November 03, 2004, 11:34 a.m., National
Review Online
Tuesday was a good night for the Second
Amendment. Here is the summary, followed by state-by-state
breakdowns. The results are based on totals from early Wednesday
morning.
Senate Summary: Change from pro-rights to anti-rights:
Colorado, Illinois.
Change from anti-rights to pro-rights: Florida, Louisiana, North
Carolina, South Carolina, South Dakota.
This is a net +3 for the Second Amendment in the Senate —
probably enough to pass a bill to prohibit abusive lawsuits against
gun manufacturers, without crippling antigun amendments.
To be precise, the pro-rights gain is slightly more than +3.0,
since the outgoing Illinois senator was only weakly pro-gun, and the
incoming Colorado senator is only sometimes antigun.
House Summary: Pro-rights incumbents defeated: One in
Georgia, Illinois.
Anti-rights incumbents defeated: One in Texas.
The House retains a solid pro-gun majority and leadership.
Governors: Shift to anti-rights: New Hampshire.
Shift to pro-rights: Missouri.
President of the United States: The people of the United
States defied the United Nations, and reelected their pro-rights
president. President Bush's reelection helps ensure that the 2006
United Nations conference on small arms will not become a back-door
path to destroying the Second Amendment. President Bush will almost
certainly sign any pro-rights legislation that passes Congress.
After lawsuit reform, the most important bill would be the
restoration of Second Amendment rights to citizens of the District
of Columbia.
Alaska: Appointed incumbent Republican Lisa Murkowski won
a tough race, keeping the seat in the pro-rights column.
California: District 20: In the Central Valley,
antigun Democrat Jim Costa won an open seat.
Colorado: Democratic Attorney General Ken Salazar (rated D
by the NRA) replaced retiring Republican Ben Nighthorse Campbell,
who was usually pro-gun. Salazar will likely vote wrong on any close
issue, but will sometimes cast easy pro-gun votes.
District 3: Ken Salazar's older brother John served one
term in the Colorado House of Representatives, and always voted
pro-gun. He won an open seat to replace retiring Rep. Scott McInnis.
Initiative #36: An initiative to apportion Colorado's
electoral votes was defeated nearly 2-1.
Florida: Retiring antigun Senator Bob Graham will be replaced
by pro-gun Republican Mel Martinez.
Georgia: Pro-gun Republican Johnny Isakson replaced retiring
pro-gun Democrat Zell Miller. No net change in likely Senate votes,
but the handover does mark the loss of Miller as a national
spokesman on the issue.
District 12: Pro-gun Savannah freshman Republican Max Burns
was defeated by Democrat John Barrow (rated C by the NRA).
Illinois: Strongly antigun Democrat Barack Obama replaces
slightly pro-gun retiring Republican Peter Fitzgerald. The result is
a setback for gun rights, but a positive development for the
national body politic. The patriotic and positive Obama will replace
the quasi-criminal, racist demagogues Al Charlatan and Jesse Jackson
as the media-designated top black spokesman.
District 8: Absolutely pro-gun Republican Phil Crane was
first elected in 1969, but ran out energy and traveled abroad much
too often for the tastes of his district. He was unseated by antigun
Democrat Melissa Bean, in her second try.
Indiana: Pro-gun Republican Mitch Daniels won an open
governor's seat.
District 8: Outstanding pro-gun leader John Hostettler was
reelected in one of the most important House races for Second
Amendment issues.
District 9: Pro-gun incumbent Democrat Baron Hill appears to
be very narrowly losing to pro-gun challenger Mike Sodrel.
Kentucky: District 4: Pro-gun Republican Geoff Davis
won an open seat against a strongly antigun opponent.
Louisiana: Pro-gun Republican David Vitter won over 50
percent in the open primary, obviating the need for a December
runoff. He replaces the usually antigun retiring Democrat John
Breaux.
District 3: Democrat Charlie Melancon will face Republican
Billy Tauzin III in the runoff. Both are pro-gun.
District 7: In the runoff, pro-gun Democrat Willie Mount will
face pro-gun Republican Charles Boustany.
A state constitutional amendment to guarantee the right to hunt,
trap, and fish was approved with 81 percent.
Missouri: Antigun incumbent Governor Bob Holden was defeated
in the Democratic primary by antigun Claire McCaskill. She in turn
was defeated by pro-gun Republican Matt Blunt.
Missouri's lieutenant governor is elected on a separate line. Very
strongly pro-gun Republican Peter Kinder beat antigun Democrat Bekki
McDowell Cook.
Montana: Pro-gun Democrat Brian Schweitzer was elected
governor.
New Hampshire: The only incumbent governor to lose on Tuesday
night was pro-gun Republican Craig R. Benson, who was defeated by
John Lynch.
New York: District 27: In Buffalo, pro-gun Democrat
Brian Higgins won an open seat.
District 29: Pro-gun Republican State Senator Randy Kuhl won
an open seat.
North Carolina: Retiring antigun Senator John Edwards is
replaced by pro-gun Republican Richard Burr.
Oklahoma: Republican pro-gun leader Tom Coburn wins this open
seat, replacing the retiring pro-gun Senator Don Nickles. A slight
gain, given Coburn's energy on the issue.
Pennsylvania: District 8: Bucks County pro-gun
Republican Michael Fitzpatrick won an open seat against antigun
Democrat Virginia Schrader. Schrader tried to make the race a
referendum on abortion, in this suburban and pro-choice district.
But she was dragged down by her decision to hold a screening of
Fahrenheit 9/11 as a fundraiser. Republicans ran ads pointing
out that Schrader was choosing to associate herself with a man who
has chosen to accept assistance from the terrorist organization
Hezbollah in distributing his film in the Middle East.
District 15: Pro-gun Pat Toomey's open seat was filled by
pro-gun Republican Charles Dent, who is slightly less committed to
the issue than Toomey was.
South Carolina: Retiring antigun Democrat Fritz Hollings was
replaced by solidly pro-gun Republican Jim DeMint.
South Dakota: The Democratic Minority Leader adopted the
antigun position of the majority of the Democratic caucus, rather
than the pro-gun position of his home state. Had Daschle not done
so, he would not have lost narrowly to pro-gun John Thune.
Texas: District 1: Pro-gun Democrat Max Sandlin was
unseated by pro-gun Republican Louie Gohmert.
District 2: Incumbent pro-gun Democrat Nick Lampson also lost
to a pro-gun Republican challenger, Ted Poe.
District 19: Another pro-gun Democratic incumbent,
Representative Charlie Stenholm, was defeated. The winner was
pro-gun Republican Randy Neugebauer.
District 32: The one result in Texas that made a difference
for the gun issue was in the race between pro-gun Republican
incumbent Pete Sessions and antigun Democratic incumbent Martin
Frost, who had been gerrymandered into the same district. Sessions
won handily.
Utah: Usually pro-gun Republican Jon Huntsman won an open
governor's seat.
Washington: In the race to replace retiring antigun
Governor Gary Locke, pro-gun Republican Dino Rossi appears to have
come up a few thousand votes short of Democrat Christine Gregoire,
who refused to answer the NRA questionnaire.
District 5: Pro-gun Republican Cathy McMorris won this open
seat in Spokane, replacing pro-gun George Nethercutt, who ran
unsuccessfully for Senate.
District 8: Republican Dave Reichert (rated B- by NRA)
defeated a very antigun talk-show host to win an open seat.
West Virginia: Very pro-gun Democrat Joe Manchin won his
first term as governor.
—
Dave Kopel is research director at the
Independence
Institute.s
