Bob Dole in the Republican presidential primary. Gramm was the heavy favorite. A September poll showed Gramm leading 50% to 40%. A late October poll showed him leading with 53% to 31%.[69]
Exit Polls showed that Gramm performed well with Anglos (68% to 31%), while Morales won African Americans (79% to 19%) and Latinos (79% to 20%) respectively.
John Warner, a moderate Republican who held this Senate seat from 1979, remained a popular and powerful political figure. A former United States Secretary of the Navy, he was at this time Chairman of the Senate Rules Committee.
He easily won renomination, despite opposition by a number of conservative Republicans, who distrusted him because of his moderate positions (Warner is pro-choice, pro-gun control and refused to support 1994 Senate nominee Oliver North due to his role in the Iran-Contra Affair).
The two Warners (no relation) competed in one of the closest Senate elections in Virginia history. The incumbent, who was a moderate Republican, was very popular and didn't even have a major opponent in his last re-election bid in 1990. Although Mark Warner was relatively unknown, he became one of John Warner's strongest challengers. The Democrat self-financed his campaign and ended up outspending the Republican. In October, the Democrat outspent the incumbent 5-1.[75]
The incumbent had to compete in a primary against someone who was more conservative because he decided to endorse an independent in the 1994 U.S. Senate election, opting not to endorse the controversial Republican nominee, Oliver North. Despite this, North did endorse John Warner in the 1996 election.[76] In the general election, the incumbent called the Democrat a "robber baron," "Carpetbagger," and a "Connecticut Yankee" who raised money from outside the state.[77][78][79] Mark Warner tried to compete in the Southern part of the state, which is traditionally Republican territory. He earned the endorsement from the Reform Party of Virginia.[80]
In June, the incumbent was leading 58%-24%.[81] On September 19, the incumbent led 54%-34%.[82]
United States Senate election in Virginia, 1996[6]
Mark Warner lost the parts of the state that are outside the three largest metropolitan areas, 51%-49%, a very impressive result for a Democrat in this heavily Republican territory. However, John Warner’s strength among moderates enabled him to carry Northern Virginia 55%-45%, which got him over the top.[83]
West Virginia
Incumbent Democrat Jay Rockefeller was elected to a third term.
John Hardy Isakson is an American politician serving as the senior United States Senator from Georgia, in office since 2005. A member of the Republican Party, he previously represented Georgia's 6th Congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 1999 to 2005.
The 2002 United States Senate elections featured a series of fiercely contested elections that resulted in a victory for the Republican Party, which gained two seats and thus a narrow majority from the Democratic Party in the United States Senate. The Senate seats up for election, known as "class 2" Senate seats, were last up for regular election in 1996. The election was held on November 5, 2002, almost fourteen months after the September 11, 2001 attacks.
The 1998 United States Senate elections were held on November 3 and seen as an even contest between the Republican Party and Democratic Party. While the Democrats had to defend more seats up for election, Republican attacks on the morality of President Bill Clinton failed to connect with voters and anticipated Republican gains did not materialize. The Republicans picked up open seats in Ohio and Kentucky and narrowly defeated Democratic incumbent Carol Moseley Braun (Illinois), but these were cancelled out by the Democrats' gain of an open seat in Indiana and defeats of Republican Senators Al D'Amato and Lauch Faircloth. The balance of the Senate remained unchanged at 55–45 in favor of the Republicans. With Democrats gaining five seats in the House of Representatives, this marked the first time since 1934 that the out-of-presidency party failed to gain congressional seats in a mid-term election, and the first time since 1822 that the party not in control of the White House failed to gain seats in the mid-term election of a President's second term. These are the last senate elections that resulted in no net change in the balance of power.
The 1992 United States Senate elections, held November 3, 1992, were elections for the United States Senate that coincided with Bill Clinton's victory the presidential election. Despite the presidential victory, Democrats had a net loss of a seat in the general elections, and only managed to break even by winning a seat in a special election.
The 1990 United States Senate elections were held on Tuesday, November 6, 1990. The Democratic Party increased its majority with a net gain of one seat from the Republican Party. The election took place in the middle of President George H. W. Bush's term, and, as with most other midterm elections, the party not holding the presidency gained seats in Congress.
The 1988 United States Senate elections was an election for the United States Senate in which, in spite of the Republican victory by George H. W. Bush in the presidential election, the Democrats gained a net of one seat in the Senate. Seven seats changed parties, with four incumbents being defeated. The Democratic majority in the Senate increased by one from 54/46 to 55/45.
The 1986 United States Senate elections was an election for the United States Senate in the middle of Ronald Reagan's second presidential term. The Republicans had to defend an unusually large number of freshman Senate incumbents who had been elected on President Ronald Reagan's coattails in 1980. Democrats won a net of eight seats, defeating seven freshman incumbents and regaining control of the Senate for the first time since January 1981. The party not controlling the presidency gained seats, as usually occurs in mid-term elections.
The 1984 United States Senate elections coincided with the landslide re-election of President Ronald Reagan in the presidential election. In spite of the lopsided presidential race, Reagan's Republican Party suffered a net loss of two Senate seats to the Democrats, although it retained control of the Senate and gained seats in the House.
The 1982 United States Senate elections were held on November 2, 1982. They were elections for the United States Senate following Republican gains in 1980. A total of four seats changed hands between parties, and the lone independent, Senator Harry Byrd Jr., retired. Democrats made a net gain of one seat in the elections. A special election in 1983 was then held after the winner of Washington's 1982 election died at the beginning of the term.
The 1978 United States Senate elections in the middle of Democratic President Jimmy Carter's term. Thirteen seats changed hands between parties. The Democrats at first lost a net of two seats to the Republicans, and then one more in a special election. Democrats nevertheless retained a 58-41 majority.
The 1976 United States Senate elections was an election for the United States Senate that coincided with Democratic Jimmy Carter's presidential election and the United States Bicentennial celebration. Although almost half of the seats decided in this election changed parties, Carter's narrow victory did not provide coattails for the Democrats, and the balance of the chamber remained the same.
The 1970 United States Senate elections was an election for the United States Senate, taking place in the middle of Richard Nixon's first term as President. The Democrats lost a net of three seats, while the Republicans and the Conservative Party of New York picked up one net seat each, and former Democrat Harry F. Byrd Jr. was re-elected as an independent.
The 1966 United States Senate elections was an election on November 8, 1966 for the United States Senate which occurred midway through the second term of President Lyndon B. Johnson. With divisions in the Democratic base over the Vietnam War, and with the traditional mid-term advantage of the party not holding the presidency, the Republicans took three Democratic seats. Despite Republican gains, the balance remained overwhelmingly in favor of the Democrats, who retained a 64–36 majority. This was also the first election that occurred after the Voting Rights Act of 1965 became law.
The 1964 United States Senate elections coincided with the election of President Lyndon B. Johnson by an overwhelming majority, to a full term. His Democratic Party picked up a net two seats from the Republicans. As of 2019, this is the last time either party has had a two-thirds majority in the Senate, which would have hypothetically allowed the Senate Democrats to override a veto, convict and expel certain officials, or invoke cloture without any votes from Republicans. The Senate election coincided with Democratic gains in the House in the same year.
The 1956 United States Senate elections were elections for the United States Senate that coincided with the re-election of President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Although the Democrats gained two seats in regular elections, the Republicans gained back two seats in special elections, leaving the party balance of the chamber remained unchanged.
The 1954 United States Senate elections was a midterm election in the first term of Dwight D. Eisenhower's presidency. Eisenhower's Republican party lost a net of two seats to the Democratic opposition. This small change was just enough to give Democrats control of the chamber with the support of an Independent who caucused with them.
The 1996 South Carolina United States Senate election was held on November 5, 1996 to select the U.S. Senator from the state of South Carolina. Popular incumbent Republican Senator Strom Thurmond won re-election against Democratic challenger Elliott Springs Close.
The 1996 United States Senate election in Georgia was held on November 5, 1996. Incumbent Democratic United States Senator Sam Nunn decided to retire instead of seeking a fifth term. The Republican Party nominated Guy Millner, a multi-millionaire businessman who was also the unsuccessful candidate who ran against Zell Miller in the 1994 gubernatorial election. Millner emerged as the victor from a crowded 6-person primary in July 1996. However, Max Cleland, the Secretary of State of Georgia ran unopposed in the Democratic primary.
The 2014 United States Senate elections were held on November 4, 2014, they were a part of the United States 2014 elections. Thirty-three Class 2 seats in the 100-member United States Senate were up for election, in addition to three Class 3 seats due to expire on January 3, 2017. The candidates winning the regular elections would serve six-year terms from January 3, 2015 to January 3, 2021. The elections marked 100 years of direct elections of U.S. Senators. Twenty-one of the open seats were held by the Democratic Party, while fifteen were held by the Republican Party.
The 2018 United States Senate elections were held on November 6, 2018. Thirty-three of the 100 seats were contested in regular elections while two others were contested in special elections due to Senate vacancies in Minnesota and Mississippi. The winners were elected to six-year terms running from January 3, 2019, to January 3, 2025. Senate Democrats had 26 seats up for election while Senate Republicans had nine seats up for election.
↑ Crabtree, Susan (December 2, 1996). "1996 Ad". Insight on the News. Retrieved April 29, 2012. An incorrect exit poll by Voter News Service, or VNS, resulted in an early and ultimately incorrect projection of victory in New Hampshire for Democratic Senate candidate Dick Swett over Republican incumbent Sen. Robert C. Smith. "Every election night, you know, its cardiac-arrest time in some state, in some race - sometimes in several races," CBS' Dan Rather explained at 9:40 p.m. EST. "This race is as hot and tight as a too-small bathing suit on a too-long car ride back from the beach." But the network "oops" came too late for a number of newspapers that featured Swett's exit-poll victory in their early editions.
Kranish, Michael, Brian C. Mooney, and Nina J. Easton. John F. Kerry: The Complete Biography by the Boston Globe Reporters Who Know Him Best, PublicAffairs, 2004. ISBN1-58648-273-4.
Bass, Jack; Marilyn W. Thompson (2005). Strom: The Complicated Personal and Political Life of Strom Thurmond. PublicAffairs. pp.319–321.
Green, Joshua (January 1, 2004). "A Gambling Man". The Atlantic. Retrieved January 28, 2008.
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