Contents

2000 United States Senate elections

2000 United States Senate elections

← 1998 November 7, 2000 2002 →
34 of the 100 seats in the United States Senate 51[a] seats needed for a majority
Majority party Minority party   Leader Trent Lott Tom Daschle Party Republican Democratic Leader since June 12, 1996 January 3, 1995 Leader's seat Mississippi South Dakota Seats before 54 46 Seats after 50 + VP[b] 50[b] Seat change 4 4 Popular vote 36,725,431[c] 36,780,875[c] Percentage 46.96% 47.04% Seats up 19 15 Races won 15 19
Results of the elections:      Democratic gain      Democratic hold      Republican gain      Republican hold      No election
Majority leader before election Trent Lott Republican Elected Majority leader Trent Lott[d] Republican

The 2000 United States Senate elections were held on November 7, 2000. The elections coincided with other federal and state elections, including the presidential election which was won by Republican George W. Bush. These elections took place six years after Republicans had won a net gain of eight seats in Senate Class 1. Despite George W. Bush's victory in the presidential election, the GOP lost 4 senate seats, the most a winning president's party has lost since the passage of the 17th amendment. This election marked the first election year since 1990 where Democrats made net gains in the Senate. Democrats defeated incumbent Republicans in Delaware, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, and Washington, and they won an open seat in Florida. In Missouri, the winner was elected posthumously. The Republicans defeated a Democratic incumbent in Virginia, and won an open seat in Nevada. Additionally, a Republican in Georgia died earlier in the year and a Democrat was appointed to replace him, who then went on to win the special election.

These elections resulted in an equal 50–50 split between Republicans and Democrats, with the Vice President casting the tie-breaking votes in the Senate. This was the second tied Senate, after the results in the 1880 elections. Democrats thereby won control of the Senate briefly 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. The Republicans regained control of the chamber when the new Vice President Dick Cheney was inaugurated on January 20. However, the Republican majority would only last until June 6, 2001, when Republican Senator Jim Jeffords of Vermont became an independent and caucused with the Democrats.

Until 2020, this was the last time that Democrats would win a Senate seat in Georgia. This is the last election cycle with only Republicans and Democrats in the Senate, and the last election cycle in which Republicans won seats in Rhode Island and Vermont.

Results summary[edit]

Summary of the 2000 United States Senate election results

Parties		Breakdown			Total seats		Popular vote		Total candidates
		Up	Elected	Not up	2000	+/-	Vote	%	General[e]
	Democratic Party	15	19	31	50	4	36,780,875[c]	47.039%	33
	Republican Party	19	15	35	50	4	36,725,431[c]	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	-	78,191,797	100.0%	153

Source: Clerk of the House of Representatives (June 21, 2001). "Statistics of the Presidential and Congressional Election of November 7, 2000" – via House.gov.

Change in composition[edit]

Before the elections[edit]

After the July 27, 2000, appointment in Georgia.

After the elections[edit]

Beginning of the first session[edit]

Gains and losses[edit]

Retirements[edit]

One Republican and four Democrats retired instead of seeking re-election. John Chafee of Rhode Island had previously announced his intent to retire at the end of his term, however, he died in office on October 24, 1999.

Defeats[edit]

One Democrat and five Republicans sought re-election but lost in the general election.

Post-election changes[edit]

One Democratic senator-elect died on October 16, 2000, having been elected posthumously, and was replaced by a Democrat.

Race summary[edit]

Special elections during the previous Congress[edit]

In this special election, the winner was seated between January 1, 2000, and January 2, 2001.

Elections to the next Congress[edit]

In these general elections, the winners were elected for the term beginning January 3, 2001.

All of the elections involved the Class 1 seats.

Closest races[edit]

In ten races the margin of victory was under 10%

Arizona[edit]

Arizona election

← 1994 2006 →

Nominee Jon Kyl William Toel Party Republican Independent Popular vote 1,101,196 109,230 Percentage 79.3% 7.8%   Nominee Vance Hansen Barry Hess Party Green Libertarian Popular vote 108,926 70,724 Percentage 7.8% 5.1%

County results Kyl:      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%

U.S. senator before election Jon Kyl Republican Elected U.S. senator Jon Kyl Republican

Incumbent Republican Jon Kyl won re-election to a second term, as no candidate was nominated from the Democratic Party.^[2] Independent Bill Toel,^[3] Green party nominee Vance Hansen, and Libertarian party nominee Barry Hess each got more than 5% of the vote, a strong third party performance.

California[edit]

California election

← 1994 2006 →

Nominee Dianne Feinstein Tom Campbell Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 5,932,522 3,886,853 Percentage 55.84% 36.59%

County results Feinstein:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80% Campbell:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%

U.S. senator before election Dianne Feinstein Democratic Elected U.S. senator Dianne Feinstein Democratic

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.

Primary election results:

Despite touting his service as a moderate Republican representing a strongly Democratic district, Campbell was underfunded and a decided underdog against the popular, heavily financed Feinstein. By February, he spent barely $1 million without any PAC money.^[4] Campbell has generally supported gay rights and abortion. He also opposes the War on Drugs and calls himself a "maverick", similar to U.S. senator John McCain.^[5] Campbell was badly defeated, losing by over 19 points.

Connecticut[edit]

Connecticut election

← 1994 2006 →

Nominee Joe Lieberman Philip Giordano Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 828,902 448,077 Percentage 63.2% 34.2%

County results Municipality results Lieberman:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90% Giordano:      50–60%

U.S. senator before election Joe Lieberman Democratic Elected U.S. senator Joe Lieberman Democratic

Incumbent Democrat Joe Lieberman won re-election to a third term over Republican Philip Giordano, Mayor of Waterbury and former State Representative. While running for re-election, he was also Al Gore's running mate in the 2000 presidential campaign. With Gore losing the presidency to George W. Bush, Lieberman returned to the Senate and remained there for another 13 years, when he retired. Had the Gore–Lieberman ticket won, Lieberman would have become U.S. Vice President and forced to resign his Senate seat, which would have led to a 2002 special election. It would also have led Republican Governor John G. Rowland to temporarily appoint an interim replacement.^[6]

Lieberman, a very popular^[7] centrist^[8] incumbent, focused on his vice presidential campaign. He refused to show up at the debates.^[9] Giordano was a heavy underdog, as he was ignored by the press and as he debated alone.^[10]

Delaware[edit]

Delaware election

← 1994 2006 →

Nominee Tom Carper William Roth Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 181,566 142,891 Percentage 55.5% 43.7%

County results Carper:      60–70% Roth:      50–60%

U.S. senator before election William Roth Republican Elected U.S. senator Tom Carper Democratic

Incumbent Republican William Roth ran for re-election to a sixth term, but was defeated by Governor Tom Carper.

For 16 years the same four people had held the four major statewide positions. Because of term limits on the Governor's position Thomas Carper could not run again. Both he and U.S. Representative Michael Castle wanted to be U.S. senator. Roth would not retire, and fellow Republican Castle decided against a primary.

Roth, 79, was in the U.S. Senate for 30 years. He was the Chairman of the Finance Committee. Carper, 53, was a popular Governor and former U.S. Congressman of Delaware's At-large congressional district, who announced his major candidacy against Roth back in September 1999.^[12] Both candidates were moderates. Roth was one of the few Republicans to vote for the Brady Bill. Although Roth started the campaign with a 2-to-1 spending advantage, Carper went into the final month with more than $1 million on hand.^[13] In a contest between two popular and respected politicians, the issue seemed to be Roth's age versus Carper's relative youth.

Carper defeated Roth by over ten points. However, Roth received more votes than Presidential candidate George W. Bush, suggesting the strength of the Democratic turnout was a boon to Carper's candidacy and a key element of his victory. Many consider Roth's defeat due to his age and health, as he collapsed twice during the campaign, once in the middle of a television interview and once during a campaign event.^[14][15][16]

Florida[edit]

2000 United States Senate election in Florida

← 1994 November 7, 2000 2006 →

Nominee Bill Nelson Bill McCollum Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 2,989,487 2,705,348 Percentage 51.04% 46.19%

Nelson:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70% McCollum:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%

U.S. senator before election Connie Mack III Republican Elected U.S. Senator Bill Nelson Democratic

Incumbent Republican Connie Mack III decided to retire instead of seeking a third term. Democrat Bill Nelson, State Treasurer and former U.S. Representative, won the open seat over Republican Congressman Bill McCollum.