The 1996 United States House of Representatives election in Vermont was held on Tuesday, November 5, 1996, to elect the

U.S. representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...

from the state's at-large congressional district. The election coincided with the elections of other federal and state offices, including a quadrennial

presidential election A presidential election is the election of any head of state whose official title is President. Elections by country Albania The president of Albania is elected by the Assembly of Albania who are elected by the Albanian public. Chile The pre ...

Republican primary

Democratic primary

Liberty Union primary

General election

Candidates

Peter Diamondstone Peter Isaac Diamondstone (December 19, 1934 – August 30, 2017) was an American lawyer and socialist politician from the state of Vermont, best known as a perennial candidate and co-founder of the Liberty Union Party. He ran for various Ver ...

(Liberty Union), perennial candidate and socialist activist *Norio Kushi (Natural Law), organic foods consultant *Jack Long (Democratic), lawyer *Robert Melamede (Grassroots), associate research professor at the

University of Vermont The University of Vermont (UVM), officially the University of Vermont and State Agricultural College, is a public land-grant research university in Burlington, Vermont. It was founded in 1791 and is among the oldest universities in the United ...

*Thomas J. Morse (Libertarian), businessman * Bernie Sanders (Independent), incumbent U.S. Representative * Susan Sweetser (Republican), state senator

Campaign

National Republicans were eager to unseat Sanders, and had placed him on a list of 10 incumbent Representatives they would most heavily target in the 1996 cycle. The Republican nominee, state senator Susan Sweetser, was viewed as a rising star within the party and campaigned as a "social moderate and fiscal conservative", though she was viewed as a strictly conservative Republican. Sweetser's gender was viewed as a potential advantage by

political analyst Garrison Nelson, who felt that it would prevent Sanders from utilising his traditional aggressive campaign style. There was also a prominent Democratic candidate in the form of Jack Long, former commissioner of the Vermont Environmental Conservation Department, who campaigned as a moderate alternative to the other major candidates. Long's campaign faced staunch opposition from national Democratic strategists, with Rob Engel, political director of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, accusing him of being a spoiler candidate attempting to throw the election to Sweetser. Sweetser's campaign faced a major scandal after it was revealed that she had hired private investigator Cathy Riggs, the wife of California Congressman

Frank Riggs Frank Duncan Riggs (born September 5, 1950) is an American army veteran, former law enforcement officer, charter school executive, and politician from the states of California and Arizona. Early life Frank Riggs was born in Louisville, Kentucky. ...

, to perform opposition research on Sanders, with Riggs proceeding to investigate Sanders' first marriage by calling his ex-wife. This tactic was denounced by both Sanders and Long as a violation of privacy and political etiquette. Sweetser quickly apologised and claimed that she was not aware of Riggs' activities, but the event severely damaged her campaign nonetheless, as it was largely viewed as unacceptable "dirty campaigning" by the electorate.

Polling

Endorsements

Results

References

{{Bernie Sanders 1996

Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...

1996 Vermont elections Bernie Sanders