1996 Republican Party presidential primaries

← 1992 January 29 to June 4, 1996 2000 →
1,975 delegates (1,653 pledged and 322 unpledged) to theRepublican National Convention 988 (majority) votes needed to win
Candidate Bob Dole Pat Buchanan Steve Forbes Home state Kansas Virginia New Jersey Delegate count 1,437 101 51 Contests won 46 4 2 Popular vote 9,024,742 3,184,943 1,751,187 Percentage 58.8% 20.8% 11.4%
Gold denotes a state won byPat Buchanan.Green denotes a state won bySteve Forbes.Purple denotes a state won byBob Dole.Gray denotes a territory that did not hold a primary.
Previous Republican nominee George H. W. Bush Republican nominee Bob Dole

From January 29 to June 4, 1996, voters of theRepublican Party chose its nominee forpresident in the1996 United States presidential election. SenatorBob Dole of Kansas, the formerSenate majority leader andprevious vice presidential nominee, was selected as the nominee through a series ofprimary elections andcaucuses culminating in the1996 Republican National Convention held from August 12 to 15, 1996, in San Diego, California. Dole resigned from the Senate in June 1996 once he became the presumptive nominee to concentrate on his presidential campaign. He choseJack Kemp as his running mate.

Dole and Kemp went on to lose to PresidentBill Clinton and Vice PresidentAl Gore by a severe margin, thereby making this the only Republican presidential primary within the span from1968 to2004 in which the Republican nominee had never been nor ever became president.

Following the 1994 midterm elections, many prominent candidates entered what would be a crowded field. This was expected as Democratic PresidentBill Clinton was unpopular in his first two years in office, eventually leading to theRepublican Revolution. However, as Clinton became increasingly popular in his third year in office, several withdrew from the race or decided not to run.

Former presidentGeorge H. W. Bush, who Clinton had defeated in 1992, opted not to seek the nomination, choosing instead to focus on his family life.

In February 1995, newly inauguratedSpeaker of the HouseNewt Gingrich declined to run, despite urging from some members of the party's conservative wing.^[1]

FormerU.S. Army Gen.Colin L. Powell was widely courted as a potential Republican nominee. However, on November 8, 1995, Powell announced that he would not seek the nomination.

FormerSecretary of Defense and future Vice President of the United StatesDick Cheney was touted by many as a possible candidate for the presidency, but he declared his intentions not to run in early 1995. Then-Texas Governor and future PresidentGeorge W. Bush was also urged by some party leaders to seek theRepublican Party nomination, but opted against doing so.

Going into the 1996 primary contest, Senate Majority LeaderBob Dole was widely seen as the front runner. Dole had significant name recognition, as he was a two-time presidential candidate – in1980 and1988, and Republican vice-presidential nominee in1976. He was expected to win the nomination against underdog candidates such as the more conservative U.S. SenatorPhil Gramm of Texas and more centrist U.S. SenatorArlen Specter of Pennsylvania. The fragmented field of candidates, which also included journalist and1992 presidential candidatePat Buchanan and magazine publisherSteve Forbes, debated issues such as aflat tax and other tax cut proposals, and a return tosupply-side economic policies popularized byRonald Reagan. FormerGovernor of TennesseeLamar Alexander had promising showings in the early Iowa and New Hampshire primaries—finishing third in both contests behind only Dole and Buchanan—but his support dropped off in later primaries and he ultimately failed to win any state's delegates. (see "1996 Republican primary and caucus results" table below).Alan Keyes, who served as Reagan's Ambassador to theUnited Nations Economic and Social Council andAssistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs, was notable for being the only African American candidate in the race, but he ultimately failed to garner much support. More attention was drawn to the race by the budget stalemate in 1995 between the Congress and the President, which caused temporary shutdowns and slowdowns in many areas of federal government service.

On January 29, Buchanan won a non-bindingstraw poll inAlaska. Most pundits dismissed Buchanan's showing as insignificant.^[2] On February 6, Buchanan won theLouisiana caucus. Buchanan and Gramm had made several trips to the state to campaign. Gramm was expected to win, due to being from neighboring Texas and having the support of many of the Louisiana party regulars.^[3]

The candidates met inDes Moines for a Presidential CandidatesForum.^[4] Dole won theIowa Caucus with 26% of the vote, a considerably smaller margin of victory than was expected.

Gramm's poor showing in Louisiana plus placing 5th in Iowa's caucuses resulted in his withdrawal from the contest on the Sunday before the New Hampshire primary.

In theNew Hampshire Primary, Buchanan recorded a surprising victory over Dole, who finished in second place.

After disappointing showings in Iowa and New Hampshire, Steve Forbes bounced back in the primaries inDelaware andArizona. Forbes, along with Alan Keyes, were the only two candidates for the Republican nomination who campaigned in Delaware (According toR.W. Apple writing forThe New York Times, "People in Delaware began calling their primary theRodney Dangerfield election – it couldn't get any respect. That angered many local residents, like a woman at aWilmington polling place this evening, who said that the New Hampshire officials who twisted the candidates' arms [into not coming to Delaware to campaign while the New Hampshire primary was ongoing] had ‘acted like little kids.’"^[5]) giving Forbes an easy victory in the small state. "This state is the tax-cutting capital of the country and Steve Forbes got his tax-cutting message across" former DelawareGovernorPete du Pont said following the announcement of Forbes's victory.^[6] The bigger triumph for the Forbes campaign was in Arizona. Buchanan campaigned vigorously in Arizona in hopes of securing a crucial victory over Dole,^[7] with Buchanan even donning acowboy costume while on the campaign trail.^[8] Faulty polling by the Dole campaign lured Dole into a false sense of security, making Dole think that the state would be an easy victory for him and he would not have to spend much time campaigning in Arizona.^[9] After the votes were counted, Buchanan finished a devastating third place, Dole was the runner-up, and Forbes pulled off a shocking, come-from-behind victory. Exit polls showed that Forbes's support came from those who voted for third-party candidateRoss Perot backin 1992, as well as from thelarge number of voters who cited "taxes" as the most important issue of the race and those who viewed Buchanan as too "extreme" and Dole as too moderate and "mainstream".^[7] Forbes would quickly lose the momentum he built up in Delaware and Arizona, but these back-to-back victories convinced many that Forbes was a serious contender.

Buchanan's and Forbes's early victories put Dole's expected front runner status in doubt during the formative months of the primary season. Although he lost Arizona, Dole had wins inNorth Dakota andSouth Dakota on the same day before looking to win inWyoming andSouth Carolina, the latter being the first of the Southern states with a primary that was also three days before the multi-state primarySuper Tuesday. Dole prevailed over Buchanan by 15 points, where exit polls showed Dole siphoning those identifying as part of the Christian right (that Buchanan anticipated having a large majority over) to go with voters who regarded Buchanan as either too extreme or not extreme.^[10] He proceeded to win the rest of the states, eventually giving him enough delegate commitments to claim status as the GOP presidentialpresumptive nominee.

Having collected only 21 percent of the total votes in Republican primaries and won four states, Buchanan suspended his campaign in March. He declared however that, if Dole were to choose apro-choice running mate, he would run as the US Taxpayers Party (nowConstitution Party) candidate.^[11] Forbes also withdrew in March having won only two states.^[12]

Dole resigned his Senate seat on June 11 to focus more intently on his presidential campaign. After becoming the nominee, Dole selected the formersecretary of housing and urban development of theBush administration,Jack Kemp, as hisrunning mate.

Candidate			Most recent office	Home state	Campaign Withdrawal date	Popular vote	Contests won	Running mate
Bob Dole			U.S. Senator fromKansas (1969–1996)	Kansas	(Campaign) Secured nomination: March 19, 1996	9,024,742 (58.8%)	46	Jack Kemp

Candidate		Experience	Home state	Campaign announced	Campaign suspended	Campaign	Popular vote	Contests won
Pat Buchanan		White House Communications Director (1985–1987)	Virginia	March 19, 1995		(Campaign)	3,184,943 (20.8%)	4
Steve Forbes		Publisher and editor-in-chief ofForbes magazine (1990–)	New Jersey	September 21, 1995	March 14, 1996	Campaign	1,751,187 (11.4%)	2
Lamar Alexander		United StatesSecretary of Education (1991–1993) Governor of Tennessee (1979–1987)	Tennessee	March 30, 1995[citation needed]	March 9, 1996 (endorsed Dole)	Campaign	495,590 (3.2%)	0
Morry Taylor		President ofTitan International (1993-)	Michigan	September 2, 1995[citation needed]	March 9, 1996		21,180 (0.1%)	0
Richard Lugar		United States Senator fromIndiana (1977–2013) Mayor of Indianapolis (1968–1976)	Indiana	April 19, 1995	March 6, 1996 (endorsed Dole)	Campaign	127,111 (0.8%)	0
Phil Gramm		United States Senator fromTexas (1985–2002) United States Representative from Texas (1979–1985)	Texas	February 23, 1995	February 14, 1996 (endorsed Dole)	Campaign	[data missing]	0
Bob Dornan		United States Representative fromCalifornia (1977–1983, 1985–1997) Candidate for United States Senate in1982	California	April 13, 1995	[data missing]	Campaign	[data missing]	0
Alan Keyes		Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs (1985–1987) Candidate for United States Senate in1988 and1992	Maryland	March 26, 1995	[data missing]	Campaign	[data missing]	0

Candidate	Experience	Home state	Campaign announced	Campaign suspended	Campaign
Arlen Specter	United States Senator fromPennsylvania (1981–2011) District Attorney ofPhiladelphia (1966–1974)	Pennsylvania	March 31, 1995	November 23, 1995 (endorsed Dole)	Campaign
Pete Wilson	Governor ofCalifornia (1991–1999) United States Senator from California (1983–1991) Mayor ofSan Diego (1971–1983) California State Representative (1967–1971)	California	August 28, 1995	September 29, 1995[13][14]	Campaign
Arthur Fletcher	Chair of theUnited States Commission on Civil Rights (1990–1993)	Washington D.C.	July 9, 1995[15]	[data missing]	[data missing]

• Retired engineerJack Fellure from West Virginia
• Powerlifter and entrepreneurShear'Ree from California

• Former Vice PresidentDan Quayle ofIndiana
• FormerSecretary of DefenseDonald Rumsfeld ofIllinois^[16]

• Former United States SenatorHoward Baker fromTennessee
• FormerUnited States Secretary of StateJames Baker from Texas
• Former United StatesSecretary of EducationBill Bennett
• FormerPresident of the United StatesGeorge H. W. Bush from Texas
• GovernorGeorge W. Bush from Texas
• Former GovernorCarroll Campbell from South Carolina
• Former United States Secretary of DefenseDick Cheney from Wyoming
• FormerGovernorPete du Pont from Delaware
• GovernorJohn Engler from Michigan
• Speaker of the United States HouseNewt Gingrich from Georgia
• Former GovernorTom Kean from New Jersey
• Former United States Secretary of LaborLynn Morley Martin from Illinois
• United States SenatorJohn McCain fromArizona
• RetiredUnited States Marine CorpsColonelOliver North from Virginia
• RetiredChairman of the Joint Chiefs of StaffColin Powell
• TelevangelistPat Robertson from Virginia
• Former United States SenatorWarren Rudman fromNew Hampshire
• GovernorTommy Thompson from Wisconsin
• BusinessmanDonald Trump from New York
• GovernorBill Weld from Massachusetts
• GovernorChristine Todd Whitman from New Jersey

This sectionis missing information about delegate selection results. Please expand the section to include this information. Further details may exist on thetalk page.(September 2022)

Convention tally:

• Bob Dole 1,928
• Pat Buchanan 43
• Steve Forbes 2
• Alan Keyes 1
• Robert Bork 1

Bob Dole

• Former Senator and 1964 Presidential nomineeBarry Goldwater ofArizona^[18]
• GovernorGeorge W. Bush ofTexas^[17]
• SenatorBill Roth ofDelaware^[17]
• SenatorAlan Simpson ofWyoming^[17]
• SenatorAl D'Amato of New York^[17]
• SenatorMark Hatfield ofOregon^[19]
• FormerGovernorPete du Pont ofDelaware^[20]
• FormerGovernorGeorge Wallace ofAlabama^[21] (Democrat)

Pat Buchanan

• William P. Clark, Jr.,^[22]Associate Justice of the California Supreme Court (1973–1981), 6thUnited States Deputy Secretary of State (1981–1982), 11thUnited States National Security Advisor (1982–1983), 44th United States Secretary of the Interior (1983–1985)
• GovernorMike Foster ofLouisiana^[23]
• State SenatorDick Mountjoy of California
• FormerU.S. National Security AdvisorRichard Allen
• FormerGovernorEvan Mecham of Arizona^[24]
• Future Arizona state senatorKaren Johnson (1997-2008^[25]
• Roger Milliken, CEO ofMilliken & Company^[26]
• Mark DeMoss, president of The DeMoss Group^[26]
• Judie Brown - president of theAmerican Life League^[26]
• Larry Pratt - executive director ofGun Owners of America, and a former member of the Virginia House of Delegates (1980–1982).^[26]
• Charley Reese - conservative columnist for theOrlando Sentinel (1971–2001)^[26]
• Lewis Tambs -United States Ambassador to Colombia (1983–1985),United States Ambassador to Costa Rica (1985–1987)^[26]
• Paul Gottfried - paleoconservative political philosopher, historian, and writer^[26]
• Donald Wildmon - chairman of theAmerican Family Association^[26]
• Tom Monaghan - CEO ofDomino's Pizza^[26]
• Nackey Loeb - publisher for the conservativeManchester Union Leader newspaper^[26]
• Barbara Coe - chairwoman of theCalifornia Coalition for Immigration Reform^[26]
• Michael Farris - founder of theHome School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) andPatrick Henry College^[26]
• David Duke -1988 and1992 presidential candidate.^[27][28]

Steve Forbes

• Former Representative andHUD SecretaryJack Kemp of New York^[17]
• Former SenatorGordon Humphrey ofNew Hampshire^[17]
• U.S. Rep.Frank Cremeans ofOhio.
• U.S. Rep.Bob Franks ofNew Jersey.

Lamar Alexander

• FormerGovernorTom Kean ofNew Jersey^[17]
• FormerSecretary of EducationBill Bennett^[17]

Phil Gramm

• SenatorJohn McCain ofArizona^[17]
• SenatorKay Bailey Hutchison ofTexas^[17]

Pete Wilson

• GovernorBill Weld ofMassachusetts^[17]
• Perot's 1992 running-mate and retired admiralJames Stockdale of Illinois^[17]

Thedelegates at theRepublican National Convention formally nominated Dole on August 15, 1996, as the GOP presidential candidate for the general election. Dole was the oldest first-time presidential nominee at the age of 73 years, 1 month (Ronald Reagan was 73 years, 6 months in 1984, for his second presidential nomination).

Former Representative and Cabinet secretaryJack Kemp was nominated by acclamation as Dole's running mate the following day. Republican Party of Texas convention delegates informally nominatedAlan Keyes as their preference for vice president.

Other politicians mentioned as possible GOP V.P. nominees before Kemp was selected included:

• 
  FormerSecretary of StateJames Baker ofTexas^[29]
• 
  FormerGovernorCarroll Campbell ofSouth Carolina^[29]
• 
  FormerSecretary of DefenseDick Cheney ofWyoming^[29]
• 
  GovernorJohn Engler ofMichigan^[29]
• 
  U.S. SenatorKay Bailey Hutchison ofTexas^[29]
• 
  U.S. RepresentativeJohn Kasich ofOhio^[29]
• 
  State Attorney GeneralDan Lungren of California^[29]
• 
  U.S. SenatorDick Lugar ofIndiana^[29]
• 
  U.S. SenatorConnie Mack III of Florida^[29]
• 
  U.S. SenatorJohn McCain ofArizona^[29]
• 
  GeneralColin Powell of New York^[29]
• 
  GovernorTom Ridge ofPennsylvania^[29]
• 
  FormerSecretary of DefenseDonald Rumsfeld ofIllinois^[29]
• 
  Associate JusticeAntonin Scalia ofthe District of Columbia^[30]
• 
  GovernorTommy Thompson ofWisconsin^[29]
• 
  GovernorGeorge Voinovich ofOhio^[29]
• 
  GovernorChristine Todd Whitman ofNew Jersey^[29]

• 1996 Democratic Party presidential primaries

• WIS-TV coverage, Bob Dole wins South Carolina Republican Primary - C-Span. March 2, 1996

• 1996 United States Republican presidential primaries
• Bob Dole
• Pat Buchanan
• Dan Quayle
• Robert Bork
• Lamar Alexander

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