United States Senate elections, 1992

United States Senate elections, 1992

1990 ← November 3, 1992 → 1994

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's seat Maine Kansas Last election 56 seats 44 seats Seats won 57 43 Seat change +1 -1 Popular vote 34,736,076 31,355,972 Percentage 49.2% 44.4% Swing 1.9% 2.7%

Republican holds   Republican pickups   Democratic holds   One Democratic hold, one pickup   Democratic pickups

Majority Leader before election George Mitchell Democratic Elected Majority Leader George Mitchell Democratic

The 1992 United States Senate election was an election for the United States Senate in which the victory of Bill Clinton in the presidential election was not accompanied by major Democratic gains in the Senate.

Democratic victories over Republicans John F. Seymour (CA) and Bob Kasten (WI) were cancelled out by the defeats of Democrats Wyche Fowler (GA) and Terry Sanford (NC). The election of four new Democratic women to the Senate was notable (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. These seats were won by Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer.

Democrat Carol Moseley Braun (IL), became the first African-American woman to serve in the United States Senate.

Results summary

Summary of the 1992 United States Senate election results

Parties		Total Seats			Popular Vote
		1990	1992	+/-	Vote	%
	Democratic Party	56	57	+1	34,736,076	49.20%
	Republican Party	44	43	-1	31,355,972	44.41%
	Others	-	-	-	4,510,227	6.39%
Total		100	100	-	70,602,275	100.0%
Source: Election Statistics - Office of the Clerk

Notable races

Democratic gains

• California: Sen. John F. Seymour (R-CA) was defeated in a special election by former San Francisco Mayor Dianne Feinstein. Seymour had been appointed to the seat by Governor Pete Wilson following Wilson's resignation from the Senate after his election as Governor.
• Wisconsin: Sen. Bob Kasten (R-WI) survived a close call in his first re-election bid in 1986, but was upset in his bid for a third term by State Senator Russ Feingold. Feingold had won the Democratic primary as an underdog against two millionaire opponents thanks to an effective series of quirky campaign advertisements, and he repeated the same formula in the general election against Kasten.

Republican gains

• Georgia: In the initial balloting, Sen. Wyche Fowler (D-GA) narrowly defeated former Republican State Senator Paul Coverdell, but he failed to gain 50% of the vote thanks to the strong showing of the Libertarian candidate and Fowler faced Coverdell in a run-off. Coverdell would win the run-off by an equally narrow margin.
• North Carolina: Sen. Terry Sanford (D-NC) became the third straight incumbent to lose this seat after one term when he was defeated by Democrat-turned-Republican Lauch Faircloth. Faircloth's victory was aided by Sanford's health scares and the considerable political organization of the state's other senator, Jesse Helms (R-NC).

Complete list of races

A bolded state name indicates an article about that state's election.

State	Incumbent	Party	Result	Opposing Candidates
Alabama	Richard Shelby	Democratic	Re-elected, 64.8%	Richard Sellars (Republican) 33.1% Jerome Shockley (Libertarian) 2.0%
Alaska	Frank Murkowski	Republican	Re-elected, 53.0%	Tony Smith (Democratic) 38.4% Mary Jordan (Green) 8.4%
Arizona	John McCain	Republican	Re-elected, 55.8%	Claire Sargent (Democratic) 31.6% Evan Mecham (Independent) 10.5% Kiana Delamare (Libertarian) 1.6% Ed Finkelstein (New Alliance) 0.5%
Arkansas	Dale Bumpers	Democratic	Re-elected, 60.2%	Mike Huckabee (Republican) 39.8%
California Special: Class 1	John F. Seymour	Republican	Interim appointee lost election to finish term, 38.0% Democratic gain	Dianne Feinstein (Democratic) 54.3% Gerald Horne (Peace & Freedom) 2.8% Paul Meeuwenberg (American Ind.) 2.6% Richard B. Boddie (Libertarian) 2.3%
California	Alan Cranston	Democratic	Retired Democratic hold	Barbara Boxer (Democratic) 47.9% Bruce Herschensohn (Republican) 43.0% Jerome McCready American Ind. 3.5% Genevieve Torres (Peace & Freedom) 3.5% June R. Genis (Libertarian) 2.2%
Colorado	Tim Wirth	Democratic	Retired Democratic hold	Ben Nighthorse Campbell (Democratic) 51.8% Terry Considine (Republican) 42.7% Richard Grimes (Independent) 2.7% Matt Noah (Christian Pro-Life) 1.5% Dan Winters (Independent) 1.3%
Connecticut	Christopher Dodd	Democratic	Re-elected, 58.8%	Brook Johnson (Republican) 38.1% Richard D. Gregory (Concerned Citizens) 2.4% Howard A. Grayson, Jr. (Libertarian) 0.7%
Florida	Bob Graham	Democratic	Re-elected, 65.4%	James W. Grant (Republican) 34.6%
Georgia	Wyche Fowler	Democratic	Lost re-election, 49.4% Republican gain	Paul Coverdell (Republican) 50.6% Jim Hudson (Libertarian) 3.1%
Hawaii	Daniel Inouye	Democratic	Re-elected, 57.3%	Rick Reed (Republican) 26.9% Linda Martin (Green) 13.7% Richard O. Rowland (Libertarian) 2.1%
Idaho	Steve Symms	Republican	Retired Republican hold	Dirk Kempthorne (Republican) 56.5% Richard H. Stallings (Democratic) 43.5%
Illinois	Alan J. Dixon	Democratic	Lost renomination Democratic hold	Carol Moseley-Braun (Democratic) 53.3% Richard S. Williamson (Republican) 43.1% Chad Koppie (Conservative) 2.0% Andrew B. Spiegel (Libertarian) 0.7% Charles A. Winter (Natural Law) 0.3% Alan J. Port (New Alliance) 0.3% Kathleen Kaku (Socialist Workers) 0.2% John Justice (Populist) 0.2%
Indiana	Dan Coats	Republican	Re-elected, 57.3%	Joseph Hogsett (Democratic) 40.7% Steve Dillon (Libertarian) 1.6% Raymond Tirado (New Alliance) 0.3%
Iowa	Chuck Grassley	Republican	Re-elected, 69.6%	Jean Lloyd-Jones (Democratic) 27.2% Stuart Zimmerman (Natural Law) 1.3% Sue Atkinson (Independent) 0.5% Mel Boring (Independent) 0.4% Rosanne Freeburg (Independent) 0.4% Carl Eric Olsen (Grassroots) 0.3% Richard O'Dell Hughes (Independent) 0.2% Cleve Andrew Pulley (Socialist Workers) 0.1%
Kansas	Bob Dole	Republican	Re-elected, 62.7%	Gloria O'Dell (Democratic) 31.0% Christina Campbell-Cline (Independent) 4.0% Mark B. Kirk (Libertarian) 2.2%
Kentucky	Wendell H. Ford	Democratic	Re-elected, 62.9%	David Williams (Republican) 35.8% James Ridenour (Libertarian) 1.3%
Louisiana	John Breaux	Democratic	Re-elected in primary	Jon Khachaturian (Independent) 8.9% Lyle Stockstill (Republican) 8.3% Nick Accardo (Democrat) 5.4% Fred Clegg Strong (Republican) 4.3%
Maryland	Barbara Mikulski	Democratic	Re-elected, 71.0%	Alan Keyes (Republican) 29.0%
Missouri	Kit Bond	Republican	Re-elected, 51.9%	Geri Rothman-Serot (Democratic) 44.9% Jeanne Bojarski (Libertarian) 3.2%
Nevada	Harry Reid	Democratic	Re-elected, 51.0%	Demar Dahl (Republican) 40.2% None of These Candidates 2.6% Joe Garcia (Independent American) 2.3% Lois Avery (Natural Law) 1.5% H. Kent Cromwell (Libertarian) 1.5% Harry Tootle (Populist) 0.9%
New Hampshire	Warren Rudman	Republican	Retired Republican hold	Judd Gregg (Republican) 48.2% John Rauh (Democratic) 45.3% K. Alexander (Libertarian) 3.5%
New York	Al D'Amato	Republican	Re-elected, 49.0%	Robert Abrams (Democratic) 47.8% Norma Segal (Libertarian) 1.7% Mohammad T. Mehdi (New Alliance) 0.9% Stanley Nelson (Natural Law) 0.4% Ed Warren (Socialist Workers) 0.2%
North Carolina	Terry Sanford	Democratic	Lost re-election, 46.3% Republican gain	Lauch Faircloth (Republican) 50.4% Bobby Emory (Libertarian) 3.3%
North Dakota	Kent Conrad	Democratic	Retired Democratic hold	Byron Dorgan (Democratic) 59.0% Steve Sydness (Republican) 38.9% Tom Asbridge (Independent) 2.1%
North Dakota Special: Class 1	Jocelyn Burdick	Democratic	Interim appointee retired Democratic hold	Kent Conrad (Democratic) 63.3% Jack Dalrymple (Republican) 33.7% Darold Larson (Independent) 3.0%
Ohio	John Glenn	Democratic	Re-elected, 51.0%	Mike DeWine (Republican) 42.3% Martha Grevatt (Independent) 6.7%
Oklahoma	Don Nickles	Republican	Re-elected, 58.5%	Steve Lewis (Democratic) 38.2% Roy V. Edwards (Independent) 1.6% Thomas D. Ledgerwood II (Independent) 1.6%
Oregon	Bob Packwood	Republican	Re-elected, 52.1%	Les AuCoin (Democratic) 46.5%
Pennsylvania	Arlen Specter	Republican	Re-elected, 49.1%	Lynn Yeakel (Democratic) 46.3% John Perry III (Independent) 4.6%
South Carolina	Ernest Hollings	Democratic	Re-elected, 50.1%	Thomas F. Hartnett (Republican) 46.9% Mark Johnson (Libertarian) 1.9% Robert Barnwell Clarkson II (American) 1.0%
South Dakota	Tom Daschle	Democratic	Re-elected, 64.9%	Charlene Haar (Republican) 32.5% Gus Hercules (Libertarian) 1.3% Kent Hyde (Independent) 1.3%
Utah	Jake Garn	Republican	Retired Republican hold	Robert Bennett (Republican) 55.4% Wayne Owens (Democratic) 39.7% Anita Morrow (Independent) 2.3%
Vermont	Patrick Leahy	Democratic	Re-elected, 54.2%	Jim Douglas (Republican) 43.3% Jerry Levy (Liberty Union) 1.8% Michael B. Godeck (Freedom for LaRouche) 0.6%
Washington	Brock Adams	Democratic	Retired Democratic hold	Patty Murray (Democratic) 54.0% Rod Chandler (Republican) 46.0%
Wisconsin	Bob Kasten	Republican	Lost re-election Democratic gain, 46.0%	Russ Feingold (Democratic) 52.6% Patrick W. Johnson (Independent) 0.7% William Bittner (Libertarian) 0.4% Mervin A. Hanson, Sr. (Independent) 0.1% Robert L. Kundert (Independent) 0.1% Joseph Selliken (Independent) 0.1%

Senate composition before and after elections

Senate composition before the elections D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R

Senate composition in the next Congress D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R

Key:	D=Democratic	R=Republican
	Majority
	divider

Mid-Congress election

Further information: United States Senate special election in Texas, 1993

In 1993, Democratic Senator Lloyd Bentsen (TX) resigned to become U.S. Secretary of the Treasury. His Democratic replacement, Bob Krueger, lost a special election to Republican Kay Bailey Hutchison. This election was held in June 1993 and so is not included in the party balance numbers above.

See also

• United States House of Representatives elections, 1992
• United States presidential election, 1992
• United States gubernatorial elections, 1992