United States Senate elections, 2000
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The U.S. Senate election, 2000 was an election for United States Senate which coincided with the election of George W. Bush as president. It was a fiercely-contested race 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 been swept into the Senate in the elections of 1994, and most of the races which were considered to be in play were won by 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 left the Senate a 50-50 tie between Republicans and Democrats, which meant Republicans could control the chamber with the tie-breaking vote of the new Vice President Richard B. Cheney. But before Cheney took the vice presidency on January 20, after the new senators took office on January 3, Al Gore was still the vice president, which means that the Democrats had the majority during that time. This state of affairs lasted until Jim Jeffords of Vermont, who left the Republican party, became an independent caucusing with the Democrats.
Results summary
| Parties | Breakdown | Total Seats | Popular Vote | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Up | Elected | Not Up | 1998 | '''2000 | align="center" | Vote | % | ||
| Republican Party | 19 | 15 | 35 | 54 | 50 | valign="top" | |||
| 37,306,611 | 49.78% | ||||||||
| Democratic Party | 15 | 19 | 31 | 46 | 50 | valign="top" | 37,628,637 | 50.22% | |
| Total | 34 | 34 | 66 | 100 | 100 | - | 100.0% | ||
| Source: [Election Statistics - Office of the Clerk] | |||||||||
Senate contests in 2000
| State | Incumbent | Party | Status | Opposing Candidates |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arizona | Jon Kyl | Republican | Re-elected, 79 - 8 - 5 | Vance Hansen (Green) Barry Hess (Libertarian) |
| California | Dianne Feinstein | Democrat | Re-elected, 56 - 37 | Tom Campbell (Republican) |
| Connecticut | Joe Lieberman | Democrat | Re-elected, 63 - 34 | Phil Giordano (Republican) |
| Delaware | William Roth | Republican | Defeated, 56 - 44 | Thomas R. Carper (Democrat) |
| Florida | Connie Mack | Republican | Retired, Democratic victory, 51 - 46 | Bill Nelson (Democrat) Bill McCollum (Republican) |
| Georgia1 | Zell Miller | Democrat | Re-elected, 58 - 38 | Mack Mattingly (Republican) |
| Hawaii | Daniel Akaka | Democrat | Re-elected, 73 - 25 | John Carroll (Republican) |
| Indiana | Dick Lugar | Republican | Re-elected, 67 - 32 | David Johnson (Democrat) |
| Maine | Olympia Snowe | Republican | Re-elected, 69 - 31 | Mark Lawrence (Democrat) |
| Maryland | Paul Sarbanes | Democrat | Re-elected, 63 - 37 | Paul Rappaport (Republican) |
| Massachusetts | Ted Kennedy | Democrat | Re-elected, 73 - 13 - 12 | Jack E Robinson III (Republican) Carla Howell (Libertarian) |
| Michigan | Spencer Abraham | Republican | Defeated, 50 - 48 | Debbie Stabenow (Democrat) |
| Minnesota | Rod Grams | Republican | Defeated, 49 - 43 | Mark Dayton (Democrat) |
| Mississippi | Trent Lott | Republican | Re-elected, 66 - 32 | Troy Brown (Democrat) |
| Missouri | John Ashcroft | Republican | Defeated, 51 - 48 | Mel Carnahan (Democrat) |
| Montana | Conrad Burns | Republican | Re-elected, 51 - 47 | Brian Schweitzer (Democrat) |
| Nebraska | Bob Kerrey | Democrat | Retired: Democratic victory, 51 - 49 | Ben Nelson (Democrat) Don Stenberg (Republican) |
| Nevada | Richard Bryan | Democrat | Retired: Republican victory, 55 - 40 | John Ensign (Republican) Ed Bernstein (Democrat) |
| New Jersey | Frank Lautenberg | Democrat | Retired: Democratic victory, 50 - 47 | Jon Corzine (Democrat) Bob Franks (Republican) |
| New Mexico | Jeff Bingaman | Democrat | Re-elected, 62 - 38 | Bill Redmond (Republican) |
| New York | Daniel Patrick Moynihan | Democrat | Retired: Democratic victory, 55 - 43 | Hillary Clinton (Democrat) Rick Lazio (Republican) |
| North Dakota | Kent Conrad | Democrat | Re-elected, 61 - 38 | Duane Sand (Republican) |
| Ohio | R. Michael DeWine | Republican | Re-elected, 60 - 36 | Ted Celeste (Democrat) |
| Pennsylvania | Rick Santorum | Republican | Re-elected, 52 - 46 | Ron Klink (Democrat) |
| Rhode Island2 | Lincoln Chafee | Republican | Re-elected, 57 - 41 | Robert Weygand (Democrat) |
| Tennessee | Bill Frist | Republican | Re-elected, 65 - 32 | Jeff Clark (Democrat) |
| Texas | Kay Bailey Hutchison | Republican | Re-elected, 65 - 32 | Gene Kelly (Democrat) |
| Utah | Orrin G. Hatch | Republican | Re-elected, 66 - 32 | Scott Howell (Democrat) |
| Vermont | Jim Jeffords | Republican | Re-elected, 66 - 25 | Ed Flanagan (Democrat) |
| Virginia | Chuck Robb | Democrat | Defeated, 52 - 48 | George F. Allen (Republican) |
| Washington | Slade Gorton | Republican | Defeated, 49 - 49 | Maria Cantwell (Democrat) |
| West Virginia | Robert Byrd | Democrat | Re-elected, 78 - 20 | David Gallaher (Republican) |
| Wisconsin | Herb Kohl | Democrat | Re-elected, 62 - 37 | John Gillespie (Republican) |
| Wyoming | Craig Thomas | Republican | Re-elected, 74 - 23 | Mel Logan (Democrat) |
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.).
See also
- U.S. presidential election, 2000
- U.S. House election, 2000
- New York United States Senate election, 2000
Senate composition before and after elections
| 106th Congress Senate Composition | 107th Congress Senate Composition | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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