Senator Phil Gramm’s Last Election

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Senator Phil Gramm's Last Election William Phillip Gramm, more commonly known as Phil Gramm, was born in Fort Benning, Georgia, on July 8, 1942; but grew up in College Station, Texas. After completing high school, he furthered his education by attending the University of Georgia in 1964. Following graduating, he began teaching as a Professor of Economics at Texas A&M University in 1967 and continued to do so until 1978. Phil Gram then began his life of politics by being elected into the United States House of Representatives in 1978. In 1983 Phil Gram resigned from the House and was elected into the United States Senate by the people of Texas as a Republican in 1984 (Project Vote Smart). With his first term coming to an end, Senator Gramm sought reelection in 1996, and won again, receiving 55% of the votes. Among the challenging candidates, Victor Manuel Morales, a Democrat, came the closest to winning, obtaining 44% of the votes.

In the following paragraphs, I will report the facts, figures, and statistics of each of their 1996 campaigns (FEC), (Clerkweb).

Senator Gramm was last reelected on November 5, 1996, giving him six more years of incumbency. However the preparation and campaigning for the 1996 election cycle began as early as 1991. Throughout these five years, Phil Gramm managed to raise a total of $10,528,363. In the 1995-96 election cycle alone, $3,802,167 was collected (Opensecrets, Profile: Phil Gramm). Senator Gramm did not contribute any of his own money to his campaign, relying strictly on other contributors for his only source of income. This is common for incumbents in congress seeking reelection, due to the fact that they usually have many supporters and are more likely to be reelected. The main sources of these funds include various categories of...