United States Senate election in West Virginia, 1994

United States Senate election in West Virginia, 1994

November 7, 1994

Nominee Robert Byrd Stanley L. Klos Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 290,495 130,441 Percentage 69.0% 31.0%

Senator before election Robert Byrd Democratic Elected Senator Robert Byrd Democratic

The 1994 United States Senate election in West Virginia took place on November 7, 1994. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Robert Byrd won re-election to a seventh term. He won every county and congressional district in the state.^[1]

Candidates

Democratic

• Robert Byrd, incumbent U.S. Senator

Republican

• Stanley L. Klos, author, historian, and businessman

Campaign

Klos campaigned as a "sacrificial lamb" against Robert C. Byrd participating in the Republican U.S. Senatorial Committee’s strategy to re-capture a majority in the United States Senate in 1994. Byrd spent $1,550,354 to Klos' $267,165.^[2] Additionally the Democratic Party invested over $1 million in that State's U.S. Senatorial Campaign to the Republican Party's $15,000. The GOP captured a majority in the U.S. Senate. The highlights of the campaign included the hiring of an actor to play Robert C. Byrd who toured in staged Statewide Debates when the incumbent refused Klos's invitation for a series of formal Senatorial Debates. The campaign also organized successful demonstrations against the Bill and Hillary Clinton National Health Care Bus as it traveled through West Virginia in the summer of 1994. Senator Byrd, while the bill was being debated on the Senate floor rose suggesting the brakes be put on approving National Health Care measure while the bus was completing its tour in WV. To Klos's credit, the campaign did not implement the "Death by a Thousand Cuts" plan proposed by strategists which was later acknowledged in speeches given and letters written by U.S. Senator Byrd.^[3]

Results

General election results[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Robert Byrd (inc.)	290,495	69.0%
	Republican	Stan Klos	130,441	31.0%

References

1. http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=3456
2. US Senate 1994 Byrd (D) versus Klos (R)
3. Robert C. Byrd Letter to Stanley L. Klos October 31, 1997
4. http://www.nytimes.com/1994/11/09/us/the-1994-elections-the-senate-who-won-where-the-races-for-the-us-senate.html