SEATTLE – Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell rolled to re-election Tuesday, turning back a boisterous bid by Republican Mike McGavick in a race once deemed pivotal to which party would run the Senate.
“Thank you,” Cantwell said to a throng of cheering supporters at the Sheraton Hotel in Seattle.
“I’ve been waiting six long years for a real election night party,” she said, referring to her win in 2000 that required a recount to decide.
Cantwell was leading in Snohomish County and throughout the Democrat-laden Puget Sound. She also was ahead in Spokane County, a traditional hub of Republican support.
McGavick phoned Cantwell to concede at 9:29 p.m. She took the stage at 10:15 p.m.
As Cantwell began her eight-minute victory speech, she was interrupted by people chanting, “Stop the war.” They were quickly drowned out by a counter chant of “Six more years.”
Cantwell has been roundly criticized by progressive Democrats for voting to support the war in Iraq.
“This election was about ideas,” said Cantwell, 48, who lives in Edmonds.
“We are going to change the course in our country because tonight we are changing who is in charge of our country,” she said.
She said she will work to change the nation’s policies on energy, preserve Social Security and increase aid for colleges.
And, she said, she would work to “change the course in Iraq to bring our troops home.”
This campaign matched two candidates reared in political families and successful in the private sector.
Cantwell grew up in Indianapolis where her father Paul, a Democrat, held local office and served in the Indiana Legislature.
She served three terms in the state Legislature, then one term in Congress before being losing re-election in 1994.
She worked for Real Networks during the height of the dot-com explosion. Her net worth soared as stock holdings made her a multi-millionaire. This enabled her to finance much of her 2000 campaign in which she unseated incumbent Republican Sen. Slade Gorton.
McGavick, also 48, is a fifth-generation Washingtonian. His father Joe, a Republican, served in the Washington state Legislature and was an early leader of the party’s moderate wing.
McGavick worked as Gorton’s driver in the 1980 election, his campaign manager in the 1988 election and then his chief of staff. He left after two years and within a year began a career in the insurance industry.
He earned his wealth as leader of Safeco Insurance. In his tenure, the company rebounded from near bankruptcy to profits. When he departed in 2005 to run for Senate, he, like Cantwell, had become a multi-millionaire.
McGavick’s bio became a campaign issue. He often pointed to his Safeco experience as an example of his ability to lead and make tough decisions.
Cantwell and the state Democratic Party noted the layoff of 1,200 people in the course of that turnaround and juxtaposed it with the large financial bonuses received by McGavick.
Cantwell, who raised nearly $14 million in the last two years, ran a tightly managed campaign, focusing primarily on her achievements.
She stressed her efforts to stop oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, prevent an increase in oil tankers passing through the Puget Sound and repel Enron’s claim for millions of dollars from the Snohomish County Public Utility District.
McGavick entered the race in late 2005. He raised $10 million for a campaign built around the theme of restoring civility to Congress.
He sought to exploit voters’ general frustration with incumbents, arguing the best way to end partisanship would be to change the people in Congress rather than the party to which they belong.
As the campaign evolved he stepped up efforts to enunciate differences on issues between himself and Cantwell.
On Social Security, the two held their most bitter disputes.
Cantwell argued against structural changes in the benefit program; she vehemently opposed President Bush’s call for a degree of privatization.
McGavick argued for allowing younger workers to have private accounts managed by the government. This idea came under fire for being an entree to privatization.
Wherever he campaigned, seniors protested. In turn, he charged that Cantwell knew he opposed privatization and was deliberately misleading voters.
McGavick generated one of the campaign’s most talked-about incidents when in August he revealed his 1993 arrest for drunken driving.
He was initially praised for this pre-emptive confession. Days later, questions arose on discrepancies between his recollection and the police account of his arrest. McGavick never disputed the police report and apologized to those who felt misled. By then, polling indicated the incident caused him to lose support from some voters.
Cantwell faced questions too about a 1999 loan she made to friend and political adviser Ron Dotzauer of Snohomish. She’s steadfastly refused to say the amount or reason for it, and the matter did not appear to cost her politically.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
