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1996 Republican Party presidential primaries
	Gold denotes a state won by Pat Buchanan. Green denotes a state won by Steve Forbes. Purple denotes a state won by Bob Dole. Gray denotes a territory that did not hold a primary.
Previous Republican nominee; George H. W. Bush;	Republican nominee ; Bob Dole;

From January 29 to June 4, 1996, voters of the Republican Party chose its nominee for president in the 1996 United States presidential election. Senator Bob Dole of Kansas, the former Senate majority leader, was selected as the nominee through a series of primary elections and caucuses culminating in the 1996 Republican National Convention held from August 12 to 15, 1996, in San Diego, California. Dole resigned from the Senate in June 1996 once he became the presumptive nominee to concentrate on his presidential campaign. He chose Jack Kemp as his running mate.

Dole and Kemp went on to lose to President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore by a severe margin, thereby making this the only Republican presidential primary within the span from 1968 to 2004 in which the Republican nominee had never been nor ever became president.

Background

Following the 1994 midterm elections, many prominent candidates entered what would be a crowded field. This was expected as Democratic President Bill Clinton was unpopular in his first two years in office, eventually leading to the Republican Revolution. However, as Clinton became increasingly popular in his third year in office, several withdrew from the race or decided not to run.

In February 1995, newly inaugurated Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich declined to run, despite urging from some members of the party's conservative wing.^[1]

Former U.S. Army Gen. Colin L. Powell was widely courted as a potential Republican nominee. However, on November 8, 1995, Powell announced that he would not seek the nomination.

Former Secretary of Defense and future Vice President of the United States Dick Cheney was touted by many as a possible candidate for the presidency, but he declared his intentions not to run in early 1995. Then-Texas Governor George W. Bush was also urged by some party leaders to seek the Republican Party nomination, but opted against doing so.

Primary race overview

Going into the 1996 primary contest, Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole was widely seen as the front runner. Dole had significant name recognition, as he was a two time presidential candidate – in 1980 and 1988, and Republican vice-presidential nominee in 1976. He was expected to win the nomination against underdog candidates such as the more conservative U.S. Senator Phil Gramm of Texas and more centrist U.S. Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania. The fragmented field of candidates, which also included journalist and 1992 presidential candidate Pat Buchanan and magazine publisher Steve Forbes, debated issues such as a flat tax and other tax cut proposals, and a return to supply-side economic policies popularized by Ronald Reagan. Former Governor of Tennessee Lamar Alexander had promising showings in the early Iowa and New Hampshire primaries—finishing third in both contests behind only Dole and Buchanan—but his support dropped off in later primaries and he ultimately failed to win any state's delegates. (see "1996 Republican primary and caucus results" table below). Alan Keyes, who served as Reagan's Ambassador to the United Nations Economic and Social Council and Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs, was notable for being the only African American candidate in the race, but he ultimately failed to garner much support. More attention was drawn to the race by the budget stalemate in 1995 between the Congress and the President, which caused temporary shutdowns and slowdowns in many areas of federal government service.

On January 29, Buchanan won a non-binding straw poll in Alaska. Most pundits dismissed Buchanan's showing as insignificant.^[2] On February 6, Buchanan won the Louisiana caucus. Buchanan and Gramm had made several trips to the state to campaign. Gramm was expected to win, due to being from neighboring Texas and having the support of many of the Louisiana party regulars.^[3]

The candidates met in Des Moines for a Presidential Candidates Forum.^[4] Dole won the Iowa Caucus with 26% of the vote, a considerably smaller margin of victory than was expected.

Gramm's poor showing in Louisiana plus placing 5th in Iowa's caucuses resulted in his withdrawal from the contest on the Sunday before the New Hampshire primary.

In the New Hampshire Primary, Buchanan recorded a surprising victory over Dole, who finished in second place.

After disappointing showings in Iowa and New Hampshire, Steve Forbes bounced back in the primaries in Delaware and Arizona. Forbes, along with Alan Keyes, were the only two candidates for the Republican nomination who campaigned in Delaware (According to R.W. Apple writing for The New York Times, "People in Delaware began calling their primary the Rodney Dangerfield election – it couldn't get any respect. That angered many local residents, like a woman at a Wilmington polling place this evening, who said that the New Hampshire officials who twisted the candidates' arms [into not coming to Delaware to campaign while the New Hampshire primary was ongoing] had ‘acted like little kids.’"^[5]) giving Forbes an easy victory in the small state. "This state is the tax-cutting capital of the country and Steve Forbes got his tax-cutting message across" former Delaware Governor Pete du Pont said following the announcement of Forbes's victory.^[6] The bigger triumph for the Forbes campaign was in Arizona. Buchanan campaigned vigorously in Arizona in hopes of securing a crucial victory over Dole,^[7] with Buchanan even donning a cowboy costume while on the campaign trail.^[8] Faulty polling by the Dole campaign lured Dole into a false sense of security, making Dole think that the state would be an easy victory for him and he would not have to spend much time campaigning in Arizona.^[9] After the votes were counted, Buchanan finished a devastating third place, Dole was the runner-up, and Forbes pulled off a shocking, come-from-behind victory. Exit polls showed that Forbes's support came from those who voted for third-party candidate Ross Perot back in 1992, as well as from the large number of voters who cited "taxes" as the most important issue of the race and those who viewed Buchanan as too "extreme" and Dole as too moderate and "mainstream".^[7] Forbes would quickly lose the momentum he built up in Delaware and Arizona, but these back-to-back victories convinced many that Forbes was a serious contender.

Buchanan's and Forbes's early victories put Dole's expected front runner status in doubt during the formative months of the primary season. Although he lost Arizona, Dole had wins in North Dakota and South Dakota on the same day before looking to win in Wyoming and South Carolina, the latter being the first of the Southern states with a primary that was also three days before the multi-state primary Super Tuesday. Dole prevailed over Buchanan by 15 points, where exit polls showed Dole siphoning those identifying as part of the Christian right (that Buchanan anticipated having a large majority over) to go with voters who regarded Buchanan as either too extreme or not extreme.^[10] He proceeded to win the rest of the states, eventually giving him enough delegate commitments to claim status as the GOP presidential presumptive nominee.

Having collected only 21 percent of the total votes in Republican primaries and won four states, Buchanan suspended his campaign in March. He declared however that, if Dole were to choose a pro-choice running mate, he would run as the US Taxpayers Party (now Constitution Party) candidate.^[11] Forbes also withdrew in March having won only two states.^[12]

Dole resigned his Senate seat on June 11 to focus more intently on his presidential campaign. After becoming the nominee, Dole selected the former secretary of housing and urban development of the Bush administration, Jack Kemp, as his running mate.

Candidates

Nominee

Candidate		Experience	Home state	Campaign announced	Secured nomination	Campaign	Popular vote	Contests won	Running mate
Bob Dole		Senate Majority Leader (1985–1987, 1995–1996) United States Senator from Kansas (1969–1996) United States Representative from Kansas (1961–1969) County Attorney of Russell County (1953–1961) Kansas State Representative (1951–1953)	Kansas		March 19, 1996	(Campaign)	9,024,742 (58.8%)	46	Jack Kemp

Withdrew during convention or primaries

Candidate	Experience	Home state	Campaign announced	Campaign suspended	Campaign	Popular vote	Contests won
Pat Buchanan	White House Communications Director (1985–1987)	Virginia	[data missing]		(Campaign)	3,184,943 (20.8%)	2
Steve Forbes	Publisher and editor-in-chief of Forbes magazine (1990–)	New Jersey	[data missing]	March 14, 1996	Campaign	1,751,187 (11.4%)	2
Lamar Alexander	United States Secretary of Education (1991–1993) Governor of Tennessee (1979–1987)	Tennessee	[data missing]	March 9, 1996 (endorsed Dole)	Campaign	495,590 (3.2%)	0
Morry Taylor	President of Titan International	Michigan	[data missing]	March 9, 1996		[data missing]	0
Richard Lugar	United States Senator from Indiana (1977–2013) Mayor of Indianapolis (1968–1976)	Indiana	April 19, 1995	March 6, 1996 (endorsed Dole)	Campaign	127,111 (0.8%)	0
Phil Gramm	United States Senator from Texas (1985–2002) United States Representative from Texas (1979–1985)	Texas	[data missing]	February 14, 1996 (endorsed Dole)	Campaign	[data missing]	0
Bob Dornan	United States Representative from California (1977–1983, 1985–1997) Candidate for United States Senate in 1982	California	[data missing]	[data missing]	Campaign	[data missing]	0
Alan Keyes	Assistant Secretary of State for International Organization Affairs (1985–1987) Candidate for United States Senate in 1988 and 1992	Maryland	[data missing]	[data missing]	Campaign	[data missing]	0

Withdrew before primary elections

Candidate	Experience	Home state	Campaign announced	Campaign suspended	Campaign
Arlen Specter	United States Senator from Pennsylvania (1981–2011) District Attorney of Philadelphia (1966–1974)	Pennsylvania	March 31, 1995	November 23, 1995 (endorsed Dole)	Campaign
Pete Wilson	Governor of California (1991–1999) United States Senator from California (1983–1991) Mayor of San Diego (1971–1983) California State Representative (1967–1971)	California	August 28, 1995	September 29, 1995^[13]^[14]	Campaign
Arthur Fletcher	Chair of the United States Commission on Civil Rights (1990–1993)	Washington D.C.	July 9, 1995^[15]	[data missing]	[data missing]

Minor candidates

Retired engineer Jack Fellure from West Virginia
Powerlifter and entrepreneur Shear'Ree from California

Formed exploratory committee but did not run

Former Vice President Dan Quayle of Indiana
Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld of Illinois^[16]

Declined to run

Former United States Senator Howard Baker from Tennessee
Former United States Secretary of State James Baker from Texas
Former United States Secretary of Education Bill Bennett
Former President of the United States George H. W. Bush from Texas
Governor George W. Bush from Texas
Former Governor Carroll Campbell from South Carolina
Former United States Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney from Wyoming
Former Governor Pete du Pont from Delaware
Governor John Engler from Michigan
Speaker of the United States House Newt Gingrich from Georgia
Former Governor Tom Kean from New Jersey
Former United States Secretary of Labor Lynn Morley Martin from Illinois
United States Senator John McCain from Arizona
Retired United States Marine Corps Colonel Oliver North from Virginia
Retired Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Colin Powell
Televangelist Pat Robertson from Virginia
Former United States Senator Warren Rudman from New Hampshire
Governor Tommy Thompson from Wisconsin
Businessman Donald Trump from New York
Governor Bill Weld from Massachusetts
Governor Christine Todd Whitman from New Jersey

Results

Date (daily totals)	Total pledged delegates	Contest	Delegates won and popular vote					Total
			Bob Dole	Pat Buchanan	Steve Forbes	Lamar Alexander	Others	Total

January 29	20	Alaska caucus	3 1,569 (17%)	7 2,991 (32%)	6 2,822 (31%)	53 (1%)	4 1,806 (19%)	9,241
February 6	21	Louisiana caucus	–	13 (44%)	–	–	8^[a] (46%)
February 12	25	Iowa caucus	7 25,461 (26%)	6 22,578 (23%)	2 9,861 (10%)	4 17,052 (18%)	6 21,810 (21%)	96,762
February 20	16	New Hampshire primary	4 54,738 (26%)	4 56,874 (27%)	2 25,505 (12%)	4 47,148 (22%)	2 24,478 (9%)	208,743
February 24	13	Delaware primary	4 8,909 (27%)	3 6,118 (19%)	5 10,709 (33%)	2 4,375 (13%)	2,662 (12%)	32,773
February 27 (78)	38	Arizona primary	12 102,980 (30%)	12 95,742 (27%)	14 115,962 (33%)	24,765 (7%)	8,033 (2%)	347,482
	20	North Dakota primary	9 26,832 (42%)	4 11,653 (18%)	4 12,455 (20%)	4,008 (6%)	3 8,786 (13%)	63,734
	20	South Dakota primary	10 30,918 (45%)	7 19,780 (29%)	3 8,831 (13%)	6,037 (9%)	3,604 (4%)	69,170
March 2 (58)	38	South Carolina primary	18 124,904 (45%)	11 80,824 (29%)	5 35,039 (13%)	4 28,647 (10%)	7,327 (2%)	276,741
March 2 (58)	20	Wyoming caucus	10 370 (40%)	5 181 (18%)	5 161 (17%)	66 (7%)	61 (7%)	839
March 3	20	Puerto Rico primary	20 233,743 (98%)	844 (0%)	1,078 (0%)	1,273 (0%)	1,604 (0%)	238,541
March 5 (Super Tuesday) (252)	28	Colorado primary	14 108,123 (43%)	7 53,376 (21%)	7 51,592 (21%)	24,184 (10%)	10,655 (5%)	247,930
	28	Connecticut primary	17 70,998 (54%)	5 19,664 (15%)	6 26,253 (20%)	6,985 (5%)	6,518 (3%)	130,418
	43	Georgia primary	18 226,732 (41%)	13 162,627 (29%)	6 71,276 (13%)	6 75,855 (14%)	21,916 (3%)	558,406
	16	Maine primary	9 31,147 (46%)	5 16,478 (24%)	3 9,991 (15%)	4,450 (7%)	5,214 (5%)	67,280
	34	Maryland primary	21 135,522 (53%)	8 53,585 (21%)	5 32,207 (13%)	14,061 (6%)	18,871 (6%)	254,246
	40	Massachusetts primary	22 135,946 (48%)	12 71,688 (25%)	6 39,605 (14%)	21,456 (8%)	16,138 (4%)	284,833
	34	Minnesota caucus	17 11,641 (41%)	13 9,353 (33%)	4 2,910 (10%)	1,300 (5%)	2,684 (10%)	27,888
	16	Rhode Island primary	11 9,706 (64%)	387 (3%)	128 (1%)	2,866 (19%)	2 1,971 (4%)	15,058
	13	Vermont primary	5 23,419 (40%)	2 9,730 (17%)	2 9,066 (16%)	1 6,145 (11%)	2 9,757 (15%)	58,117
March 7		New York primary	(55%)	(15%)	(30%)	–	–
March 9		Missouri caucus	(28%)	(36%)	(1%)	–	(9%)
March 12		Florida primary	(57%)	(18%)	(20%)	(1%)	(5%)
		Louisiana primary	(48%)	(33%)	(12%)	(2%)	(1%)
		Mississippi primary	(60%)	(26%)	(8%)	(2%)	(4%)
		Oklahoma primary	(59%)	(22%)	(14%)	(1%)	(2%)
		Oregon primary	(51%)	(21%)	(13%)	(7%)	(5%)
		Tennessee primary	(51%)	(25%)	(8%)	(11%)	(3%)
		Texas primary	(56%)	(21%)	(13%)	(2%)	(6%)
March 19		Illinois primary	(65%)	(23%)	(5%)	(1%)	(6%)
		Michigan primary	(51%)	(34%)	(5%)	(1%)	(3%)
		Ohio primary	(66%)	(22%)	(6%)	(3%)	(3%)
		Wisconsin primary	(53%)	(34%)	(6%)	(2%)	(3%)
March 26		California primary	(66%)	(18%)	(7%)	(2%)	(7%)
		Nevada primary	(52%)	(15%)	(19%)	(2%)	(1%)
		Washington primary	(63%)	(21%)	(9%)	(1%)	(5%)
April 23		Pennsylvania primary	(64%)	(18%)	(8%)	–	(11%)
May 7		Washington D.C. primary	(75%)	(9%)	–	–	–
		Indiana primary	(71%)	(19%)	(10%)	–	–
		North Carolina primary	(71%)	(13%)	(4%)	(2%)	(5%)
May 14		Nebraska primary	(76%)	(10%)	(6%)	(3%)	(3%)
May 14		West Virginia primary	(69%)	(16%)	(5%)	(3%)	(7%)
May 21		Arkansas primary	(76%)	(23%)	–	–	–
May 28		Idaho primary	(66%)	(22%)	–	–	(5%)
May 28		Kentucky primary	(48%)	(33%)	(13%)	(2%)	(4%)
June 1		Virginia caucus	Unknown	–	–	–	–
June 4		Alabama primary	(76%)	(16%)	–	–	(3%)
		Montana primary	(61%)	(24%)	(7%)	–	–
		New Jersey primary	(82%)	(11%)	–	–	(7%)
		New Mexico primary	(76%)	(8%)	(6%)	(4%)	(4%)
Total^[17]			9,024,742 (58.8%)	3,184,943 (20.8%)	1,751,187 (11.4%)	495,590 (3.2%)	856,881 (5.6%)

Nationwide

Convention tally:

Notable endorsements

Bob Dole

Former Senator and 1964 Presidential nominee Barry Goldwater of Arizona^[18]
Governor George W. Bush of Texas^[17]
Senator Bill Roth of Delaware^[17]
Senator Alan Simpson of Wyoming^[17]
Senator Al D'Amato of New York^[17]
Senator Mark Hatfield of Oregon^[19]
Former Governor Pete du Pont of Delaware^[20]
Former Governor George Wallace of Alabama^[21] (Democrat)

Pat Buchanan

William P. Clark, Jr.,^[22] Associate Justice of the California Supreme Court (1973–1981), 6th United States Deputy Secretary of State (1981–1982), 11th United States National Security Advisor (1982–1983), 44th United States Secretary of the Interior (1983–1985)
Governor Mike Foster of Louisiana^[23]
State Senator Dick Mountjoy of California
Former U.S. National Security Advisor Richard Allen
Former Governor Evan Mecham of Arizona^[24]
Future Arizona state senator Karen Johnson (1997-2008^[25]
Roger Milliken, CEO of Milliken & Company^[26]
Mark DeMoss, president of The DeMoss Group ^[26]
Judie Brown - president of the American Life League^[26]
Larry Pratt - executive director of Gun Owners of America, and a former member of the Virginia House of Delegates (1980–1982).^[26]
Charley Reese - conservative columnist for the Orlando Sentinel (1971–2001)^[26]
Lewis Tambs - United States Ambassador to Colombia (1983–1985), United States Ambassador to Costa Rica (1985–1987)^[26]
Paul Gottfried - paleoconservative political philosopher, historian, and writer^[26]
Donald Wildmon - chairman of the American Family Association^[26]
Tom Monaghan - CEO of Domino's Pizza^[26]
Nackey Loeb - publisher for the conservative Manchester Union Leader newspaper^[26]
Barbara Coe - chairwoman of the California Coalition for Immigration Reform^[26]
Michael Farris - founder of the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) and Patrick Henry College^[26]

Steve Forbes

Former Representative and HUD Secretary Jack Kemp of New York^[17]
Former Senator Gordon Humphrey of New Hampshire^[17]
U.S. Rep. Frank Cremeans of Ohio.
U.S. Rep. Bob Franks of New Jersey.

Lamar Alexander

Former Governor Tom Kean of New Jersey^[17]
Former Secretary of Education Bill Bennett^[17]

Phil Gramm

Senator John McCain of Arizona^[17]
Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas^[17]

Pete Wilson

Governor Bill Weld of Massachusetts^[17]
Perot's 1992 running-mate and retired admiral James Stockdale of Illinois^[17]

Convention and vice presidential selection

The delegates at the Republican National Convention formally nominated Dole on August 15, 1996, as the GOP presidential candidate for the general election. Dole was the oldest first-time presidential nominee at the age of 73 years, 1 month (Ronald Reagan was 73 years, 6 months in 1984, for his second presidential nomination).

Former Representative and Cabinet secretary Jack Kemp was nominated by acclamation as Dole's running mate the following day. Republican Party of Texas convention delegates informally nominated Alan Keyes as their preference for vice president.

Other politicians mentioned as possible GOP V.P. nominees before Kemp was selected included: