WYOMING
Republicans continue their
lock on Wyoming: They maintained two-thirds majorities in the state
Legislature while sweeping state offices, and Barbara Cubin easily
held onto her at-large seat in the U.S. House. Leading this year’s
windmill-tilting for the Democrats was bar owner, law student and
state Sen. John Vinich of Hudson, who took on incumbent Gov. Jim
Geringer without buying a single television ad. The campaign
focused on Wyoming’s economy, but voters apparently didn’t blame
Geringer for its sluggish growth; they elected him by a 15 point
margin. Vinich sounded tired but optimistic several days after the
election, saying, “It doesn’t have to be a Republican state …
Someday it will change, if we don’t get old waiting.”
MONTANA
Voters
in Bozeman narrowly passed a citywide initiative shifting the
burden of constructing roads, sewers and other infrastructure onto
developers. Despite being outspent 10-1 by a coalition of
pro-development interests, the Bozeman Electors for Sensible Taxes
prevailed by a 122-vote margin. Organizer Steve Kirchhoff thinks
the people of Bozeman said “enough is enough,” and that it’s time
for developers to pay their way. Impact fees for new homes will
rise from $2,700 to $6,500. In Montana’s only House district,
Republican Rick Hill handily defeated Democrat challenger Dusty
Deschamps.
NEVADA
One
of the West’s few successful Democrats, Sen. Harry Reid, squeaked
by his challenger, Republican Rep. John Ensign (HCN, 9/28/98). Reid
waited until 7:15 a.m. Wednesday to declare victory, making the
contest the last of this year’s 34 Senate races to be decided. The
race was also the closest: only 401 votes separated the candidates.
While not the most expensive election in the country – together the
candidates spent $7 million – it shattered state records. “I feel
elated,” Reid told the Las Vegas Sun. “I have the best supporters
in the world. I’m going to do everything I can to represent the
state of Nevada.”
WASHINGTON
Pulled
by progressive voters in urban areas along the Pacific Coast,
Washington has moved to the left. Democratic Sen. Patty Murray
staved off a challenge from former congresswoman Linda Smith, and,
combined with the upset of Republican Revolution poster-boy Rick
White, Murray’s party now holds a majority in the state’s
congressional delegation for the first time since 1994. Democrats
also regained the state Senate and may control the state
Legislature. But in some more rural areas, such as Lewis County
south of Olympia, a different story unfolded. Republican Glenn
Aldrich, an incumbent county commissioner, was ousted by Dennis
Hadaller, an even more conservative challenger. An observer says
after Aldrich was elected in 1994, he realized “he couldn’t fire
every county employee,” and thus grew soft in the eyes of many
constituents.
IDAHO
In Idaho,
cows remain as popular as Republicans. A successful referendum,
House Joint Resolution 6, removes the requirement for competitive
bidding on allotments and allows the state land board to extend
grazing leases indefinitely. “There are no rules anymore – it’s
totally at the discretion of the land board,” says Gene Bray of the
Idaho Watersheds Project, a group that has tried unsuccessfully to
give state grazing allotments a break from cows by acquiring
available leases. Idaho remains a one-party state: Gubernatorial
candidate Dirk Kempthorne and Senate candidate Mike Crapo won their
races handily, and Rep. Helen Chenoweth managed to win the 1st
District seat over Democrat Dan Williams – the same candidate she
faced two years ago – by taking 55 percent of the
vote.
NEW
MEXICO
The most interesting thing about New
Mexico’s 1st Congression District race is not who won – Republican
Heather Wilson – but who lost. Observers figure that if Democrat
Phil Maloof could have captured a third of the votes that went to
the Green Party’s Bob Anderson, the Democrat would be on his way to
Washington. In the 3rd Congressional District, Democrat Tom Udall
beat both a Green candidate and the incumbent, Republican Bill
Redmond. Green Party hopeful Sam Hitt (HCN, 10/26/98) polled a
respectable 16 percent to earn second place in a three-way race for
state lands commissioner. Rick Lass of the New Mexico Green Party
says the races, especially Anderson’s strong showing, take the
Greens a step closer to eventual victory: “We can’t go from 0
percent to 40 percent – which is what we’d need to win – without
running and losing first.” In the decade it will take to win, Lass
says, they will continue to challenge Democrats – even progressive
ones. This year, the Greens didn’t choose to take on Republicans
Gov. Gary Johnson or Rep. Joe Skeen, who successfully fought off
Democratic
challenges.
COLORADO
A
Western Democratic family expanded its reach when Colorado state
legislator Mark Udall beat Republican Bob Greenlee by less than 3
percent to represent the 2nd Congressional District, which
encompasses the Boulder area and Denver’s northern suburbs. During
the campaign, the Greenlee camp said victory would be theirs
because Boulder’s newcomers would cast conservative votes. Carmi
McLean of Clean Water Action says they’re partly right: Republicans
are moving in, but “conservative voters moved here for a reason:
open space and the environment.” Elsewhere, Democrats were not
successful. Republican Ben Nighthorse Campbell easily beat back a
challenge for his Senate seat from columnist and former Colorado
First Lady Dottie Lamm, while Republican Bill Owens squeezed into
the governor’s office with just 1 percent to spare over Democrat
Gail
Schoettler.
OREGON
Gov.
John Kitzhaber (HCN, 10/26/98) cruised to easy re-election over
Republican Bill Sizemore. After the trouncing, The Oregonian
reported, Sizemore complained that he had “needed another $500,000
to run a real campaign against Kitzhaber.” Republicans remained
endangered species in the state’s congressional delegation with
Sen. Ron Wyden’s victory and Democratic wins in all districts
except the huge, rural 2nd District of eastern Oregon. Greg Walden
will represent this Republican critical habitat.
ARIZONA
You’ll see a couple
more Democratic senators walking the halls of the Arizona state
Legislature in the next session, but Republicans still run the
Grand Canyon State: Jane Hull won the governor’s seat, Sen. John
McCain was easily re-elected, and the GOP majority in the Arizona
House of Representatives remains a mighty 40 to 20. Arizonans don’t
see their Legislature’s roster changing until the intricately
gerrymandered legislative districts are redrawn, and so Common
Cause hopes to put the issue of redistricting on the ballot in
2000.
“It’s tough no matter how you cut it,” says
Bob Beatson of the Arizona League of Conservation Voters. “But then
when you gerrymander on top of it, you pretty much put a nail in
the coffin.”
UTAH
In
Salt Lake County, Democrat Jackie Biskupski was elected by a 2-to-1
margin to the Utah House District 30 seat, becoming the state’s
first openly gay legislator. Her opponent, Republican Bryan Irving,
refused to make Biskupski’s personal life a campaign issue, but
Gayle Ruzicka, head of the right-wing Utah Eagle Forum, distributed
an anti-gay flier to 6,000 district residents on Irving’s behalf.
“I don’t think I would have won,” Irving told the Salt Lake Tribune
after the election. “But (Ruzicka) cost me at least 10 points.
Somehow, the party has got to get a leash on her.”
The state’s delegation to Washington, D.C.,
remains Republican: Bob Bennett was re-elected to the Senate and
Jim Hansen, Merrill Cook and Chris Cannon all returned to the U.S.
House.
*Dustin Solberg,
Gabriel Ross, Stanley Yung, Michelle
Nijhuis
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Election day highlights from around the region.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
