2000 United States Senate election in Washington

United States Senate election in Washington, 2000

November 7, 2000

Nominee Maria Cantwell Slade Gorton Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 1,199,437 1,197,208 Percentage 48.7% 48.6%

File:2000 Washington senate election map.png County results Cantwell   40-50%   50-60% Gorton   40-50%   50-60%   60-70%

U.S. senator before election Slade Gorton Republican Elected U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell Democratic

The 2000 United States Senate election in Washington was held on November 7, 2000. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Slade Gorton was seeking reelection to a third consecutive term (fourth overall), but was unseated for a second time (the first being 1986) by former Congresswoman Maria Cantwell.

Major candidates

Democratic

• Maria Cantwell, former U.S. Representative
• Deborah Senn, Washington State Insurance Commissioner

Republican

• Slade Gorton, incumbent U.S. Senator

General Election

Since Maria Cantwell had only won by 2,229 votes, an automatic recount was triggered. Cantwell won the recount, but it was still one of the closest elections in Washington State history. On November 17, 2000 Washington Secretary of State Sam Reed declared Cantwell the senator-elect.

Results

General election results

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Maria Elaine Cantwell	1,199,437	48.73%	+4.48%
	Republican	Slade Gorton (Incumbent)	1,197,208	48.64%	−7.11%
	Libertarian	Jeff Jared	64,734	2.63%	+2.6%
Majority			2,229
Turnout			2,461,379	100%	+761,206

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