1990 United States Senate elections

November 6, 1990
35 of the 100 seats in the United States Senate 51 seats needed for a majority
Majority party Minority party   Leader George Mitchell Bob Dole Party Democratic Republican Leader since January 3, 1989 January 3, 1985 Leader's seat Maine Kansas Seats before 55 45 Seats after 56 44 Seat change 1 1 Popular vote 17,907,544[lower-alpha 1] 16,494,624[lower-alpha 1] Percentage 51.1% 47.1% Seats up 17 18 Races won 18 17
Results of the elections:      Democratic gain      Democratic hold      Republican hold      No election
Majority Leader before election George Mitchell Democratic Elected Majority Leader George Mitchell Democratic

The 1990 United States Senate elections were held on Tuesday, November 6, 1990, with the 33 seats of Class 2 contested in regular elections. Special elections were also held to fill vacancies. The Democratic Party increased its majority with a net gain of one seat from the Republican Party. The election cycle took place in the middle of President George H. W. Bush's term, and, as with most other midterm elections, the party not holding the presidency gained seats in Congress.

These elections, along with 2022, featured the smallest seat change in history since the passage of the Seventeenth Amendment in 1913 with only one seat changing parties. That election featured Democrat Paul Wellstone defeating incumbent Republican Rudy Boschwitz in Minnesota. To date, this is the last cycle in which Democratic candidates won U.S. Senate elections in Oklahoma and Tennessee.

Results summary

Parties							Total
		Democratic	Republican	Libertarian	Independent	Other
Last elections (1988) Before these elections		55	45	0	0	0	100
Not up		38	27	—	—	—	65
Up		17	18	—	—	—	35
	Class 2 (1984→1990)	16	17	—	—	—	33
	Special: Class 1	1	—	—	—	—	1
	Special: Class 3	—	1	—	—	—	1
Incumbent retired		0	3	—	—	—	3
	Held by same party	0	3	—	—	—	3
	Replaced by other party	0	0	—	—	—	0
	Result	0	3	—	—	—	3
Incumbent ran		17	15	—	—	—	32
	Won election	17	14	—	—	—	31
	Lost re-election	1 Republican replaced by 1 Democrat		—	—	—	1
	Lost renomination, but held by same party	0	0	—	—	—	0
	Result	18	14	—	—	—	32
Total elected		18	17	—	—	—	35
Net gain/loss		1	1				1
Nationwide vote[lower-alpha 1]		17,907,544	16,494,624	142,003	222,534	260,665	35,027,370
	Share	51.12%	47.09%	0.41%	0.64%	0.74%	100%
Result		56	44	0	0	0	100

Source: Clerk of the United States House of Representatives^[1]

Gains, losses, and holds

Change in composition

Complete list of races

Closest races

In eight races the margin of victory was under 10%.

Michigan was the tipping point state with a margin of 16.3%.

Alabama

Alabama election

November 6, 1990

Nominee Howell Heflin Bill Cabaniss Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 717,814 467,190 Percentage 60.6% 39.4%

County results

U.S. senator before election Howell Heflin Democratic Elected U.S. Senator Howell Heflin Democratic

Incumbent Democrat Howell Heflin won re-election to a third term over Republican Bill Cabaniss, State Senator and former State Representative. This is the last time the Democrats have won the Class 2 Senate Seat from Alabama until Doug Jones won the seat in 2017.

Alaska

Alaska election

Nominee Ted Stevens Michael Beasley Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 125,806 61,152 Percentage 66.23% 32.19%

U.S. senator before election Ted Stevens Republican Elected U.S. Senator Ted Stevens Republican

Incumbent Republican United States Senator Ted Stevens sought re-election to a fifth term in the United States Senate, which he won easily, besting his opponents in a landslide.

Arkansas

Arkansas election

Nominee David Pryor Party Democratic Popular vote 493,910 Percentage 99.83%

County Results

re-election before election David Pryor Democratic Elected re-election David Pryor Democratic

Incumbent Democrat David Pryor won re-election uncontested.^[4]

Colorado

Colorado election

November 6, 1990

Nominee Hank Brown Josie Heath Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 569,048 425,746 Percentage 55.7% 41.7%

County results

U.S. senator before election William L. Armstrong Republican Elected U.S. Senator Hank Brown Republican

Incumbent Republican senator William L. Armstrong did not seek re-election to another term. Republican congressman Hank Brown won the open seat, defeating Democratic nominee Josie Heath, former Boulder County Commissioner^[5]

Delaware

Delaware election

Nominee Joe Biden M. Jane Brady Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 112,918 64,554 Percentage 62.68% 35.83%

County results

U.S. senator before election Joe Biden Democratic Elected U.S. Senator Joe Biden Democratic

Incumbent Democrat Joe Biden won re-election to a fourth term, defeating Republican challenger M. Jane Brady, Deputy Attorney General of Delaware.

Georgia

Georgia election

Nominee Sam Nunn Party Democratic Popular vote 1,033,439 Percentage 100.0%

County results

U.S. senator before election Sam Nunn Democratic Elected U.S. Senator Sam Nunn Democratic

Incumbent Democrat Sam Nunn won re-election to a fourth term uncontested.^[4]

Hawaii (special)

Hawaii special election

Nominee Daniel Akaka Pat Saiki Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 188,901 155,978 Percentage 53.7% 44.3%

County Results

U.S. senator before election Daniel Akaka Democratic Elected U.S. Senator Daniel Akaka Democratic

Incumbent Democrat Daniel Akaka was elected to finish the term ending in 1995 over Republican U.S. Representative Pat Saiki. Akaka had been appointed by Governor John Waihee in April 1990 to serve temporarily after the death of Spark Matsunaga.^[7]

Idaho

Idaho election

Nominee Larry Craig Ron Twilegar Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 193,641 122,295 Percentage 61.29% 38.71%

U.S. senator before election Jim McClure Republican Elected U.S. Senator Larry Craig Republican

Republican Rep. Larry Craig defeated Democratic former state legislator Ron Twilegar for the seat of U.S. Senator Jim McClure, who did not seek re-election.

Illinois

Illinois election

Nominee Paul Simon Lynn Morley Martin Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 2,115,377 1,135,628 Percentage 65.07% 34.93%

County results

U.S. senator before election Paul Simon Democratic Elected U.S. Senator Paul Simon Democratic

Incumbent Democrat Paul Simon sought re-election to the United States Senate. Simon was opposed by Republican nominee Lynn Morley Martin, a United States Congresswoman from Illinois's 16th congressional district, whom he easily defeated to win a second and final term in the Senate.

Indiana (special)

Indiana special election

Nominee Dan Coats Baron Hill Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 806,048 696,639 Percentage 53.6% 46.4%

U.S. senator before election Dan Coats Republican Elected U.S. Senator Dan Coats Republican

Incumbent Republican Dan Coats, who was recently appointed to this seat two years prior, won election to serve out the remainder of the term, beating Democratic State Representative Baron Hill.

During the 1988 presidential election, Republican nominee Vice President George H. W. Bush selected U.S. Senator Dan Quayle of Indiana as his vice presidential nominee. The Bush-Quayle ticket defeated the Dukakis-Bentsen ticket in the general election by a 53%-46% margin, capturing 40 states and 426 electoral votes.

In preparation for the pending vacancy, Governor Robert D. Orr appointed four-term U.S. Representative Dan Coats to fill Quayle's seat on December 12, 1988. Coats was a former aide to Quayle, whom he had succeeded as U.S. Representative for Indiana's 4th congressional district in 1981. Quayle eventually resigned his Senate seat on January 3, 1989, and Coats was immediately sworn into office.

Coats used television commercials that raised questions about Hill's consistency in opposing new taxes, and Hill gained notoriety for walking the length of the state to meet voters.

Iowa

Iowa election

November 5, 1990

Nominee Tom Harkin Tom Tauke Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 535,975 446,869 Percentage 54.5% 45.4%

County results

U.S. senator before election Tom Harkin Democratic Elected U.S. Senator Tom Harkin Democratic

Incumbent Democrat Tom Harkin sought re-election to a second term in the United States Senate. Harkin was opposed by Republican United States Congressman Tom Tauke, from Iowa's 2nd congressional district, and both Harkin and Tauke won their primaries uncontested. Though Harkin performed slightly worse than he had six years earlier, he was successful in his re-election bid and defeated Tauke.

Kansas

Kansas election

November 6, 1990

Nominee Nancy Kassebaum Dick Williams Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 578,605 207,491 Percentage 73.6% 26.4%

County results

U.S. senator before election Nancy Kassebaum Republican Elected U.S. Senator Nancy Kassebaum Republican

Incumbent Republican Nancy Kassebaum won re-election to her third full term, over Democrat Dick Williams, an educator at Wichita State University^[12]

Kentucky

Kentucky election

Nominee Mitch McConnell Harvey Sloane Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 478,034 437,976 Percentage 52.2% 47.8%

County results

U.S. senator before election Mitch McConnell Republican Elected U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell Republican

Incumbent Republican Mitch McConnell won re-election to a second term over Democrat Harvey Sloane, former Mayor of Louisville

Louisiana

Louisiana election

November 6, 1990

Nominee J. Bennett Johnston David Duke Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 753,198 607,051 Percentage 53.95% 43.48%

Parish results

U.S. senator before election J. Bennett Johnston Democratic Elected U.S. Senator J. Bennett Johnston Democratic

Incumbent Democrat J. Bennett Johnston Jr. won re-election to a fourth term and avoided a runoff, beating Republican David Duke, State Representative and former Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan.

This election was viewed at the onset as potentially competitive, as Senator Johnston was viewed as vulnerable in light of Louisiana's economic troubles at the time and Senator Johnston's voting record viewed by Republicans as too liberal. The Republican Party leadership endorsed the candidacy of State Senator Ben Bagert, who was picked over Secretary of State Fox McKeithen, State Representative Quentin Dastugue and State Representative David Duke.^[15] David Duke, however, continued his candidacy and slowly overtook Bagert in attention and in the polls. Duke attracted national attention to the race with his involvement with white supremacist groups and his appeals to white resentment over affirmative-action programs. With Bagert failing to gain traction, the National Republican Senatorial Committee tried to recruit former Governor David Treen to jump into the race. When Treen passed, the effort turned from supporting Bagert to stopping Duke.^[16]

As the election drew near, polls showed Johnston firmly in first place, with Duke in second place and Bagert trailing far behind at third. National Republicans grew fearful that Bagert's candidacy would only serve to force a runoff and that a potential runoff election with Duke being the de facto Republican nominee would hurt the national brand. On October 4, eight Republican Senators endorsed Johnston, with Senator John Danforth saying at the press conference that "all of us would be embarrassed and mortified to have to serve in the United States Senate with David Duke masquerading as a Republican." Bagert dropped out of the race the next day, announcing that "it became more and more apparent, that instead of forcing a runoff between myself and Bennett Johnston, I might very well be forcing a runoff between somebody else and Bennett Johnston." He announced he would "reluctantly" vote for Johnston.^[17] Bagert's name remained on the ballot, but under state law his votes could not be counted as part of the official tally.^[18] After Bagert dropped out, HUD Secretary Jack Kemp endorsed Johnston, saying "there's no place in the Republican Party for someone who has practiced and practices racism, bigotry and anti-Semitism."^[19]

Maine

Maine election

November 6, 1990

Nominee William Cohen Neil Rolde Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 319,167 201,053 Percentage 61.3% 38.6%

County results

U.S. senator before election William Cohen Republican Elected U.S. Senator William Cohen Republican

Incumbent Republican William Cohen won re-election to a third term over Democratic State Representative Neil Rolde.

Massachusetts

Massachusetts election

Nominee John Kerry Jim Rappaport Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 1,321,712 992,917 Percentage 54.5% 41.0%

Results by town. Red indicates towns carried by Jim Rappaport, blue indicates towns carried by John Kerry.

U.S. senator before election John Kerry Democratic Elected U.S. Senator John Kerry Democratic

Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator John Kerry was re-elected to his second term over Republican real estate developer Jim Rappaport.

Michigan

Michigan election

Nominee Carl Levin Bill Schuette Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 1,471,753 1,055,695 Percentage 57.5% 41.2%

U.S. senator before election Carl Levin Democratic Elected U.S. Senator Carl Levin Democratic

Incumbent Democrat Carl Levin won re-election to a third term, beating Republican U.S. Representative Bill Schuette.

Minnesota

Minnesota election

November 6, 1990

Nominee Paul Wellstone Rudy Boschwitz Party Democratic (DFL) Ind.-Republican Popular vote 911,999 864,375 Percentage 50.5% 47.9%

County results

U.S. senator before election Rudy Boschwitz Ind.-Republican Elected U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone Democratic (DFL)

Incumbent Republican Rudy Boschwitz was defeated by Democratic challenger Paul Wellstone in a tight race. Widely considered an underdog and outspent by a 7-to-1 margin, Wellstone, a professor at Carleton College and nominee for Minnesota State Auditor in 1982 was the only candidate to defeat an incumbent senator in the 1990 election cycle and gained national attention after his upset victory.

Mississippi

Mississippi election

Nominee Thad Cochran Party Republican Popular vote 274,244 Percentage 100.0%

U.S. senator before election Thad Cochran Republican Elected U.S. Senator Thad Cochran Republican

Incumbent Republican Thad Cochran won re-election to a third term.^[4]

Montana

Montana election

Nominee Max Baucus Allen Kolstad Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 217,563 93,836 Percentage 68.13% 29.38%

U.S. senator before election Max Baucus Democratic Elected U.S. Senator Max Baucus Democratic

Incumbent United States Senator Max Baucus, who was first elected in 1978 and was re-elected in 1984, ran for re-election. After winning the Democratic primary, he moved on to the general election, where he was opposed by Allen Kolstad, the Lieutenant Governor of Montana and the Republican nominee. Baucus ultimately ended up defeating Kolstad in a landslide, winning his third term with ease.

Nebraska

Nebraska election

Nominee J. James Exon Hal Daub Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 349,779 243,013 Percentage 58.9% 40.9%

U.S. senator before election J. James Exon Democratic Elected U.S. Senator J. James Exon Democratic

Incumbent Democrat J. James Exon won re-election to a third term, beating Republican U.S. Representative Hal Daub.

New Hampshire

New Hampshire election

Nominee Bob Smith John A. Durkin Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 189,792 91,299 Percentage 65.1% 31.3%

County results

U.S. senator before election Gordon J. Humphrey Republican Elected U.S. Senator Bob Smith Republican

Incumbent Republican Gordon J. Humphrey decided to retire and not run for re-election to a third term. Republican Bob Smith won the open seat, beating Democratic former Senator John A. Durkin.

New Jersey

New Jersey election

Nominee Bill Bradley Christine Todd Whitman Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 977,810 918,874 Percentage 50.44% 47.40%

County Results

U.S. senator before election Bill Bradley Democratic Elected U.S. Senator Bill Bradley Democratic

Democratic Senator Bill Bradley decided to seek re-election and narrowly edged out little-known Republican Christine Todd Whitman, President of the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities.^[4]

Senator Bill Bradley didn't realize he was in trouble of winning re-election and the New Jersey voters' anger over taxes and economy until the week prior to the election.

The senator had a major image problem. In the early part of the campaign Bradley was winning easily in the polls, so his staffers told him to play it safe. He sent out television advertisements of himself walking on the beach, shooting a perfect shot on the court, and sitting back in his office with his basketball shoes onto his desk. The advertisements backfired as voters were turned off and thought that he hadn't taken his job as Senator seriously, at a time when New Jersey voters were suffering.

Another major problem with Bradley was how Democratic Governor Jim Florio implemented a $2.8 billion tax increase, hurting the state's economy. In addition, Bradley refused to answer questions pertaining to Florio's tax policies.

After Bradley realized he was in trouble he released negative advertisements. They attacked Whitman's own record on taxes, accusing her of favoring tax increases when she was a Somerset County Freeholder. Bradley's image may have been further damaged by his newer advertisements.^[28]

New Mexico

New Mexico election

November 5, 1990

Nominee Pete Domenici Tom Benavidez Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 296,712 110,033 Percentage 72.9% 27.0%

County results

U.S. senator before election Pete Domenici Republican Elected U.S. Senator Pete Domenici Republican

Incumbent Republican Pete Domenici won re-election to a fourth term over Democratic State Senator Tom Benavidez.^[29]

North Carolina

North Carolina election

Nominee Jesse Helms Harvey Gantt Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 1,089,012 981,573 Percentage 52.58% 47.4%

County Results

U.S. senator before election Jesse Helms Republican Elected U.S. Senator Jesse Helms Republican

The election was fought between the Republican incumbent Jesse Helms and the Democratic nominee Mayor of Charlotte Harvey Gantt. Helms won re-election to a fourth term by a slightly wider margin than the close election in 1984.

Helms drew controversy for airing what became known as the "Hands" ad produced by Alex Castellanos. It showed a pair of white hands with the voiceover saying "You needed that job, and you were the best qualified. But they had to give it to a minority because of a racial quota." The ad prompted allegations of racism.^[31]

Oklahoma

Oklahoma election

November 6, 1990

Nominee David Boren Stephen Jones Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 735,684 148,814 Percentage 83.2% 16.8%

Precinct/VTD results[lower-alpha 4] County results Congressional district results State house district results State senate district results

U.S. senator before election David Boren Democratic Elected U.S. Senator David Boren Democratic

Incumbent Democrat David Boren won re-election to a third term over Republican attorney Stephen Jones.

Oregon

Oregon election

Nominee Mark Hatfield Harry Lonsdale Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 590,095 507,743 Percentage 53.7% 46.2%

County results

U.S. senator before election Mark Hatfield Republican Elected U.S. Senator Mark Hatfield Republican

Republican Mark Hatfield was re-elected to a fifth term, defeating Democratic businessman Harry Lonsdale.

The front-runners emerged quickly: for the Republicans, Hatfield was in his fourth term and was the 8th most senior U.S. Senator, having previously served as Governor of Oregon for two terms and Oregon Secretary of State. For the Democrats, Harry Lonsdale, who had founded the biotechnology company Bend Research, announced in early 1990 that he intended to aggressively challenge Hatfield over the incumbent's ties to special interests, and his positions on abortion rights and timber management.^[34]

In the Republican primary, Hatfield received a token challenge from Randy Prince, an environmentalist and former Eugene mayoral candidate who had once protested old-growth forest logging by tree sitting for 40 days.^[35] Despite an early miscue by Hatfield in which he missed the deadline for submitting a photograph for the primary voter's guide,^[35] Hatfield handily defeated Prince to move on to the general election.^[36]

U.S. Congressman Ron Wyden considered challenging Hatfield, but decided against it.^[37] Lonsdale, who was unknown as a politician, announced his campaign in March, and came out swinging directly at Hatfield and mostly ignored his primary challengers. Lonsdale's main campaign themes were abortion rights, which Hatfield opposed; and timber management, in which Lonsdale opposed exporting timber from Oregon forests and wanted to restrict logging in old-growth forests.^[34] Lonsdale also criticized Hatfield as being out-of-touch with Oregonians after so many years in the Senate. Lonsdale announced that he would refuse to take special-interest contributions in his campaign, and would finance the campaign himself with the millions he had made from Bend Research.^[34] Lonsdale easily defeated his competition: Salem attorney Steve Anderson, Pleasant Hill computer programmer Neale S. Hyatt, Milwaukie retired truck driver Brooks Washburne, Eugene activist Bob Reuschlein, and Frank A. Clough, also of Eugene.^[34][38][39]

Once the primaries concluded, Hatfield, who had been first elected U.S. Senator in 1966, rolled out his usual campaign honed from his decades of experience: he refused debates, never engaged his opponent directly, and focused on small, friendly campaign appearances that stressed the influence he wielded as a U.S. Senator with seniority and influence.^[37]

Lonsdale's self-financed campaign made heavy use of TV attack ads, criticizing Hatfield as being out of step with Oregonians on every issue, but primarily in terms of timber and abortion. He also made use of a nationwide anti-incumbency sentiment, and tore into Hatfield for being too closely tied to Washington special interests, and attempted to tie Hatfield to the Savings and loan crisis of the mid-1980s through his advisor Gerry Frank, who had ties to a Salem savings and loan.^[37] By early October, polls showed the gap closing from 25 down to about 4 points in an early October poll conducted by The Oregonian newspaper, and by the end of October, some polls showed Lonsdale in the lead.^[40]

With the polls running against him and time running out, Hatfield, who had not been seriously challenged since first being elected in 1966 and had never lost an election,^[41] abandoned his tactic of staying above the fray and not engaging Lonsdale directly. In the media and in television ads, he charged Lonsdale with hypocrisy in his environmental stand, alleging that Lonsdale had allowed his company to illegally dump toxic chemicals into the environment.^[42] Lonsdale vigorously denied the charges, which were later shown to have violated no laws, but the tactic may have stalled Lonsdale's momentum.^[43] Hatfield went on to win in all but Multnomah, Jackson, Baker, and Lincoln counties to win by more than 7 percentage points statewide.^[41]

Rhode Island

Rhode Island election

Nominee Claiborne Pell Claudine Schneider Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 225,105 138,947 Percentage 61.8% 38.2%

Municipal results

U.S. senator before election Claiborne Pell Democratic Elected U.S. Senator Claiborne Pell Democratic

Democratic Incumbent Claiborne Pell defeated Republican Representative Claudine Schneider in a landslide.^[45]

South Carolina

South Carolina election

November 6, 1990

Nominee Strom Thurmond Bob Cunningham Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 482,032 244,112 Percentage 64.2% 32.5%

County results

U.S. senator before election Strom Thurmond Republican Elected U.S. Senator Strom Thurmond Republican

Popular incumbent Republican Strom Thurmond cruised to re-election against Democratic challenger and perennial candidate Bob Cunningham.

Senator Strom Thurmond faced no opposition from South Carolina Republicans and avoided a primary election. The state Democrats saw this as an unwinnable race so when Bob Cunningham sought the Democratic nomination, he was unopposed in his bid.

Cunningham launched his second bid to unseat Republican Sen. Strom Thurmond after switching from the GOP to the Democratic Party in early 1990. Though he faced a formidable opponent, Cunningham planned no fund-raising activities. "I don't plan to ask for anything and I won't accept any money from PACs," he said. Cunninghman said his campaign strategy was to "go to places where I was invited and spread out my ideas." If elected, Cummingham said he would push to limit consecutive congressional service to 12 years and reform the tax system. He supported greater environmental activism. "I think we're going at it in much too lukewarm a fashion. I think we should work hard to find a substitute for the internal combustion engine."

The election was never a serious contest. Thurmond overwhelmingly outspent Cunningham in his re-election campaign.

South Dakota

South Dakota election

November 6, 1990

Nominee Larry Pressler Ted Muenster Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 135,682 116,727 Percentage 52.4% 45.1%

County results