Chris Shays won re-election in CT.
Today's Hartford Courant:
Shays Declared Winner
2:11 PM EST, November 8, 2006
By JOEL LANG, Courant Staff Writer Fourth District U.S. Rep. Chris Shays garnered 51 percent of the vote to 48 percent for Democratic challenger Diane Farrell in the 4th Congressional District, a margin of just under 6,000 votes with 93 percent of the precincts in early Wednesday.
Wednesday afternoon, Farrell issued a concession statement, explaining that this morning, she called Shays to congratulate him on winning.
"While the outcome is not what I or my many supporters had hoped for, in the end, the majority spoke, and we accept that message," she said.
"It was an amazing political race. We ran against a tidal wave against Republicans. I believe that the people of this district have re-elected me because of what I have done in 19 years," said Shays, best known for his support of the Iraq war and support of homeland security.
Shays has been a longtime supporter of the war, but recently became one of the few Republicans to call for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's resignation and suggest a timeline for troop withdrawals from Iraq.
Shays declared victory late Tuesday even as the official vote count showed a still-tight race, with half the precincts not yet reporting, and his Democratic opponent, Diane Farrell, not yet conceding.
Chants of "Go, Chris, Go! Go Chris, Go!" filled the room of the Norwalk Inn as supporters crowded around a screen showing the unofficial results. They turned to watch Shays walk through the crowd, and began cheering.
The Republican incumbent was hugged by his daughter Jeramy and his wife Betsi. He reached over his wife's head and clasped hands with his daughter.
"It appears that Congressman Shays may have won this election," Farrell said. "But there are still a significant number of votes that have not been counted."
As Shays stood before his supporters, he looked somber and heaved a sigh. "This is to be a celebration but I have to be serious," he said, and then referred to the longtime 5th Congressional District incumbent congresswoman. "Nancy Johnson has not been re-elected," he said. "I will miss her so much," but he said he was pleased that M. Jodi Rell won her race.
Then he referred to the fact that Democrats in Connecticut appeared to have won veto-proof control of the statehouse. "I plead with my Democratic friends to put the state first and not think they can rule from the legislature," Shays said. "I want to say that right now for the record."
One longtime Shays supporter sitting quietly on the sidelines echoed a common sentiment in the room. "I think Chris Shays is a good, honest guy with integrity who deserves to be re-elected," said B.V. Brooks, a former newspaper publisher.
Farrell, the former first selectwoman of Westport, held her election night watch at the Inn at Longshore Club Park, the town's recreation area. She was attempting to become the first Democrat in nearly four decades and the only woman since Greenwich's Clare Booth Luce in the 1940s, to represent the district.
Going into the election, all the momentum seemed to favor Farrell. She was close to dead even in the polls, doing her best to link Shays to the unpopular war in Iraq and the Republican leadership in Congress.
No matter how independent he claimed to be, Farrell warned repeatedly, Shays' first vote if re-elected would be for that same leadership.
In a district where likely voters overwhelmingly rated the war their top issue, Farrell cast Shays' criticism of the war, including his call for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's resignation, as too little too late, and insincere to boot.
Shays absorbed the onslaught, running not so much on his record as on his reputation for independence and integrity.
During his 11 debates with Farrell, Shays often held up a thick, white booklet, sometimes pointing to pages documenting the evolution of his views on Iraq and charts showing how often he'd bucked his party, going back to 1988, when he won his first full term.
The how-can-you-doubt-me gesture seemed almost poignant, coming from a congressman known for his pride and testiness.
A conscientious objector during the Vietnam War and a one-time Peace Corps volunteer, Shays was subjected to psychoanalysis by media after a breakfast in mid-September sponsored by the Christian Science Monitor where he defended his changing views on war in general and the Iraq war in particular.
"You have taken away the one thing I have, and that is my credibility," Shays was quoted as saying in response to press skepticism.
As the campaign heated up in October, Shays made two remarks that got headlines and were interpreted as signs of stress.
Defending House Speaker Dennis Hastert, in the wake of the page sex scandal that forced Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla., to resign, Shays said Hastert "didn't go over a bridge and leave a young person in the water," evoking a comparison with Sen. Edward Kennedy's fatal Chappaquiddick accident with a campaign worker in 1969.
Then, at a debate in Bridgeport, Shays described the abuse that occurred at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq as the work of a "sex ring." He later said the remark, embedded in a long answer to a general question about what constitutes torture, was a mistake. But The Courant and The New York Times, in endorsing Farrell over Shays, both referred to the Abu Ghraib remark.
In past elections, Shays had enjoyed the support of both papers.
Contact Joel Lang at jlang@courant.com.
An Associated Press report is included in this story.