1996 United States Senate election in North Carolina

1996 United States Senate election in North Carolina

November 5, 1996

Nominee Jesse Helms Harvey Gantt Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 1,345,833 1,173,875 Percentage 52.6% 45.9%

County Results Helms:      40-50%      50-60%      60-70%      70-80% Gantt:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%

U.S. senator before election Jesse Helms Republican Elected U.S. Senator Jesse Helms Republican

The North Carolina United States Senate election of 1996 was held on November 5, 1996 as part of the nationwide elections to the Senate, and coinciding with the 1996 presidential election. The general 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. Following this election every senator from the Class II senate seat only served 1 term until Thom Tillis won re-election in 2020.

Democratic primary

1996 North Carolina U.S. Senate Democratic primary election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Harvey Gantt	308,337	52.40%	+14.88%
	Democratic	Charles Sanders	245,297	41.68%	N/A
	Democratic	Ralph McKinney	34,829	5.92%	N/A
Turnout			588,463

Republican primary

Jesse Helms won the Republican Party's nomination unopposed.

Results

1996 North Carolina U.S. Senate election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Jesse Helms (Incumbent)	1,345,833	52.64%	+0.08%
	Democratic	Harvey Gantt	1,173,875	45.92%	−1.49%
	Libertarian	Ray Ubinger	25,396	0.99%	N/A
	Natural Law	Victor Pardo	11,209	0.44%	N/A
Turnout			2,556,456
	Republican hold

See also

• 1996 United States Senate elections