1992 United States Senate elections

November 3, 1992 November 24 (Georgia runoff)
36 of the 100 seats in the United States Senate 51 seats needed for a majority
Majority party Minority party   Leader George Mitchell Bob Dole Party Democratic Republican Leader since January 3, 1989 January 3, 1985 Leader's seat Maine Kansas Seats before 57 43 Seats after 57 43 Seat change Popular vote 40,589,727[1][lower-alpha 1] 35,449,473[1][lower-alpha 1] Percentage 49.9% 43.6% Seats up 21 15 Races won 21[lower-alpha 1] 15
Results of the elections:      Democratic gain      Democratic hold      Republican gain      Republican hold      No election Rectangular inset (Calif. & N. D.): both seats up for election
Majority Leader before election George Mitchell Democratic Elected Majority Leader George Mitchell Democratic

The 1992 United States Senate elections, held November 3, 1992, were elections for the United States Senate. The 34 seats of Class 3 were contested in regular elections, along with special elections to fill vacancies. They coincided with Bill Clinton's victory in the presidential election. This was the first time since 1956 that the balance of the Senate remained the same.

Both parties swapped a pair of seats, resulting in no net change in the partisan breakdown, which had been at 57–43 since Democrats flipped a seat in Pennsylvania in a special election. Democratic victories over Republicans John F. Seymour in the special California race and Bob Kasten in Wisconsin were cancelled out by the defeats of Democrats Wyche Fowler in Georgia and Terry Sanford in North Carolina.

The election of four new Democratic women to the Senate was notable with it being referred to in the press as the "Year of the Woman". Due to a special election in California, both of California's Senate seats were up for election in 1992, and these seats were won by Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer. Thus, California became the first state to have elected women to occupy both of its Senate seats. Democrat Carol Moseley Braun of Illinois, became the first African-American woman in the United States Senate. As of 2023, this was the last election cycle in which Republicans won a Senate election in New York and Democrats in Kentucky.

Results summary

Seat totals include both the special elections in California and North Dakota, but vote totals exclude the North Dakota total.

Parties							Total
		Democratic	Republican	Libertarian	Independent	Other
Last elections (1990)		56	44	0	0	0	100
Before these elections		57	43	0	0	0	100
Not up		36	28	—	—	—	64
Up		21	15	—	—	—	36
	Class 3 (1986→1992)	20	14	—	—	—	34
	Special: Class 1	1	1	—	—	—	2
Incumbent retired		5[lower-alpha 2]	3	—	—	—	8
	Held by same party	5	3	—	—	—	8
	Replaced by other party	0	0	—	—	—	0
	Result	5	3	—	—	—	8
Incumbent ran		16[lower-alpha 3]	12[lower-alpha 4]	—	—	—	28
	Won re-election	13	10	—	—	—	23
	Lost re-election	2 Republicans replaced by 2 Democrats 2 Democrats replaced by 2 Republicans		—	—	—	4
	Lost renomination, but held by same party	1	0	—	—	—	1
	Result	16	12	—	—	—	28
Total elected		21	15	—	—	—	36
Net gain/loss							0
Nationwide vote		40,589,727	35,449,473	1,234,416	624,673	3,486,729	81,385,018
	Share	49.87%	43.56%	1.52%	0.77%	4.28%	100%
Result		57	43	—	—	—	100

Source: Office of the Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives^[1]

Gains and losses

Change in composition

Race summary

Closest races

In thirteen races, the margin of victory was under 10%.

Illinois was the tipping point state, decided by a margin of 10%.

Alabama

Alabama election

Nominee Richard Shelby Richard Sellers Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 1,022,698 522,015 Percentage 64.8% 33.1%

County Results

U.S. senator before election Richard Shelby Democratic Elected U.S. Senator Richard Shelby Democratic

Incumbent Democrat Richard Shelby won re-election to a second term, beating Richard Sellers, a conservative activist.^[2]

Alaska

Alaska election

Nominee Frank Murkowski Tony Smith Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 127,163 92,065 Percentage 53.05% 38.41%   Nominee Mary Jordan Party Green Popular vote 20,019 Percentage 8.35%

U.S. senator before election Frank Murkowski Republican Elected U.S. Senator Frank Murkowski Republican

Incumbent Republican Frank Murkowski sought re-election to a third term in the United States Senate. Tony Smith, the Democratic nominee and a former Commissioner of Economic Development, won his party's nomination in a crowded primary and faced off against Murkowski in the general election. Though Murkowski was held to a lower vote percentage than he received six years prior, he was ultimately re-elected.

Arizona

Arizona election

Nominee John McCain Claire Sargent Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 771,395 436,321 Percentage 55.8% 31.6%   Nominee Evan Mecham Party Independent Popular vote 145,361 Percentage 10.3%

U.S. Senate election results map. Red denotes counties won by McCain. Blue denotes those won by Sargent.

U.S. senator before election John McCain Republican Elected U.S. Senator John McCain Republican

Incumbent Republican John McCain won re-election to a second term over Democrat Claire Sargent, community activist^[6] and Independent former Governor Evan Mecham.

Arkansas

Arkansas election

Nominee Dale Bumpers Mike Huckabee Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 553,635 366,373 Percentage 60.2% 39.8%

County Results

U.S. senator before election Dale Bumpers Democratic Elected U.S. Senator Dale Bumpers Democratic

Incumbent Democratic senator Dale Bumpers won re-election to a fourth term. His Republican opponent was future Arkansas lieutenant governor, governor, and two-time presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, a church pastor from Texarkana.

The 1992 election coincided with Arkansas governor Bill Clinton's election as President of the United States, in which he also won his home state. In contrast with Bumpers' landslide where he won over 60% of the vote, Clinton won only 53.21% of the vote. Bumpers would serve another term in the U.S. Senate before deciding to retire in 1998.

California

Due to the resignation of Pete Wilson to become Governor of California, there were two senate elections in California as both seats were up for election and both won by women. California ultimately become the first state to have two sitting women senators.

California (regular)

California general election

Nominee Barbara Boxer Bruce Herschensohn Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 5,173,467 4,644,182 Percentage 47.9% 43.0%

County Results

U.S. senator before election Alan Cranston Democratic Elected U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer Democratic

Main article: 1992 United States Senate election in California

See also: List of United States senators from California and 1992 United States Senate special election in California

Incumbent Democrat Alan Cranston decided to retire. Democratic U.S. Congresswoman Barbara Boxer won the open seat over Republican conservative TV talk show commentator Bruce Herschensohn. Both of California's senators were elected for the first time. This is not a unique occurrence; it would happen again in Tennessee in 1994, Kansas in 1996 and Georgia in 2020-2021. Fellow Democrat Dianne Feinstein, California's other senator, won the special election and was inaugurated in November 1992.

The election between Boxer and Herschensohn was very close. At the eleventh hour, controversy emerged that the Republican nominee attended a strip club, which some Republican operatives later blamed for Herschensohn's loss.^[8]

Four days before Election Day polls showed Herschensohn had narrowed a double digit deficit, trailing by 3 points. Political operative Bob Mulholland disrupted a campaign appearance with a large poster advertising a strip club shouting "Should the voters of California elect someone who frequently travels the strip joints of Hollywood?" Herschensohn admitted he had visited a strip club once, with his girlfriend and another couple. With press coverage of the story, Herschensohn spent the waning days of the campaign denying related allegations. When the votes were cast and counted, Barbara Boxer won the election by five points.^[9] Although Republicans have blamed the defeat on the underhanded tactics of the Boxer campaign, evidence of the connection between Mulholland's outburst and the campaign never surfaced.^[10][11][12]

The election was very close. Boxer was declared the winner by the Associated Press at 1:22 A.M. Pacific Coast Time.

1992 United States Senate election, California

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Barbara Boxer	5,173,467	47.90
	Republican	Bruce Herschensohn	4,644,182	43.00
	American Independent	Jerome N. McCready	373,051	3.45
	Peace and Freedom	Genevieve Torres	372,817	3.45
	Libertarian	June R. Genis	235,919	2.18
	No party	Write-ins	267	0.00
Invalid or blank votes			574,862	5.05
Total votes			11,374,565	100.00
Turnout				54.52
	Democratic hold

California (special)

California special election

Nominee Dianne Feinstein John F. Seymour Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 5,853,651 4,093,501 Percentage 54.29% 37.96%

County Results

U.S. senator before election John F. Seymour Republican Elected U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein Democratic

Main article: 1992 United States Senate special election in California

In the 1990 gubernatorial election, Republican senator Pete Wilson had beaten Democrat Dianne Feinstein for governor. He appointed John F. Seymour to the Senate to replace himself. In this special election held simultaneously with the regular Senate election, Feinstein defeated Seymour to serve the remaining 2 years of the term and took office November 4, only 1 day after the election. Fellow Democrat Barbara Boxer won the regular election and was sworn in in January 1993.

Both of California's senators were elected for the first time. This is not a unique occurrence; it would happen again in Tennessee in 1994, Kansas in 1996, and Georgia in 2020.

1992 special United States Senate election, California

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Dianne Feinstein	5,853,651	54.29%
	Republican	John F. Seymour (Incumbent)	4,093,501	37.96%
	Peace and Freedom	Gerald Horne	305,697	2.84%
	American Independent	Paul Meeuwenberg	281,973	2.62%
	Libertarian	Richard Benjamin Boddie	247,799	2.30%
	No party	Write-ins	122	0.00%
Invalid or blank votes			591,822	5.20%
Total votes			11,374,565	100.00%
Turnout				54.52
	Democratic gain from Republican

Colorado

Colorado election

Nominee Ben Nighthorse Campbell Terry Considine Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 803,725 662,893 Percentage 51.8% 42.7%

County Results

U.S. senator before election Tim Wirth Democratic Elected U.S. Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell Democratic

Incumbent Democrat Tim Wirth decided to retire instead of seeking a second term. Democratic congressman Ben Nighthorse Campbell won the open seat, beating Republican State senator Terry Considine.

Connecticut

Connecticut election

Nominee Chris Dodd Brook Johnson Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 882,569 572,036 Percentage 58.8% 38.1%

County Results

U.S. senator before election Chris Dodd Democratic Elected U.S. Senator Chris Dodd Democratic

Incumbent Democrat Christopher Dodd won re-election for a third term over Republican businessman Brook Johnson.

Johnson, a millionaire businessman who had never run for public office before, spent about $900,000 during the primary campaign. His television and radio commercials said that he would bring "a dose of success Washington needs." Dodd had $2 million cash on hand following the primaries.^[14]

Florida

Florida election

Nominee Bob Graham James W. Grant Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 3,245,585 1,716,511 Percentage 65.4% 35.4%

County Results

U.S. senator before election Bob Graham Democratic Elected U.S. Senator Bob Graham Democratic

Incumbent Democrat Bob Graham won re-election to a second term, beating Republican former U.S. Representative Bill Grant.

Graham defeated Grant in a landslide, as Grant won just one county in the state (Okaloosa County, Florida). There were no third party or independent candidates.

Georgia

1992 United States Senate election in Georgia

November 3, 1992 (first round) November 24, 1992 (runoff)

Nominee Paul Coverdell Wyche Fowler Party Republican Democratic First round 1,073,282 47.67% 1,108,416 49.23% Runoff 635,118 50.65% 618,774 49.35%

Runoff county results

U.S. senator before election Wyche Fowler Democratic Elected U.S. Senator Paul Coverdell Republican

Incumbent Democrat Wyche Fowler did not receive a simple majority in the general election, which demanded a runoff. Paul Coverdell, former Director of the Peace Corps and former State senator, edged out Fowler in the runoff with a narrow margin.^[5]

The general primary was held July 21, 1992.^[18] A run-off between the top two Republican contenders was held on August 11, in which Paul Coverdell defeated Bob Barr.

Results^[19] for the first round showed that since Paul Coverdell did not win a majority of the vote, a runoff was held between him and Barr. Coverdell subsequently won the runoff.

As no candidate reached a majority on November 3, a runoff election was held on November 24, which Coverdell won.

Hawaii

Hawaii election

Nominee Daniel Inouye Rick Reed Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 208,266 97,928 Percentage 57.3% 26.9%   Nominee Linda Martin Party Green Popular vote 49,921 Percentage 13.7%

County Results

U.S. senator before election Daniel Inouye Democratic Elected U.S. Senator Daniel Inouye Democratic

Incumbent Democrat Daniel Inouye won re-election to a sixth term over Republican State senator Rick Reed.^[20]

Idaho

Idaho election

Nominee Dirk Kempthorne Richard H. Stallings Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 270,468 208,036 Percentage 56.5% 43.5%

County Results

U.S. senator before election Steve Symms Republican Elected U.S. Senator Dirk Kempthorne Republican

Incumbent Republican Steve Symms decided to retire instead of seeking a third term. Republican Mayor of Boise Dirk Kempthorne won the open seat, beating Democratic congressman Richard H. Stallings.

Illinois

Illinois election

Nominee Carol Moseley Braun Richard S. Williamson Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 2,631,229 2,162,833 Percentage 53.0% 43.0%

County Results Braun:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70% Williamson:      40–50%      50–60%

U.S. senator before election Alan J. Dixon Democratic Elected U.S. Senator Carol Moseley Braun Democratic

Incumbent Democrat Alan J. Dixon decided to run for re-election a third term, but was defeated in the primary against Carol Moseley Braun, Cook County Recorder of Deeds and former State Representative, who then won the general election over Republican Richard S. Williamson, former Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs. Braun (whose victory coincided with Bill Clinton's win in the presidential election and Illinois) made history in this election by becoming the first African-American woman ever elected to the U.S. Senate, and also the first African-American elected to the U.S. Senate as a Democrat.

This defeat shocked observers; at the time no senator had been defeated in a primary in over a decade and Dixon had a long record of electoral success. He was a moderate Democrat, who recently voted to confirm Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court.^[23] Braun, a black woman and known reformist liberal, got a large share of black, liberal, and women voters ("The Year of the Woman").

In addition, she carried Cook County, Illinois, by far the most populated county in the state. Another factor was the third candidate in the race, multi-millionaire attorney Al Hofeld. Hofeld drew away some of the moderate and conservative Democrats who normally supported Dixon. He also spent a lot of money running advertisements attacking Dixon, weakening his support.

Moseley Braun won the 1992 Illinois Senate Race by a fairly comfortable margin. Moseley Braun did well as expected in Cook County home of Chicago. Williamson did well in the Chicago collar counties, and most northern parts of the state. Moseley Braun had a surprisingly strong showing in southern Illinois, which Republicans had come to dominate in the last several decades. Braun also did well in Rock Island County.

Indiana

Indiana election

Nominee Dan Coats Joe Hogsett Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 1,267,972 900,148 Percentage 57.3% 40.8%

County Results

U.S. senator before election Dan Coats Republican Elected U.S. Senator Dan Coats Republican

Incumbent Republican Dan Coats won re-election to his first full term, beating the Democratic Indiana Secretary of State Joe Hogsett.^[24]

When incumbent Republican Dan Quayle resigned from the Senate after being elected Vice President of the United States in 1988, Coats was appointed to Quayle's former seat. He then won election to serve the remainder of the term in 1990.

Coats won 79 of Indiana's counties compared to 13 for Hogsett.^[25]

Iowa

Iowa election

Nominee Chuck Grassley Jean Hall Lloyd-Jones Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 899,761 351,561 Percentage 69.6% 27.2%

County Results

U.S. senator before election Chuck Grassley Republican Elected U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley Republican

Incumbent Republican Chuck Grassley ran for re-election to a third term in the United States Senate, which he won easily against his Democratic opponent, State senator Jean Hall Lloyd-Jones.

Kansas

Kansas election

Nominee Bob Dole Gloria O'Dell Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 706,246 349,525 Percentage 62.70% 31.03%

County Results

U.S. senator before election Bob Dole Republican Elected U.S. Senator Bob Dole Republican

Incumbent Republican senator Bob Dole won re-election to a fifth term, defeating Democratic nominee Gloria O'Dell, teacher and former journalist.^[27] Nearly two decades after his failed vice-presidential bid in 1976, this would be Dole's last election to the Senate. He would resign in 1996 while running for President of the United States. Dole also became the Republican Leader of the United States Senate seven years prior.

Kentucky

Kentucky election

Nominee Wendell Ford David L. Williams Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 836,888 476,604 Percentage 62.9% 35.8%

County Results

U.S. senator before election Wendell Ford Democratic Elected U.S. Senator Wendell Ford Democratic

Incumbent Democratic U.S. senator Wendell Ford won re-election to a fourth term, easily beating Republican State senator David L. Williams. As of 2023, this was the last Senate election in Kentucky in which a Democrat won.

Denny Ormerod, a machinist from Louisville dropped out before the primary election.^[29] Though Williams and Thompson represented opposing factions in the state Republican Party – Williams managed Larry Hopkins' 1991 primary campaign while Thompson worked full-time for Hopkins' primary opponent Larry Forgy – the two virtually ignored each other in the primary campaign, choosing instead to focus their rhetoric against Ford.^[29] Thompson did question Williams' conservative credentials on grounds that he voted in favor of the tax increase associated with the Kentucky Education Reform Act.^[29] Ormerod's campaign largely focused on socially conservative issues, but it was Williams who secured the endorsement of Kentucky Right to Life, who cited his lawsuit to free three anti-abortion bills from committee in the 1992 legislative session.^[29] As a result of the largely uninspiring primary campaigns, there was only an 18% voter turnout in the Republican primary. Williams won the nomination.^[30]

Ford, the Senate Majority Whip and a former governor, raised $2.4 million for his campaign, about eight times the amount Williams raised.^[32] Given his limited finances, Williams relied on news conferences and interviews on small town radio stations to get his message out.^[32] Williams repeatedly lamented that Ford would not agree to a formal debate; Ford said that could not be arranged because Congress was still in session and he needed to be in Washington.^[33] During the campaign, Williams attempted to paint Ford as too liberal for Kentucky voters, citing his votes against the Gulf War and Clarence Thomas' confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court.^[34] Both candidates declared their support for a Balanced Budget Amendment, but Williams said that Ford's support of pork barrel projects for the state and a procedural vote that kept the amendment from a vote in 1991 were evidence that Ford's support was not genuine.^[34]

Ford had no trouble winning on election night. Ford won easily, despite the fact that fellow Democrat Bill Clinton was not declared the winner of the presidential race in Kentucky until around 10:00 E.S.T. Ford pulled big margins out of the majority of Kentucky's 124 counties. This would be Ford's last term in the senate. He served his final term from January 3, 1993, to January 3, 1999. Ford died some fifteen years after his retirement at the age of 90.

Louisiana

Louisiana election

Nominee John Breaux Jon Khachaturian Party Democratic Independent Popular vote 616,021 74,785 Percentage 73.07% 8.87%   Nominee Lyle Stocksill Nick Joseph Accardo Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 69,986 45,839 Percentage 8.30% 5.44%

Parish Results

U.S. senator before election John Breaux Democratic Elected U.S. Senator John Breaux Democratic

Incumbent Democrat John Breaux won a majority in Louisiana's jungle primary on October 3, 1992, winning re-election to another term.

Maryland

Maryland election

Nominee Barbara Mikulski Alan Keyes Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 1,307,610 533,688 Percentage 71.0% 28.9%

County Results

U.S. senator before election Barbara Mikulski Democratic Elected U.S. Senator Barbara Mikulski Democratic

Incumbent Democrat Barbara Mikulski won re-election to a second term over Republican Alan Keyes, former Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs.

Missouri

Missouri election

Nominee Kit Bond Geri Rothman-Serot Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 1,221,901 1,057,967 Percentage 51.2% 44.9%

County Results

U.S. senator before election Kit Bond Republican Elected U.S. Senator Kit Bond Republican

Incumbent Republican Kit Bond won re-election to a second term over Democratic St. Louis County Councilwoman Geri Rothman-Serot.^[5]

Nevada

Nevada election

Nominee Harry Reid Demar Dahl Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 253,150 199,413 Percentage 51.0% 40.2%

County Results

U.S. senator before election Harry Reid Democratic Elected U.S. Senator Harry Reid Democratic

Although nearly 10% of the electorate voted for neither of the two major U.S. political parties, incumbent Democrat Harry Reid ultimately beat Republican cattle rancher and President of Nevada Cattlemen's Association Demar Dahl.^[5]

New Hampshire

New Hampshire election

Nominee Judd Gregg John Rauh Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 249,591 234,982 Percentage 48.2% 45.4%

County Results

U.S. senator before election Warren Rudman Republican Elected U.S. Senator Judd Gregg Republican

Incumbent Republican Warren Rudman decided to retire. Republican Governor Judd Gregg won the open seat, beating Democrat John Rauh, former CEO of Griffon Corporation.^[38]

New York

New York election

Nominee Al D'Amato Robert Abrams Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 3,166,994 3,086,200 Percentage 49.0% 47.8%

County Results

U.S. senator before election Al D'Amato Republican Elected U.S. Senator Al D'Amato Republican

Incumbent Republican Al D'Amato won re-election to a third term over Democrat Robert Abrams, New York State Attorney General and former Borough president of the Bronx. As of 2023, this was the last Senate election in New York won by a Republican.

Early in the campaign, environmentalist attorney, Laurance S. Rockefeller, Jr. nephew of the former governor Nelson, tried to challenge D'Amato in the Republican primary,^[40] but fell short of the required signatures to get onto the primary ballot. D'Amato summarily went unchallenged.