1996 United States Senate election in Maine

The 1996 United States Senate election in Maine was held November 5, 1996. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator William Cohen was tapped by the Clinton administration to serve as Secretary of Defense. To replace him, U.S. Representative Joseph E. Brennan won the Democratic primary while political consultant Susan Collins won the Republican primary. A competitive general election ensued, but Collins ultimately won out over Brennan, keeping the seat in the Republican column. With Collins' election to the Senate in 1996, Maine became the third state after California and Kansas to have two sitting female senators, and the first to have two elected female Republican senators.

Brennan and Collins both ran in the 1994 gubernatorial election, and each won their respective party's nomination, but lost the general election to independent Angus King, who would be elected in Maine's other Senate seat in 2012 and become a Senator in 2013, serving alongside Collins.

Following his departure from the Senate, Cohen was appointed United States Secretary of Defense by President Bill Clinton from 1997 to 2001.

This was the last U.S. Senate election in Maine to see a Democrat carry any Maine county until 2020, when Collins lost Cumberland and Knox counties to Sara Gideon; Collins was re-elected in 16-county landslides in 2002, 2008, and 2014, while Maine's other seat saw similar 16-county landslides for Republican Olympia Snowe in 2000 and 2006 and for Independent Angus King in 2012.