Correct. In 1992 Gore, the incumbent, was elected VP. He stepped down upon being sworn in as VP. Harlan Matthews took the seat until the next general election (1994), when, pursuant to state law, another election had to be held for the (by-then) remaining TWO years. Thompson won that election, then in 1996 he won a full term.
That’s good. I was just looking at the time span and was a little worried at the idea that he might have left “mid term” to pursue acting.
His route seems perfectly honorable though.