Why did John Ashcroft lose re-election to the Senate in 2000?

[darklordoftech]

Why did Missouri vote out their Republican Senator while voting for Bush for President?

[South Dakota Democrat]

Wrong board.

[kcguy]

Missouri was a lot more of a swing state back then.

Against Ashcroft, the Democrats nominated their most prominent politician, Mel Carnahan, who was just finishing his second term as governor.

Polls throughout the year consistently showed a close match, with Ashcroft up by roughly 3 percentage points.

Twenty-two days before the election, Carnahan (along with a son and others) died in a plane crash.  For nearly a week, local news eulogized the late governor, while Republicans were forced to pull ads attacking him.

Meanwhile, it was too late under Missouri law to remove Carnahan's name from the ballot, so Democrats encouraged voters to honor the late governor by casting their votes for him.

Carnahan's lieutenant governor promised to appoint Carnahan's grieving widow to fill the seat, should Carnahan's election create a vacancy.

The only Republican response was (a) to declare corruption, claiming that promising Jean Carnahan a Senate seat was buying her vote for her late husband; and (b) arguing that the death of a candidate should automatically make his opponent the winner, whether or not state law said otherwise.

[TML]

Also, split-ticket voting was much more common back then compared to now.

[TDAS04]

Also, split-ticket voting was much more common back then compared to now.

Even in 2016, Jason Kander almost defeated an incumbent Republican senator as Hillary Clinton got crushed in Missouri.

Even in my state, an incumbent Republican senator lost reelection as Bob Dole carried South Dakota in the 1996 presidential race.

[South Dakota Democrat]

Also, split-ticket voting was much more common back then compared to now.

Even in 2016, Jason Kander almost defeated an incumbent Republican senator as Hillary Clinton got crushed in Missouri.

Even in my state, an incumbent Republican senator lost reelection as Bob Dole carried South Dakota in the 1996 presidential race.

True.

The first example is much more impressive and mind-boggling in all honesty, since 2016 was a much more polarized time and the split between the Senate and presidential race was huge, whereas 1996 was less polarized and Bill Clinton came close in South Dakota that year.

[TheElectoralBoobyPrize]

Also, split-ticket voting was much more common back then compared to now.

Even in 2016, Jason Kander almost defeated an incumbent Republican senator as Hillary Clinton got crushed in Missouri.

Even in my state, an incumbent Republican senator lost reelection as Bob Dole carried South Dakota in the 1996 presidential race.

True.

The first example is much more impressive and mind-boggling in all honesty, since 2016 was a much more polarized time and the split between the Senate and presidential race was huge, whereas 1996 was less polarized and Bill Clinton came close in South Dakota that year.

Kinda surprising given that Senate Republicans generally did pretty well that year...outperforming both Dole and the House GOP.

[JoeyJoeJoe]

Larry Pressler wasn't viewed as a particularly good Senator by the mid 1990s, at least not around DC.  The story I remember is how Pressler stormed out of a committee hearing once, only to exit into a closet instead of the actual exit.  He waited in the closet, hoping to leave once the room was empty, but the reporters just waited for him to run out of patience hiding or have to go to the bathroom or something.

[Schiff for Senate]

Also, split-ticket voting was much more common back then compared to now.

Even in 2016, Jason Kander almost defeated an incumbent Republican senator as Hillary Clinton got crushed in Missouri.

Even in my state, an incumbent Republican senator lost reelection as Bob Dole carried South Dakota in the 1996 presidential race.

More impressively, a Democratic senator won reelection in a landslide in SD in 2008 even though Obama lost there by a decent amount. Even more impressive stuff in ND, where every county went blue in the 2004 and 2008 senate elections (very interestingly, every county in the state went red in 2010), even as Kerry and Obama lost by big numbers presidentially.

[Fuzzy Bear]

Missouri was far more Democratic than it is now.