1996 United States Senate election in Delaware

1996 United States Senate election in Delaware

← 1990 November 5, 1996 2002 →

Nominee Joe Biden Raymond Clatworthy Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 165,465 105,088 Percentage 60.0% 38.1%

County results Biden:      50–60%      60–70%

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

Elections in Delaware
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The 1996 United States Senate election in Delaware was held on November 5, 1996. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Joe Biden won re-election to a fifth term. This is the first Senate election that Biden decreased his percentage of the votes since his previous election.

Republican primary[]

Candidates[]

• Raymond Clatworthy, businessman^[1]
• Vance Phillips, farmer
• Wilfred J. Plomis, oil and gas consultant, former apartment complex manager^[2]

Results[]

General election[]

Debates[]

First[]

The first senatorial debate would be held on September 29, 1996 in Wilmington and was hosted by WHYY-TV. The candidates that participated in the debate were: Joe Biden, Raymond Clatworthy and Mark Jones.^[4]

The debate would begin by candidates being given an introductory statement for two minutes. Biden would say his first followed by Jones and Clatworthy would last.^[4]

After the opening statements there would be discussion on social security with Biden and Clatworthy primarily participating although Jones did interject occasionally. After discussion about social security ended, one of the moderators would ask the candidates which of the Founding Fathers they liked the best. Jones responded first saying Thomas Jefferson while Clatworthy said George Washington. Biden answered differently saying that Abraham Lincoln was his favorite president and listed the accomplishments of presidents he thought were noble along with their achievements. He was reminded by a moderator who reminded him he was talking about the founding fathers. He would say that Thomas Jefferson was the most significant but didn't mention it as his favorite.^[4]

For the rest of the debate topics such as: Clatworthy's ties with the Christian Coalition, abortion, crime, terrorism and foreign policy were talked about. A moderator would asked a final question to the candidates about how they see themselves as being different from each other.^[4]

Second[]

The second senatorial debate would occur on October 29, 1996 in New Castle. The four candidates who would participate in the debate were: Joe Biden, Raymond J. Clatworthy, Mark Jones and Jacqueline Kossoff.^[5]

Candidates[]

• Joe Biden (D), incumbent Delaware Senator running for a fifth consecutive term
• Raymond Clatworthy (R), businessman

Results[]

See also[]

• 1996 United States Senate elections

External links[]

• Video footage of the 1996 Senatorial debate from C-SPAN

References[]