Jesse Helms won with 52.6% of the vote (1,345,833 votes), ahead of Harvey B. Gantt with 45.9% (1,173,875 votes).
The margin between the first two candidates was 6.7 percentage points (171,958 votes). The party margin (Republican share minus Democratic share) was a Republican lead of 6.7 points.
Compared with the previous comparable race in the same area, the party margin moved 2.7 points toward Republicans.
2,556,456 votes were counted in this race, for 4 candidates or options.
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