2000 United States Senate election in Rhode Island

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2000 United States Senate election in Rhode Island
Flag of Rhode Island.svg
  1994 November 7, 2000 2006  
  Lincoln Chafee official portrait (cropped 2).jpg Bob Weygand.jpg
Nominee Lincoln Chafee Robert Weygand
Party Republican Democratic
Popular vote222,588161,023
Percentage56.88%41.15%

2000 United States Senate election in Rhode Island results map by county.svg
2000 United States Senate election in Rhode Island results map by municipality.svg
Chafee:      40–50%     50–60%     60–70%     70–80%
Weygand:      50–60%

U.S. senator before election

Lincoln Chafee [lower-alpha 1]
Republican

Elected U.S. Senator

Lincoln Chafee
Republican

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, this was the last congressional election in Rhode Island to be won by a Republican.

Contents

Democratic primary

Candidates

Results

Weygand defeated former nominee Licht in the Democratic primary by a fair margin.

Democratic primary results [1]
PartyCandidateVotes%
Democratic Robert Weygand 51,769 57.49
Democratic Richard A. Licht38,28142.51
Total votes90,050 100.00

Republican primary

Candidates

Results

Republican Party primary results [2]
PartyCandidateVotes%
Republican Lincoln Chafee (Incumbent) 2,221 100.00
Total votes2,221 100.00

General election

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.

Candidates

Debates

Results

General election results [3]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Republican Lincoln Chafee (Incumbent) 222,588 56.88% -7.65%
Democratic Robert Weygand 161,02341.15%+5.67%
Reform Christopher Young4,1071.05%
Independent Kenneth Proulx3,6350.93%
Majority61,56515.73%-13.32%
Turnout 391,353
Republican hold Swing

See also

Notes

  1. In October 1999, Chafee was appointed by Governor Lincoln Almond to fill the vacancy caused by the death of (his father) Senator John Chafee.

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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.

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References

  1. "Results summary". www.elections.state.ri.us. 2000. Archived from the original (PHP) on March 3, 2016. Retrieved May 7, 2021.
  2. "Results summary". www.elections.state.ri.us. 2000. Archived from the original (PHP) on March 3, 2016. Retrieved May 7, 2021.
  3. "Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives". Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives. Retrieved May 7, 2021.