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Republicans keep control of Senate and Congress

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November 9, 2000 

WASHINGTON (AP) - Republicans retained their hold on the Senate and House early Wednesday by the slimmest of margins, barely turning back a ferocious, well-financed Democratic bid to gain a majority.

Remarkably, joining first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton in the Senate winners' circle was Jean Carnahan, widow of Missouri Democratic Gov. Mel Carnahan, killed last month in a plane crash. Outpolling Republican Sen. John Ashcroft, she said she will accept the job for her late husband.

Some Republicans have said they might challenge the Carnahan victory, asserting that the late governor was no longer a state resident.

With winners declared in 33 of the 34 races at stake, Republicans will have at least a 50-48 margin in the Senate. For the Democrats, that was more than enough to use the minority's power to wreak havoc with the Republican's legislative agenda by forcing procedural delays.

Republicans would maintain control in case of a 50-50 split, no matter who wins the White House. A Republican vice president, in his role as president of the Senate, would break a tie. Joseph Lieberman's re-election to a third term actually gave Democrats 49 seats, but he would have to resign if elected vice president, leaving Connecticut's Republican governor to name a GOP replacement.

Republicans held 220 of the 435 House seats and Democrats were holding 211 seats and leading in one other - a trend that would give them a net pickup of two. Two independents, one reliably siding with each party, won their re-election bids. Two races were still undecided at 1330 GMT.

With Republicans retaining narrow control of the House, Senate Democrats - with their constitutional ability to filibuster or delay bills with just 41 votes - loomed as perhaps their party's best roadblock to Republican initiatives in Congress. But the Republican majority of 54-46 will become 52-48 in the next Congress at best.

Holding the majority would give Republicans their first eight-year stretch of Senate supremacy since the 1932 elections ended 14 years of unbroken Republican control.

Of the 29 incumbents seeking re-election in the Senate, three others besides Ashcroft were toppled by early Wednesday: veteran Democratic Sen. Charles Robb of Virginia and Republican Sens. Rod Grams of Minnesota and William Roth of Delaware.

Roth, 79, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, lost his bid for a sixth term to Delaware Democratic Gov. Thomas Carper. Roth's age had become a factor in the race after he stumbled twice publicly.

Republican George Allen, the former governor of Virginia, ousted Robb after two terms in the Senate. Robb, son-in-law of President Lyndon Johnson, was the last Democrat holding statewide office in the Republican-leaning state.

In Minnesota, department store heir Mark Dayton used millions of dollars of his own money to defeat the conservative Grams, who served a low-profile single term and was beset by a divorce and other personal problems.

Mrs. Clinton's bitter battle against Rick Lazio, the upstart four-term congressman from Long Island, became a contest that drew donors from across the country in what was partly an emotional proxy referendum on Bill Clinton and his presidency.

Democrats got a boost in New Jersey where Democrat Jon Corzine, after spending more than dlrs 60 million of his own fortune, held onto a seat vacated by Democratic Sen. Frank Lautenberg.

Former Democratic Nebraska Gov. Ben Nelson won the seat vacated by retiring Sen. Bob Kerrey, his fellow Democrat.

In Florida, Democrat Bill Nelson, the state's insurance commissioner, won the seat of Republican Sen. Connie Mack, who is retiring. Nelson defeated Republican Rep. Bill McCollum.

But former Republican Rep. John Ensign nabbed the Nevada Senate seat vacated by the retirement of Democratic Sen. Richard Bryan. Ensign, who narrowly lost a 1998 Senate bid, easily defeated Democrat Ed Bernstein.

Of the undecided House seats, three were held by incumbents: Republicans Steve Kuykendall of California and Clay Shaw of Florida and Democrat Rush Holt of New Jersey. All were too close to call and some recounts were likely.

Topping the short incumbent casualty list was Republican Rep. James Rogan of California, one of the House managers in President Clinton's impeachment trial, who was defeated by Democrat Adam Schiff.

Republican incumbents Brian Bilbray of California and Jay Dickey of Arkansas and Democrats Sam Gejdenson of Connecticut and David Minge of Minnesota also were defeated in the House.

Besides their Connecticut victory, Republicans won Democratic open seats in Pennsylvania, New York, Virginia and Missouri. The victory by Shelley Moore Capito in West Virginia's 2nd District was the Republicans' first for the House in that state in 18 years.

The Democratic leader, Dick Gephardt of Missouri, won his 13th term, but fell agonizingly short to his goal of regaining the majority his party lost in 1994. Still, the Democrats could console themselves with some victories.

In Oklahoma, Democrat Brad Carson claimed an open seat that Republicans had won in their 1994 landslide. The incumbent, Rep. Tom Coburn, retired after adhering to a self-imposed limit of three terms.