Coleman Wins in Minnesota; Republicans Also Hold House
By ADAM NAGOURNEY


Republicans swept to victory in the United States Senate last night, assuring Republican control of the White House and Congress for the next two years, and thrusting President Bush into a commanding position for his legislative agenda.

The Republican Party also maintained — and possibly solidified — its hold on the House in an election that amounted to a major drubbing for the Democratic Party.

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The results mean that a single party, the Republicans, will once again control both houses of Congress and the White House. The party lost the Senate in June 2001, when Senator James M. Jeffords of Vermont switched from the Republican Party and became an independent, though mostly voting with the Democrats.

Republicans captured high-profile Senate races from North Carolina to New Hampshire, while winning governors' races in Democratic states.

"We made history tonight," said Representative Thomas M. Davis III, chairman of the Republican Congressional Campaign committee. "It was a great win for the president of the United States."

That exuberance carried over into the early hours of today, when Norm Coleman, a Republican, sent former Vice President Walter Mondale back into political retirement after beating him in the Senate race in Minnesota.

The outcome marked a break with historic patterns in which the party that controls the White House almost invariably lost, rather than gained, seats in midterm Congressional elections.

The result signaled a major change in the way Washington does business, removing what Mr. Bush had repeatedly complained in recent days was Democratic opposition that had prevented him from winning confirmation of his judicial nominations and such measures as a permanent tax cut and a homeland security bill.

It was a huge lift for Mr. Bush, who spent much of the past two weeks campaigning across the nation on behalf of Republican candidates for the House, the Senate and for governor. At the time, Democrats said that Mr. Bush was gambling his prestige on the outcome of the race. That was one bet that the president clearly appeared to have won last night.

Gov. Jeb Bush survived the fallout from his brother's disputed election in 2000 to win a second term in Florida, drawing an early-evening congratulatory call from the White House. In Maryland, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, a Democrat and a daughter of Robert F. Kennedy, lost her bid for governor to Representative Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. — the first time a Republican was elected governor of that state since Spiro Agnew was elected in 1966. Voters in Massachusetts, another of the most Democratic states, elected a Republican as governor, Mitt Romney.

Democrats were able to claim a handful of victories, like the one by Frank R. Lautenberg, the retired Democratic senator who reappeared on the political stage last month after Senator Robert G. Torricelli of New Jersey was forced aside by an ethics investigation. In one of the few dark moments for Republicans yesterday, Mark Pryor, the Democratic attorney general of Arkansas, toppled Senator Tim Hutchinson from office, while Senator Tom Harkin, Democrat of Iowa, won re-election.

The Democrats recaptured the governorships in Illinois for the first time in 26 years, Pennsylvania and Michigan, important states in that could have significant bearing in the 2004 presidential race.

Still, the evening was more than a little discouraging for Democrats. In what would amount to biggest upset in Senate races, Representative Saxby Chambliss unseated Senator Max Cleland, a celebrated war hero and a Democrat from Georgia. Elizabeth Dole, a two-time cabinet secretary and Republican candidate for president in 2000, was elected senator from North Carolina, and Representative John E. Sununu Jr. won the Senate race in New Hampshire. Both Republicans withstood spirited challenges from Democrats, assuring that those two states remained in the Republican column.

The Republicans also sent Representative Lindsey Graham to fill the South Carolina Senate seat that was being vacated by Senator Strom Thurmond, while former Gov. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, a two-time presidential candidate, kept that state's Republican Senate seat.

"What a great night — what a great victory," Mr. Sununu shouted to a crowd ecstatic that he had triumphed over the state's popular governor, Jeanne Shaheen...."
New York Times