| Election Name: | 1996 United States Senate election in Kentucky |
| Country: | Kentucky |
| Type: | presidential |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Previous Election: | 1990 United States Senate election in Kentucky |
| Previous Year: | 1990 |
| Next Election: | 2002 United States Senate election in Kentucky |
| Next Year: | 2002 |
| Election Date: | November 5, 1996 |
| Image1: | Mitch-McConnell-110th.jpg |
| Nominee1: | Mitch McConnell |
| Party1: | Republican Party (United States) |
| Popular Vote1: | 724,794 |
| Percentage1: | 55.45% |
| Nominee2: | Steve Beshear |
| Party2: | Democratic Party (United States) |
| Popular Vote2: | 560,012 |
| Percentage2: | 42.85% |
| Map Size: | 300px |
| U.S. Senator | |
| Before Election: | Mitch McConnell |
| Before Party: | Republican Party (United States) |
| After Election: | Mitch McConnell |
| After Party: | Republican Party (United States) |
The 1996 United States Senate election in Kentucky was held on November 5, 1996. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell won re-election to a third term with a 12.6% margin of victory over Democrat Steve Beshear, who later successfully ran in 2007 and 2011 for Governor of Kentucky.
| Campaign finance reports as of December 31st, 1996 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Raised | Spent | Cash on hand | ||||
| Mitch McConnell (R) | $5,030,245 | $5,031,293 | $189,324 | ||||
| Steve Beshear (D) | $1,772,276 | $1,770,035 | $1,448 | ||||
| Source: Federal Election Commission[1] | |||||||
In 1996, Beshear started out trailing against McConnell, with an early general election poll placing McConnell ahead of Beshear 50% to 32%.[2] The campaign ultimately became quite harsh, with the McConnell campaign sending "Hunt Man," a take off of Chicken George dressed in "the red velvet coat, jodhpurs, black riding boots and black helmet of a patrician fox hunter." This was done as a means of criticizing Beshear's membership in a fox hunting club in Lexington, and undercut the Beshear campaign's message that McConnell was a Republican in the mold of Newt Gingrich and that Beshear was the only friend of the working class in the race.[3] Beshear did not make much traction with the electorate during the campaign. By October 1996, Beshear had narrowed the gap between himself and McConnell slightly, with McConnell leading Beshear 50% to 38%.[4]