The 1996 United States Senate election in South Dakota was held on November 4, 1996. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Larry Pressler ran for re-election to a fourth term, but was narrowly defeated by Democratic nominee Tim Johnson by 9,000 votes. Pressler was the only incumbent Senator to lose reelection in the 1996 election cycle, of which this was the only Democratic flip. Pressler later ran again unsuccessfully for this seat in 2014 as an Independent.

Larry Lee Pressler is an American lawyer and politician from South Dakota who served in the United States House of Representatives from 1975 to 1979, and United States Senate from 1979 to 1997, as a Republican. He remained active in politics following his failed reelection campaign in 1996 and attempted to regain his former seat in 2014 as an independent, but was unsuccessful. He has since supported Democratic tickets.