1992 United States Senate elections

The 1992 United States Senate elections, held November 3, 1992, were elections for the United States Senate. The 34 seats of Class 3 were contested in regular elections, along with special elections to fill vacancies. They coincided with Bill Clinton's victory in the presidential election. This was the first time since 1956 that the balance of the Senate remained the same.

1992 United States Senate elections

November 3, 1992
November 24 (Georgia runoff)

36 of the 100 seats in the United States Senate
51 seats needed for a majority
  Majority party Minority party
 
Leader George Mitchell Bob Dole
Party Democratic Republican
Leader since January 3, 1989 January 3, 1985
Leader's seat Maine Kansas
Seats before 57 43
Seats after 57 43
Seat change
Popular vote 40,589,727 35,449,473
Percentage 49.9% 43.6%
Seats up 21 15
Races won 21 15

Results of the elections:
     Democratic gain      Democratic hold
     Republican gain      Republican hold
     No election
Rectangular inset (Calif. & N. D.): both seats up for election

Majority Leader before election

George Mitchell
Democratic

Elected Majority Leader

George Mitchell
Democratic

Both parties swapped a pair of seats, resulting in no net change in the partisan breakdown, which had been at 57–43 since Democrats flipped a seat in Pennsylvania in a special election. Democratic victories over Republicans John F. Seymour in the special California race and Bob Kasten in Wisconsin were cancelled out by the defeats of Democrats Wyche Fowler in Georgia and Terry Sanford in North Carolina.

The election of four new Democratic women to the Senate was notable with it being referred to in the press as the "Year of the Woman". Due to a special election in California, both of California's Senate seats were up for election in 1992, and these seats were won by Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer. Thus, California became the first state to have elected women to occupy both of its Senate seats. Democrat Carol Moseley Braun of Illinois, became the first African-American woman in the United States Senate. As of 2023, this was the last election cycle in which Republicans won a Senate election in New York and Democrats in Kentucky.

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