2000 United States Senate election in California

2000 United States Senate election in California

←  1994 November 7, 2000 (2000-11-07) 2006  →

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

County results Congressional district results Feinstein:     40–50%     50–60%     60–70%     70–80%     80–90% Campbell:     40–50%     50–60%     60–70%

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

The 2000 U.S. Senate election in California was held on November 7, 2000. Incumbent Democrat Dianne Feinstein won her second full term.

Democratic primary

Candidates

• Dianne Feinstein, incumbent Senator since 1992
• Michael Schmier, Emeryville attorney and candidate for California Attorney General in 1998

Results

2000 U.S. Senate Democratic primary ^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Dianne Feinstein (incumbent)	3,759,560	95.50%
	Democratic	Michael Schmier	181,104	4.50%
Total votes			3,940,664	100.00%

Republican primary

Candidates

• John M. Brown
• Tom Campbell, U.S. Representative from Campbell
• Linh Dao
• James Peter Gough
• Bill Horn, San Diego County Supervisor
• Ray Haynes, State Senator from Murrieta

Results

2000 U.S. Senate Republican Party primary in California

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Tom Campbell	1,697,208	56.17%
	Republican	Ray Haynes	679,034	22.47%
	Republican	Bill Horn	453,630	15.01%
	Republican	John M. Brown	68,415	2.26%
	Republican	Linh Dao	64,559	2.14%
	Republican	James Peter Gough	58,853	1.95%
Total votes			3,021,699	100.00%

Other nominations

Green

2000 U.S. Senate Green Party primary in California

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Green	Medea Benjamin	99,716	73.95%
	Green	Jan B. Tucker	35,124	26.05%
Total votes			134,840	100.00%

Reform

2000 U.S. Senate Reform Party primary in California

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Reform	Jose Luis Olivares Camahort	46,278	70.34%
	Reform	Valli "Sharp" Sharpe	19,516	29.66%
Total votes			65,794	100.00%

Libertarian

2000 Libertarian U.S. Senate primary

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Libertarian	Gail Lightfoot	120,622	100.00%
Total votes			120,622	100.00%

American Independent

2000 American Independent U.S. Senate primary

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	American Independent	Diane Beall Templin	38,836	100.00%
Total votes			38,836	100.00%

Natural Law

2000 Natural Law U.S. Senate primary

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Natural Law	Brian M. Rees	26,382	100.00%
Total votes			26,382	100.00%

General election

Campaign

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. ^[2] Campbell has generally supported gay rights and abortion. ^[3] He also opposes the War on Drugs and calls himself a "maverick", similar to U.S. Senator John McCain. ^[4] Campbell was easily defeated, losing by over 19 points.

Debates

• Complete video of debate, October 24, 2000
• Complete video of debate, October 27, 2000

Results

2000 U.S. Senate election, California ^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Dianne Feinstein (incumbent)	5,932,522	55.84%
	Republican	Tom Campbell	3,886,853	36.59%
	Green	Medea Susan Benjamin	326,828	3.08%
	Libertarian	Gail Lightfoot	187,718	1.77%
	American Independent	Diane Beall Templin	134,598	1.27%
	Reform	Jose Luis Olivares Camahort	96,552	0.91%
	Natural Law	Brian M. Rees	58,537	0.55%
Invalid or blank votes			519,233	4.66%
Total votes			11,142,841	100.00%
Turnout				51.92
	Democratic hold

Results breakdown

Final results from the Secretary of State of California. ^[6]

County	Feinstein		Campbell		Benjamin		Others
	Share	Votes	Share	Votes	Share	Votes	Share	Votes
Alameda	67.66%	328,355	22.57%	109,517	6.74%	32,701	3.03%	14,726
Alpine	43.62%	253	41.72%	242	4.48%	26	10.17%	59
Amador	43.85%	6,671	49.32%	7,502	1.70%	259	5.13%	780
Butte	41.52%	34,117	47.41%	38,961	5.52%	4,540	5.54%	4,555
Calaveras	42.31%	7,852	48.42%	8,986	2.42%	449	6.85%	1,271
Colusa	41.16%	2,250	53.70%	2,936	0.91%	50	4.23%	231
Contra Costa	61.60%	232,109	33.23%	125,188	2.30%	8,670	2.87%	10,821
Del Norte	44.91%	3,670	44.93%	3,672	3.10%	253	7.06%	577
El Dorado	40.70%	28,873	51.72%	36,684	2.52%	1,785	5.06%	3,591
Fresno	52.87%	113,228	40.39%	86,502	1.50%	3,210	5.25%	11,235
Glenn	38.18%	3,282	54.26%	4,664	1.54%	132	6.03%	518
Humboldt	46.99%	25,788	36.23%	19,882	11.20%	6,145	5.59%	3,069
Imperial	56.17%	15,937	34.07%	9,666	1.62%	461	8.14%	2,311
Inyo	35.15%	2,711	57.02%	4,397	2.71%	209	5.12%	395
Kern	43.26%	77,676	50.44%	90,564	1.09%	1,949	5.21%	9,360
Kings	48.49%	13,402	44.31%	12,246	0.93%	256	6.28%	1,735
Lake	54.74%	11,410	37.55%	7,826	3.15%	656	4.56%	951
Lassen	35.56%	3,673	54.39%	5,618	1.60%	165	8.46%	874
Los Angeles	64.40%	1,677,668	28.55%	743,872	2.78%	72,312	4.28%	111,402
Madera	43.55%	14,123	48.75%	15,810	1.70%	550	6.01%	1,950
Marin	65.25%	79,421	26.35%	32,077	6.33%	7,699	2.07%	2,524
Mariposa	40.49%	3,195	48.63%	3,837	2.72%	215	8.15%	643
Mendocino	50.99%	16,981	31.54%	10,503	12.14%	4,044	5.32%	1,773
Merced	51.92%	25,426	40.04%	19,612	1.47%	721	6.57%	3,216
Modoc	30.81%	1,221	60.91%	2,414	1.56%	62	6.71%	266
Mono	42.56%	1,818	47.68%	2,037	4.12%	176	5.64%	241
Monterey	57.96%	67,401	35.36%	41,113	2.94%	3,420	3.74%	4,350
Napa	56.70%	28,884	36.20%	18,442	3.24%	1,652	3.85%	1,961
Nevada	41.41%	19,354	49.41%	23,095	4.78%	2,235	4.40%	2,057
Orange	42.72%	403,123	49.95%	471,410	1.85%	17,452	5.48%	51,743
Placer	40.95%	47,169	52.25%	60,182	1.97%	2,264	4.83%	5,569
Plumas	40.76%	4,075	51.23%	5,122	2.57%	257	5.44%	544
Riverside	48.28%	210,235	44.80%	195,085	1.52%	6,632	5.39%	23,484
Sacramento	54.27%	228,992	38.71%	163,343	2.61%	11,001	4.41%	18,623
San Benito	55.04%	9,170	39.29%	6,545	1.83%	305	3.84%	640
San Bernardino	49.13%	200,558	43.40%	177,158	1.81%	7,376	5.67%	23,145
San Diego	51.34%	466,461	40.76%	370,287	2.24%	20,340	5.66%	51,443
San Francisco	72.26%	222,787	15.27%	47,072	10.50%	32,377	1.97%	6,082
San Joaquin	52.65%	86,731	41.23%	67,907	1.29%	2,130	4.83%	7,954
San Luis Obispo	45.14%	47,976	46.15%	49,055	3.59%	3,814	5.13%	5,448
San Mateo	64.80%	165,216	29.92%	76,273	2.85%	7,278	2.43%	6,191
Santa Barbara	49.93%	75,357	40.03%	60,417	5.78%	8,718	4.26%	6,422
Santa Clara	59.62%	320,400	34.97%	187,953	2.29%	12,329	3.12%	16,747
Santa Cruz	56.78%	60,853	30.36%	32,537	9.63%	10,321	3.22%	3,453
Shasta	36.84%	24,027	55.01%	35,884	1.56%	1,016	6.59%	4,299
Sierra	36.63%	666	53.91%	980	2.59%	47	6.88%	125
Siskiyou	38.40%	7,476	51.61%	10,048	2.14%	417	7.85%	1,529
Solano	60.03%	74,414	33.43%	41,449	1.87%	2,316	4.67%	5,791
Sonoma	60.96%	118,455	29.46%	57,244	6.05%	11,765	3.52%	6,839
Stanislaus	48.24%	60,610	44.51%	55,919	1.54%	1,937	5.71%	7,171
Sutter	39.51%	10,326	55.08%	14,394	1.10%	288	4.30%	1,125
Tehama	38.27%	7,870	52.81%	10,859	1.42%	291	7.50%	1,543
Trinity	40.35%	2,307	48.47%	2,771	4.62%	264	6.56%	375
Tulare	45.52%	40,117	47.19%	41,587	1.02%	901	6.26%	5,519
Tuolumne	42.97%	10,028	48.78%	11,385	2.40%	560	5.85%	1,366
Ventura	50.22%	138,836	42.85%	118,463	2.20%	6,073	4.73%	13,067
Yolo	58.18%	35,193	32.28%	19,528	5.06%	3,060	4.48%	2,709
Yuba	40.18%	6,345	51.49%	8,131	1.88%	297	6.44%	1,017

Shift by county

Trend by county

Legend

•   Republican — >15%
•   Republican — +12.5−15%
•   Republican — +10−12.5%
•   Republican — +7.5−10%
•   Republican — +5−7.5%
•   Republican — +2.5−5%
•   Republican — +0−2.5%
•   Democratic — +0−2.5%
•   Democratic — +2.5−5%
•   Democratic — +5−7.5%
•   Democratic — +7.5-10%
•   Democratic — +10−12.5%
•   Democratic — +12.5−15%
•   Democratic — >15%

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

• Fresno (largest town: Fresno)
• Imperial (largest municipality: El Centro)
• Kings (largest municipality: Avenal)
• Lake (largest municipality: Clearlake)
• Merced (largest community: Merced)
• Riverside (largest city: Riverside)
• San Bernardino (largest town: San Bernardino)
• San Diego (largest community: San Diego)
• San Joaquin (largest city: Stockton)
• Stanislaus (largest community: Modesto)
• Ventura (largest city: Ventura)

Green Party candidate Medea Susan Benjamin finished second (ahead of Republican Tom Campbell) in six Northern California municipalities, most of which are in the San Francisco Bay Area: Oakland (10.18%), Emeryville (13.35%), Albany (14.37%), Fairfax (15.99%), Berkeley (22.23%), and Arcata (26.77%). She tied with Jones for second place in Point Arena with 21.71% of the vote. ^[7]

By congressional district

Feinstein won 43 of 52 congressional districts, including 11 that elected Republicans. ^[8]

District	Feinstein	Campbell	Representative
1st	53%	36%	Mike Thompson
2nd	40%	51%	Wally Herger
3rd	49%	43%	Doug Ose
4th	42%	51%	John Doolittle
5th	62%	31%	Bob Matsui
6th	63%	28%	Lynn Woolsey
7th	69%	24%	George Miller
8th	73%	14%	Nancy Pelosi
9th	73%	12%	Barbara Lee
10th	56%	40%	Ellen Tauscher
11th	52%	42%	Richard Pombo
12th	68%	26%	Tom Lantos
13th	67%	27%	Pete Stark
14th	61%	33%	Anna Eshoo
15th	55%	40%	Tom Campbell
			Mike Honda
16th	64%	30%	Zoe Lofgren
17th	58%	33%	Sam Farr
18th	49%	44%	Gary Condit
19th	48%	45%	George Radanovich
20th	58%	35%	Cal Dooley
21st	40%	53%	Bill Thomas
22nd	51%	41%	Lois Capps
23rd	48%	47%	Elton Gallegly
24th	59%	35%	Brad Sherman
25th	47%	46%	Buck McKeon
26th	70%	22%	Howard Berman
27th	57%	36%	Jim Rogan
			Adam Schiff
28th	51%	42%	David Dreier
29th	70%	21%	Henry Waxman
30th	73%	17%	Xavier Becerra
31st	70%	22%	Matthew G. Martínez
			Hilda Solis
32nd	82%	12%	Diane Watson
33rd	82%	11%	Lucille Roybal-Allard
34th	69%	24%	Grace Napolitano
35th	86%	10%	Maxine Waters
36th	53%	39%	Steven T. Kuykendall
			Jane Harman
37th	83%	12%	Juanita Millender-McDonald
38th	60%	33%	Steve Horn
39th	46%	47%	Ed Royce
40th	42%	50%	Jerry Lewis
41st	48%	45%	Gary Miller
42nd	58%	34%	Joe Baca
43rd	47%	46%	Ken Calvert
44th	51%	43%	Mary Bono
45th	42%	50%	Dana Rohrabacher
46th	55%	36%	Loretta Sánchez
47th	41%	52%	Christopher Cox
48th	39%	53%	Ron Packard
			Darrell Issa
49th	59%	34%	Brian Bilbray
			Susan Davis
50th	64%	28%	Bob Filner
51st	46%	47%	Duke Cunningham
52nd	47%	44%	Duncan Hunter

See also

• 2000 United States Senate elections

References

1. "Archived copy" (PDF). www.sos.ca.gov. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 14, 2008. Retrieved January 15, 2022.
2. Krikorian, Greg; Pyle, Amy (February 17, 2000). "CALIFORNIA ELECTIONS / U.S. SENATE; Republican Seeks to Enliven Race With Multimedia Ads; Rep. Campbell, seeking the GOP nomination for a chance to challenge Feinstein, will use TV commercials to direct viewers to more economical Internet campaign". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on November 5, 2012. Retrieved July 7, 2017.
3. "SENATE CANDIDATE PROMOTES MORE TOLERANT REPUBLICAN IMAGE TOM CAMPBELL WILL SPEAK PRO-CHOICE AT CONVENTION. ..." The Fresno Bee. July 27, 2000.
4. "CAMPBELL SPEAKS TO NATIONAL AUDIENCE". The Sacramento Bee. July 31, 2000.
5. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on August 14, 2008. Retrieved August 11, 2008.
6. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on August 14, 2008. Retrieved August 11, 2008.
7. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on August 14, 2008. Retrieved August 18, 2020.
8. "Counties by Congressional Districts for US Senator" (PDF). November 7, 2000. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 7, 2024. Retrieved January 28, 2025.

External links

• JoinCalifornia 2000 General Election