The 1992 United States Senate election in Georgia was held on November 3, 1992. Incumbent
Democratic U.S. Senator
Wyche Fowler
William Wyche Fowler Jr. (born October 6, 1940) is an American attorney, politician, and diplomat. He is a member of the Democratic Party and served as a U.S. Senator from Georgia from 1987 to 1993. He had previously served in the U.S. House of ...
did not receive a
simple majority in the general election, which demanded a runoff. Coverdell edged out Fowler in the runoff with a narrow margin, concurrent with Democrat
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...
's win in the state in the
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 ...
. It was the first Senate runoff election to be held in Georgia since runoffs were first mandated in 1964.
Republican primary
The general primary was held July 21, 1992. A run-off between the top two Republican contenders was held on August 11, in which
Paul Coverdell defeated
Bob Barr
Robert Laurence Barr Jr. (born November 5, 1948) is an American attorney and politician. He served as a federal prosecutor and as a United States House of Representatives, Congressman. He represented Georgia's 7th congressional district as a Re ...
.
Candidates
*
Bob Barr
Robert Laurence Barr Jr. (born November 5, 1948) is an American attorney and politician. He served as a federal prosecutor and as a United States House of Representatives, Congressman. He represented Georgia's 7th congressional district as a Re ...
, President of Southeastern Legal Foundation and former
U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia
The United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia (in case citations, N.D. Ga.) is a United States district court which serves the residents of forty-six counties. These are divided up into four divisions.
Appeals from cases ...
*
Paul Coverdell, former Director of the
Peace Corps
The Peace Corps is an independent agency and program of the United States government that trains and deploys volunteers to provide international development assistance. It was established in March 1961 by an executive order of President John F. ...
and State Senator from
Atlanta
Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...
* John Knox, former Mayor of
Waycross
* Dean Parkison, retired drug store owner and
perennial candidate
*
Charlie Tanskley
Results
Results for the first round showed that since Paul Coverdell did not win a majority of the vote, a runoff was held between him and Barr. Coverdell subsequently won the runoff.
General election
Candidates
*
Paul Coverdell, former State Senator from
Atlanta
Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...
(Republican)
*
Wyche Fowler
William Wyche Fowler Jr. (born October 6, 1940) is an American attorney, politician, and diplomat. He is a member of the Democratic Party and served as a U.S. Senator from Georgia from 1987 to 1993. He had previously served in the U.S. House of ...
, incumbent U.S. Senator (Democratic)
* Jim Hudson (Libertarian)
Results
Initial
As no candidate reached a majority on November 3, a runoff election was held on November 24, which Coverdell won.
Run off
Aftermath
The Georgia Legislature, then controlled by Democrats, changed the state's laws requiring a run-off election only if the winning candidate received less than 45% of the vote. In the
1996 Senate election, the winner, Democrat
Max Cleland won with only 48.9% (1.4% ahead of Republican
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 ...
) thus avoiding a run-off. In 2005 after Republicans took control of the legislature, the run-off requirement was changed back to 50%.
The result of this election would later repeat in reverse in the
2020-21
The hyphen-minus is the most commonly used type of hyphen, widely used in digital documents. It is the only character that looks like a minus sign or a dash in many character sets such as ASCII or on most keyboards, so it is also used as such. ...
regular Senate election in Georgia, with Republican
David Perdue winning the first round but falling less than one percent below the 50% threshold required to avoid a runoff, and then being defeated in the runoff by Democrat
Jon Ossoff with a similar one point margin.
See also
*
1992 United States Senate elections
The 1992 United States Senate elections, held November 3, 1992, were elections for the United States Senate that coincided with Bill Clinton's victory in the presidential election. Both parties swapped a pair of seats, resulting in no net change ...
References
{{United States Senate elections
1992 Georgia (U.S. state) elections
Georgia
1992
File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...