1992 United States Senate election in California

For the other Senate election in California held in parallel, see 1992 United States Senate special election in California.

The 1992 United States Senate election in California took place on November 3, 1992, at the same time as the special election to the United States Senate in California. Incumbent Democrat Alan Cranston decided to retire. Democrat Barbara Boxer won the open seat. This election was noted as both of California's senators were elected for the first time. This is not a unique occurrence; it would happen again in Tennessee in 1994, Kansas in 1996, and Georgia in 2021. Fellow Democrat Dianne Feinstein, California's senior senator, won the special election and was inaugurated in November 1992.

1992 United States Senate election in California

← 1986 November 3, 1992 (1992-11-03) 1998 →

Nominee Barbara Boxer Bruce Herschensohn Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 5,173,467 4,644,182 Percentage 47.90% 43.00%

County results Congressional district results Boxer:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90% Herschensohn:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%

U.S. senator before election Alan Cranston Democratic Elected U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer Democratic

Democratic primary

Candidates

• Barbara Boxer, U.S. Representative from Greenbrae
• Charles Greene, perennial candidate
• Mel Levine, U.S. Representative from Santa Monica
• Leo T. McCarthy, Lieutenant Governor of California and nominee for Senate in 1988

Results

In the primary election in June, Boxer defeated McCarthy and Levine with 43.6% of the vote.^[1]

1992 Democratic Senate primary^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Barbara Boxer	1,339,126	43.58%
	Democratic	Leo T. McCarthy	943,229	30.70%
	Democratic	Mel Levine	667,359	21.72%
	Democratic	Charles Greene	122,954	4.00%
Total votes			3,072,668	100.00%

Republican primary

Candidates

• Sonny Bono, Mayor of Palm Springs and retired entertainer, best known as a member of the duo Sonny & Cher
• John M. Brown, resident of Stockton
• Tom Campbell, U.S. Congressman from Silicon Valley
• Bruce Herschensohn, political commentator for KABC-TV in Los Angeles and candidate for Senate in 1986
• Alexander Swift Justice, candidate for U.S. Representative in 1990
• John W. Spring, independent candidate for Senate in 1986
• Isaac Park Yonker, candidate for U.S. Representative in 1990 from Mariposa

Results

1992 Republican Senate primary^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Bruce Herschensohn	956,146	38.80%
	Republican	Tom Campbell	859,970	34.90%
	Republican	Sonny Bono	417,848	16.96%
	Republican	Isaac Park Yonker	94,623	3.84%
	Republican	Alexander Swift Justice	60,104	2.44%
	Republican	John W. Spring	54,941	2.23%
	Republican	John M. Brown	20,810	0.84%
Total votes			2,464,442	100.00%

Peace and Freedom primary

Candidates

• Genevieve Torres
• Shirley Lee

Results

1992 Peace and Freedom Senate primary^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Peace and Freedom	Genevieve Torres	5,492	60.34%
	Peace and Freedom	Shirley Lee	3,610	39.66%
Total votes			9,102	100.00%

General election

Campaign

The general election between Boxer and Herschensohn was very close. At the eleventh hour, controversy emerged that the Republican nominee attended a strip club, which some Republican operatives later blamed for Herschensohn's loss.^[5]

Four days before Election Day polls showed Herschensohn had narrowed a double digit deficit, trailing by 3 points. Political operative Bob Mulholland disrupted a campaign appearance with a large poster advertising a strip club shouting "Should the voters of California elect someone who frequently travels the strip joints of Hollywood?" Herschensohn admitted he had visited a strip club once, with his girlfriend and another couple. With press coverage of the story, Herschensohn spent the waning days of the campaign denying related allegations. When the votes were cast and counted, Boxer won the election by five points.^[6] Although Republicans have blamed the defeat on the underhanded tactics of the Boxer campaign, evidence of the connection between Mulholland's outburst and the campaign never surfaced.^[7][8][9]

Results

The election was very close. Boxer was declared the winner by the Associated Press at 1:22 A.M. Pacific Coast Time.

1992 U.S. Senate election in California

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Barbara Boxer	5,173,467	47.90%
	Republican	Bruce Herschensohn	4,644,182	43.00%
	American Independent	Jerome N. McCready	373,051	3.45%
	Peace and Freedom	Genevieve Torres	372,817	3.45%
	Libertarian	June R. Genis	235,919	2.18%
	Write-in	Joel Britton	110	0.00%
	Write-in	John Cortese	101	0.00%
	Write-in	Robert L. Bell	56	0.00%
Total votes			10,799,647	100.00
	Democratic hold

By county

Final results from the Secretary of State of California.^[10]

County	Boxer	Votes	Hersch.	Votes	McC.	Votes	Torres	Votes	Genis	Votes	W/I	V's
San Francisco	76.57%	233,068	18.72%	56,972	1.48%	4,503	1.84%	5,602	1.38%	4,214	0.00%	13
Alameda	66.94%	343,020	25.08%	128,489	3.08%	15,768	2.85%	14,610	2.04%	10,477	0.01%	29
Marin	63.47%	80,902	29.14%	37,150	2.59%	3,299	2.08%	2,656	2.72%	3,464	0.00%	1
Santa Cruz	61.21%	67,927	29.27%	32,482	2.98%	3,309	3.18%	3,525	3.36%	3,726	0.00%	2
San Mateo	59.39%	158,490	32.68%	87,209	2.49%	6,638	2.87%	7,669	2.58%	6,879	0.00%	0
Yolo	58.23%	35,006	33.10%	19,900	3.70%	2,222	2.85%	1,711	2.12%	1,274	0.00%	0
Sonoma	56.76%	108,991	32.65%	62,696	4.05%	7,772	3.69%	7,084	2.85%	5,476	0.00%	7
Mendocino	55.99%	19,818	33.10%	11,718	4.60%	1,627	3.28%	1,160	3.03%	1,074	0.00%	0
Contra Costa	55.17%	203,563	35.76%	131,923	3.65%	13,462	3.06%	11,290	2.36%	8,711	0.00%	3
Santa Clara	54.11%	314,884	35.55%	206,913	3.61%	21,001	3.59%	20,922	3.14%	18,261	0.00%	2
Los Angeles	52.55%	1,410,423	39.60%	1,062,974	2.56%	68,630	3.57%	95,779	1.72%	46,195	0.00%	65
Solano	51.87%	67,007	36.50%	47,148	5.12%	6,615	4.02%	5,188	2.49%	3,217	0.00%	0
Napa	49.63%	25,746	39.81%	20,655	4.32%	2,240	3.55%	1,841	2.69%	1,396	0.00%	0
Sacramento	49.09%	215,853	40.90%	179,844	3.96%	17,425	3.79%	16,684	2.25%	9,911	0.00%	0
Monterey	48.65%	54,400	41.05%	45,903	4.16%	4,648	3.63%	4,058	2.51%	2,801	0.00%	0
Humboldt	48.63%	27,916	43.13%	24,757	3.14%	1,802	3.38%	1,941	1.72%	986	0.00%	0
Lake	46.82%	10,805	40.54%	9,357	6.01%	1,388	3.51%	810	3.12%	720	0.00%	0
Alpine	45.18%	272	43.19%	260	5.81%	35	4.65%	28	1.16%	7	0.00%	0
Santa Barbara	45.11%	70,998	46.25%	72,793	3.49%	5,486	3.46%	5,444	1.70%	2,673	0.00%	0
Stanislaus	45.03%	55,688	45.18%	55,875	4.31%	5,332	3.64%	4,501	1.85%	2,285	0.00%	0
Imperial	44.66%	11,614	43.79%	11,389	3.15%	819	7.07%	1,839	1.33%	347	0.00%	0
San Benito	43.68%	5,415	44.59%	5,527	4.76%	590	4.34%	538	2.63%	326	0.00%	0
Tuolumne	42.81%	9,811	46.24%	10,596	4.86%	1,113	3.87%	886	2.21%	507	0.01%	2
Del Norte	42.36%	3,891	46.69%	4,289	6.00%	551	3.05%	280	1.91%	175	0.00%	0
Mono	42.23%	1,820	47.19%	2,034	4.01%	173	3.83%	165	2.74%	118	0.00%	0
San Diego	42.17%	399,087	47.35%	448,181	4.06%	38,434	3.53%	33,379	2.89%	27,336	0.00%	12
San Joaquin	42.15%	66,484	47.57%	75,032	4.41%	6,963	3.94%	6,213	1.92%	3,036	0.00%	0
S. L. Obispo	41.23%	41,824	49.24%	49,945	4.47%	4,530	2.89%	2,933	2.17%	2,205	0.00%	0
Siskiyou	40.60%	8,115	47.87%	9,568	6.33%	1,266	3.00%	599	2.21%	441	0.00%	0
Plumas	40.48%	4,032	47.47%	4,728	7.13%	710	2.78%	277	2.13%	212	0.01%	1
Amador	40.38%	6,082	48.91%	7,366	5.07%	764	3.23%	486	2.41%	363	0.00%	0
Ventura	39.62%	104,335	50.62%	133,274	3.89%	10,253	3.66%	9,629	2.20%	5,793	0.01%	25
Nevada	39.45%	17,091	49.87%	21,609	5.35%	2,317	2.74%	1,186	2.60%	1,125	0.00%	0
Placer	39.33%	34,905	50.50%	44,813	3.98%	3,532	3.72%	3,297	2.47%	2,193	0.00%	0
Merced	39.21%	17,848	49.12%	22,360	5.35%	2,434	3.47%	1,579	2.85%	1,298	0.00%	0
Sierra	38.69%	705	48.19%	878	7.14%	130	3.02%	55	2.96%	54	0.00%	0
El Dorado	38.66%	24,601	50.86%	32,368	4.68%	2,975	3.33%	2,116	2.48%	1,576	0.00%	0
Calaveras	38.35%	6,402	49.54%	8,269	5.80%	969	3.35%	559	2.96%	494	0.00%	0
Lassen	38.09%	3,761	48.85%	4,823	7.67%	757	3.33%	329	2.06%	203	0.00%	0
Riverside	38.05%	160,630	51.83%	218,778	4.39%	18,512	3.63%	15,323	2.11%	8,891	0.00%	0
Butte	37.41%	31,505	51.47%	43,338	5.11%	4,306	3.28%	2,762	2.73%	2,296	0.00%	0
Fresno	36.93%	78,321	55.59%	117,891	2.16%	4,587	3.78%	8,009	1.53%	3,248	0.00%	3
S. Bernardino	36.90%	164,620	51.81%	231,143	4.74%	21,138	4.38%	19,555	2.14%	9,558	0.02%	100
Mariposa	36.86%	2,989	51.92%	4,211	5.36%	435	3.86%	313	2.00%	162	0.00%	0
Trinity	35.16%	2,261	49.51%	3,184	7.79%	501	4.15%	267	3.39%	218	0.00%	0
Yuba	34.03%	5,638	52.67%	8,726	7.24%	1,199	3.30%	547	2.76%	458	0.00%	0
Colusa	33.57%	1,859	56.19%	3,112	5.00%	277	3.21%	178	2.02%	112	0.00%	0
Orange	33.41%	317,740	57.89%	550,502	3.20%	30,400	3.21%	30,550	2.29%	21,783	0.00%	2
Kings	33.09%	8,151	57.15%	14,079	3.63%	895	4.85%	1,196	1.28%	315	0.00%	0
Modoc	32.64%	1,429	54.07%	2,367	8.18%	358	3.22%	141	1.90%	83	0.00%	0
Madera	31.89%	9,401	59.74%	17,609	3.42%	1,009	3.82%	1,127	1.12%	329	0.00%	0
Inyo	30.98%	2,563	58.59%	4,847	4.96%	410	3.36%	278	2.12%	175	0.00%	0
Sutter	30.83%	7,719	59.04%	14,783	4.86%	1,216	3.23%	809	2.05%	513	0.00%	0
Tehama	30.71%	6,450	56.62%	11,893	6.47%	1,360	3.08%	647	3.12%	655	0.00%	0
Kern	30.30%	53,141	60.97%	106,916	3.58%	6,286	3.54%	6,200	1.61%	2,823	0.00%	0
Tulare	29.24%	25,311	62.21%	53,856	3.54%	3,066	3.78%	3,273	1.23%	1,067	0.00%	0
Shasta	28.39%	18,868	59.44%	39,507	6.15%	4,085	3.78%	2,515	2.24%	1,492	0.00%	0
Glenn	26.27%	2,271	62.16%	5,373	6.12%	529	3.23%	279	2.22%	192	0.00%	0

Shift by county

Trend by county

Legend

•   Republican — >15%
•   Republican — +12.5−15%
•   Republican — +10−12.5%
•   Republican — +7.5−10%
•   Republican — +5−7.5%
•   Republican — +2.5−5%
•   Republican — +0−2.5%
•   Democratic — +0−2.5%
•   Democratic — +2.5−5%
•   Democratic — +5−7.5%
•   Democratic — +7.5-10%
•   Democratic — +10−12.5%
•   Democratic — +12.5−15%
•   Democratic — >15%

See also

• 1992 United States Senate elections