| |||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
Chafee: 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% Weygand: 50–60% | |||||||||||||||||
|
Elections in Rhode Island |
---|
The 2000 United States Senate election in Rhode Island was held on November 7, 2000. Republican U.S. Senator John Chafee had announced in 1999 that he would not seek reelection, leading his son, Lincoln Chafee, to announce his own candidacy. The elder Chafee, however, died a few months later; his son was appointed to fill the remainder of the unexpired term. The younger Chafee, now the incumbent, sought a full term and won, defeating Democratic U.S. Representative Bob Weygand. As of 2024 [update] , this was the last congressional election in Rhode Island to be won by a Republican.
Weygand defeated former nominee Licht in the Democratic primary by a fair margin.
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Robert Weygand | 51,769 | 57.49 | |
Democratic | Richard A. Licht | 38,281 | 42.51 | |
Total votes | 90,050 | 100.00 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Republican | Lincoln Chafee (Incumbent) | 2,221 | 100.00 | |
Total votes | 2,221 | 100.00 |
At a state and federal level, Rhode Island has been one of the most Democratic states in the country since the 1930s. The state voted Republican only in landslide presidential elections. In the concurrent 2000 presidential election, Al Gore was safely favored to win by the state.
Nonetheless, former Senator John Chafee managed to continually win re-election as a moderate Republican. Chafee died in 1999 and his son, Lincoln, was appointed to the seat. Lincoln Chafee similarly was a moderate Republican as Mayor of Warwick.
In the general election, Republican Chafee won a full term with 57% of the vote to his opponent due to heavy ticket splitting. Al Gore carried Rhode Island in the concurrent presidential election with 61% of the vote.
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Republican | Lincoln Chafee (Incumbent) | 222,588 | 56.88% | -7.65% | |
Democratic | Robert Weygand | 161,023 | 41.15% | +5.67% | |
Reform | Christopher Young | 4,107 | 1.05% | ||
Independent | Kenneth Proulx | 3,635 | 0.93% | ||
Majority | 61,565 | 15.73% | -13.32% | ||
Turnout | 391,353 | ||||
Republican hold | Swing | ||||
Lincoln Davenport Chafee is an American politician. He was mayor of Warwick, Rhode Island, from 1993 to 1999, a United States Senator from 1999 to 2007, and the 74th Governor of Rhode Island from 2011 to 2015. He was a member of the Democratic Party from 2013 to 2019; in June 2019, The Boston Globe reported that he had become a registered Libertarian, having previously been a Republican until September 2007 and an independent and then a Democrat in the interim.
John Lester Hubbard Chafee was an American politician and officer in the United States Marine Corps. A member of the Republican Party, he served as the 66th Governor of Rhode Island, as the Secretary of the Navy, and as a United States Senator.
The 2000 United States Senate elections were held on November 7, 2000. The elections coincided with other federal and state elections, including the presidential election which was won by Republican George W. Bush. These elections took place six years after Republicans had won a net gain of eight seats in Senate Class 1. Despite George W. Bush's victory in the presidential election, the GOP lost 4 senate seats, the most a winning president's party has lost since the passage of the 17th amendment. This election marked the first election year since 1990 where Democrats made net gains in the Senate. Democrats defeated incumbent Republicans in Delaware, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, and Washington, and they won an open seat in Florida. In Missouri, the winner was elected posthumously. The Republicans defeated a Democratic incumbent in Virginia, and won an open seat in Nevada. Additionally, a Republican in Georgia died earlier in the year and a Democrat was appointed to replace him, who then went on to win the special election.
The 2006 United States Senate election in Rhode Island was held on November 7, 2006. Incumbent Republican Lincoln Chafee sought re-election to a second full term in office, the seat he had held since 1999 when he was appointed to fill the vacancy created by the death of his father John Chafee. He lost to Democratic nominee, former state Attorney General Sheldon Whitehouse by a 7-point margin. Lincoln Chafee later left the Republican Party in September 2007 before running successfully as an Independent for Governor of Rhode Island in 2010.
The Rhode Island Democratic Party is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in the U.S. state of Rhode Island. Joseph McNamara is the chair of the party. The party has dominated politics in Rhode Island for the past five decades.
The 2000 United States Senate election in Pennsylvania was held on November 7, 2000 during a year which coincided with a United States presidential election in which Pennsylvania was viewed as a swing state. Pennsylvania was one of four states that elected Republican Senators despite being won by Al Gore in the concurrent presidential election, the others being Maine, Rhode Island and Vermont.
The 2010 Rhode Island gubernatorial election was held on November 2, 2010. It was preceded by the primary election on September 14, 2010. Incumbent Republican Governor Donald Carcieri was term-limited in 2010. The non-partisan Cook Political Report, The New York Times and CQ Politics rated the gubernatorial election as a toss-up.
Since the Great Depression, Rhode Island politics have been dominated by the Rhode Island Democratic Party, and the state is considered part of the Democrats' "Blue Wall." Democrats have won all but four presidential elections since 1928, with the exceptions being 1952, 1956, 1972, and 1984. The Rhode Island Republican Party, although virtually non-existent in the Rhode Island General Assembly, has remained competitive in gubernatorial elections, having won one as recently as 2006. Until 2014, Democrats had not won a gubernatorial election in the state since 1992, and it was not until 2018 that they won one by double digits. The Rhode Island General Assembly has continuously been under Democratic control since 1959.
The 2012 United States Senate election in Rhode Island was on November 6, 2012, alongside the presidential election, elections to the United States House of Representatives, and various state and local elections.
The 1994 United States Senate election in Rhode Island was held November 8, 1994. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator John Chafee won re-election to a fourth term. Chafee died of heart-failure on October 24, 1999, at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, having already announced his intention to retire in 2000 on March 15, 1999. His son Lincoln, then the mayor of Warwick, was appointed to replace him by Governor Lincoln Almond.
The 1988 United States Senate election in Rhode Island was held on November 8, 1988. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator John Chafee won re-election to a third term.
The 2014 Rhode Island gubernatorial election took place on November 4, 2014, to elect the Governor of Rhode Island, concurrently with the election of Rhode Island's Class II U.S. Senate seat, as well as other elections to the United States Senate in other states and elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections.
The 2014 United States Senate election in Rhode Island was held on November 4, 2014 to elect a member of the United States Senate from the State of Rhode Island, concurrently with the election of the governor of Rhode Island, as well as other elections to the United States Senate in other states and elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections.
The 1976 United States Senate election in Rhode Island took place on November 2, 1976. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator John O. Pastore did not seek re-election. Republican John Chafee won the seat, defeating Democrat Richard P. Lorber. Chafee was the first Republican to win a U.S. Senate race in Rhode Island since 1930.
The 1982 United States Senate election in Rhode Island took place on November 2, 1982. Incumbent Republican Senator John Chafee successfully sought re-election to a second term, very narrowly defeating Democrat Julius C. Michaelson.
The 1972 United States Senate election in Rhode Island took place on November 7, 1972. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Claiborne Pell successfully sought re-election, defeating Republican John Chafee in the closest race of Pell's Senate career. Chafee was elected to Rhode Island's other Senate seat in 1976, and was colleagues with Pell until the latter's retirement in 1996. This was the only United States Senate election in Rhode Island that Claiborne Pell won by a narrow margin and the only United States Senate election in Rhode Island in which Claiborne Pell did not carry every county or all counties in Rhode Island. Rhode Island was one of fifteen states alongside Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Delaware, Georgia, Iowa, Louisiana, Maine, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, New Hampshire, South Dakota and West Virginia that were won by Republican President Richard Nixon in 1972 that elected Democrats to the United States Senate.
A general election was held in the U.S. state of Rhode Island on November 4, 2014. All of Rhode Island's executive officers went up for election as well as a United States Senate seat and both of Rhode Island's two seats in the United States House of Representatives. Primary elections were held on September 9, 2014.
The 2016 presidential campaign of Lincoln Chafee, the 74th governor of Rhode Island, and former United States senator from Rhode Island, was formally launched on June 3, 2015. His campaign for the Democratic nomination for President of the United States in the 2016 election was his first campaign as a Democrat, after having previously been elected senator as a Republican, and governor as an independent. He received zero votes either formally or by write-in, meaning he got the fewest votes of any major party candidate in the Democratic or Republican Primaries 2016.
The 2020 United States Senate election in Rhode Island was held on November 3, 2020, to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the State of Rhode Island, concurrently with the 2020 U.S. presidential election, as well as other elections to the United States Senate, elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections. Incumbent Democratic Senator Jack Reed was challenged by Republican nominee Allen Waters. Waters was later disavowed by the state Republican Party after charges of domestic assault in 2019 became public.
The 2018 Rhode Island gubernatorial election was held on November 6, 2018, to elect the Governor of Rhode Island, concurrently with the election of Rhode Island's Class I U.S. Senate seat, as well as other elections to the United States Senate in other states, elections to the United States House of Representatives, and various state and local elections.