| ←1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 → Presidential election year | |
| Election day | November 5 |
|---|---|
| Incumbent president | Bill Clinton(Democratic) |
| Next Congress | 105th |
| Presidential election | |
| Partisan control | Democratic hold |
| Popular vote margin | Democratic +8.5% |
| Electoral vote | |
| Bill Clinton (D) | 379 |
| Bob Dole (R) | 159 |
 | |
| 1996 presidential election results.Red denotes states won by Dole,blue denotes states won by Clinton. Numbers indicate theelectoral votes won by each candidate. | |
| Senate elections | |
| Overall control | Republican hold |
| Seats contested | 35 of 100 seats (33 Class 2 seats + 2 special elections) |
| Net seat change | Republican +2[1] |
 | |
| 1996 Senate results (excluding Oregon's Senate special election) Democratic gain Democratic hold Republican gain Republican hold | |
| House elections | |
| Overall control | Republican hold |
| Seats contested | All 435 voting members |
| Popular vote margin | Democratic +0.1% |
| Net seat change | Democratic +3 |
 | |
| 1996 House of Representatives results (territorial delegate races not shown) Democratic hold Republican hold Democratic gain Republican gain Independent gain Independent hold | |
| Gubernatorial elections | |
| Seats contested | 13 (11 states, 2 territories) |
| Net seat change | None |
 | |
| 1996 gubernatorial election results Democratic gain Democratic hold Republican gain Republican hold New Progressive hold Nonpartisan | |
Elections were held on November 5, 1996.Democratic PresidentBill Clinton won re-election, while theRepublicans maintained their majorities in both houses of theUnited States Congress.
Clinton defeated Republican nomineeBob Dole and independent candidateRoss Perot in the presidential election, taking 379 of the 538electoral votes improving over his 1992 victory by nine electors. Due in part to Perot's fairly strongthird party performance (despite being considerably worse than in1992), Clinton narrowly failed to win a majority of the popular vote. Dole defeatedPat Buchanan and several other candidates in the1996 Republican Party presidential primaries to win his party's nomination for president.
In the congressional elections, Republicans successfully defended the majorities that they had won in the1994 elections. Republicans picked up a net of twoSenate seats, while Democrats picked up a net of three seats in theHouse of Representatives. In the gubernatorial elections, each party picked up a single seat that had previously been held by the other party.
As of2024, this is the last time a president was elected with both chambers of Congress being of the opposing party.
Democratic incumbentPresidentBill Clinton won re-election, defeating Republican former SenatorBob Dole ofKansas. Billionaire and1992 independent presidential candidateRoss Perot ofTexas, the nominee of the newly foundedReform Party, though performing strongly for athird party candidate and receiving 8.4% of the vote, was unable to replicate his 1992 performance.
During the 1996 U.S. Senate elections, elections for all thirty-three regularly scheduledClass II Senate seats as well as special elections in Oregon and Kansas were held.
Republicans captured three seats in Alabama, Arkansas, and Nebraska, but lost two inOregon (via a special election not held concurrently with the other Senate elections in November) and South Dakota.
During the 1996 House elections, all 435 seats in the House of Representatives as well as the seats of all non-votingDelegates fromterritories and theDistrict of Columbia were up for election that year.[2]
Democrats won the national popular vote for the House of Representatives by a margin of 0.1 percentage points and won a net gain of eight seats.[3] Nonetheless, Republicans retained control of the chamber.
In addition to all regularly scheduled House elections, there were fivespecial elections held. They were held to fill vacancies forCalifornia's 37th congressional district (on March 26),Maryland's 7th congressional district (April 16),Oregon's 3rd congressional district (May 21),Kansas's 2nd congressional district, andMissouri's 8th congressional district (both on November 5).
During the 1996 gubernatorial elections, the governorships of the eleven states and two territories were up for election.
Going into the elections, Republicans held the governorships of thirty-two states, Democrats held those of seventeen states, allterritories, and the Mayorship of theDistrict of Columbia, and one Governor was a member of neither party. Republicans won in West Virginia, but this was countered by a Democratic victory in New Hampshire. Thus, there was no net change in the balance of power.
In some states where the positions were elective offices, voters elected candidates for state executive branch offices. These includelieutenant governors (though some were elected on the same ticket as the gubernatorial nominee),secretaries of state,state treasurers,state auditors,state attorneys general, state superintendents of education, commissioners ofinsurance, agriculture, or labor, and state judicial branch offices (seats onstate supreme courts and, in some states, state appellate courts).