An embattled US Democratic senator narrowly won her party’s nomination for a third term, bucking the anti-establishment wave that could reshape US Congress and threaten US President Barack Obama’s legislative agenda.
The victory in Arkansas by US Senator Blanche Lincoln came in the marquee race of the busiest day of the US primary season. Two senators, one from each party, previously had been defeated by rivals from their own parties and Lincoln was in danger of becoming the third.
Elsewhere, the anti-incumbent sentiment prevailed.
In South Carolina, veteran US Republican Representative Bob Inglis badly trailed his rival and barely forced a runoff.
Nevada’s Republican governor, Jim Gibbons, lost his bid for renomination after a term marked by a messy public divorce.
The day’s races took place in the shadow of the worst recession in decades, stubbornly high unemployment, dispiriting day-by-day images of the damage caused by an offshore oil rig disaster and poll after poll that reported voters were angry and eager for a change.
The primaries offered fresh successes for the conservative, anti-Washington Tea Party movement, which already has helped sway several Republican races and push candidates to the right.
Nikki Haley, a candidate backed by the movement, easily outdistanced rivals in the South Carolina governor’s race, despite a nasty campaign with ethnic slurs about her Sikh family background and unsubstantiated allegations of extramarital affairs.
Tuesday’s votes, in 12 of the 50 US states, will set the stage for many of the key races in November, when Obama’s Democrats vie to preserve congressional majorities and try to hold onto governorships.
Two of the more interesting races will be in the most populous US state, California. Both will pit veteran politicians against wealthy businesswomen — at a time when both politicians and big business tend to be unpopular.
Former eBay chief executive Meg Whitman won the Republican nomination for governor after investing more than US$70 million of her own money in the campaign to succeed term-limited California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. She will face Democratic state Attorney General Jerry Brown, who was governor from 1975 to 1983 and won the party’s nomination again on Tuesday.
The state’s Senate race features a similar match-up — former Hewlett-Packard chief executive Carly Fiorina won the Republican nomination. She will face three-term US Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer, a liberal stalwart who won renomination.
“Career politicians in Sacramento and Washington DC, be warned: You now face your worst nightmare — two businesswomen from the real world who know how to create jobs, balance budgets and get things done,” Whitman told supporters.
Democrats are bracing for losses in the November vote, which falls at the midpoint of Obama’s term. Incumbent parties traditionally lose seats in midterm elections and Democrats, with strong majorities in both chambers of Congress, have the most seats to defend.
The task for the Democrats has been made even more difficult by the weak economy and, most recently, growing doubts about Obama’s handling of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
However, in recent months, incumbents from both parties have been defeated by a restless and dissatisfied US electorate.
In Arkansas, Lincoln, a moderate two-term senator, fought off a tough runoff challenge from state lieutenant governor Bill Halter, who was backed by unions and liberal groups. Lincoln narrowly topped Halter in the first round of voting on May 18, but fell short of a majority.
Lincoln had 52 percent of the vote to 48 percent for Halter in nearly complete returns.
The result marked a stunning defeat for organized labor, which had poured more than US$5 million into an effort to dump Lincoln in retaliation for her departure from party orthodoxy on numerous issues.
“The vote of this senator is not for sale and neither is the vote of the people of Arkansas,” Lincoln said during her victory party at Union Station in Little Rock.
Under fire from both the left and the right, Lincoln now faces an uphill campaign against the Republican candidate, US Representative John Boozman, in the Nov. 2 general election.
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