The 1994 United States Senate election in Washington was held November 8, 1994. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Slade Gorton won re-election to a second consecutive term. , this was the last time the Republicans won a U.S. Senate election in Washington and the last time a male candidate won a U.S. Senate election in the state.

Background

Incumbent Slade Gorton was first elected U.S. Senator from Washington in 1980. Gorton narrowly lost his

re-election bid The incumbent is the current holder of an office or position, usually in relation to an election. In an election for president, the incumbent is the person holding or acting in the office of president before the election, whether seeking re-ele ...

in 1986. In 1988, Gorton successfully ran for the state's other Senate seat. Leading up to the 1994 U.S. Senate elections, Gorton was considered one of the most vulnerable Republican incumbents. Democrats had swept the statewide elections in 1992—winning the

presidential President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese fu ...

, gubernatorial, and U.S. Senate races.

Blanket primary

Democratic

Many prominent Washington Democrats declined to contest the seat. Campaign analyst

Charlie Cook Charles Edward Cook Jr. (born November 20, 1953) is an American political analyst who specializes in election forecasts and political trends. Cook writes election forecasts and rankings in the publication he founded, ''The Cook Political Report'' ...

of '' The Cook Political Report'' wrote that "the real top-notch folks just aren't running." Seattle mayor

Norm Rice Norman Blann Rice (born May 4, 1943) is an American politician who served as the 49th mayor of Seattle, Washington, serving two terms from 1990 to 1997. Rice was Seattle's first elected African-American mayor. Early life Rice graduated from th ...

was encouraged by President Bill Clinton to run, but opted to stay in his position as mayor. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee unsuccessfully urged members of the state's U.S. House delegation to run. Ron Sims, King County Councilman, won the crowded Democratic primary with 18% of the vote. News anchor Mike James came in second with 15%; all other candidates received less than 5%.

Candidates

=Declared

= * Nominee: Ron Sims, member of King County Council * Mike James, news anchor * Scott Hardman, businessman * Jesse Wineberry, member of the Washington House of Representatives

=Declined

= * Booth Gardner, former Governor of Washington *

Mayor of Seattle The Mayor of Seattle is the head of the executive branch of the city government of Seattle, Washington. The mayor is authorized by the city charter to enforce laws enacted by the Seattle City Council, as well as direct subordinate officers in ci ...

Norm Dicks Norman DeValois Dicks (born December 16, 1940) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the U.S. representative for , between 1977 and 2013. He is a member of the Democratic Party. His district was located in the northwestern corner o ...

, member of United States House of Representatives

Republican

Incumbent Slade Gorton faced no serious competition for the Republican nomination. Gorton won the primary with 52% of the vote. No other Republican candidate received any significant amount of support.

Candidates

* Nominee: Slade Gorton, incumbent U.S. Senator * Mike the Mover, perennial candidate * Warren E. Hanson,

commercial fisherman Commercial fishing is the activity of catching fish and other seafood for commercial profit, mostly from wild fisheries. It provides a large quantity of food to many countries around the world, but those who practice it as an industry must often ...

Results

General election

Candidates

* Ron Sims, member of King County Council * Slade Gorton (R), incumbent U.S. Senator

Campaign

Despite serving 12 years in the U.S. Senate, Gorton campaigned in 1994 as an outsider candidate. He told crowds at campaign rallies: "If you want more of what you're getting from Washington, D.C., send one of my opponents. If you want a different direction, give a voice to balance by sending me back to the Senate." He gained support among

agricultural Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating Plant, plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of Sedentism, sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of Domestication, domesticated species created food ...

logging Logging is the process of cutting, processing, and moving trees to a location for transport. It may include skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks or skeleton cars. Logging is the beginning of a supply chain ...

, and mining groups in Eastern Washington for his criticism of federal regulations. Gorton called for opening up more federal forests to logging and changes to the

Endangered Species Act The Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA or "The Act"; 16 U.S.C. § 1531 et seq.) is the primary law in the United States for protecting imperiled species. Designed to protect critically imperiled species from extinction as a "consequence of ec ...

. Sims campaigned in support of the

Clinton administration Bill Clinton's tenure as the 42nd president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 1993, and ended on January 20, 2001. Clinton, a Democrat from Arkansas, took office following a decisive election victory over Re ...

. He accused Gorton of obstructing President Clinton's

healthcare Health care or healthcare is the improvement of health via the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in people. Health care is delivered by health profe ...

and crime reforms. The Sims campaign also attempted to portray Gorton as out of touch with the average Washingtonian. Sims was the first African American U.S. Senate candidate in state history to advance to the general election, although the issue of race was rarely addressed during the campaign.

Results

References

External links

* {{Washington elections, state=collapsed

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

Washington 1994 Washington (state) elections

Background

Blanket primary

Democratic

Candidates

=Declared

=Declined

Republican

Candidates

Results

General election

Candidates

Campaign

Results

See also

References

External links