Specter Defeat
Signals a Wave Against Incumbents
Published: May 18, 2010 - New York Times
WASHINGTON — Senator Arlen
Specter of Pennsylvania, who left the Republican
Party a year ago in hopes of salvaging a 30-year career, was rejected on
Tuesday by Democratic primary voters, with Representative Joe
Sestak winning the party’s nomination on an anti-incumbent wave that is
defining the midterm elections.
In Kentucky, Rand
Paul, the most visible symbol of the Tea Party movement, easily won the
Republican Senate primary and delivered a significant blow to the Republican
establishment. His 24-point victory over Trey
Grayson, who was supported by the most powerful Republican on Capitol Hill,
Senator Mitch
McConnell of Kentucky, underscored the anti-Washington sentiment echoing
across the country.
The outcomes of both contests, along with a Democratic primary in Arkansas
that pushed Senator Blanche
Lincoln into a runoff election in June, illustrated anew the serious threats
both parties face from candidates who are able to portray themselves as
outsiders and eager to shake up the system.
“I have a message, a message from the Tea Party, a message that is loud and
clear and does not mince words,” Mr. Paul said in his victory speech in Bowling
Green, Ky. “We have come to take our government back.”
In a bright spot for Democrats on Tuesday, the party retained the seat of the
late Representative John
P. Murtha in southwestern Pennsylvania.
The outcome, in a district that Senator John
F. Kerry carried for the Democrats in the 2004 presidential race and Senator
John
McCain for the Republicans four years later, gave Democrats confidence that
they can hold off Republicans in hotly contested regions, despite the difficult
political climate for them and President
Obama.
It was the biggest primary day so far in the midterm election year, as voters
in Arkansas, Pennsylvania and Oregon selected Congressional candidates for the
fall, providing fresh opportunities for Republicans and Democrats to vent their
anger over the size of government, the federal
budget deficit and many policies of the Obama administration.
The primary elections on Tuesday helped set the stage for a turbulent
five-month campaign, with Republicans hoping to wrest control of the House and
Senate from Democrats and win several governors’ races across the country.
The results were sobering for both parties, amounting to a rejection of
candidates selected and backed by leaders in Washington who found themselves out
of step with their electorates.
Republicans and Democrats alike are now left to learn the lessons from the
frustration being expressed by voters, and to unify behind nominees who face
daunting general election campaigns.
On the Democratic side, organized labor, which invested millions into the
races in Pennsylvania and Arkansas, did not achieve a victory in either state.
On the right, another show of Tea Party strength left the Republican party
leadership scrambling to reconnect with the grassroots.
As Mr. Paul’s victory was announced Tuesday evening, a crowd of supporters
gathered around the fireplace at his victory party at the Bowling Green Country
Club erupted in cheers. With 99 percent of precincts reporting, Mr. Paul led Mr.
Grayson by 24 percentage points.
“It’s just a tremendous mandate for the Tea Party,” Mr. Paul said. “It cannot
be overstated that people want something new, they don’t want the same old, same
old politicians. They think the system is broken and needs new blood.”
In November, Mr. Paul will face Jack Conway, the Kentucky attorney general,
who won the Democratic nomination.
Mr. Specter, 80, lost his bid for a sixth term despite the backing of a wide
swath of the Democratic
Party leadership, from Mr. Obama and the White House to Gov. Edward
G. Rendell of Pennsylvania.
“It’s been a great privilege to serve the people of Pennsylvania,” said Mr.
Specter, looking drawn and downcast as he delivered a brief concession speech.
With nearly all the vote counted, Mr. Sestak had 54 percent, compared with Mr.
Specter’s 46 percent.
Mr. Specter won the backing of the White House after his decision last year
to switch parties and help provide Democrats with a 60-vote majority in the
Senate, but Mr. Sestak embarked on an aggressive campaign that sought to remind
voters of what he portrayed as his opponent’s politically expedient change.
Mr. Specter was trying to make the case that his seniority and experience
were needed in Congress to help his economically struggling state while Mr.
Sestak, in a cuttingly effective television advertisement, tried to raise trust
and credibility questions about Mr. Specter because of his long history as a
Republican.
Though Mr. Obama made an automated telephone call on Mr. Specter’s behalf and
was featured in advertisements, he did not make a final visit to the state on
the senator’s account and made an appearance on Tuesday in Ohio instead.
Mr. Sestak, smiling broadly on Tuesday evening, declared victory by pointedly
noting that he had stood up to his own party “when that party doesn’t get it
right for us.”
“It’s no surprise that people wanted change,” he said. “When I went to
Congress just a few years ago, after 31 years in the wonderful United
States Navy, I found too many career politicians are a bit too concerned
about keeping their jobs, rather than serving the public and rather than helping
the people.”
Mr. Rendell, in an interview before the polls closed, cautioned against
drawing broad conclusions from the results, and said Mr. Specter and most
incumbents were running in a difficult environment. He said Mr. Specter and Mr.
Sestak had cast similar voters over the past year, particularly on the health
care and economic stimulus bills.
“In fairness to Arlen,” Mr. Rendell said, “if the economy was ok and there
was no anti-incumbent wave, this wouldn’t have been a close election.”
In addition to the primary contests, the special election in Southwestern
Pennsylvania suggested that Democrats were able to score victories in this
challenging political environment. Mark Critz, a former aide to Mr. Murtha,
defeated Tim Burns, a Republican businessman. With 95 percent of precincts
reporting, Mr. Critz had 53 percent, compared with 45 percent for Mr. Burns.
Though Democrats dominate in the district, its voters are blue-collar
conservatives and it is exactly the type of swing district carried by Senator
John McCain in the 2008 presidential race that Republicans must win if they are
to reach their goal of taking control of the House in November. The loss dealt a
blow to Republicans, who have been raising expectations for the fall.
“If you can’t win a seat that is trending Republican in a year like this,
then where is the wave?” asked Tom Davis, a former Republican congressman from
Virginia, who said Republicans will need to examine what went wrong.
Yet other Republican leaders hailed the primary outcomes in the Senate on
Tuesday evening as a sign that the anti-government mood echoing across the
country will benefit the party in November.
Senator Jim
DeMint, the South Carolina Republican who is chairman of the Senate
Conservative Fund, an organization that has been supporting conservative
candidates in Republican primaries, hailed Mr. Paul’s victory in Kentucky as a
defeat of the Washington political establishment.
“The Washington establishment threw everything they had at him and yet he
prevailed,” Mr. DeMint said. “Rand’s victory is part of an American awakening
that is taking place across the country as people embrace the principles of
freedom that are the backbone of our country.”
Mr. Paul, the son of Representative Ron
Paul of Texas, whose quixotic bid for president in 2008 helped inspire the
Tea Party movement, built his campaign on a message of term limits and smaller
government.
“It’s just a tremendous mandate for the Tea Party,” Mr. Paul said. “It cannot
be overstated that people want something new, they don’t want the same old, same
old politicians. They think the system is broken and needs new blood.”
Shaila Dewan contributed reporting from Little Rock, Ark., Kate Zernike from
Bowling Green, Ky. and Katharine Q. Seelye from Philadelphia.