This was the second Senatorial race for Gordon Smith in 1996; he had previously lost to Ron Wyden in the special election to fill Bob Packwood's seat.

Bruggere won the Democratic nomination with $800,000 of his own money in the primary race,[2] and was one of 134 candidates for the U.S. Congress to finance their own elections in excess of $50,000 in that cycle.

[3] Smith had already spent $2.5 million of his own money earlier that same year in an unsuccessful effort to defeat Democrat Ron Wyden in the 1996 special election to replace Bob Packwood, who had resigned.

[2] Shortly after their respective primary victories, the rivals met for a highly publicized lunch, and agreed to run issue-oriented campaigns.

[2] A Boston Globe profile highlighted their similarities as corporate candidates with minimal political experience.