1996 United States Senate election in North Carolina

Democratic primary

In the Democratic primary, Gantt defeated Charles Sanders, who was CEO of pharmaceutical company Glaxo. As a candidate, Gantt supported a balanced federal budget, a $10,000 tax deduction for the middle-class, while also pledging to defend Medicare and education funding.{{Election box begin

Republican primary

Jesse Helms won the Republican Party's nomination unopposed.

General election

During the campaign, Helms refused to debate Gantt or appear in public with him, instead choosing to focus his campaign's energy on television advertisements. Helms' campaign ads accused Gantt of being too socially liberal on issues such as gay rights and the death penalty. A major issue in the campaign were proposals for tobacco regulation: Helms accused Gantt of supporting President Bill Clinton's efforts to regulate tobacco use, while Gantt broke with his party to criticize Clinton on the subject.

In return, Gantt accused Helms of being out-of-touch on "kitchen table issues" affecting working-class families, and stated that Helms "appeals to the bigotry and the prejudice that may be within all of us", though stopped short of calling Helms a racist.

Results

Following this election, every senator from the Class II senate seat only served one term until Thom Tillis won re-election in 2020.{{Election box begin

References

References

1. EUBANK, JAY. "CHARGE!: CHARLES SANDERS TURNS HIS ENERGY TO POLITICS".
2. "Gantt Beats Sanders in N.C. Senate Primary, Setting Up Helms Rematch".
3. "AllPolitics - North Carolina Senate Race - Nov. 5, 1996".
4. (April 2008). "North Carolina DataNet #46". [[University of North Carolina]].
5. Grove, Lloyd. (1996-05-24). "THE BALLOT OF HARVEY GANTT". Washington Post.