United States Senate election in Massachusetts, 1994
Encyclopedia
The 1994 United States Senate election in Massachusetts was held on November 8, 1994. Incumbent Democratic
U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy
won re-election.
in the battle to win the Massachusetts Republican Party
's nomination for the U.S. Senate. However, after using his personal wealth to advertise heavily on television, he gained overwhelming support at the state party convention.
Romney then defeated Lakian easily in the September 1994 Republican Party primary with over 80 percent of the vote.
After two decades out of public view, his father George
re-emerged during the campaign. George Romney had urged Mitt to enter the race and moved into his son's house for its duration, serving as an unofficial advisor.
Kennedy was more vulnerable than usual in 1994, in part because of the unpopularity of the Democratic Congress as a whole and also because this was Kennedy's first election since the William Kennedy Smith trial in Florida, in which Kennedy had taken some public relations hits regarding his character. Kennedy was saddled not only with his recent past but the 25th anniversary of the Chappaquiddick incident and his first wife Joan Bennett Kennedy
seeking a renegotiated divorce settlement.
Some early polls showed Romney close to Kennedy. By mid-September 1994, polls showed the race to be even. One Boston Herald
/WCVB-TV poll taken after the September 20, 1994 primary showed Romney ahead 44 percent to 42 percent, within the poll's sampling margin of error
. In another September poll, Romney had a 43 to 42 percent lead. President Bill Clinton
traveled to Massachusetts to campaign for Kennedy.
Religion became an issue for a while, after Kennedy's campaign said it was fair to ask Romney about his LDS Church's past policy of not allowing blacks into the priesthood. Romney accused Kennedy of having violated Senator John F. Kennedy
's famous September 1960 pledge not to allow his own Catholic doctrine to inform policy, made during his ultimately victorious presidential campaign. George Romney forcefully interjected during his son's press conference, "I think it is absolutely wrong to keep hammering on the religious issues. And what Ted is trying to do is bring it into the picture."
After Romney touted his business credentials and his record at creating jobs within his company, Kennedy ran campaign ads showing an Indiana company, Ampad
, bought out by Romney's firm, Bain Capital
. They showed interviews with its union workers who had been fired and who criticized Romney for the loss of their jobs, with one saying, "I don’t think Romney is creating jobs because he took every one of them away." Romney claimed that 10,000 jobs were created because of his work at Bain, but private detectives hired by Kennedy found a factory bought by Bain Capital that had suffered a 350-worker strike after Bain had cut worker pay and benefits. Kennedy's charges were effective, as more voters decided that Romney was interested in profits more than people.
Kennedy's attack ad
s also focused both on Romney's shifting political views; although both Kennedy and Romney supported the abortion
rights established under Roe v. Wade
, Kennedy accused Romney of being "multiple choice" on the issue, rather than "pro choice." Romney said his stance dated back to his mother, Lenore Romney
, and her position during her 1970 U.S. Senate campaign: "My mother and my family have been committed to the belief that we can believe as we want, but we will not force our beliefs on others on that matter. And you will not see me wavering on that." Nevertheless, women's groups and Democrats viewed Romney's position with suspicion. (In subsequent years, Romney became pro-life and opposed Roe.)
Kennedy's campaign ran short on money, and belying his image as endlessly wealthy, he was forced to take out a second mortgage
on his Virginia home.
Romney spent over $7 million of his own money, with Kennedy spending more than $10 million from his campaign fund, mostly in the last weeks of the campaign (this was the second-most expensive race of the 1994 election cycle, after the Dianne Feinstein
–Michael Huffington
Senate race in California
). Kennedy's new wife Vicki Reggie Kennedy
proved to be a strong asset in campaigning.
By early October, Kennedy was ahead by 49 to 44 percent in a Boston Globe poll. In their first televised debate, Kennedy came out charging with his aging but still booming voice; regarding the Ampad
deal, he said to Romney, "I don't know why you wouldn't meet with the strikers with that flimflam deal of yours out there in Indiana." Romney charged that Kennedy had benefited from a real-estate deal that had been done on a no-bid basis, but Kennedy responded with a rehearsed line: "Mr. Romney, the Kennedys are not in public service to make money. We have paid too high a price in our commitment to the public service of this country." Each candidate was asked to discuss one of their own failings. In a dramatic moment, Kennedy indirectly referred to his personal problems and acknowledged that he was "painfully aware" that on such occasions he had let his supporters down. By contrast, Romney mentioned work for several local charities he was engaged with on a near daily basis. When the moderator reminded him of the question, Romney responded "I guess what I regret is that I'm not able to provide even more help for those less fortunate than myself.... I wish I could do even more." Kennedy won this key debate as he reconnected with his traditional bases of support. One post-debate October poll showed Kennedy leading in the polls 50 percent to 32, and another by 56 to 36 percent.
, Kennedy won re-election by a 58 percent to 41 percent margin, the closest re-election race of his career; only his initial victory in the 1962 Senate special election in Massachusetts
was closer.
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy
Ted Kennedy
Edward Moore "Ted" Kennedy was a United States Senator from Massachusetts and a member of the Democratic Party. Serving almost 47 years, he was the second most senior member of the Senate when he died and is the fourth-longest-serving senator in United States history...
won re-election.
Candidates
- Mitt RomneyMitt RomneyWillard Mitt Romney is an American businessman and politician. He was the 70th Governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007 and is a candidate for the 2012 Republican Party presidential nomination.The son of George W...
, CEO of Bain CapitalBain CapitalBain Capital LLC is a Boston-based private equity firm founded in 1984 by partners from the consulting firm Bain & Company. Originally conceived as an early-stage, growth-oriented investment fund, Bain Capital today manages approximately $65 billion in assets, and its strategies include private...
and son of former Michigan Governor George W. RomneyGeorge W. RomneyGeorge Wilcken Romney was an American businessman and Republican Party politician. He was chairman and CEO of American Motors Corporation from 1954 to 1962, the 43rd Governor of Michigan from 1963 to 1969, and the United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development from 1969 to 1973... - John LakianJohn LakianJohn Lakian is a wealthy businessman and former candidate for governor of Massachusetts. He has founded several businesses, and served on the board on many others. He had an unsuccessful run for governor that resulted in a high profile lawsuit in 1982, and an unsuccessful bid for U.S. Senate in 1994...
, founder and chairman of Fort Hill Group, Inc.
Campaign
Romney was initially behind businessman John LakianJohn Lakian
John Lakian is a wealthy businessman and former candidate for governor of Massachusetts. He has founded several businesses, and served on the board on many others. He had an unsuccessful run for governor that resulted in a high profile lawsuit in 1982, and an unsuccessful bid for U.S. Senate in 1994...
in the battle to win the Massachusetts Republican Party
Massachusetts Republican Party
The Massachusetts Republican Party is the Massachusetts branch of the United States Republican Party. Governance of the party takes the form of a State Committee which, in accordance with Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 52, consists of one man and one woman from each of the 40 Senate Districts...
's nomination for the U.S. Senate. However, after using his personal wealth to advertise heavily on television, he gained overwhelming support at the state party convention.
Romney then defeated Lakian easily in the September 1994 Republican Party primary with over 80 percent of the vote.
Results
Major
- Ted KennedyTed KennedyEdward Moore "Ted" Kennedy was a United States Senator from Massachusetts and a member of the Democratic Party. Serving almost 47 years, he was the second most senior member of the Senate when he died and is the fourth-longest-serving senator in United States history...
(D), incumbent U.S. Senator elected in 1962 and reelected in 1964, 1970, 1976, 1982, and 1988. He also ran for president in 1980. - Mitt RomneyMitt RomneyWillard Mitt Romney is an American businessman and politician. He was the 70th Governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007 and is a candidate for the 2012 Republican Party presidential nomination.The son of George W...
(R), CEO of Bain & CompanyBain & CompanyBain & Company is a global management consulting firm headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. Bain is considered one of the most prestigious consulting firms in the world, with 47 offices in 30 countries and over 5,500 professionals on staff globally...
and son of former Governor George W. RomneyGeorge W. RomneyGeorge Wilcken Romney was an American businessman and Republican Party politician. He was chairman and CEO of American Motors Corporation from 1954 to 1962, the 43rd Governor of Michigan from 1963 to 1969, and the United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development from 1969 to 1973...
Campaign
In the general election, Kennedy faced the first serious re-election challenger of his career in the young, telegenic, and very well funded Romney. Romney ran as a successful entrepreneur and Washington outsider with a strong family image and moderate stands on social issues.After two decades out of public view, his father George
George W. Romney
George Wilcken Romney was an American businessman and Republican Party politician. He was chairman and CEO of American Motors Corporation from 1954 to 1962, the 43rd Governor of Michigan from 1963 to 1969, and the United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development from 1969 to 1973...
re-emerged during the campaign. George Romney had urged Mitt to enter the race and moved into his son's house for its duration, serving as an unofficial advisor.
Kennedy was more vulnerable than usual in 1994, in part because of the unpopularity of the Democratic Congress as a whole and also because this was Kennedy's first election since the William Kennedy Smith trial in Florida, in which Kennedy had taken some public relations hits regarding his character. Kennedy was saddled not only with his recent past but the 25th anniversary of the Chappaquiddick incident and his first wife Joan Bennett Kennedy
Joan Bennett Kennedy
Joan Bennett Kennedy is an American musician, writer, and former model. She is the former wife of U.S. Senator from Massachusetts Edward "Ted" Moore Kennedy.-Early life:...
seeking a renegotiated divorce settlement.
Some early polls showed Romney close to Kennedy. By mid-September 1994, polls showed the race to be even. One Boston Herald
Boston Herald
The Boston Herald is a daily newspaper that serves Boston, Massachusetts, United States, and its surrounding area. It was started in 1846 and is one of the oldest daily newspapers in the United States...
/WCVB-TV poll taken after the September 20, 1994 primary showed Romney ahead 44 percent to 42 percent, within the poll's sampling margin of error
Margin of error
The margin of error is a statistic expressing the amount of random sampling error in a survey's results. The larger the margin of error, the less faith one should have that the poll's reported results are close to the "true" figures; that is, the figures for the whole population...
. In another September poll, Romney had a 43 to 42 percent lead. President Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
traveled to Massachusetts to campaign for Kennedy.
Religion became an issue for a while, after Kennedy's campaign said it was fair to ask Romney about his LDS Church's past policy of not allowing blacks into the priesthood. Romney accused Kennedy of having violated Senator John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....
's famous September 1960 pledge not to allow his own Catholic doctrine to inform policy, made during his ultimately victorious presidential campaign. George Romney forcefully interjected during his son's press conference, "I think it is absolutely wrong to keep hammering on the religious issues. And what Ted is trying to do is bring it into the picture."
After Romney touted his business credentials and his record at creating jobs within his company, Kennedy ran campaign ads showing an Indiana company, Ampad
Ampad
American Pad & Paper LLC, or Ampad, is a manufacturer of office products, including writing pads, specialty papers, filing products and envelopes. Some products are marketed under the Ampad brand name, others are produced for brands including Staples and Wal-Mart. The company makes over 2500...
, bought out by Romney's firm, Bain Capital
Bain Capital
Bain Capital LLC is a Boston-based private equity firm founded in 1984 by partners from the consulting firm Bain & Company. Originally conceived as an early-stage, growth-oriented investment fund, Bain Capital today manages approximately $65 billion in assets, and its strategies include private...
. They showed interviews with its union workers who had been fired and who criticized Romney for the loss of their jobs, with one saying, "I don’t think Romney is creating jobs because he took every one of them away." Romney claimed that 10,000 jobs were created because of his work at Bain, but private detectives hired by Kennedy found a factory bought by Bain Capital that had suffered a 350-worker strike after Bain had cut worker pay and benefits. Kennedy's charges were effective, as more voters decided that Romney was interested in profits more than people.
Kennedy's attack ad
Attack ad
In political campaigns, an attack ad is an advertisement whose message is meant as a personal attack against another candidate or political party...
s also focused both on Romney's shifting political views; although both Kennedy and Romney supported the abortion
Abortion in the United States
Abortion in the United States has been legal in every state since the United States Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade, on January 22, 1973...
rights established under Roe v. Wade
Roe v. Wade
Roe v. Wade, , was a controversial landmark decision by the United States Supreme Court on the issue of abortion. The Court decided that a right to privacy under the due process clause in the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution extends to a woman's decision to have an abortion,...
, Kennedy accused Romney of being "multiple choice" on the issue, rather than "pro choice." Romney said his stance dated back to his mother, Lenore Romney
Lenore Romney
Lenore LaFount Romney was the former First Lady of Michigan and later a candidate for the U.S. Senate in 1970 from Michigan. Her husband, George Romney was the former Governor of Michigan, presidential candidate in 1968 and Secretary of Housing and Urban Development...
, and her position during her 1970 U.S. Senate campaign: "My mother and my family have been committed to the belief that we can believe as we want, but we will not force our beliefs on others on that matter. And you will not see me wavering on that." Nevertheless, women's groups and Democrats viewed Romney's position with suspicion. (In subsequent years, Romney became pro-life and opposed Roe.)
Kennedy's campaign ran short on money, and belying his image as endlessly wealthy, he was forced to take out a second mortgage
Second mortgage
A second mortgage typically refers to a secured loan that is subordinate to another loan against the same property.In real estate, a property can have multiple loans or liens against it. The loan which is registered with county or city registry first is called the first mortgage or first position...
on his Virginia home.
Romney spent over $7 million of his own money, with Kennedy spending more than $10 million from his campaign fund, mostly in the last weeks of the campaign (this was the second-most expensive race of the 1994 election cycle, after the Dianne Feinstein
Dianne Feinstein
Dianne Goldman Berman Feinstein is the senior U.S. Senator from California. A member of the Democratic Party, she has served in the Senate since 1992. She also served as 38th Mayor of San Francisco from 1978 to 1988....
–Michael Huffington
Michael Huffington
Michael Huffington is an American politician, bisexual activist, and film producer. He was a member of the Republican Party, and a member of the United States House of Representatives for one term, 1993–1995, from California...
Senate race in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
). Kennedy's new wife Vicki Reggie Kennedy
Victoria Reggie Kennedy
Victoria Reggie "Vicki" Kennedy is an American lawyer and the widow of U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy.-Early life and education:...
proved to be a strong asset in campaigning.
By early October, Kennedy was ahead by 49 to 44 percent in a Boston Globe poll. In their first televised debate, Kennedy came out charging with his aging but still booming voice; regarding the Ampad
Ampad
American Pad & Paper LLC, or Ampad, is a manufacturer of office products, including writing pads, specialty papers, filing products and envelopes. Some products are marketed under the Ampad brand name, others are produced for brands including Staples and Wal-Mart. The company makes over 2500...
deal, he said to Romney, "I don't know why you wouldn't meet with the strikers with that flimflam deal of yours out there in Indiana." Romney charged that Kennedy had benefited from a real-estate deal that had been done on a no-bid basis, but Kennedy responded with a rehearsed line: "Mr. Romney, the Kennedys are not in public service to make money. We have paid too high a price in our commitment to the public service of this country." Each candidate was asked to discuss one of their own failings. In a dramatic moment, Kennedy indirectly referred to his personal problems and acknowledged that he was "painfully aware" that on such occasions he had let his supporters down. By contrast, Romney mentioned work for several local charities he was engaged with on a near daily basis. When the moderator reminded him of the question, Romney responded "I guess what I regret is that I'm not able to provide even more help for those less fortunate than myself.... I wish I could do even more." Kennedy won this key debate as he reconnected with his traditional bases of support. One post-debate October poll showed Kennedy leading in the polls 50 percent to 32, and another by 56 to 36 percent.
Polling
| Pollster | Date | Kennedy | Romney | Unsure | M.o.E. Margin of error The margin of error is a statistic expressing the amount of random sampling error in a survey's results. The larger the margin of error, the less faith one should have that the poll's reported results are close to the "true" figures; that is, the figures for the whole population... |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boston Globe/WBZ-TV | July 24, 1994 |
50% | 34% | 16% | |
| Boston Globe/WBZ-TV | September 25, 1994 |
48% | 46% | 6% | +/- 5% |
| Opinion Dynamics of Cambridge | October 27, 1994 | 52% | 33% | 15% | +/- 5% |
Results
In the November general election, despite a very bad result for Democrats overallRepublican Revolution
The Republican Revolution or Revolution of '94 is what the media dubbed Republican Party success in the 1994 U.S. midterm elections, which resulted in a net gain of 54 seats in the House of Representatives, and a pickup of eight seats in the Senate...
, Kennedy won re-election by a 58 percent to 41 percent margin, the closest re-election race of his career; only his initial victory in the 1962 Senate special election in Massachusetts
United States Senate special election in Massachusetts, 1962
The United States Senate special election of 1962 in Massachusetts was held on November 6, 1962.-History:Senator John F. Kennedy resigned the seat to become President of the United States after winning the presidential election in 1960. Benjamin A...
was closer.