California
Dianne Feinstein won a special election in 1992 to fill the seat of Governor Pete Wilson. She faced wealthy Republican Congressman Michael Huffington in her race for a full term. Feinstein emerged victorious by less than two points.
After one term in the House representing Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties, Huffington spent $8 million by the end of August and a total of $28 million during the entire campaign. He became wealthy off oil and gas. The race saw personal attacks on Huffington's wife, Arianna Huffington, who was very involved in the race (the media dubbed her the "Sir Edmund Hillary of social climbing," according to The Almanac of American Politics).
Huffington was called a hypocrite for supporting Proposition 187 and then breaking the law for employing illegal aliens, a story which came out in the race's final days. $44 million was spent in the election. At the time, it was the most expensive campaign in a non-presidential election in American history. Chris Cillizza of The Washington Post named the election one of the nastiest senate elections in modern history.
On election day it was a very close race, but Feinstein won Los Angeles County, which may have pulled her ahead. Her sizable win in the nine-county San Francisco Bay Area may also be credited to her slim statewide victory.
Delaware
Veteran Republican incumbent William Roth, seeking his fifth term, fended off a challenge from Charles Oberly, the state's three-term Democratic attorney general, beating him by 13 points.
Rodham left the public defenders office to run for the United States Senate in Florida in 1994. He won the Democratic Party nomination by defeating Mike Wiley in a runoff election, after earlier finishing first in a four-person primary field with 34 percent. In the presence of Rodham at a press conference, Rubin levelled the accusation that Wiley was hiding his Jewish faith by changing his name from his birth name, Michael Schreibman, Although Bill and Hillary Clinton both campaigned for him, his organization was unable to take advantage of their help, he had few funds, almost no television commercials, and little support from the Florida Democratic party establishment in a year that saw Republican gains everywhere. After the election, Rubin switched allegiance again and charged Rodham with election law violations in the first primary; the Federal Election Commission eventually dismissed the allegations.