1992 United States Senate elections

1992 United States Senate elections

← 1990 November 3, 1992 November 24 (Georgia runoff) 1994 →
← 1991 (PA) 1993 (TX) →
36 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 57 43 Seats after 57 43 Seat change Popular vote 40,589,727[1][a] 35,449,473[1][a] Percentage 49.9% 43.6% Seats up 21 15 Races won 21[a] 15
Results of the elections:      Democratic gain      Democratic hold      Republican gain      Republican hold      No election Rectangular inset (Calif. & N. D.): both seats up for election
Majority Leader before election George Mitchell Democratic Elected Majority Leader George Mitchell Democratic

The 1992 United States Senate elections, held November 3, 1992, were elections for the United States Senate. The 34 seats of Class 3 were contested in regular elections, along with special elections to fill vacancies. They coincided with Bill Clinton's victory in the presidential election. This was the first time since 1956 that the balance of the Senate remained the same.

Both parties swapped a pair of seats, resulting in no net change in the partisan breakdown, which had been at 57–43 since Democrats flipped a seat in Pennsylvania in a special election. Democratic victories over Republicans John F. Seymour in the special California race and Bob Kasten in Wisconsin were cancelled out by the defeats of Democrats Wyche Fowler in Georgia and Terry Sanford in North Carolina.

The election of four new Democratic women to the Senate was notable with it being referred to in the press as the "Year of the Woman". Due to a special election in California, both of California's Senate seats were up for election in 1992, and these seats were won by Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer. Thus, California became the first state to have elected women to occupy both of its Senate seats. Democrat Carol Moseley Braun of Illinois, became the first African-American woman in the United States Senate. As of 2023^[update], this was the last election cycle in which Republicans won a Senate election in New York and Democrats in Kentucky.

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