# 1996 United States Senate election in Nebraska

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The 1996 United States Senate election in Nebraska was held on November 5, 1996. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator J. James Exon decided to retire instead of seeking a fourth term. Republican nominee Chuck Hagel won the open seat by 14 points, defeating incumbent Democratic governor Ben Nelson. Nelson would later be elected to Nebraska's other U.S. Senate seat in 2000 when Bob Kerrey retired and served alongside Hagel until 2009, when Hagel left the Senate after retiring.
As of 2025, this is the last time an incumbent governor failed to hold a Senate seat for his party. This was also the first time since Carl Curtis was elected to his final term in 1972 that a Republican was elected to either of Nebraska's Senate seats.

## Democratic primary
### Candidates

* Ben Nelson, Governor of Nebraska

### Results

Democratic primary results :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Democratic | Ben Nelson | 93,140 | 96.97% |
| | Democratic | Write-ins | 2,912 | 3.03% |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 96,052 | 100.00% |

## Republican primary
### Candidates

* Chuck Hagel, businessman
* Don Stenberg, Attorney General of Nebraska

### Results

Republican primary results :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Republican | Chuck Hagel | 112,953 | 62.24% |
| | Republican | Don Stenberg | 67,974 | 37.46% |
| | Republican | Write-ins | 544 | 0.30% |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 181,471 | 100.00% |

## Libertarian primary
### Results

Libertarian primary results :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Libertarian | Chuck Hagel (write-in) | 14 | 23.33% |
| | Libertarian | John DeCamp (write-in) | 11 | 18.33% |
| | Libertarian | Write-ins | 35 | 58.33% |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 60 | 100.00% |

### Nomination

No candidates filed for the Libertarian Party's nomination, but a primary election was still held, and 60 write-in votes were cast. Of those, 14 votes were cast for Republican Chuck Hagel and 11 for former State Senator John DeCamp. The Nebraska Board of State Canvassers voted 3-2 to certify Hagel as the nominee, but Hagel ultimately declined the nomination, which then went to DeCamp, who accepted it. Though the Nebraska Republican Party filed a lawsuit seeking to block DeCamp's nomination, the lawsuit was dismissed by a state trial court judge and DeCamp was placed on the ballot.

## General election
### Candidates

* Chuck Hagel (Republican), businessman
* Ben Nelson (Democratic), Governor of Nebraska
* John DeCamp (Libertarian), former state senator
* Bill Dunn (Natural Law)

### Results

1996 United States Senate election in Nebraska :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Republican | Chuck Hagel | 379,933 | 56.14% | +15.21% |
| | Democratic | Ben Nelson | 281,904 | 41.65% | −17.25% |
| | Libertarian | John DeCamp | 9,483 | 1.40% | |
| | Natural Law | Bill Dunn | 4,806 | 0.71% | |
| | Write-in | Write-in | 663 | 0.10% | — |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 98,029 | 14.48% | −3.49% |
| Total votes | Total votes | Total votes | 676,958 | 100.00% | |
| | Republican gain from Democratic | Republican gain from Democratic | Republican gain from Democratic | Republican gain from Democratic | Republican gain from Democratic |