SENATORS

There were 16 Senate races held during the 2008 election. Democrats held their 2 seats and picked up 7 seats. Republicans held 6 seats and lost 7 seats. One have yet to be called. Democrats now dominate the Senate 58 – 41.

MARK BEGICH

Senator, Alaska
Democrat

Over two weeks after the polls closed, Anchorage mayor Mark Begich was elected US Senator for Alaska, defeating incumbent Republican Ted Stevens by a little over one percent of the 315,000 votes cast. Leading up to the election Democrat Begich was the clear under-dog. Ted Stevens is a forty-year veteran of Congress and the longest-serving Senator of the history of the Republican Party. However, in late July 2008, Stevens was indicted on seven counts of neglecting to properly report gifts, which is a federal felony. The charges included gifts from VECO, an oil-field service company, and extensive home renovations. This federal indictment and resulting guilty verdict in late October allowed Begich an opportunity to un-seat Stevens. Begich entered politics in 1988 when he was elected to the Anchorage Assembly at the age of 26. In 2003 he was elected

MICHAEL BENNET

Senator, Colorado
Democrat

Michael F. Bennet's young career is characterized by a myriad of unrelated yet successful experiences, jumping from one profession to the next.  He started a job in finance without knowing how to read a balance sheet, and later became Superintendent of Denver Public Schools without a background in education.  He has excelled in all of his past positions, proving to be a very fast learner.  The people of Colorado are now waiting to see if he will find the same success in his new position as the Democratic Senator for their state.  Bennet was nominated by Governor Bill Ritter to fill the Senate seat vacated by Senator Ken Salazar, when he was nominated to be the Interior Secretary for the Obama administration.

The 44-year old Democrat was born in New Delhi, while his father was working with the U.S ambassador to India, Chester Bowles.  His father, Douglas Bennet, was the head of the U.S Agency for International Development under President Carter and later became the CEO of National Public Radio. His mother, Susanne Bennet née Klejman, came to the U.S from Poland in 1950 and was a school librarian. 

Bennet graduated from Yale Law School and met his wife Susan Daggett, a natural resources attorney.  He began his career as the Managing Director for the Anschutz Investment Company, where he became an expert in restructuring distressed businesses, such as Regal Cinemas, United Artists, and Edwards Theatres. He was responsible for over 500 million dollars in investments. Bennet left this lucrative career to become Chief of Staff to Denver mayor, John Hickenlooper. Two years later, he became the Denver School Superintendent. Michael Bennet is now gearing up to serve as Democratic Senator for Colorado, with the hope of being reelected for a second term.  Governor Ritter's unconventional pick came as a shock to most because he is the least well-known candidate out of the 14 other individuals who were considered.  Bennet has announced his decision to run for reelection in 2010 and he and the governor are taking the necessary steps to make sure he is prepared.  They have begun a 'get-to-know-him' tour of the state to have the voters meet their new representative. In order to rally enough support in the upcoming two years, Bennet will need to show the Hispanic community that he can respond to their needs as well as Ken Salazar did.  Polls show that 58% of Hispanic voters are currently ambivalent to Bennet.  Governor Ritter recognizes that Bennet is less experienced than the other candidates, but is confident in his choice. Ritter speaks of the similarities they share in terms of their introduction to politics and says, "I was a total dark horse. The governor saw potential in me, and it worked out." We will soon see if Bennet can earn the trust of Colorado voters and learn how to work effectively in the Senate.

KAY HAGAN

Senator, North Carolina
Democrat

Hagan defeated incumbent Republican Elizabeth Dole in a close election for North Carolina's Senate seat.  In the ten years immediately previous, she served in the North Carolina State Senate.  She had been vice president of NCNB (now Bank of America), then North Carolina's largest bank, before taking time off to raise her children.  It was the civic and community service that she did as a mom that got her interested in running for the State Senate.  Her uncle, Lawton Chiles was a US Senator and Governor of Florida while her father, Joe Ruthven, was the mayor of Lakeland, Florida.

TED KAUFMAN

Senator, Deleware
Democrat

Biden’s friend and former chief of staff, Ted Kaufman, was sworn in as Senator of Delaware on January 16, 2009 replacing Biden’s seat of 36 years. Kaufman, who is said to have been surprised by the appointment, plans to serve only two years until a special election in 2010. The election will take place to complete the last four years of Biden’s original six-year tenure. This would leave Biden’s oldest son, State Attorney General Joseph R. Biden III, now serving with his National Guard Unit in Iraq, and of whom the father said he “would make a great United States senator,” without an incumbent should he decide to seek the seat. The appointment provoked critical headlines, suggesting that the choice of Kaufman as replacement was made to support the election of Biden’s son.

Kaufman has advised Biden since the very beginning of his political career: he volunteered for Biden’s long-shot bid for the Senate in 1972, and then became head of his office. What was initially planned as a one-year leave of absence from his work at DuPont Company, turned into a career at the Senate, where Kaufman spent 19 years as Biden’s Chief of Staff until 1995. Serving on Biden’s former committees, Foreign Relations and Judiciary, Kaufman will not need any transition time to adjust to his new job. Not only are 80 percent of his staff Biden veterans, but he will also sit at Biden’s former desk in the chamber, the same that was once used by John F. Kennedy.

After retiring in 1995, Kaufman continued teaching classes on congress and on the role of government and business in the global economy at Duke University School of Law. He also served four terms on the federal Broadcasting Board of Governors, co-chaired the Vice Presidential Transition Team, and was an Advisory Board member during the Obama-Biden transition. Kaufman holds an undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering from Duke University and an M.B.A. degree from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

JEFF MERKLEY

Senator, Oregon
Democrat

Prior to his victory over incumbent Republican Gordon Smith, Merkley served as Speaker of the Oregon House of Representatives. After receiving his Master's degree in Public Policy from the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton, Merkley served as a Presidential Management Fellow to the Secretary of Defense, focusing on US military technology. He served as the executive director of Portland's Habitat for Humanity when he returned to Oregon in 1991, and then as the President of the World Affairs Council of Oregon. Merkley was elected to the Oregon House of Representatives in 1998 and was elected unanimously by his peers to serve as Speaker in 2006.

JEANNE SHAHEEN

Senator, New Hampshire
Democrat

A former governor of New Hampshire from 1996 to 2002, she defeated John Sununu in a rematch from the state's Senate race in 2002.  From 2005 to 2007, she served a Director of Harvard's Institute of Politics at the Kennedy School of Government.  She is a former teacher and also served in New Hampshire's State Senate.  She is New Hampshire's first female senator and also was the state's first female governor.

TOM UDALL

Senator, New Mexico
Democrat

Udall was first elected to the US House of Representatives to represent New Mexico's 3rd district in 1999 and served there until his recent election to the US Senate. Prior to the House, he was the Attorney General of New Mexico from 1991 to 1999, the first Attorney General in New Mexico to serve 2 consecutive four-year terms. Politics is the family business for the Udalls – Tom's father, Stewart Udall, was elected to four terms in Congress before serving as the Secretary of the Interior for Presidents Kennedy and Johnson. His uncle, Morris Udall, served 30 years in Congress and was a major presidential contender in 1976. His cousins are the recently defeated Senator Gordon Smith of Oregon and Representative Mark Udall, recently elected to the US Senate.

MARK UDALL

Senator, Colorado
Democrat

Udall was first elected to the US House of Representatives to represent Colorado's 2nd district in 1999 and served there until his recent election to the US Senate.  He was a member of the Colorado State House from 1997 to 2000 and before that, an educator and then Executive Director of the Colorado Outward Bound School.  His father, Morris Udall, was a Congressman for 30 years and campaigned for the presidency in 1976.  His uncle, Stewart Udall, was a Congressman before serving as Secretary of the Interior for Presidents Kennedy and Johnson.

MARK WARNER

Senator, Virginia
Democrat

The former governor of Virginia from 2002 to 2006, Warner is a former high-tech businessman.  He co-found the company that eventually became Nextel and also established a health care foundation that has help over 500,000 uninsured Virginians receive primary care.  Warner delivered the keynote address at the 2008 Democratic National Convention, drawing parallels between himself and Senator Obama, who delivered the keynote at the 2004 Convention as a Senate candidate.

Races not yet reported:
Minnesota – Franken(D) vs. Coleman(R) - Recount

GOVERNORS

There were 11 gubernatorial seats up for election in 2008, including three open seats. The four Democrat and four Republican incumbent candidates won re-election. Democrats also won all three open seats.

Jack Markell

Governor, Delaware
Democrat

The successor of Delaware Governor Ruth Ann Minner is Jack Markell, a Democrat and third-term state treasurer, a position in which he was elected in 2006 by an overwhelming majority of 70% of the vote. Campaigning heavily on health care, Markell defeated the Republican Bill Lee, a retired Superior Court judge. Jack Markell, a former banker at First Chicago Corporation, consultant at McKinsey, and a senior executive at Comcast Corporation, was once a vice president at the telecommunications company Nextel. Helping to grow Nextel from a small startup company called Fleet Call, Mr. Markell was able to earn a fortune. Markell was named one of the “100 Rising Stars” of the Democratic Party at the 2000 Democratic National Convention, and in the same year, he was mentioned in The New Democrat Magazine as one of 10 innovative leaders from around the country under the age of 40. With Mr. Biden now serving as vice president, Mr. Markell will be able to name the person who replaces Biden in the Senate.

Jay Nixon

Governor, Missouri
Democrat

In the only gubernatorial party change, Democrat Jay Nixon become Governor-elect after sitting Governor Republican Matt Blunt announced in January that he would not seek re-election. Ninth District Representative Kenny Hulshof became the Republican candidate. Nixon entered politics in 1986 when he was elected to the State Senate representing Jefferson County. Since 1992 he has served as Missouri's Attorney General, a position for which he has been re-elected an unprecedented four times. In 2000 Nixon helped found the Missouri Foundation for Health, which was the result of a settlement agreement from a law suit Nixon's office filed against one of Missouri's biggest insurance companies. The foundation provides health care services throughout the state to underprivileged Missourians.

Beverly Perdue

Governor, North Carolina
Democrat

After serving as the state's Governor for 16 years, Democrat Mike Easley was prohibited by law from running for re-election for a fifth term. In the open race Beverly Perdue, who has been serving as North Carolina's Lieutenant Governor since 2000, became the Democratic candidate against Republican Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory. She had previously been a State Representative from 1986 to 1990 and then a member of the North Carolina Senate from 1990 to 2000. Governor-elect Perdue will become the first female Governor of North Carolina. After Hillary Clinton dropped out of the 2008 presidential race, a New York Times article speculated that Perdue could be a possible future female presidential candidate.