Helms bested Harvey Gantt in his marquee race for reelection in a contest that pitted one of the nation's best known conservatives against a former Black mayor. "I'm sorry I'm so late," he told supporters, "but I've been home watching the grieving face of Dan Rather...the liberal politicians and editors and commentators and columnists have struck out again."
Democrats took aim Rudy Boschwitz in Minnesota in hopes of padding their current 55-45 majority. Paul Wellstone held a small lead.
Appointed Democratic Sen. Dan Akaka won re-election in Hawaii, dashing Republican hopes of a takeover.
Bob Smith in New Hampshire, Hank Brown in Colorado and Larry Craig help open Senate seats for the GOP.
Alabama GOP Gov. Guy Hunt won a close race for re-election.
Democratic Victory
The polls were still open in half the nation when the Democrats proclaimed victory and pointed the voters toward the 1992 presidential race. "I couldn't feel better," said Ron Brown, chair of the Democratic National Committee. "Both Republicans and Democrats ran against George Bush."
Spokesperson Charles Black put the best face forward for the Republican National Committee, telling reporters, "It appears to be more of an anti-incumbent trend than a partisan trend." He called the midterm results "an anti-Congress trend rather than an anti-president trend," even though incumbent members were being reelected at a substantial rate.
New York Gov. Mario Cuomo won in a possible prelude to a 1992 Democratic presidential campaign. Besides Bradley of New Jersey, two other potential challengers to President Bush won easy Senate reelection--Al Gore in Tennessee and Sam Nunn in Georgia.
Bush voted in his home state of Texas after an energetic yet awkward campaign for GOP candidates, then returned to the White House to read the returns. Bush sparked a Republican rebellion when he broke his memorable 1988 campaign pledge and embraced an October deficitreduction plan that raised tax rates.
"George Bush obviously has had a little setback on the polls but he's still the most popular president going into midterm elections in modern times," said Ed Rollins, the top political adviser to House Republicans.
All in all, the first election of the 1990s came at a time of extraordinary volatility--with the nation on the verge of recession and on the edge of war in the Persian Gulf. Other issues emerged in scattered races--abortion, crime, the savings and loan crisis and ethics scandals among them.
Anti-Incumbency Myth
The pollsters agreed the voters were unhappy with the government and pessimistic about the economy, but that failed to translate into widespread anti-incumbency.
In Florida, Chiles won handily over first-term Republican Gov. Bob Martinez.
Democrat David Walters grabbed the open Republican governorship in Oklahoma. Bruce Sundlun wrested the governorship from Republicans in hard-times Rhode Island, outing Edward DiPrete. Former Gov. Bruce King's successful comeback returned New Mexico to the Democratic column, and Joan Finney outsted GOP Gov. nike Hayden in Kansas.