Elections An election is a formal group decision-making process whereby a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operated ...

were held on November 5, 1996. Democratic President

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...

won re-election, while the Republicans maintained their majorities in both houses of the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature, legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, including a Lower house, lower body, the United States House of Representatives, ...

. Clinton defeated Republican nominee

Bob Dole Robert Joseph Dole (July 22, 1923 – December 5, 2021) was an American politician and attorney who represented Kansas in the United States Senate from 1969 to 1996. He was the Party leaders of the United States Senate, Republican Leader of th ...

and independent candidate

Ross Perot Henry Ross Perot ( ; June 27, 1930 – July 9, 2019) was an American businessman, politician, and philanthropist. He was the founder and chief executive officer of Electronic Data Systems and Perot Systems. He ran an Independent politician ...

in the presidential election, taking 379 of the 538 electoral votes improving over his 1992 victory by nine electors. Due in part to Perot's fairly strong third party performance (despite being considerably worse than in

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

), Clinton narrowly failed to win a majority of the popular vote. Dole defeated Pat Buchanan and several other candidates in the 1996 Republican Party presidential primaries to win his party's nomination for president. In the congressional elections, Republicans successfully defended the majorities that they had won in the

1994 elections The following elections occurred in the year 1994. Africa * 1994 Botswana general election * 1994 Guinea-Bissau general election * 1994 Malawian general election * 1994 Mozambican general election * 1994 Namibian general election * 1994 South Afr ...

. Republicans picked up a net of two

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

seats, while Democrats picked up a net of three seats in the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

. In the gubernatorial elections, each party picked up a single seat that had previously been held by the other party. As of

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

, this is the last time a president was elected with both chambers of Congress being of the opposing party.

Federal elections

Presidential election

Democratic incumbent President

won re-election, defeating Republican former Senator

Kansas Kansas ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the west. Kansas is named a ...

. Billionaire and 1992 independent presidential candidate

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

, the nominee of the newly founded Reform Party, though performing strongly for a third party candidate and receiving 8.4% of the vote, was unable to replicate his 1992 performance.

Congressional elections

Senate elections

During the 1996 U.S. Senate elections, elections for all thirty-three regularly scheduled Class II Senate seats as well as special elections in Oregon and Kansas were held. Republicans captured three seats in Alabama, Arkansas, and Nebraska, but lost two in

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

(via a special election not held concurrently with the other Senate elections in November) and South Dakota.

House of Representatives elections

During the 1996 House elections, all 435 seats in the House of Representatives as well as the seats of all non-voting Delegates from territories and the

District of Columbia Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...

were up for election that year. Democrats won the national popular vote for the House of Representatives by a margin of 0.1 percentage points and won a net gain of eight seats. Nonetheless, Republicans retained control of the chamber. In addition to all regularly scheduled House elections, there were five special elections held. They were held to fill vacancies for California's 37th congressional district (on March 26), Maryland's 7th congressional district (April 16), Oregon's 3rd congressional district (May 21), Kansas's 2nd congressional district, and Missouri's 8th congressional district (both on November 5).

State elections

Gubernatorial elections

During the 1996 gubernatorial elections, the governorships of the eleven states and two territories were up for election. Going into the elections, Republicans held the governorships of thirty-two states, Democrats held those of seventeen states, all territories, and the Mayorship of the

, and one Governor was a member of neither party. Republicans won in West Virginia, but this was countered by a Democratic victory in New Hampshire. Thus, there was no net change in the balance of power.

Other statewide elections

In some states where the positions were elective offices, voters elected candidates for state executive branch offices. These include lieutenant governors (though some were elected on the same ticket as the gubernatorial nominee), secretaries of state, state treasurers, state auditors, state attorneys general, state superintendents of education, commissioners of

insurance Insurance is a means of protection from financial loss in which, in exchange for a fee, a party agrees to compensate another party in the event of a certain loss, damage, or injury. It is a form of risk management, primarily used to protect ...

, agriculture, or labor, and state judicial branch offices (seats on

state supreme court In the United States, a state supreme court (known by other names in some states) is the highest court in the state judiciary of a U.S. state. On matters of state law, the judgment of a state supreme court is considered final and binding in ...

s and, in some states, state appellate courts).

References

{{United States elections

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...