1996 United States Senate election in Arkansas

none March 2026 June 2022 1996 United States Senate election in Arkansas Arkansas 1924 presidential no 1990 United States Senate election in Arkansas 1990 2002 United States Senate election in Arkansas 2002 November 5, 1996 150x150px File:Timothy Hutchinson, official Senate photo portrait (cropped).jpg Tim Hutchinson(replacing Mike Huckabee) Republican Party (United States) 445,942 52.70% File:Winston Bryant (cropped).png Winston Bryant Democratic Party (United States) 400,241 47.30% 1996 United States Senate election in Arkansas results map by county.svg 210px County resultsHutchinson: #e27f7f 50–60% #d75d5d 60–70% #d72f30 70–80%Bryant: #7996e2 50–60% #6674de 60–70% #584cde 70–80% U.S. Senator David Pryor Democratic Party (United States) Tim Hutchinson Republican Party (United States) The 1996 United States Senate election in Arkansas was held on November 5, 1996. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator David Pryor decided to retire. Republican Mike Huckabee initially ran for the open seat and won the Republican primary. However, he withdrew after taking the governorship and was subsequently replaced by Tim Hutchinson. Hutchinson went on to win the general election, becoming the first Republican to win a U.S. Senate seat in Arkansas since Reconstruction in 1872 and the first Republican to ever be popularly elected in the state. Hutchinson would later lose re-election in 2002 to David Pryor's son Mark. In the concurrent presidential election in Arkansas, Democrat Bill Clinton — a native Arkansan who had previously served as governor — defeated Republican Bob Dole. To date, this is the last time that Republicans flipped a Senate seat in a presidential election year despite losing the state in the concurrent presidential election. Democratic primary Candidates Bill Bristow, attorney Winston Bryant, Arkansas Attorney GeneralAR US Senate - D Primary 1996 https://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=7263 OurCampaigns 14 August 2020 Lu Hardin, state senatorLancaster Bob Who are these guys? https://arktimes.com/news/cover-stories/1996/05/17/who-are-these-guys 14 August 2020 Arkansas Times 17 May 1996 Sandy McMath, attorney and son of former governor Sidney Sanders McMath Kevin Smith, state senator Withdrew Jay Bradford, state senator from Pine Bluff, Senate Majority Whip, and Democratic nominee for U.S. representative in 1994 (endorsed Bryant) Pat Hays, mayor of North Little Rock (endorsed Bryant)https://lotsofbook.club/sl-S1B8Q-D7256/signup-blitz/#/z=Vr80NNEL4txAlxAmqvkJ1e/variation=default/q=nlr+mayor+patrick+hays+reflects+24+years+office.html/s1=lp/s2=/s3=/s4=/s5=/source_id=b41e5f8b-cada-5dc2-403f-936aad3512b3/project=w68GsX/mh_offer_id=/dp=SdjDVIdJaN3OJfareddsVV/m=/c_color=/source=Referral/software=Browser/domain=cdn.bkfd4.club/ Access Books, Audiobooks, Magazines and More! Declined Mike Beebe, then a state senator in the Arkansas General Assembly and a future governor; explored a bid but didn't announcehttps://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Senate-Demos-Lining-Up-To-Retire-Pryor-the-3035570.php Senate Demos Lining up to Retire -- Pryor the Fifth 21 April 1995 Mack McLarty, 17th White House Chief of Staffhttps://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1995/04/22/pryor-makes-it-official-hes-leaving-the-senate/ff2b700d-5e98-4e22-80a7-4986fd4dcdf5/ Pryor Makes It Official, He'S Leaving The Senate The Washington Post 1995-04-22 2022-06-13https://www.csmonitor.com/1995/0501/01012.html Democrats See 'Solid South' Slipping Away Christian Science Monitor 1 May 1995 (endorsed McMath)https://www.armoneyandpolitics.com/mack-mclarty-2/ Mack the Nice: Thomas F. "Mack" McLarty, III 29 April 2019 Lamar Pettus, associate justice of the Supreme Court of Arkansas (ran for chief justice of the Arkansas Supreme Court)https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2021/apr/28/other-days/ Other days 28 April 2021 Arkansas Attorney General Winston Bryant and Arkansas State Senator Lu Hardin finished in the top two in the primary, and Bryant narrowly defeated Hardin in the runoff. Primary results Democratic primary results Winston Bryant Democratic Party (United States) 129,328 39.99% Lu Hardin Democratic Party (United States) 71,889 22.23% Bill Bristow Democratic Party (United States) 58,093 17.96% Sandy McMath Democratic Party (United States) 42,303 13.08% Kevin Smith Democratic Party (United States) 21,774 6.74% Runoff results Democratic runoffAR US Senate - D Runoff 1996 https://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=7264 14 August 2020 Winston Bryant Democratic Party (United States) 87,564 52.44% Lu Hardin Democratic Party (United States) 79,411 47.56% Republican primary Candidates Mike Huckabee, lieutenant governor of Arkansas Results Huckabee was unopposed for the nomination. Huckabee withdrawal Although Huckabee won the Senate nomination unopposed in the May primary, he abandoned his Senate bid when Governor Jim Guy Tucker resigned from office and he became governor of Arkansas.http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1996/news/9605/31/huckabee/index.shtml AllPolitics - Wanted: A Senate Candidate - May 31, 1996 CNN Replacement selection Following Huckabee's withdrawal, several candidates announced their interest in running: John E. Brown, state senator from Siloam Springs Jay Dickey, U.S. representative from Pine Bluff Tim Hutchinson, U.S. representative from Fort Smith Julia Hughes Jones, former Arkansas State Auditor (1980—1994)https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/julia-hughes-jones-5909/ Encyclopedia of Arkansas https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/media/julia-jones-campaign-material-8583/ Encyclopedia of Arkansas The main candidates were Dickey and Hutchinson, but in light of a potential impasse, some compromise candidates were floated: Ed Bethune, former U.S. representative from Searcy and nominee for Senate in 1984http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1996/states/AR/news/0606.shtml AllPolitics - Arkansas GOP Gets Top State Office but Loses Top Senate Candidate CNN Steve Luelf, former state senator and candidate for governor in 1994 Sheffield Nelson, chair of the Arkansas Republican Party and gubernatorial nominee in 1990 and 1994 Tommy F. Robinson, former U.S. representative and candidate for governor in 1990 Frank D. White, former governor of Arkansas (1980–1982) On June 11, White, Nelson, and Bethune all endorsed Hutchinson. Shortly thereafter, Jones and Dickey withdrew and endorsed Hutchinson. Brown also withdrew his candidacy to seek Hutchinson's open House seat, which he lost to Hutchinson's younger brother Asa Hutchinson in a special convention. Hutchinson was ratified as the nominee by the Arkansas Republican State Committee.http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1996/states/AR/news/0618.shtml AllPolitics - Bryant, Hutchinson Contend for Open Senate Seat in Arkansas CNN Results Hutchinson won election to the U.S. Senate, receiving just over 5% more of the vote than his opponent Bryant. This was despite incumbent U.S. President Bill Clinton being re-elected by a 17-point margin in his home state of Arkansas, though the state had begun to trend more Republican at the time. 1996 United States Senate election in Arkansashttps://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=160 Our Campaigns - AR US Senate Race - Nov 05, 1996 www.ourcampaigns.comhttps://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=3 Our Campaigns - AR US Senate Race - Nov 05, 2002 www.ourcampaigns.com Republican Party (United States) Tim Hutchinson 445,942 52.70% Democratic Party (United States) Winston Bryant 400,241 47.30% 846,183 100.0% Republican Party (United States) Democratic Party (United States) See also 1996 United States Senate elections Notes References Arkansas 1996 Category:1996 Arkansas elections