Election to the United States Senate in 1996

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Senate elections 1996
  • Democrats, held
  • Democrats, gained
  • Republicans, held
  • Republicans, gained

    • On November 5, 1996 , one-third of the members of the US Senate were elected in the United States . The election was part of the general election that year in which all members of the House of Representatives were elected. The presidential election also took place that day , with President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore re-elected. Each of the 50 states has 2 representatives in the Senate. Under the United States Constitution , US Senators are elected for six years. However, all members of the Senate are never elected at the same time. The election follows a scheme according to which a third of the senators are elected every two years at the same time as the election to the US House of Representatives. For this purpose, the Senate is divided into three classes , which determine the election year of the Senators. In 1996 the Senators of Class II stood for election.

    Before the election, 53 senators were Republicans and 47 were Democrats. The election resulted in a slight shift in favor of the Republicans, who were able to take two seats from the Democrats net. Then there was a Republican majority of 55 to 45 senators.

    Results and course of the legislative period

    Majority ratios at the opening of the 105th Congress
  • Democratic Senators
  • Republican Senators

    • After the 1996 election, the mandates were distributed among the parties as follows:

    Political party
    (Coloring indicates the majority)
    		 Total
    republican Democrats Vacant
    End of the 104th Congress 53 47 100 0
    105th Congress 55 45 100 0
    Final distribution of votes 55% 45%
    Beginning of the 106th Congress 55 45 100 0


    The exact results of the November 5, 1996 election:

    Democrats: 23,490,651 votes (47.9%) Loss of two seats (45)

    Republicans: 24,211,395 votes (49.4%) won two seats (55)

    Other: 1,302,103 votes (2.7%). No mandates.

    Personnel changes

    The following personnel changes resulted from the elections:

    Democratic wins: Republican Larry Pressler was defeated by Democrat Tim Johnson in South Dakota .

    Democratic seats held with new incumbent: In Georgia , Democratic incumbent Sam Nunn did not run again. Max Cleland was elected in his place . In Illinois , Paul M. Simon did not stand for re-election. The mandate fell to Dick Durbin and Louisiana sparked Mary Landrieu Bennett Johnston from, who also did not stand.

    Republican gains: In Alabama , Democratic Senator Howell Heflin declined to run again. The Republican Jeff Sessions prevailed in the election . In Arkansas the same constellation arose after the Democrat David Pryor did not run for re-election and the Republican Tim Hutchinson was elected as his successor. The same scenario was repeated in Nebraska, where the no longer running Democrat J. James Exon found a Republican successor in Chuck Hagel .

    See also