United States Senate elections, 2000

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Republican holds Republican pickups Democratic holds Democratic pickups

The U.S. Senate election, 2000 was an election for one-third of the seats in the United States Senate which coincided with the election of George W. Bush as president. It featured a number of fiercely contested elections that resulted in a victory for the Democratic Party, which gained four net seats from the Republican Party in the Senate. (Democrats had already gained one seat since the 1998 elections when Zell B. Miller (D-Ga.) was appointed following the death of Paul M. Coverdell (R-Ga.).)

This was six years after many Republicans had won seats in Senate Class 1 during the elections of 1994, and it was this group who were seeking reelection or retiring in 2000. Because such a large number of these seats were being defended by Republicans, most of the races that were considered to be in play were won by challenging Democrats. They defeated Republican senators William Roth (R-Del.), Spencer Abraham (R-Mich.), Rod Grams (R-Minn.), John Ashcroft (R-Mo.), and Slade Gorton (R-Wash.), as well as winning the open seat in Florida. Ashcroft's defeat was noteworthy in that his opponent, Mel Carnahan, had died before the election, but still won. (The Democratic governor had promised to appoint Carnahan's wife to the seat if he won). The Republicans did defeat one incumbent, Chuck Robb (D-Va.), and win an open seat in Nevada.

This resulted in the Democrats winning control of the Senate for only 17 days, since Al Gore was still Vice President and President of the Senate. But the Republicans won control the chamber with the tie-breaking vote of new Vice President Richard B. Cheney on January 20th. The small Republican Majority would last until May 24, 2001 when Republican Senator Jim Jeffords left the Republican Party and became an Independent who voted for Democratic Control. The Republicans won back the Senate in the 2002 Midterm elections.

1 Notable races
2 Results summary
3 Senate contests in 2000
4 See also
5 Senate composition before and after elections

[edit] Notable races

[edit] Democratic gains

Delaware: Five-term incumbent Sen. William V. Roth, Jr. (R-DE) was defeated by outgoing Governor Thomas R. Carper (D). The age of the two candidates was an unspoken issue of the campaign as Carper's relative youth contrasted that of the 80-year-old Roth.
Florida: Sen. Connie Mack III (R-FL) retired after two terms. Former Congressman Bill Nelson (D-FL) would defeat Rep. Bill McCollum (R-FL) in a close race that was nevertheless overshadowed by the contentious Presidential race in Florida.
Michigan: Sen. Spencer Abraham (R-MI) was unseated after one term by Rep. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI). The contentious election was highlighted by a series of third party ads attacking Abraham's record on border security.
Minnesota: Sen. Rod Grams (R-MN) lost his re-election bid to former State Auditor Mark Dayton (D). An heir to a department store chain, Dayton was able to self-finance his $12 million campaign.
Missouri: In one of the more unusual races of the cycle, deceased Governor Mel Carnahan (D) defeated Sen. John Ashcroft (R-MO). Carnahan died in a plane crash three weeks before the election which generated a large sympathy vote that pushed Carnahan over the top. His wife Jean received an interim appointment in her late husband's place.
Washington: Sen. Slade Gorton (R-WA) was unseated for a second time by former Congresswoman Maria Cantwell (D-WA). Cantwell's campaign slogan of "Your voice for a change" referenced Gorton's "Time for a change" slogan he used when running against Warren G. Magnuson in 1980.

[edit] Republican gains

Nevada: Former Congressman John Ensign (R-NV) defeated Democratic attorney and talk show host Edward M. Bernstein for the seat of Sen. Richard Bryan (D-NV). Ensign had come within 400 votes of unseating Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) in a Senate race two years earlier.
Virginia: Sen. Chuck Robb (D-VA) was unseated in a close race against former Governor George Allen (R). Robb had survived a close call against Oliver North in the Republican landslide year of 1994, but could not defeat the popular Allen despite the year's Democratic trend.

[edit] Democratic holds

Nebraska: Governor Ben Nelson (D) narrowly defeated Attorney General Don Stenberg (R) for the seat of retiring Sen. Bob Kerrey (D-NE). Nelson had lost his previous bid for the Senate in 1996 against Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE).
New York: The retirement of Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-NY) appeared to set-up a showdown between First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton and New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani. Giuliani, however, was forced to drop out of the race due to his being diagnosed with prostate cancer and a messy divorce from actress Donna Hanover. Clinton instead faced little-known Congressman Rick Lazio (R-NY), who could not match Clinton's fund raising abilities and name recognition. Clinton's election marked the first time a First Lady won elective office in American history.

[edit] Republican holds

Montana: Two-term incumbent Conrad Burns (R-MT) faced a surprisingly tough challenge from his Democratic opponent, rancher Brian Schweitzer. Though Burns narrowly won re-election, Schweitzer developed a large enough base to win election as Governor of Montana in 2004.

[edit] Results summary

**Summary of the 2000 United States Senate election results**
Parties		Breakdown			Total Seats			Popular Vote		Total Candidates
Parties		Up	Elected	Not Up	1998	2000	+/-	Vote	%	General¹
	Republican Party	19	15	35	54	50	-4	37,645,909	47.736%	34
	Democratic Party	15	19	31	46	50	+4	38,164,089	48.393%	33
	Independent	-	-	-	-	-	-	438,689	0.556%	24
	Libertarian Party	-	-	-	-	-	-	1,036,684	1.315%	22
	Constitution Party	-	-	-	-	-	-	100,603	0.218%	8
	Independence Party	-	-	-	-	-	-	183,764	0.233%	2
	Green Party	-	-	-	-	-	-	652,329	0.827%	8
	Reform Party	-	-	-	-	-	-	188,930	0.240%	8
	Socialist Workers Party	-	-	-	-	-	-	15,996	0.020%	2
	Other parties	-	-	-	-	-	-	259,183	0.033%	12
	Write-in	-	-	-	-	-	-	8,518	0.001%	-
Total		34	34	66	100	100	-	78,191,797	100.0%	153
Source: Election Statistics - Office of the Clerk

¹ Totals do not include participating voters who declined to cast a vote for U.S. Senate. Candidates in the Georgia Special Election to fill the seat of deceased Senator Paul Coverdell were required to be non-partisan. However, Zell Miller and Mack Mattingly were added to the Democratic and Republican columns respectively and all the other candidates were added to the Independent column.

[edit] Senate contests in 2000

Bold = Winning candidate
Blue = Democratic Gain
Red = Republican Gain
Gray = Retiring Senator

State	Incumbent	Party	Status	Opposing Candidates
Arizona	Jon Kyl	Republican	Re-elected, 79.3%	William Toel (Independent) 7.8% Vance Hansen (Green) 7.8% Barry Hess (Libertarian) 5.1%
California	Dianne Feinstein	Democratic	Re-elected, 55.8%	Tom Campbell (Republican) 36.6% Medea Benjamin (Green) 3.1% Gail Lightfoot (Libertarian) 1.8% Diane Beall Templin (American Independent) 1.3% Jose Camahort (Reform) 0.9% Brian M. Rees (Natural Law) 0.6%
Connecticut	Joe Lieberman	Democratic	Re-elected, 63.2%	Philip Giordano (Republican) 34.1% William Kozak (Concerned Citizens) 2% Wildey J. Moore (Libertarian) 0.7%
Delaware	William V. Roth, Jr.	Republican	Defeated, 43.7%	Thomas R. Carper (Democrat) 55.5% Mark Dankof (Constitution) 0.3% J. Burke Morrison (Libertarian) 0.3% Robert Mattson (Natural Law) 0.2%
Florida	Connie Mack	Republican	Retired, Democratic victory	Bill Nelson (Democrat) 51% Bill McCollum (Republican) 46.2% Willie Logan (Independent) 1.4% Joe Simonetta (Natural Law) 0.4% Darrell L. McCormick (Independent) 0.4% Joel Deckard (Reform) 0.3% Andy Martin (Independent) 0.3%
Georgia¹	Zell Miller	Democratic	Re-elected, 58%	Mack Mattingly (Republican) 38%
Hawaii	Daniel Akaka	Democratic	Re-elected, 72.7%	John Carroll (Republican) 24.5% Lauri Clegg (Natural Law) 1.2% Lloyd Jeffrey Mallan (Libertarian) 0.9% David Porter (Constitution) 0.7%
Indiana	Richard Lugar	Republican	Re-elected, 66.5%	David Johnson (Democrat) 31.9% Paul Hager (Libertarian) 1.6%
Maine	Olympia Snowe	Republican	Re-elected, 68.9%	Mark Lawrence (Democrat) 31.1%
Maryland	Paul Sarbanes	Democratic	Re-elected, 63.2%	Paul Rappaport (Republican) 36.7%
Massachusetts	Ted Kennedy	Democrat	Re-elected, 72.9%	Jack E. Robinson III (Republican) 12.9% Carla Howell (Libertarian) 11.9% Philip Lawler (Constitution) 11.9% Dale Friedgen (Independent) 0.5%
Michigan	Spencer Abraham	Republican	Defeated, 47.9%	Debbie Stabenow (Democrat) 49.4% Matthew Abel (Green) 0.9% Michael Corliss (Libertarian) 0.7% Mark Forton (Reform) 0.6% John Mangopoulos (U.S. Taxpayers) 0.3% William Quarton (Natural Law) 0.1%
Minnesota	Rod Grams	Republican	Defeated, 43.3%	Mark Dayton (Democrat) 48.8% James Gibson (Independence) 5.8% David Daniels (Grassroots) 0.9% Rebecca Ellis (Socialist Workers) 0.5% David Swan (Constitution) 0.4% Erik D. Pakieser (Libertarian) 0.3%
Mississippi	Trent Lott	Republican	Re-elected, 65.9%	Troy Brown (Democrat) 31.6% Jim Giles (Independent) 0.9% Lewis Napper (Libertarian) 0.9% Shawn O'Hara (Reform) 0.7%
Missouri	John Ashcroft	Republican	Defeated, 48.4%	Mel Carnahan³ (Democrat) 50.4% Evaline Taylor (Green) 0.5% Grant Samuel Stauffer (Libertarian) 0.4% Hugh Foley (Reform) 0.2% Charles Dockins (Natural Law) 0.1%
Montana	Conrad Burns	Republican	Re-elected, 50.6%	Brian Schweitzer (Democrat) 47.2% Gary Lee (Reform) 2.2%
Nebraska	Bob Kerrey	Democratic	Retired: Democratic victory	Ben Nelson (Democrat) 51% Don Stenberg (Republican) 48.8%
Nevada	Richard Bryan	Democratic	Retired: Republican victory	John Ensign (Republican) 55.1% Edward M. Bernstein (Democrat) 39.7% None of These Candidates 1.9% Kathy Rusco (Green) 1.7% J.J. Johnson (Libertarian) 0.9% Ernie Berghof (Independent American) 0.4% Bill Grutzmacher (Citizens First) 0.3%
New Jersey	Frank Lautenberg	Democratic	Retired: Democratic victory	Jon Corzine (Democrat) 50.1% Bob Franks (Republican) 47.1% Bruce Afran (Green) 1.1% Pat DiNizio (Reform) 0.6% Emerson Ellett (Libertarian) 0.2% Dennis A. Breen (Independent) 0.2% J.M. Carter (Trust in God) 0.2% Lorraine LaNeve (NJ Conservative) 0.1% Gregory Pason (Socialist) 0.1% Nancy Rosenstock (Socialist Workers) 0.1% George Gostigian (God Bless Jersey) 0.1%
New Mexico	Jeff Bingaman	Democratic	Re-elected, 61.7%	William T. Redmond (Republican) 38.3%
New York	Daniel Patrick Moynihan	Democratic	Retired: Democratic victory	Hillary Rodham Clinton (Democrat) 55% Rick Lazio (Republican) 43% Jeffrey E. Graham (Independence) 0.6% Mark J. Dunau (Green) 0.6% John O. Adefope (Right To Life) 0.3% John Clifton (Libertarian) 0.1% Louis Wein (Constitution) 0.1% Jacob Perasso (Socialist Workers) 0.1%
North Dakota	Kent Conrad	Democratic	Re-elected, 61.4%	Duane Sand (Republican) 38.6%
Ohio	Mike DeWine	Republican	Re-elected, 59.9%	Ted Celeste (Democrat) 35.9% John McAlister (Libertarian) 2.6% John Eastman (Natural Law) 1.6%
Pennsylvania	Rick Santorum	Republican	Re-elected, 52.4%	Ron Klink (Democrat) 45.5% John Featherman (Libertarian) 1% Lester Searer (Constitution) 0.6% Robert Domske (Reform) 0.5%
Rhode Island²	Lincoln Chafee	Republican	Re-elected, 56.8%	Robert Weygand (Democrat) 41.1% Christopher Young (Reform) 1% Kenneth Proulx (Independent) 0.9%
Tennessee	Bill Frist	Republican	Re-elected, 65.1%	Jeff Clark (Democrat) 32.2% Tom Burrell (Green) 1.3% Charles F. Johnson (Independent) 0.5% Robert Watson (Independent) 0.4% David Jarrod Ownby (Independent) 0.2% Joel Kinstle (Independent) 0.2%
Texas	Kay Bailey Hutchison	Republican	Re-elected, 65%	Gene Kelly (Democrat) 32.3% Doug Sandage (Green) 1.5% Mary Ruwart (Libertarian) 1.1%
Utah	Orrin Hatch	Republican	Re-elected, 65.6%	Scott Howell (Democrat) 31.5% Carlton Edward Bowen (Independent American) 1.6% Jim Dexter (Libertarian) 1.4%
Vermont	Jim Jeffords	Republican	Re-elected, 65.6%	Ed Flanagan (Democrat) 25.4% Charles W. Russell (Constitution) 3.5% Rick Hubbard (Independent) 1.9% Billy Greer (Vermont Grassroots) 1.7% Hugh Douglas (Libertarian) 1.3% Jerry Levy (Liberty Union) 0.5%
Virginia	Chuck Robb	Democratic	Defeated, 47.7%	George Allen (Republican) 52.3%
Washington	Slade Gorton	Republican	Defeated, 48.6%	Maria Cantwell (Democrat) 48.7% Jeff Jared (Libertarian) 2.6%
West Virginia	Robert Byrd	Democratic	Re-elected, 77.7%	David Gallaher (Republican) 20.2% Joe Whelan (Libertarian) 2.1%
Wisconsin	Herb Kohl	Democratic	Re-elected, 61.5%	John Gillespie (Republican) 37% Tim Peterson (Libertarian) 0.8% Eugene A. Hem (Independent) 0.4% Robert R. Raymond (Constitution) 0.2%
Wyoming	Craig L. Thomas	Republican	Re-elected, 73.7%	Mel Logan (Democrat) 22% Margaret Dawson (Libertarian) 4.2%

¹ special election held due to death of Paul Coverdell (R-Ga.) -- next regular election held in 2004.
² Chafee had been appointed on November 2, 1999, following the death of his father, John Chafee (R-R.I.).
³ Mel Carnahan was deceased at the time of the election; his wife Jean would eventually be appointed.