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 County resultsStabenow: 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% Abraham: 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% | |||||||||||||||||
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The2000 United States Senate election in Michigan was held on November 7, 2000. Incumbent Republican U.S. SenatorSpencer Abraham ran for re-election to a second term, but he was narrowly defeated by his Democratic opponent, congresswomanDebbie Stabenow. Stabenow subsequently made history as the first woman to representMichigan in theUnited States Senate. By a margin of 1.6%, this election was the second-closest race of the 2000 Senate election cycle, behind onlythe election in Washington.
Abraham, who was first elected in the 1994Republican Revolution despite never running for public office before, was considered vulnerable by theDemocratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. Major issues in the campaign included prescription drugs for the elderly.[1] By September 4, Abraham still had failed to reach 50% in polls despite having spent over $6 million on television ads.[2] In mid-October, he came back and reached 50% and 49% in two polls respectively.[3]Abraham's campaign established a negative web site with the URL LiberalDebbie.com which parodied the logo forLittle Debbie snack cakes.[4]McKee Foods, the maker of Little Debbie cakes objected to the trademark infringement and the Abraham campaign included a disclaimer stating that McKee Foods does not endorse Abraham.[5][6]
The election was very close with Stabenow prevailing by just over 67,000 votes. Stabenow was also likely helped by the fact thatVice PresidentAl Gore won Michigan in theconcurrent presidential election. Ultimately, Stabenow pulled out huge numbers out of theDemocratic stronghold ofWayne County, which covers theDetroit Metropolitan Area. Stabenow also performed well in other heavily populated areas such asIngham County home to the state's capital ofLansing, and the college town ofAnn Arbor. Abraham did not concede right after major news networks declared Stabenow the winner; he held out hope that the few outstanding precincts could push him over the edge. At 4:00 AM, Abraham conceded defeat. Senator Abraham called Stabenow and congratulated her on her victory. As a result of the historic election, Stabenow became the first woman to representMichigan in theUnited States Senate.
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Debbie Stabenow | 2,061,952 | 49.47 | ||
| Republican | Spencer Abraham (incumbent) | 1,994,693 | 47.86 | ||
| Green | Matthew Abel | 37,542 | 0.90 | ||
| Libertarian | Michael Corliss | 29,966 | 0.72 | ||
| Reform | Mark Forton | 26,274 | 0.63 | ||
| Constitution | John Mangopoulos | 11,628 | 0.28 | ||
| Natural Law | William Quarton | 5,630 | 0.14 | ||
| Total votes | 4,165,685 | 100.00 | |||
| Democraticgain fromRepublican | |||||
