Fri. December 1, 2000
Olympia, WA -
Dot-com millionaire, Maria Cantwell (D), narrowly defeated veteran Republican Senator Slade Gordon to evenly split the United States Senate 50-50 among Democrats and Republicans. Cantwell, who financed her own campaign, won by 2,229 out of nearly 2.5 million cast.
``I am honored to have won such a close election,'' Cantwell said Friday evening in a victory speech minutes after Gorton sent her a handwritten concession letter. His campaign said the senator will not seek further recounts.
``It's over,'' said Gorton spokeswoman Cynthia Bergman.
King County, home of heavily Democratic Seattle, won the race for Cantwell, giving her a margin of more than 150,000 votes. The county was the last to report results of the automatic recount required under state law because election results ended within one-half of 1 percentage point.
Cantwell carried only five counties, but Gorton's big lead in the less populous areas couldn't overcome his challenger's enormous advantage in Seattle.
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