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WASHINGTON, DC, November 6, 2002 (ENS) - Republicans are counting their wins and Democrats are licking their wounds today after an election that handed the Republicans full control of Congress. President George W. Bush is celebrating as his continuous campaigning across the nation for Republican candidates has paid off. Republicans have kept control of the House, and edged out the Democrats to take the Senate.
President George W. Bush talks with House Speaker Dennis Hastert (left) and Senate Republican Leader Trent Lott while watching election returns in the White House residence. (Photo by Eric Draper courtesy The White House)In Florida, Republican Governor Jeb Bush, the President's brother, was re-elected with 56 percent of the vote, beating Democrat Bill McBride.The Republicans have kept control of the House of Representatives, and have edged out the Democrats to take control of the 100 member Senate. Thirty-four Senate seats were at stake in this election. At press time, 50 Republican senators were seated against the Democrats' 46, enough to put Vice President Dick Cheney in the position of tie-breaker, even if the remaining three undecided seats are won by Democrats. One of the last cliff-hangers in the Senate is the Minnesota seat left vacant by the death of environmental champion Democratic Senator Paul Wellstone in a plane crash October 25. Just days before election day, former Vice President Walter Mondale jumped into the gap, contesting the seat against Norm Coleman, a former mayor of Saint Paul, in a tight race. Mondale served in the administration of Jimmy Carter and pledged to fight for environmental protections as the late Senator Wellstone would have done.
Democratic Senate candidate Walter Mondale on the campaign trail (Photo courtesy Mondale for Senate)To secure this seat, President George W. Bush appeared at a Coleman campaign rally on Sunday.Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura, an Independent, has appointed another Independent, Dean Barkley, to fill out the term of the late Senator Wellstone. With 81 percent of the precincts reporting, Coleman was leading with 590,049 votes to Mondale's 543,577. The Bush administration's environmental policies will prevail in the Senate during the next two years, with the re-election of Republican senators such as Larry Craig in Idaho and Kentucky's Mitch McConnell, whose wife is U.S. Labor Secretary Elaine Chao.
Senator Jesse Helms, 79, (left) will turn his seat over to Elizabeth Dole. (Photo courtesy Dole for U.S. Senate)In North Carolina, Republican Elizabeth Dole, a former presidential candidate, cabinet member, and head of the American Red Cross, defeated Democrat Erskine Bowles, President Bill Clinton's deputy White House chief of staff, for the Senate seat vacated by Jesse Helms. Her campaign issues did not include the environment.In Missouri, Democrat Jean Carnahan has conceded the Senate seat to Republican Jim Talent who has served for over 16 years in the Missouri legislature and in the House of Representatives. He campaigned on a platform supporting agriculture, and health care for the uninsured, but did not stress environmental issues. Carnahan sought to better protect nuclear material from being dispersed into the environment.
Frank Murkowski is governor-elect of Alaska (Photo courtesy For Alaska Murkowski)In Alaska, Senator Frank Murkowski, a Republican, was elected governor with 58 percent of the vote, beating Democrat Lt. Governor Fran Ulmer. In the Senate, Murkowski has been pressing for passage of an energy bill that includes provisions for oil and gas exploration in the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.Some Democrats took control of state governments. In California, incumbent Governor Gray Davis has retained his seat defeating challenger Republican Bill Simon. Green gubernatorial candidate Peter Miguel Camejo won 260,900 votes, about five percent. California voters approved a $3.44 billion bond measure for water quality, water supply reliability, and safe drinking water projects and for coastal land acquisition and protection. In Wisconsin, Democrat Jim Doyle is elected governor, overcoming a negative ad campaign by Republican incumbent Scott McCallum to win control of the governor's office from Republicans for the first time in 16 years.
In Arizona, Janet Napolitano is governor-elect (Photo courtesy Office of the Attorney General)In Arizona, Attorney General Janet Napolitano, a lone Democrat in the Republican administration of Governor Jane Hull, has defeated the Republican contender Matt Salmon.In New York, Republican Governor George Pataki has won a third term, beating Democrat Carl McCall, the New York State comptroller by a wide margin. As governor Pataki has supported environmental conservation with land acquisitions and renewable energy projects. The Republican team of Tim Pawlenty and Carol Molnau will govern the state of Minnesota in an all Republican administration with the exception of Democrat Mike Hatch who won the attorney general's position. In Oregon, voters turned down a ballot measure that would have required a label stating "Genetically Engineered" on surface or outside packaging of genetically engineered foods sold or distributed in or from Oregon. |
