1996 United States Senate election in Kentucky

Not to be confused with 1996 Kentucky Senate election.

1996 United States Senate election in Kentucky
November 5, 1996
 
Nominee Mitch McConnell Steve Beshear
Party Republican Democratic
Popular vote 724,794 560,012
Percentage 55.45% 42.85%
County results
McConnell:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%
Beshear:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%
U.S. senator before election

Mitch McConnell
Republican

Elected U.S. Senator

Mitch McConnell
Republican

The 1996 United States Senate election in Kentucky was held on November 5, 1996. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell won re-election to a third term with a 12.6% margin of victory over Democrat Steve Beshear, who later successfully ran in 2007 and 2011 for governor of Kentucky.

Democratic primary

Candidates

Results

Democratic primary results[1]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Steve Beshear 177,859 66.38%
Democratic Tom Barlow 64,235 23.97%
Democratic Shelby Lanier 25,856 9.65%
Total votes 267,950 100.00%

Republican primary

Candidates

Results

Republican primary results[2]
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Mitch McConnell (incumbent) 88,620 88.59%
Republican Tommy Klein 11,410 11.41%
Total votes 100,030 100.00%

General election

Candidates

Fundraising

Campaign finance reports as of December 31, 1996
Candidate Raised Spent Cash on hand
Mitch McConnell (R) $5,030,245 $5,031,293 $189,324
Steve Beshear (D) $1,772,276 $1,770,035 $1,448
Source: Federal Election Commission[3]

Campaign

In 1996, Beshear started out trailing against McConnell, with an early general election poll placing McConnell ahead of Beshear 50% to 32%.[4] 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.[5] 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%.[6]

Results

General election results[7]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Republican Mitch McConnell (incumbent) 724,794 55.45% +3.27%
Democratic Steve Beshear 560,012 42.85% −4.97%
Libertarian Dennis L. Lacy 8,595 0.66%
Natural Law Patricia Jo Metten 8,344 0.64%
U.S. Taxpayers Mac Elroy 5,284 0.40%
Write-ins 17 0.00%
Majority 164,782 12.61% +8.23%
Total votes 1,307,046 100.00%
Republican hold

See also

References

  1. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on July 20, 2011. Retrieved April 26, 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on July 20, 2011. Retrieved April 26, 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. ^ "Candidate financial totals". Federal Election Commission.
  4. ^ Janofsky, Michael (June 25, 1996). "Political Briefing;The Campaigns for Congress". The New York Times.
  5. ^ Wines, Michael (August 11, 1996). "The Campaigns For Congress". The New York Times.
  6. ^ "McConnell Holds 12-Point Lead Over Beshear in Poll". Lexington Herald-Leader. October 6, 1996.
  7. ^ "Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives".
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