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.

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 canceled out by the defeats of Democrats Wyche Fowler in Georgia and Terry Sanford in North Carolina.

The election of 4 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. , this was the last election cycle in which Republicans won a Senate election in New York and Democrats in Kentucky.

Results summary + ↓ 57 43 Democratic Republican

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

Parties Total Democratic Republican Libertarian Independent Other Last elections (1990) 56 44 0 0 0 100 Before these elections 57 43 0 0 0 100 Not up 36 28 — — — 64 Up 21 15 — — — 36 20 14 — — — 34 1 1 — — — 2 Incumbent retired 5 3 — — — 8 5 3 — — — 8 0 0 — — — 0 Result 5 3 — — — 8 Incumbent ran 16 12 — — — 28 13 10 — — — 23 2 Republicans replaced by 2 Democrats2 Democrats replaced by 2 Republicans — — — 4 1 0 — — — 1 Result 16 12 — — — 28 Total elected 21 15 — — — 36 Net gain/loss 0 Nationwide vote 40,589,727 35,449,473 1,234,416 624,673 3,486,729 81,385,018 Share 49.87% 43.56% 1.52% 0.77% 4.28% 100% Result 57 43 — — — 100

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

Gains and losses Retirements Three Republicans and four Democrats retired instead of seeking re-election. One Democrat also retired instead of finishing the unexpired term.

StateSenator Age at end of term AssumedofficeReplaced by California (regular) 78 1969 Colorado 53 1987 Idaho 54 1981 New Hampshire 62 1980 North Dakota (regular) 44 1987 North Dakota (special) 70 1992 Utah 60 1974 Washington 65 1987

Defeats One Republican and three Democrats sought re-election but lost either in the primary or general election. One Republican also sought election to finish the term but lost in the special election.

StateSenatorAssumedofficeReplaced by California (special) 1991 Georgia 1987 Illinois 1981 North Carolina 1987 Wisconsin 1981

Post-election changes Two Democrats resigned and were replaced by appointees. In Texas, a 1993 special election was held prior to the 1994 United States Senate elections, where Kay Bailey Hutchison won the special election to succeed Democratic appointee Bob Krueger, who lost election to finish the term. StateSenatorReplaced by Tennessee(Class 2) Texas(Class 1) Texas(Class 1)

Change in composition

Before the elections D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D Majority → D R R R D D D D D D R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R

Result of the elections D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D Majority → D R R R D D D D D D R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R

Beginning of the first session D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D Majority → D R R R R D D D D D R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R

Key D Democratic R Republican

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.

State Incumbent Results Candidates Senator Party Electoral history California(Class 1) Republican 1991 Interim appointee lost election.New senator elected November 3, 1992 and seated November 4, 1992.Democratic gain. North Dakota(Class 1) Democratic-NPL 1992 Interim appointee ineligible to run.New senator elected December 4, 1992 and seated December 14, 1992.Democratic-NPL hold.

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.

State Incumbent Results Candidates Senator Party Electoral history Alabama Democratic 1986 Incumbent re-elected. Alaska Republican 19801986 Incumbent re-elected. Arizona Republican 1986 Incumbent re-elected. Arkansas Democratic 197419801986 Incumbent re-elected. California Democratic 1968197419801986 Incumbent retired.Democratic hold. Colorado Democratic 1986 Incumbent retired.Democratic hold. Connecticut Democratic 19801986 Incumbent re-elected. Florida Democratic 19801986 Incumbent re-elected. Georgia Democratic 1986 Incumbent lost re-election in runoff.Republican gain. Hawaii Democratic 19621968197419801986 Incumbent re-elected. Idaho Republican 19801986 Incumbent retired.Republican hold. Illinois Democratic 19801986 Incumbent lost renomination.Democratic hold. Indiana Republican 1989 1990 Incumbent re-elected. Iowa Republican 19801986 Incumbent re-elected. Kansas Republican 1968197419801986 Incumbent re-elected. Kentucky Democratic 197419801986 Incumbent re-elected. Louisiana Democratic 1986 Incumbent re-elected. Maryland Democratic 1986 Incumbent re-elected. Missouri Republican 1986 Incumbent re-elected. Nevada Democratic 1986 Incumbent re-elected. New Hampshire Republican 19801986 Incumbent retired.Republican hold. New York Republican 19801986 Incumbent re-elected. North Carolina Democratic 1986 1986 Incumbent lost re-election.Republican gain. North Dakota Democratic-NPL 1986 Incumbent retired.Democratic-NPL hold.Incumbent resigned December 14, 1992 to move to the other seat.Winner appointed December 15, 1992. Ohio Democratic 19741974 19801986 Incumbent re-elected. Oklahoma Republican 19801986 Incumbent re-elected. Oregon Republican 1968197419801986 Incumbent re-elected. Pennsylvania Republican 19801986 Incumbent re-elected. South Carolina Democratic 1966 1968197419801986 Incumbent re-elected. South Dakota Democratic 1986 Incumbent re-elected. Utah Republican 197419801986 Incumbent retired.Republican hold. Vermont Democratic 197419801986 Incumbent re-elected. Washington Democratic 1986 Incumbent retired.Democratic hold. Wisconsin Republican 19801986 Incumbent lost re-election.Democratic gain.

Closest races

In thirteen races, the margin of victory was under 10%.

State Party of winner Margin New York Republican 1.25% Georgia Republican (flip) 1.30% Pennsylvania Republican 2.77% New Hampshire Republican 2.82% South Carolina Democratic 3.12% North Carolina Republican (flip) 4.03% California (regular) Democratic 4.90% Oregon Republican 5.64% Wisconsin Democratic (flip) 6.56% Missouri Republican 6.96% Washington Democratic 7.98% Ohio Democratic 8.66% Colorado Democratic 9.07%

Illinois was the tipping point state, decided by a margin of 10%.

Alabama

Incumbent Democrat Richard Shelby won re-election to a second term, beating Richard Sellers, a conservative activist.

Alaska

Incumbent Republican Frank Murkowski sought re-election to a third term in the United States Senate. Tony Smith, the Democratic nominee and a former Commissioner of Economic Development, won his party's nomination in a crowded primary and faced off against Murkowski in the general election. Though Murkowski was held to a lower vote percentage than he received six years prior, he was ultimately re-elected.

Arizona

Incumbent Republican John McCain won re-election to a second term over Democrat Claire Sargent, community activist and Independent former Governor Evan Mecham.

Arkansas

Incumbent Democratic senator Dale Bumpers won re-election to a fourth term. His Republican opponent was future Arkansas lieutenant governor, governor, and two-time presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, a church pastor from Texarkana.

The 1992 election coincided with Arkansas governor Bill Clinton's election as President of the United States, in which he also won his home state. In contrast with Bumpers' landslide where he won over 60% of the vote, Clinton won only 53.21% of the vote. Bumpers would serve another term in the U.S. Senate before deciding to retire in 1998.

California

Due to the resignation of Pete Wilson to become Governor of California, there were two senate elections in California as both seats were up for election and both won by women. California ultimately become the first state to have two sitting women senators.

California (regular)

Incumbent Democrat Alan Cranston decided to retire. Democratic U.S. Congresswoman Barbara Boxer won the open seat over Republican conservative TV talk show commentator Bruce Herschensohn. Both of California's senators were elected for the first time. This is not a unique occurrence; it would happen again in Tennessee in 1994, Kansas in 1996 and Georgia in 2020-2021. Fellow Democrat Dianne Feinstein, California's other senator, won the special election and was inaugurated in November 1992.

The election between Boxer and Herschensohn was very close. At the eleventh hour, controversy emerged that the Republican nominee attended a strip club, which some Republican operatives later blamed for Herschensohn's loss.

Four days before Election Day polls showed Herschensohn had narrowed a double digit deficit, trailing by 3 points. Political operative Bob Mulholland disrupted a campaign appearance with a large poster advertising a strip club shouting "Should the voters of California elect someone who frequently travels the strip joints of Hollywood?" Herschensohn admitted he had visited a strip club once, with his girlfriend and another couple. With press coverage of the story, Herschensohn spent the waning days of the campaign denying related allegations. When the votes were cast and counted, Barbara Boxer won the election by five points. Although Republicans have blamed the defeat on the underhanded tactics of the Boxer campaign, evidence of the connection between Mulholland's outburst and the campaign never surfaced. Steinberg is a Republican political strategist in Sherman Oaks.

The election was very close. Boxer was declared the winner by the Associated Press at 1:22 A.M. Pacific Coast Time.

California (special)

In the 1990 gubernatorial election, Republican senator Pete Wilson had beaten Democrat Dianne Feinstein for governor. He appointed John F. Seymour to the Senate to replace himself. In this special election held simultaneously with the regular Senate election, Feinstein defeated Seymour to serve the remaining 2 years of the term and took office November 4, only 1 day after the election. Fellow Democrat Barbara Boxer won the regular election and was sworn in in January 1993.

Both of California's senators were simultaneously elected for the first time. This is not a unique occurrence; it would happen again in Tennessee in 1994, Kansas in 1996, and Georgia in 2020.

Colorado

Incumbent Democrat Tim Wirth decided to retire instead of seeking a second term. Democratic congressman Ben Nighthorse Campbell won the open seat, beating Republican State senator Terry Considine.

Connecticut