United States Senate elections, 2000

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United States Senate elections, 2000
Class I (34 of the 100) seats in the United States Senate
November 7, 2000
		Majority party	Minority party
Leader		Trent Lott	Tom Daschle
Party		Republican	Democratic
Leader's seat		Mississippi	South Dakota
Last election		54 seats	46 seats
Seats won		50 Control through the tie-breaking vote of Vice President-elect Dick Cheney	50 Control through the tie-breaking vote of Vice President Al Gore for only 17 days
Seat change		-4	+4
Popular vote		37,645,909	38,164,089
Percentage		47.7	48.3%
Swing		+0.9%	-1.2%
Republican hold     Republican pickups     Democratic hold     Democratic pickup
Incumbent Majority Leader Trent Lott Republican Majority Leader-elect Tom Daschle Democratic

In 2000, elections for one-third of the seats in the United States Senate occurred (they 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 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 the new Vice President Richard B. Cheney on January 20th. The small Republican Majority would last until May 24, 2001 when Republican Senator Jim Jeffords of Vermont left the Republican Party and became an Independent who chose to caucus with the Democrats. The Republicans won back the Senate in the 2002 Midterm elections.

Notable races

Democratic gains

• Delaware: Five-term incumbent Sen. William V. Roth, Jr. (R-DE) was defeated by outgoing Governor Thomas R. Carper (D-DE). 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" referred to Gorton's "Time for a change" slogan he used when running against Warren G. Magnuson in 1980.

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.

Democratic holds

• Nebraska: Former 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.

Republican holds

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

Results summary

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.

Senate contests in 2000

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

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.

See also

• United States presidential election, 2000
• United States House elections, 2000
• New York United States Senate election, 2000
• United States Senate elections, 1998
• United States Senate elections, 2002

Senate composition before and after elections

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