United States Senate election in Illinois, 1992

United States Senate election in Illinois, 1992
Illinois
November 3, 1992
 
Nominee Carol Moseley Braun Richard S. Williamson
Party Democratic Republican
Popular vote 2,631,229 2,162,833
Percentage 53.0% 43.0%

County Results
U.S. Senator before election

Alan J. Dixon
Democratic

 Elected U.S. Senator

Carol Moseley Braun
Democratic

The 1992 United States Senate election in Illinois was held on November 3, 1992. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Alan J. Dixon decided to run for re-election a third term, but was defeated in the primary against Carol Moseley Braun, who ended up winning the general election. Braun made history in this election by becoming the first African-American woman ever elected to the U.S Senate and also the first African-American elected to the U.S Senate as a Democrat

Democratic Primary

Candidates

Results

Democratic Primary, United States Senate, 1992[1]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Democratic Carol Moseley Braun 557,694 38.0
Democratic Alan J. Dixon (Incumbent) 504,077 35.0
Democratic Albert Hofeld 394,497 18.0

Analysis

This defeat shocked observers; at the time no Senator had been defeated in a primary in over a decade and Dixon had a long record of electoral success. He was a moderate Democrat, who recently voted to confirm Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court.[2] Braun, a black woman and known reformist liberal, got a large share of black, liberal, and women voters ("The Year of the Woman"). In addition, she carried Cook County, Illinois, by far the most populated county in the state. Another factor was the third candidate in the race, multi-millionaire attorney Al Hofeld. Hofeld drew away some of the moderate and conservative Democrats who normally supported Dixon. He also spent a lot of money running advertisements attacking Dixon, weakening his support.

General election

Candidates

Major

Minor

Results

1992 Illinois U.S. Senate Election
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Democratic Carol Moseley Braun 2,631,229 53.3 -3.8
Republican Richard S. Williamson 2,126,833 43.1 +9.3
Independent Chad Koppie 100,422 2.0
Libertarian Andrew B. Spiegel 34,527 0.7
Natural Law Charles A. Winter 15,118
New Alliance Alan J. Port 12,689
Socialist Workers Kathleen Kaku 10,056
Populist John Justice 8,656
Democratic hold Swing

References

  1. ↑ "IL US Senate - D Primary Race - Mar 17, 1992". Ourcampaigns.com. Retrieved 2015-04-04.
  2. ↑ Charles Babington and Dan Balz (2005-08-17). "Democrats Feel Heat From Left On Roberts". The Washington Post. Washington Post Company. p. A01. Nan Aron, president of the Alliance for Justice, said [...] 'History shows us that voters turned on Alan Dixon for his vote on Clarence Thomas and voters gave Arlen Specter the toughest reelection of his life.'
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