While Congress was away for its August recess, several members of defense committees saw their reelection bids get significantly more competitive, and one key lawmaker was knocked out of the general election.
Rep. Colleen Hanabusa (D-Hawaii), a House Armed Services Committee member and co-chair of the committee’s Asia Pacific rebalance oversight effort, lost her bid for Senate and therefore will not be returning to Congress in 2015. She was running in a special election to fill the seat of the late Daniel Inouye for the last two years of the Senate term, which has temporarily been filled by former lieutenant governor Brian Schatz (D). Schatz narrowly defeated Hanabusa in a 49.3 percent to 48.6 percent vote, amid concerns that the Aug. 9 primary was hampered by a hurricane that hit Hawaii just before the election.
Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.), the top Republican on the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee, will be on the general election ballot in Mississippi after a lengthy appeal from his primary election opponent. Cochran and state senator Chris McDaniel faced off in a special election in late June after neither won a majority of votes during the primary election earlier in the month. The state election board certified that Cochran won by more than 7.700 votes, but McDaniel is appealing the results in court. Election officials finalized the ballot for the November election on Tuesday despite the legal challenge, which a judge threw out on Friday afternoon. After nearly three full months, it is confirmed that Cochran will face off against Democratic challenger Travis Childers and the Reform Party’s Shawn O’Hara.
In Arizona, the Aug. 26 primary set up a rematch from two years ago–HASC member Ron Barber (D-Ariz.) versus retired Air Force colonel Martha McSalley. In 2012, Barber beat McSalley by less than 1 percentage point, and the election is considered one of the most competitive of the 2014 election cycle.
Sen. Kay Hagan (D-N.C.) is in an increasingly heated competition in military-heavy North Carolina against the speaker of the state House of Representatives, Thom Tillis. Her seat is one of a handful Republicans are eyeing in their bid to win control of the Senate. But Hagan, the chairwoman of the Senate Armed Services subcommittee on emerging threats and capabilities, is not backing down, touting her work for military families, highlighting where she differs from the president to avoid attacks from the right, and putting pressure on Tillis’ right-wing policies during his time in the state legislature.
Another SASC subcommittee chair, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), found herself in a statistical dead heat with opponent Scott Brown. According to a recent WMUR Granite State poll, Shaheen, who chairs the SASC readiness subcommittee, is only ahead of Brown 46 to 44 percent. Brown, who formerly served as a senator from Massachusetts, still has to win the Sept. 9 primary election before facing off against Shaheen but is considered the frontrunner in the Republican race.