Defying a Democratic victory in the race for the White House, Republicans retained control of both chambers of Congress in Tuesday’s elections as scores of incumbents held onto their seats.
The second consecutive GOP victory represents the first time voters have returned a Republican Congress to office in 66 years.
The results also mean a second chance at power for the embattled GOP, which took control of Congress in an unexpected sweep two years ago yet lost public support after twice shutting down the federal government in a budget dispute with President Clinton.
Nevertheless, the new House Republican majority is expected to be one of the slimmest since the Congress of 1953-54, when the Republican margin was fewer than 10 seats. The narrow margin ensures the GOP will not be able to dominate the legislative agenda.
For President Clinton, however, the outcome of the congressional vote likely means a rough second term. Republican-led committees have vowed to continue and perhaps intensify at least a half-dozen ongoing congressional investigations of the administration.
In the Senate, the GOP picked up at least three seats from Democrats in Nebraska, Alabama and Clinton’s home state of Arkansas. Democrats appeared to snag only one seat from the Republicans, in South Dakota.
Moreover, Republicans retained Senate seats in Wyoming, North Carolina and Virginia that had been considered potential gains in the Democratic column, indicating Clinton had no coattails.
The final tally in the House was not known early Wednesday.
Democrats would have needed a net gain of 19 seats to regain control of the House, where all 435 seats were in play.
The controversial leader of the 1994 Republican Revolution, Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), was comfortably headed for re-election in his suburban Atlanta district.
Despite a protracted House ethics committee investigation of his use of tax-exempt organizations–and one of the highest unfavorable ratings of any politician in America–Gingrich fended off an aggressive challenge from multi-millionaire cookie magnate Michael Coles, a Democrat.
In the Senate, Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) stands ready to lead the chamber next year, as he has since Bob Dole’s resignation from the Senate in June.
A record 14 seats were open of the 34 that were at stake in the Senate, creating a volatile election climate.
However, Republican incumbents, including many House GOP freshmen targeted for defeat by organized labor, were less vulnerable than expected.
Despite a $35 million campaign by the AFL-CIO, primarily to oust House Republican freshmen, most of the 73 newcomers elected in 1994 proved suprisingly resilient. Among those who lost were Illinois’ Mike Flanagan, Indiana’s John Hostettler and North Carolina’s David Funderburk.
Virginia Sen. John Warner, who defied party activists by opposing Iran-contra figure Ollie North’s bid for a Virginia Senate seat two years ago, beat back a challenge from wealthy Democratic businessman Mark Warner.
Republican icon Sen. Jesse Helms, a long-time liberal nemesis, won a rematch with Democrat Harvey Gantt.
In his concession speech, Gantt, a former Charlotte mayor, said, “It hurts not to win,” but urged “young people to feel good about this country . . . and to know that struggling and perseverence will in the long run pay off.”
As expected, South Carolina’s legendary Republican Sen. Strom Thurmond, at 93 already the oldest member of the Senate in history, will return for an eighth term, after defeating textile heir and real estate developer Elliott Springs Close.
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At the completion of his new term, Thurmond would be 100.
Republicans also held onto both open Kansas Senate seats. Freshman Republican Rep. Sam Brownback defeated Jill Docking, wife of former Lt. Gov. Tom Docking, to keep Bob Dole’s vacated seat for the GOP. Rep. Pat Roberts held onto retiring Republican Sen. Nancy Kassebaum’s seat against Democratic rival state treasurer Sally Thompson.
Democrats scored an important victory in Massachusetts. In the so-called Battle of the Bluebloods, perhaps the most hotly contested Senate race this year, incumbent Democratic Sen. John Kerry managed to hold off a determined bid by Republican Gov. William Weld, a highly popular figure in the traditionally Democratic state.
The candidates, equally matched in terms of wealth, Ivy League backgrounds and political prestige, had waged a long and sometimes bitter fight. Kerry, seeking a third term, sought to link Weld to the unpopular Gingrich. But Weld, a moderate Republican who supports abortion and gay rights, stressed his independence from Republican orthodoxy.
In New Jersey, where one of the nation’s nastiest and most expensive Senate races took place, Democratic Rep. Robert Torricelli held onto Sen. Bill Bradley’s seat for the party, defeating Republican rival Rep. Dick Zimmer.
In the hard-fought race, the candidates delighted in trading a steady stream of barbs, including Torricelli’s claim that Zimmer took money from a mob figure and Zimmer’s allegation that Torricelli held a fundraiser at a convicted felon’s home.
In New Hampshire, incumbent Republican Sen. Bob Smith appeared headed to his second term, defeating former Democratic Rep. Dick Swett, who was swept out of the House in the 1994 Republican landslide.
The battle between the former Georgia secretary of state, Democrat Max Cleland, and multimillionaire businessman Guy Millner ended with a Democratic victory, holding the seat vacated by retiring Sen. Sam Nunn.
A triple-amputee Vietnam veteran, Cleland appealed to liberal voters with his stance in favor of abortion rights and gay rights, but placated more conservative Georgians with his opposition to gays in the military and his support for terms limits and a balanced budget.
In another key North Carolina race, Democratic political science professor David Price reclaimed the Raleigh seat in the House he lost two years ago to Republican Fred Heineman.
Gaining a slim 1,215-vote victory in 1994, Heineman was considered to have one of the most difficult re-election struggles of the Republican freshman class.
The former New York police officer played right into Democratic hands last year when he declared himself “lower middle class” despite his $133,600 annual congressional salary.
Price relentlessly attacked his Republican opponent as out of touch with working people, a portrayal driven home by heavy spending by the AFL-CIO in anti-Heineman television ads.
The 1996 congressional races were the most expensive in history. House candidates raised more than $374 million through mid-October, an increase of 27 percent over two years ago. Senate candidates raised more than $188 million.