United States Senate elections, 2000

United States Senate elections, 2000

1998 ← November 7, 2000 → 2002

Class I (33 of the 100) seats in the United States Senate and one mid-term vacancy from Class III 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 through the tie-breaking vote of Vice President Al Gore for only 17 days 50 Control through the tie-breaking vote of Vice President-elect Dick Cheney Seat change 4 4 Popular vote 36,780,875 36,725,431 Percentage 47.04% 46.96% Swing 2.5% 0.2%

Republican hold   Republican pickups   Democratic hold   Democratic pickup

Majority Leader before election Trent Lott Republican Elected Majority Leader 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 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 Bill 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 his widow, Jean Carnahan, to the seat if he won). The Republicans did defeat one incumbent, Chuck Robb (D-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 and became an Independent who chose to caucus with the Democrats. The Republicans won back the Senate in the 2002 Midterm elections.

Change in Senate composition

End of previous Congress D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D R R R R D D D D D D R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R

Beginning of the next Congress D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R

End of the next Congress D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D I I D D D D D D D D R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R R

Key:	D = Democratic R = Republican I = Independent V = Vacant	Majority divider

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 widow 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 428 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

Summary of the 2000 United States Senate election results

Parties		Breakdown			Total Seats			Popular Vote		Total Candidates
		Up	Elected	Not Up	1998	2000	+/-	Vote	%	General1
	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%

External links

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

See also

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