The 1996 United States presidential election in Georgia took place on November 5, 1996, as part of the
1996 United States presidential election
The 1996 United States presidential election was the 53rd quadrennial United States presidential election, presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 5, 1996. Incumbent Democratic Party (United States), Democratic President Bill Clinton de ...
. Voters chose 13 representatives, or electors to the
Electoral College, who voted for
president
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* President (education), a leader of a college or university
* President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...
and
vice president
A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on ...
.
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States
Georgia may also refer to:
Places
Historical states and entities
* Related to the ...
was won by
Senator Bob Dole (
R-
KS) by a narrow 1.2% margin. The Peach State was the third-closest contest that year with only Kentucky and Nevada being closer. Dole's victory was possible due to the declining support for Democrats in Georgia and many other
Southeastern States, though the Democratic Party in Georgia would remain a significant institution until the early 2000s. Billionaire businessman
Ross Perot (
Ref-
TX), who had unsuccessfully run for president as an
Independent
Independent or Independents may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups
* Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s
* Independ ...
in the previous election, won 6.4% of the popular vote in the Peach state, a significant total for a
third-party
Third party may refer to:
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* Third-party source, a supplier company not owned by the buyer or seller
* Third-party beneficiary, a person who could sue on a contract, despite not being an active party
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candidate. Until the 2020 election (which
Democrats won), this was the last time that a Democratic presidential nominee finished within 2% of the Republican candidate; this was also the last time any third-party candidate has won more than 5% of the popular vote in Georgia.
During the concurrent
U.S. Senate election in Georgia,
Secretary of State of Georgia
The Secretary of State of the U.S. state of Georgia is an elected official with a wide variety of responsibilities, including supervising elections and maintaining public records.
The office has had a four-year term since 1946. Before 1880, th ...
Max Cleland
Joseph Maxwell Cleland (August 24, 1942 – November 9, 2021) was an American politician from Georgia. A member of the Democratic Party, he was a disabled U.S. Army veteran of the Vietnam War, a recipient of the Silver Star and the Bronze Star ...
(D) narrowly defeated businessman
Guy Millner
Guy W. Millner (born February 16, 1936) is an American multi-millionaire businessman who ran as a Republican for Governor of Georgia in 1994, United States Senator from Georgia in 1996 and Governor of Georgia in 1998, losing all three races.
M ...
(R) 48.87% to 47.54% to win election to the seat that Incumbent Senator
Sam Nunn
Samuel Augustus Nunn Jr. (born September 8, 1938) is an American politician who served as a United States Senator from Georgia (1972–1997) as a member of the Democratic Party.
After leaving Congress, Nunn co-founded the Nuclear Threat Initia ...
(D) left open to retire. In addition, incumbent U.S. Representatives
Sanford Bishop
Sanford Dixon Bishop Jr. (born February 4, 1947) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the U.S. representative for , serving since 1993. He became the dean of Georgia's congressional delegation after the death of John Lewis. A member ...
(D-GA-2),
Saxby Chambliss
Clarence Saxby Chambliss (born November 10, 1943) is an American lawyer and retired politician who was a United States Senator from Georgia from 2003 to 2015. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as a U.S. Representative from ...
(R-GA-8), and
Charlie Norwood
Charles Whitlow Norwood Jr. (July 27, 1941 – February 13, 2007) was an American politician who served as a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from 1995 until his death in 2007. At the time of his death, Norwood was ...
(R-GA-10) all received strong challenges that year during the
House elections but were nonetheless re-elected.
Georgia weighed in for this election as 10 points more Republican than the national average. , this is the last election in which
Wheeler,
Butts,
Heard,
Polk
Polk may refer to:
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* James K. Polk, 11th president of the United States
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* Polk (CTA), a train station in Chicago, Illinois
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,
Long
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,
Hart
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* Hart (deer)
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* Hart's Reptile Wo ...
,
Chattooga,
Elbert,
Treutlen,
Decatur,
Screven,
Wilkes,
Greene
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*Greene, Indiana, an unincorporated community
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** Greene (CDP), Maine, in the town of Greene
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** Greene (village), New York, in the town ...
,
Dodge,
Clinch
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* Clinch County, Georgia, USA
* Clinch River, near T ...
,
Crawford
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* Crawford Bay Airport, British Columbia
* Crawford Lake Conservation Area, Ontario
United Kingdom
* Crawford, Lancashire, a small village near Rainford, Merseyside, England
* Crawford, South Lanarkshire, a ...
,
Lanier,
Miller
A miller is a person who operates a mill, a machine to grind a grain (for example corn or wheat) to make flour. Milling is among the oldest of human occupations. "Miller", "Milne" and other variants are common surnames, as are their equivalent ...
,
Brooks
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;Antarctica
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;United States
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* Brooks, Maine
* Brooks Township, Michigan ...
,
Taylor
Taylor, Taylors or Taylor's may refer to:
People
* Taylor (surname)
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Pl ...
,
Turner
Turner may refer to:
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,
Wilcox Wilcox may refer to:
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;Canada
*Wilcox, Saskatchewan
;United States
* Wilcox, Florida, an unincorporated community in Gilchrist County, Florida
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* Wilcox, Wisconsi ...
,
Cook
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* ...
,
Marion Marion may refer to:
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*Marion (given name)
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*Marion (singer), Filipino singer-songwriter and pianist Marion Aunor (born 1992)
Places Antarctica
* Mario ...
,
Jenkins,
Atkinson Atkinson may refer to:
Places
*Atkinson, Nova Scotia, Canada
* Atkinson, Dominica, a village in Dominica
*Atkinson, Illinois, U.S.
* Atkinson, Indiana, U.S.
*Atkinson, Maine, U.S.
*Atkinson Lake, a lake in Minnesota, U.S.
*Atkinson, Nebraska, U. ...
,
Berrien,
Lamar,
Crisp,
Emanuel,
Pulaski,
Schley,
Grady,
Irwin Irwin may refer to:
Places
;United States
* Irwin, California
* Irwin, Idaho
* Irwin, Illinois
* Irwin, Iowa
* Irwin, Nebraska
* Irwin, Ohio
* Irwin, Pennsylvania
* Irwin, South Carolina
* Irwin County, Georgia
* Irwin Township, Venango County ...
,
Johnson
Johnson is a surname of Anglo-Norman origin meaning "Son of John". It is the second most common in the United States and 154th most common in the world. As a common family name in Scotland, Johnson is occasionally a variation of ''Johnston'', a ...
,
Seminole
The Seminole are a Native American people who developed in Florida in the 18th century. Today, they live in Oklahoma and Florida, and comprise three federally recognized tribes: the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, the Seminole Tribe of Florida, ...
,
Putnam,
Montgomery,
Jasper
Jasper, an aggregate of microgranular quartz and/or cryptocrystalline chalcedony and other mineral phases,Kostov, R. I. 2010. Review on the mineralogical systematics of jasper and related rocks. – Archaeometry Workshop, 7, 3, 209-213PDF/ref> ...
, and
Ben Hill counties voted for a Democratic presidential candidate.
[Sullivan, Robert David]
‘How the Red and Blue Map Evolved Over the Past Century’
''America Magazine'' in ''The National Catholic Review''; June 29, 2016
Georgia was one of three states won by Clinton in 1992 that Bob Dole was able to flip, the others being
Montana
Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columb ...
and
Colorado
Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...
.
Dole's victory was the first of six consecutive Republican victories in the state, as Georgia would not vote Democratic again until
Joe Biden narrowly won the state in
2020
2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...
. It has since become a
swing state
In American politics, the term swing state (also known as battleground state or purple state) refers to any state that could reasonably be won by either the Democratic or Republican candidate in a statewide election, most often referring to pres ...
. This is the last election in which Georgia would vote differently from
Arizona
Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...
as both had Republican winning streaks from 2000 to 2016 before both flipping to Biden in 2020.
Results
Results by county
Electors
Technically the voters of Georgia cast their ballots for electors: representatives to the
Electoral College. Georgia was allocated 13 electors because it had 11
congressional districts
Congressional districts, also known as electoral districts and legislative districts, electorates, or wards in other nations, are divisions of a larger administrative region that represent the population of a region in the larger congressional bod ...
and 2
senators. All candidates who appeared on the ballot or qualified to receive write-in votes had to submit a list of 13 electors, who pledged to vote for their candidate and his or her running mate. Whoever won the majority of votes in the state was awarded all 13 electoral votes. Their chosen electors then vote for president and vice president. Although electors are pledged to their candidate and running mate, they are not obligated to vote for them. An elector who votes for someone other than his or her candidate is known as a
faithless elector
In the United States Electoral College, a faithless elector is an elector who does not vote for the candidates for U.S. President and U.S. Vice President for whom the elector had pledged to vote, and instead votes for another person for one or ...
.
The electors of each state and the
District of Columbia
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
met in December 1996 to cast their votes for president and vice president. The Electoral College itself never meets as one body. Instead the electors from each state and the District of Columbia met in their respective capitols.
The following were the members of the Electoral College from the state. All were pledged to and voted for Bob Dole and Jack Kemp.
# Thomas J. Barnette
# Dot Burns
# Jeanne Ferst
# Briggs A. Goggans
# Camilla Johnson-Moore
# Brenda R. (B.J.) Lopez
#
Mack Mattingly
Mack Francis Mattingly (born January 7, 1931) is an American diplomat and politician who served one term as a United States senator from Georgia, the first Republican to have served in the U.S. Senate from that state since Reconstruction.
Early ...
# Russell K. (Rusty) Paul
# Oscar N. Persons
# Alec Poitevint
# John M. Stuckey, Jr.
# Stan Wise
# Ray Wooldridge
Notes
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:United States Presidential Election In Georgia, 1996
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States
Georgia may also refer to:
Places
Historical states and entities
* Related to the ...
1996
1996 Georgia (U.S. state) elections