1996 United States presidential election in Kansas

1996 United States presidential election in Kansas

November 5, 1996
 
Nominee Bob Dole Bill Clinton Ross Perot
Party Republican Democratic Reform
Home state Kansas Arkansas Texas
Running mate Jack Kemp Al Gore James Campbell
Electoral vote 6 0 0
Popular vote 583,245 387,659 92,639
Percentage 54.29% 36.08% 8.62%


President before election

Bill Clinton
Democratic

Elected President

Bill Clinton
Democratic

The 1996 United States presidential election in Kansas took place on November 5, 1996, as part of the 1996 United States presidential election. Voters chose six representatives, or electors to the Electoral College, who voted for president and vice president.

Kansas was won by former home state Senator Bob Dole (R-KS) over President Bill Clinton (D), with Dole winning 54.29 percent to 36.08 percent for a margin of 18.21 points. Billionaire businessman Ross Perot (Reform Party of the United States of America-TX) finished in third, with 8.62 percent of the popular vote, a sharp decline from 1992, when Perot captured 27% of the state's votes and helped hold George H.W. Bush’s victory margin to just over five percentage points. As of the 2024 presidential election, this is the last election in which Atchison County voted for a Democratic presidential candidate. Clinton became the first Democrat to win the White House without carrying Ellis County since Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1944.

Dole won 78.98% of the vote in Russell County, his boyhood home and base when he represented the state's 1st Congressional District from 1961-69. The only other county in the country which gave him a higher percentage was Ochiltree County, Texas, with 79.20%.

With 54.29 percent of the popular vote, Kansas proved to be Dole's second strongest state in the 1996 election after Utah. As of the 2024 election, this marks the only occasion since 1984 in which a Republican nominee for President won his state of birth.