1996 United States elections
The 1996 United States elections were held on November 5. Democratic President Bill Clinton won re-election, while the Republicans maintained their majorities in both houses of the United States Congress.
| ← 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 → Presidential election year | |
| Election day | November 5 |
|---|---|
| Incumbent president | Bill Clinton (Democratic) |
| Next Congress | 105th |
| Presidential election | |
| Partisan control | Democratic hold |
| Popular vote margin | Democratic +8.5% |
| Electoral vote | |
| Bill Clinton (D) | 379 |
| Bob Dole (R) | 159 |
| 1996 presidential election results. Red denotes states won by Dole, blue denotes states won by Clinton. Numbers indicate the electoral votes won by each candidate. | |
| Senate elections | |
| Overall control | Republican hold |
| Seats contested | 35 of 100 seats (33 Class 2 seats + 2 special elections) |
| Net seat change | Republican +2 |
| 1996 Senate results (excluding Oregon's Senate special election)
Democratic gain Democratic hold Republican gain Republican hold | |
| House elections | |
| Overall control | Republican hold |
| Seats contested | All 435 voting members |
| Popular vote margin | Democratic +0.1% |
| Net seat change | Democratic +2 |
| 1996 House of Representatives results (territorial delegate races not shown) Democratic hold Republican hold Democratic gain Republican gain Independent gain Independent hold | |
| Gubernatorial elections | |
| Seats contested | 13 (11 states, 2 territories) |
| Net seat change | None |
| 1996 gubernatorial election results
Democratic gain Democratic hold Republican gain Republican hold New Progressive hold Nonpartisan | |
Clinton defeated Republican nominee Bob Dole and independent candidate Ross Perot in the presidential election, taking 379 of the 538 electoral votes. Due in part to Perot's fairly strong third party performance (despite being considerably worse than in 1992), 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. Republicans picked up a net of two Senate seats, while Democrats picked up a net of eight seats in the House of Representatives. In the gubernatorial elections, each party picked up a single seat that had previously been held by the other party.
As of 2020, this is the last time a president was elected with both chambers of Congress being of the opposing party.