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 County results Smith: 40-50% 50-60% 60-70% 70-80% Bruggere: 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% | |||||||||||||||||
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The1996 United States Senate election in Oregon was held on November 5, 1996. IncumbentRepublicanUnited States SenatorMark Hatfield decided to retire after thirty years in the Senate.Oregon State SenatePresidentGordon H. Smith, who had run for the Senateearlier that year, won the Republican primary, while businessmanTom Bruggere won a contestedDemocratic primary. The contest between Smith and Bruggere was one of the toughest that year, but ultimately, Smith was able to keep the seat in the Republican column and defeated Bruggere by a narrow margin. This is the last time that Oregon simultaneously voted for presidential and U.S. Senate candidates of different political parties.
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Tom Bruggere | 151,288 | 49.61% | |
| Democratic | Harry Lonsdale | 76,059 | 24.94% | |
| Democratic | Bill Dwyer | 30,871 | 10.12% | |
| Democratic | Jerry Rust | 27,773 | 9.11% | |
| Democratic | Anna Nevenich | 16,827 | 5.52% | |
| Democratic | Write-ins | 2,150 | 0.70% | |
| Total votes | 304,968 | 100.00% | ||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Gordon H. Smith | 224,428 | 78.06% | |
| Republican | Lon Mabon | 23,479 | 8.17% | |
| Republican | Kirby Brumfield | 15,744 | 5.48% | |
| Republican | Jeff Lewis | 13,359 | 4.65% | |
| Republican | Robert J. Fenton | 8,958 | 3.12% | |
| Republican | Write-ins | 1,532 | 0.53% | |
| Total votes | 287,500 | 100.00% | ||
This was the second Senatorial race for Gordon Smith in 1996; he had previously lost toRon Wyden in thespecial election to fillBob Packwood's seat.
Both candidates spent heavily from their own resources. Bruggere won theDemocratic nomination with $800,000 of his own money in the primary race,[2] and was one of 134 candidates for the U.S. Congress to finance their own elections in excess of $50,000 in that cycle.[3] Smith had already spent $2.5 million of his own money earlier that same year in an unsuccessful effort to defeat DemocratRon Wyden in the1996 special election to replaceBob Packwood, who had resigned.[2]
Shortly after their respective primary victories, the rivals met for a highly publicized lunch, and agreed to run issue-oriented campaigns. However, in the final weeks of the campaign, Bruggere supporters ran advertisements alleging a pollution problem with Smith's frozen foods business, which the Smith campaign characterized as a breach of that agreement.[2] ABoston Globe profile highlighted their similarities as corporate candidates with minimal political experience.[2]
In the general election race, most Oregon daily newspapers endorsed Smith over Bruggere.[4] The race was close, with neither side claiming victory for several days after the election, asabsentee ballots were tallied. After all votes were counted, Smith won by 4 percentage points.[5] It was the last of the1996 Senate elections to be determined; overall, the Republicans gained two seats in the Senate, increasing their majority from 53 to 55 seats.[6]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Gordon H. Smith | 677,336 | 49.80% | −3.89% | |
| Democratic | Tom Bruggere | 624,370 | 45.90% | −0.29% | |
| Reform | Brent Thompson | 20,381 | 1.50% | ||
| Pacific Green | Gary Kutcher | 14,193 | 1.04% | ||
| Libertarian | Stormy Mohn | 12,697 | 0.93% | ||
| Socialist | Christopher Phelps | 5,426 | 0.40% | ||
| Natural Law | Michael L. Hoyes | 4,425 | 0.33% | ||
| Write-ins | 1,402 | 0.10% | |||
| Majority | 52,966 | 3.89% | −3.60% | ||
| Turnout | 1,360,230 | ||||
| Republicanhold | Swing | ||||
