1996 United States Senate election in Delaware

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 was the first Senate election in his career in which Biden's margin of victory decreased from the prior election.

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

Republican primary

Candidates

• Raymond Clatworthy, businessman,^[1] Christian radio station owner^[2]
• Vance Phillips, farmer
• Wilfred J. Plomis, oil and gas consultant, former apartment complex manager^[3]

Results

Republican primary results^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Raymond J. Clatworthy	18,638	82.24%
	Republican	Vance Phillips	3,307	14.59%
	Republican	Wilfred Plomis	717	3.17%
Total votes			22,662	100.00%

Campaign

In February 1996, Biden would end up selling his home to John Cochran; a senior executive for MBNA. A pollster from Clatsworthy's campaign would suggest in a phone survey that Cochran had paid twice the value of the house. In reality, Cochran had paid the $1.2 million it was on the market for. "officials" from MBNA dismissed what the pollster had to say and Biden would end up making a document from 1992 from the Delaware Appraisal Group public that said the home's value was $1.2 million. The controversy would continue to be pushed when a conservative magazine named The American Spectator publishing an article in 1998 calling Biden "The Senator from MBNA".^[5]

Libertarian Party NEWS would report that Mark Jones who was Libertarian Party's candidate would be the first candidate from the party in the state to campaign full time as he resigned his position as an assistant professor at Goldey–Beacom College.^[6]

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.^[7]

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.^[7]

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.^[7]

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 ask a final question to the candidates about how they see themselves as being different from each other.^[7]

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.^[8]

General election

Candidates

• Joe Biden, incumbent Delaware Senator running for a fifth consecutive term
• Raymond Clatworthy, businessman
• Mark Jones, assistant professor of computer science at Goldey–Beacom College^[6] and former faculty member of the University of Delaware.^[9]
• Jacqueline Kossoff^[10]

Results

General election results^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Joe Biden (incumbent)	165,465	60.04%	-2.64%
	Republican	Raymond J. Clatworthy	105,088	38.13%	+2.30%
	Libertarian	Mark Jones	3,340	1.21%	-0.28%
	Natural Law	Jacqueline Kossoff	1,698	0.62%
Majority			60,377	21.91%	-4.94%
Turnout			275,591
	Democratic hold		Swing

See also

• 1996 United States Senate elections

External links

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

References

1. . Archived from the original on 2012-11-02.
2. "Senate Race - Delaware". All Politics CNN. Retrieved August 2, 2022.
3. "WILFRED PLOMIS". Legacy.com. from the original on 2021-08-01. Retrieved 2021-08-01.
4. (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-05-12. Retrieved 2013-11-12.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
5. Barrish, Cris (October 20, 2020). "Analysis: How Biden made a large profit on the sale of his house (News Journal archives)". The News Journal. Retrieved August 2, 2022.
6. "National pulse - News from the states" (PDF). Libertarian Party NEWS (Newspaper). Vol. 11, no. 4. Solstice Inc. April 1996. p. 4. Retrieved August 26, 2021.
7. "Delaware Senatorial Debate". C-SPAN. September 29, 1996. from the original on 2017-05-25.
8. "Delaware Senatorial Debate". C-SPAN. October 29, 1996. from the original on 2021-07-27.
9. "LP candidates gearing up campaigns across U.S." (PDF). Libertarian Party NEWS. Vol. 11, no. 8. Solstice Inc. August 1996. Retrieved September 6, 2021 – via LPedia.
10. "1996 Senatorial General Election Results - Delaware". Dave Leip's Election Atlas. from the original on 2013-05-27. Retrieved August 26, 2021.
11. "Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives".