United States Senate elections, 2000

United States Senate elections, 2000

November 7, 2000
Class 1 (33 of the 100) seats in the United States Senate and one mid-term vacancy from Class 3 51 seats needed for a majority
Majority party Minority party   Leader Tom Daschle Trent Lott Party Democratic Republican Leader's seat South Dakota Mississippi Last election 45 seats 55 seats Seats before 46 54 Seats won 50 Control, until January 20, 2001, through the tie-breaking vote of Vice President Al Gore 50 Control, starting January 20, 2001, through the tie-breaking vote of Vice President Dick Cheney Seat change 4 4 Popular vote 36,780,875 36,725,431 Percentage 47.04% 46.96% Swing 2.5% 0.2% Seats up 15 19
Democratic gain   Democratic hold   Republican hold   Republican gain
Majority Leader before election Trent Lott Republican Elected Majority Leader Tom Daschle Democratic

The United States Senate elections, 2000 was held on November 7, 2000. The elections coincided with other federal and state elections, including the presidential election which was won by Republican George W. Bush. It featured a number of fiercely contested elections that resulted in a victory for the Democratic Party, which gained a net total of four seats from the Republican Party. This election marked the first election year since 1988 where Democrats made net gains in the Senate.

This election took place six years after Republicans had won a net gain of eight seats in Senate Class 1 during the elections of 1994. Democrats defeated Republican senators Bill Roth (DE), Spencer Abraham (MI), Rod Grams (MN), John Ashcroft (MO), and Slade Gorton (WA), 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 Republicans did defeat one incumbent, Chuck Robb (VA), and won an open seat in Nevada.

The election resulted in an equal 50–50 split between Republicans and Democrats, meaning the Vice President would cast the tie-breaking votes in organizing the Senate. 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 at the beginning of the new term, on January 3, 2001. But the Republicans won control of the chamber with the tie-breaking vote of the new Vice President Dick Cheney on January 20. The Republican majority would last until June 6, 2001 when Republican Senator Jim Jeffords of Vermont left the Republican Party, became an independent, and chose to caucus with the Democrats.

Change in Senate composition

Before the elections

Beginning of the next Congress

January 20, 2001: Inauguration of Vice President Cheney

Results summary

Summary of the 2000 United States Senate election results

Parties		Breakdown			Total Seats		Popular Vote		Total Candidates
		Up	Elected	Not Up	2000	+/-	Vote	%	General1
	Democratic Party	15	19	31	50	4	36,780,875	47.039%	33
	Republican Party	19	15	35	50	4	36,725,431	46.968%	34
	Libertarian Party	-	-	-	-	-	1,036,684	1.326%	22
	Green Party	-	-	-	-	-	652,329	0.834%	8
	Independent	-	-	-	-	-	365,614	0.468%	24
	Constitution Party	-	-	-	-	-	286,816	0.367%	8
	Reform Party	-	-	-	-	-	190,509	0.244%	8
	Independence Party	-	-	-	-	-	183,764	0.235%	2
	Socialist Workers Party	-	-	-	-	-	15,996	0.020%	2
	Other parties	-	-	-	-	-	1,461,975	1.870%	12
	Write-in	-	-	-	-	-	324,295	0.415%	-
Total		34	34	66	100	-	78,191,797	100.0%	153
Source: Elections 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.

Race summary

Complete list of races

California

The heavily financed and popular Senator Dianne Feinstein (D) easily won re-election to her second full term defeating the underfunded and underdog candidate Representative Tom Campbell (R) by over 19 points. Campbell even lost his own congressional district by almost 15 points.

Delaware

Five-term incumbent William V. Roth, Jr. (R) 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 79-year-old Roth.

Florida

Incumbent Connie Mack III (R) retired after two terms. Former Congressman Bill Nelson (D) would defeat Rep. Bill McCollum (R) in a close race that was nevertheless overshadowed by the contentious presidential race in Florida.

Michigan

Incumbent Spencer Abraham (R) was unseated after one term by Rep. Debbie Stabenow (D). The contentious election was highlighted by a series of third party ads attacking Abraham's record on border security.

Minnesota

Incumbent Rod Grams (R) 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 incumbent John Ashcroft (R). Carnahan died in a plane crash three weeks before the election. His widow Jean received an interim appointment in her late husband's place.

Montana

Two-term incumbent Conrad Burns (R) faced a surprisingly tough challenge from his Democratic opponent, rancher and future governor Brian Schweitzer. Burns narrowly won re-election.

Nebraska

Former Governor Ben Nelson (D) narrowly defeated Attorney General Don Stenberg (R) for the seat of retiring incumbent Bob Kerrey (D). Nelson had lost his previous bid for the Senate in 1996 against incumbent Chuck Hagel (R).

Nevada

Former Congressman John Ensign (R) defeated Democratic attorney and talk show host Edward M. Bernstein for the seat of incumbent Richard Bryan (D). Ensign had come within 428 votes of unseating incumbent Harry Reid (D) in a Senate race two years earlier.

New York

The retirement of incumbent Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D) appeared to set up a showdown between First Lady Hillary 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 littleknown Congressman Rick Lazio (R), 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.

Virginia

Incumbent Chuck Robb (D) 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.

Washington

Incumbent Slade Gorton (R) was unseated for a second time by former Congresswoman Maria Cantwell (D). Cantwell's campaign slogan of "Your voice for a change" referred to Gorton's "Time for a change" slogan he used when running against Warren G. Magnuson in 1980.

See also

• United States elections, 2000
  • United States gubernatorial elections, 2000
  • United States presidential election, 2000
  • United States House of Representatives elections, 2000
• 106th United States Congress
• 107th United States Congress

External links

• United States Election 2000 Web Archive from the U.S. Library of Congress