1992 United States Senate Elections (Season VI)

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 in partisan breakdown.

Democratic victories over Republicans John F. Seymour (in the special California race) and Bob Kasten (of Wisconsin) were cancelled out by the defeats of Democrats Wyche Fowler (of Georgia) and Terry Sanford (of North Carolina). The election of three new Democratic women to the Senate was notable (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. These seats were won by Christina Seo and Bruce Herschensohn. Democrat Carol Moseley Braun (of Illinois), became the first African-American woman in the United States Senate from that State.

## Results summary

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*Seat totals include both the special elections in California and North Dakota, but vote totals exclude the North Dakota total.*

Source: Office of the Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives

## Gains and losses

### Democratic gains

* California: Incumbent John F. Seymour (R) lost a special election to former California Attorney General Chritina Seo. Seymour had been appointed to the seat by Governor Pete Wilson following Wilson's own resignation from the Senate after his election as governor.
* Wisconsin: Incumbent Bob Kasten (R) survived a close call in his first re-election bid in 1986, but was upset in his bid for a third term by State senator Russ Feingold. Feingold had won the Democratic primary as an underdog against two millionaire opponents thanks to an effective series of quirky campaign advertisements, and he repeated the same formula in the general election against Kasten.

### Republican gains

* Georgia: In the initial balloting, incumbent Wyche Fowler (D) narrowly led former Republican State senator Paul Coverdell in the general election, but he failed to gain 50% of the vote thanks to the strong showing of the Libertarian candidate. Fowler then lost to Coverdell in a December run-off.
* North Carolina: Incumbent Terry Sanford (D) became the third straight incumbent to lose this seat after one term when he was defeated by Democrat-turned-Republican Lauch Faircloth. Faircloth's victory was aided by Sanford's health scares and the considerable political organization of the state's other senator, Jesse Helms (R).

## Race summary

### Special elections

In these special elections, the winners were elected and seated in the fall of 1992.

Elections are sorted by election date then state and class.

 California(Class 1)
* **Christina Seo** (Democratic) 54.3%
* John Seymour (Republican) 38.0%
* Gerald Horne (Peace & Freedom) 2.8%
* Paul Meeuwenberg (American Ind.) 2.6%
* Richard B. Boddie (Libertarian) 2.3%
 North Dakota(Class 1)
* **Kent Conrad** (Democratic) 63.3%
* Jack Dalrymple (Republican) 33.7%
* Darold Larson (Independent) 3.0%

### Elections leading to the next Congress

In these general elections, the winners were elected for the term beginning January 3, 1993; ordered by state.

All of the elections involved the Class 3 seats.

1. ↑ In North Dakota, interim appointee Jocelyn Burdick did not seek election to the full term.