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 2000 United States Senate election was held on November 7, 2000. The elections coincided with other federal and state elections, including the United States presidential election of 2000. 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 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

D1	D2	D3	D4	D5	D6	D7	D8	D9	D10
D20	D19	D18	D17	D16	D15	D14	D13	D12	D11
D21	D22	D23	D24	D25	D26	D27	D28	D29	D30
D40	D39	D38	D37	D36	D35	D34	D33	D32	D31
D41	D42	D43	D44	D45	D46	R54	R53	R52	R51
Majority→
R41	R42	R43	R44	R45	R46	R47	R48	R49	R50
R40	R39	R38	R37	R36	R35	R34	R33	R32	R31
R21	R22	R23	R24	R25	R26	R27	R28	R29	R30
R20	R19	R18	R17	R16	R15	R14	R13	R12	R11
R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	R9	R10

Beginning of the next Congress

January 3, 2001: Beginning of Congress

D1	D2	D3	D4	D5	D6	D7	D8	D9	D10
D20	D19	D18	D17	D16	D15	D14	D13	D12	D11
D21	D22	D23	D24	D25	D26	D27	D28	D29	D30
D40 √	D39 √	D38 √	D37 √	D36 √	D35 √	D34 √	D33 √	D32 √	D31
D41 √	D42 O	D43 O	D44 O	D45 +	D46 +	D47 +	D48 +	D49 +	D50 +
Majority (with Vice President Gore's vote)→
R41	R42	R43	R44	R45	R46	R47	R48	R49	R50
R40	R39	R38	R37	R36	R35	R34	R33	R32	R31
R21	R22	R23	R24	R25	R26	R27	R28	R29	R30
R20	R19	R18	R17	R16	R15	R14	R13	R12	R11
R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	R9	R10

January 20, 2001: Inauguration of Vice President Cheney

D1	D2	D3	D4	D5	D6	D7	D8	D9	D10
D20	D19	D18	D17	D16	D15	D14	D13	D12	D11
D21	D22	D23	D24	D25	D26	D27	D28	D29	D30
D40	D39	D38	D37	D36	D35	D34	D33	D32	D31
D41	D42	D43	D44	D45	D46	D47	D48	D49	D50
Majority (with Vice President Cheney's vote)→									R50
R41	R42	R43	R44	R45	R46	R47	R48	R49
R40	R39	R38	R37	R36	R35	R34	R33	R32	R31
R21	R22	R23	R24	R25	R26	R27	R28	R29	R30
R20	R19	R18	R17	R16	R15	R14	R13	R12	R11
R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	R9	R10

Key:	D# Democratic R# Republican		√ Incumbent re-elected or appointee elected to finish term O Party hold: New senator elected from same party + Party gain: New senator elected from different party

Complete list of races

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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 80-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 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 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.

Results summary

Summary of the 2000 United States Senate election results

Parties		Breakdown			Total Seats			Popular Vote		Total Candidates
		Up	Elected	Not Up	1998	2000	+/-	Vote	%	General^1
	Democratic Party	15	19	31	46	50	+4	36,780,875	47.039%	33
	Republican Party	19	15	35	54	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	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.

Complete list of contests

State	Incumbent	Party	Results	Candidates
Arizona	Jon Kyl	Republican	Re-elected	Jon Kyl (Republican) 79.3% William Toel (Independent) 7.8% Vance Hansen (Green) 7.8% Barry Hess (Libertarian) 5.1%
California	Dianne Feinstein	Democratic	Re-elected	Dianne Feinstein (Democratic) 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	Joe Lieberman (Democratic) 63.2% Philip Giordano (Republican) 34.1% William Kozak (Concerned Citizens) 2% Wildey J. Moore (Libertarian) 0.7%
Delaware	William V. Roth, Jr.	Republican	Lost re-election Democratic gain	Thomas R. Carper (Democratic) 55.5% William V. Roth, Jr. (Republican) 43.7% Mark Dankof (Constitution) 0.3% J. Burke Morrison (Libertarian) 0.3% Robert Mattson (Natural Law) 0.2%
Florida	Connie Mack	Republican	Retired Democratic gain	Bill Nelson (Democratic) 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% Nikki Oldaker (Independent) 0.1%
Georgia Class 3: Special	Zell Miller (appointee)	Democratic	Elected to finish term	Zell Miller (Democratic) 58% Mack Mattingly (Republican) 38%
Hawaii	Daniel Akaka	Democratic	Re-elected	Daniel Akaka (Democratic) 72.7% John S. 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	Richard Lugar (Republican) 66.5% David Johnson (Democratic) 31.9% Paul Hager (Libertarian) 1.6%
Maine	Olympia Snowe	Republican	Re-elected	Olympia Snowe (Republican) 68.9% Mark Lawrence (Democratic) 31.1%
Maryland	Paul Sarbanes	Democratic	Re-elected	Paul Sarbanes (Democratic) 63.2% Paul Rappaport (Republican) 36.7%
Massachusetts	Ted Kennedy	Democratic	Re-elected	Ted Kennedy (Democratic) 72.9% Jack E. Robinson III (Republican) 12.9% Carla Howell (Libertarian) 11.9% Philip F. Lawler (Constitution) 1.62% Dale Friedgen (Independent) 0.5%
Michigan	Spencer Abraham	Republican	Lost re-election Democratic gain	Debbie Stabenow (Democratic) 49.4% Spencer Abraham (Republican) 47.9% 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	Lost re-election Democratic gain	Mark Dayton (Democratic) 48.8% Rod Grams (Republican) 43.3% 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	Trent Lott (Republican) 65.9% Troy Brown (Democratic) 31.6% Jim Giles (Independent) 0.9% Lewis Napper (Libertarian) 0.9% Shawn O'Hara (Reform) 0.7%
Missouri	John Ashcroft	Republican	Lost re-election Democratic gain	Mel Carnahan (Democratic) 50.4% John Ashcroft (Republican) 48.4% 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	Conrad Burns (Republican) 50.6% Brian Schweitzer (Democratic) 47.2% Gary Lee (Reform) 2.2%
Nebraska	Bob Kerrey	Democratic	Retired Democratic hold	Ben Nelson (Democratic) 51% Don Stenberg (Republican) 48.8%
Nevada	Richard Bryan	Democratic	Retired Republican gain	John Ensign (Republican) 55.1% Edward M. Bernstein (Democratic) 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 hold	Jon Corzine (Democratic) 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	Jeff Bingaman (Democratic) 61.7% William T. Redmond (Republican) 38.3%
New York	Daniel Patrick Moynihan	Democratic	Retired Democratic hold	Hillary Rodham Clinton (Democratic) 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	Kent Conrad (Democratic) 61.4% Duane Sand (Republican) 38.6%
Ohio	Mike DeWine	Republican	Re-elected	Mike DeWine (Republican) 59.9% Ted Celeste (Democratic) 35.9% John McAlister (Libertarian) 2.6% John Eastman (Natural Law) 1.6%
Pennsylvania	Rick Santorum	Republican	Re-elected	Rick Santorum (Republican) 52.4% Ron Klink (Democratic) 45.5% John Featherman (Libertarian) 1% Lester Searer (Constitution) 0.6% Robert Domske (Reform) 0.5%
Rhode Island	Lincoln Chafee (appointee)	Republican	Elected to full term	Lincoln Chafee (Republican) 56.8% Robert Weygand (Democratic) 41.1% Christopher Young (Reform) 1% Kenneth Proulx (Independent) 0.9%
Tennessee	Bill Frist	Republican	Re-elected	Bill Frist (Republican) 65.1% Jeff Clark (Democratic) 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	Kay Bailey Hutchison (Republican) 65% Gene Kelly (Democratic) 32.3% Doug Sandage (Green) 1.5% Mary Ruwart (Libertarian) 1.1%
Utah	Orrin Hatch	Republican	Re-elected	Orrin Hatch (Republican) 65.6% Scott Howell (Democratic) 31.5% Carlton Edward Bowen (Independent American) 1.6% Jim Dexter (Libertarian) 1.4%
Vermont	Jim Jeffords	Republican	Re-elected	Jim Jeffords (Republican) 65.6% Ed Flanagan (Democratic) 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	Lost re-election Republican gain	George Allen (Republican) 52.3% Chuck Robb (Democratic) 47.7%
Washington	Slade Gorton	Republican	Lost re-election Democratic gain	Maria Cantwell (Democratic) 48.7% Slade Gorton (Republican) 48.6% Jeff Jared (Libertarian) 2.6%
West Virginia	Robert Byrd	Democratic	Re-elected	Robert Byrd (Democratic) 77.7% David T. Gallaher (Republican) 20.2% Joe Whelan (Libertarian) 2.1%
Wisconsin	Herb Kohl	Democratic	Re-elected	Herb Kohl (Democratic) 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	Craig L. Thomas (Republican) 73.7% Mel Logan (Democratic) 22% Margaret Dawson (Libertarian) 4.2%

See also

• 107th United States Congress
• United States presidential election, 2000
• United States House elections, 2000

External links

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