Grumpy voters swept Republicans into power Tuesday in both houses of Congress for the first time in 40 years and into a majority of governorships as many of the Democrats' biggest-name national leaders lost to little-known GOP challengers who had spent little money.

Republicans picked up eight Senate seats, giving them a 52-48 majority. In the House, Republicans won or were leading in races for 230 seats. That means they would pick up a whopping 52 seats for a 230-204 majority. Few had believed they could win the 40 seats needed for a bare majority.Victories in governors races gave the GOP control of 30 states, with 17 going to Democrats and one to an independent. The race in Maryland had a Democrat slightly ahead, but absentee ballots were yet to be counted. The gubernatorial race in Alaska was tight, with the Republican ahead.

The national sweep will likely make committee chairmen out of Sens. Orrin Hatch and Bob Bennett and Rep. Jim Hansen, R-Utah - as well as opening opportunities for them on more powerful committees (See story on A5).

Some of the top Democrats who were in ruins the day after the election included:

- House Speaker Thomas Foley, D-Wash., was trailing little-known Republican attorney George Nethercutt by 51 percent to 49 percent, with 99 percent of the vote counted. No House speaker had lost an election since the Civil War began in 1860. Foley trailed by 2,174 votes, with 14,000 absentee ballots yet to be counted.

- Sen. Jim Sasser, D-Tenn., who was in line to become the new Senate Democratic leader, lost to Republican Bill Frist. Republican Fred Thompson, an actor and former GOP Watergate counsel, also won an open-seat race for Tennessee's other Senate seat - despite repeated visits by its former occupant, Vice President Al Gore.

- Rep. Dan Rostenkowski, D-Ill., the former chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee who had been indicted on federal corruption charges, lost to little-known Republican Michael Flan-na-gan. Likewise, powerful House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jack Brooks, D-Texas, also lost - likely because of his support for an assault weapons ban.

- New York Gov. Mario Cuomo and Texas Gov. Ann Richards - both popular national spokesmen for the Democratic Party - also lost. Relatively unknown George Pataki beat Cuomo. George W. Bush - son of former President George Bush - beat Richards. But Bush's brother Jeb lost his race for Florida governor against incumbent Democrat Lawton Chiles.

The former president released a statement saying, "Our great joy for George is, of course, mixed by our disappointment for Jeb. But we are confident that each will face the challenges that lie ahead with equal courage and grace."

Meanwhile, Democrats won some key consolation prizes amid the Republican romp.

In the Virginia Senate race, Democratic Sen. Charles Robb defeated Republican Oliver North - who was once convicted of lying to Congress about the Iran-Contra scandal - and independent Marshall Coleman. Robb was attacked himself for spying on Virginia's former governor (which sent some of his aides to jail) and for admitting to sexual relations with several young women.

In Massachusetts, Sen. Edward Kennedy survived a strong challenge against Republican businessman Mitt Romney - who had led in polls early in the race but faded in the past month.

And in California, Sen. Dianne Feinstein overcame Republican Michael Huffington by a 52-48 percent margin - despite Huffington spending tens of millions of dollars of his own money on the race.

Rep. Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., now stands to become the new House speaker - which Democrats had said was their worst nightmare because of his in-your-face style.

He said the main reasons behind the GOP wins were public discontent with President Clinton and Republican promises in its "Contract With America" - which pledged votes on such things as a balanced budget amendment in the GOP's first month in power.

He also called for bipartisanship. "Our spirit, I think, should be a positive outreach spirit that says the president can take our 10 bills (in the Contract With America) and aren't there some of them he can be for? Aren't there some places we can be on the same team and couldn't we pass some things and get them signed early as proof?" he said.

Sen. Bob Dole, R-Kan., who will become Senate majority leader, said, "They voted for change, they voted for Republicans." Still, in House races anyway, 91 percent of incumbents were reelected. The big GOP gains came mostly in races for open seats.

Republican National Committee Chairman Haley Barbour said the GOP benefitted from distrust of Clinton. "The voters have responded by rejecting Clinton's agenda and embracing Republican ideas of smaller government, not larger; lower taxes, not higher; and more individual freedom and personal responsibility, not more government power and government responsibility."

Clinton was "clearly disappointed" by the size of the Republican sweep, spokeswoman Dee Dee Myers said. But she said he intends to "reach out his hand" to the new GOP-controlled Congress. He scheduled a press conference Wednesday afternoon to talk about the elections.

Some of the other key races nationally included:

- Rep. Marjorie Margoilies-Mezvinsky, D-Pa., lost. She cast the deciding vote for Clinton's budget plan after earlier pledging not to vote to raise taxes. She had become a symbol of House Democrats who became endangered because of ties to Clinton. She lost to Republican Jon Fox, 49 percent to 45 percent.

- Sen. Harris Wofford, D-Pa., lost to Rep. Rick Santorum, R-Pa. Wofford's first win three years ago to fill a vacant seat started a national push by Democrats for health-care reform, which Wofford had used for an upset win. Health-care reform is now dead, and Wofford is out of the Senate.

- Rep. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, easily won the Senate seat in Maine abandoned by retiring Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell, D-Maine. She defeated Rep. Tom Andrews, D-Maine.

- In Florida, Hugh Rodham - brother of first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton - lost his race for the Senate. That meant Florida residents rejected both Jeb Bush, son of George Bush, and Rodham, relative of Bill Clinton.

- An Ohio Senate seat vacated by retiring liberal Sen. Howard Metzenbaum was won by Republican Lt. Gov. Mike DeWine. Metzenbaum's son-in-law, Joel Hyatt, had tried to keep the seat in the family and the party. He is well known for national TV ads plugging his legal firm.

- Other Republican winners in seats abandoned by retiring Democrats included Arizona Rep. Jon Kyl, who beat Democratic Rep. Sam Coppersmith; Michigan Republican Spencer Abraham, who beat Democrat Rep. Bob Carr; and Oklahoma Republican Rep. James Inhofe, who beat Democrat Rep. Dave McCurdy.

- Republicans either won or were comfortably ahead in races for GOP-held Senate seats in Minnesota, Montana, Missouri, Vermont, Delaware, Wyoming and Washington state.

- Other winners included Democratic incumbents in New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Wisconsin, Nebraska, West Virginia, Nevada, Hawaii, North Dakota, New Mexico and Connecticut; and Republican incumbents in Texas, Indiana, Florida, Rhode Island, Utah (by Hatch) and Mississippi.

- Republicans also wrested control of governors' mansions in Alabama, Idaho, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee and Wyoming.

- Democratic Idaho Attorney General Larry EchoHawk lost his bid to become governor of Idaho, which was watched closely in Utah because he is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He lost to Republican Phil Batt.

- The GOP was also successful in re-election to governorships or in holding on to seats already held by the party. California Gov. Pete Wilson won his race over Democrat Kathleen Brown. GOP incumbents also won in Arizona, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Ohio and New Hampshire, and retained GOP spots in South Carolina and South Dakota.

- Democrats managed to hold onto the governor's mansion in a few states, such as Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Hawaii, Nebraska, Nevada, Oregon and Vermont.

- Voters in Maine elected an independent for governor. Angus King beat out both Democrat Joseph Brennan and Republican Susan Collins.

- As a sign of how bad things were for Democrats, in Maryland, heavily favored Democrat Parris Glendening held only a slight advantage over Republican Ellen Sauerbrey before absentee ballots were counted. He had been expected to win in a landslide, but Sauerbrey caught fire by calling for massive tax cuts.

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Additional Information

ELECTION RESULTS

Senate

Dem Rep Other

Won 14 21 0

Holdover 34 31 0

Lineup 48 52 0

Curr. Division 56 44 0

Net charge -8 +8 0

House

Dem GOP Other

Won 198 226 1

Leading 6 4 0

Lineup 204 230 1

Curr. Division 256 178 1

Net change -52 +52 0

Governors

Dem GOP Other

Won 9 24 1

Leading 1 1 0

View Comments

Holdover 8 6 0

Trend 18 31 1

Curr. Division 29 20 1

Net change -11 +11 0

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