u.s. senate election, 2000

The U.S. Senate election, 2000 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 U.S. 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.), E. Spencer Abraham (R-Mich.), Rod Grams (R-Minn.), John D. Ashcroft (R-Mo.), and T. Slade Gorton III (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, Charles S. 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 20th, after the new senators took office on January 3rd, Al Gore was still the vice president, which means that the Democrats had the majority during that time. This state of affairs lasted until James M. Jeffords of Vermont, who left the Republican party, became an independent caucusing with the Democrats.

Senate contests in 2000

State	Incumbent	Party	Status	Opposing Candidates
Arizona	Jon L. Kyl	Republican	Re-elected, 79 - 8 - 5	Vance Hansen (Green) Barry Hess (Libertarian)
California	Dianne G. B. Feinstein	Democrat	Re-elected, 56 - 37	Tom Campbell (Republican)
Connecticut	Joseph I. Lieberman	Democrat	Re-elected, 63 - 34	Phil Giordano (Republican)
Delaware	William Roth	Republican	Defeated, 55 - 44	Thomas R. Carper (Democrat)
Florida	Connie Mack	Republican	Retired, Democratic victory, 51 - 46	C. William Nelson (Democrat) Bill McCollum (Republican)
Georgia¹	Zell B. Miller	Democrat	Re-elected, 58 - 38	Matt Mattingly (Republican)
Hawaii	Daniel K. Akaka	Democrat	Re-elected, 73 - 25	John Carroll (Republican)
Indiana	Richard G. Lugar	Republican	Re-elected, 67 - 32	David Johnson (Democrat)
Maine	Olympia J. Snowe	Republican	Re-elected, 69 - 31	Mark Lawrence (Democrat)
Maryland	Paul S. Sarbanes	Democrat	Re-elected, 63 - 37	Paul Rappaport (Republican)
Massachusetts	Edward M. Kennedy	Democrat	Re-elected, 73 - 13 - 12	Jack Robinson (Republican) Carla Howell (Libertarian)
Michigan	E. Spencer Abraham	Republican	Defeated, 50 - 48	Debbie A. Stabenow (Democrat)
Minnesota	Rod Grams	Republican	Defeated, 49 - 43	Mark Dayton (Democrat)
Mississippi	C. Trent Lott Jr.	Republican	Re-elected, 66 - 32	Troy Brown (Democrat)
Missouri	John D. Ashcroft	Republican	Defeated, 51 - 48	Mel Carnahan (Democrat)
Montana	Conrad R. Burns	Republican	Re-elected, 51 - 47	Brian Schweitzer (Democrat)
Nebraska	J. Robert Kerrey	Democrat	Retired: Democratic victory, 51 - 49	E. Benjamin Nelson (Democrat) Don Stenberg (Republican)
Nevada	Richard H. Bryan	Democrat	Retired: Republican victory, 55 - 40	John E. Ensign (Republican) Ed Bernstein (Democrat)
New Jersey	Frank R. Lautenberg	Democrat	Retired: Democratic victory, 50 - 47	Jon S. Corzine (Democrat) Bob Franks (Republican)
New Mexico	Jesse F. "Jeff" Bingaman Jr.	Democrat	Re-elected, 62 - 38	Bill Redmond (Republican)
New York	Daniel Patrick Moynihan	Democrat	Retired: Democratic victory, 51 - 46	Hillary Rodham Clinton (Democrat) Rick Lazio (Republican)
North Dakota	Kent Conrad	Democrat	Re-elected, 62 - 39	Duane Sand (Republican)
Ohio	Michael DeWine	Republican	Re-elected, 60 - 36	Theodore Celeste (Democrat)
Pennsylvania	Richard J. Santorum	Republican	Re-elected, 52 - 46	Ron Klink (Democrat)
Rhode Island	Lincoln D. Chafee	Republican	Re-elected, 57 - 41	John Weygand (Democrat)
Tennessee	William H. 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	James M. Jeffords	Republican	Re-elected, 66 - 25	Ed Flanagan (Democrat)
Virginia	Charles S. Robb	Democrat	Defeated, 52 - 48	George F. Allen (Republican)
Washington	T. Slade Gorton III	Republican	Defeated, 49 - 49	Maria Cantwell (Democrat)
West Virginia	Robert C. Byrd	Democrat	Re-elected, 78 - 20	David Gallaher (Republican)
Wisconsin	Herbert H. Kohl	Democrat	Re-elected, 62 - 37	John Gillespie (Republican)
Wyoming	Craig Thomas	Republican	Re-elected, 74 - 23	Mel Logan (Democrat)