By Emelie Rutherford
House Armed Services Committee (HASC) Chairman Ike Skelton (D-Mo.), Vice Chairman John Spratt (D-S.C.), and Seapower subcommittee Chairman Gene Taylor (D-Miss.) all lost their reelection bids last night in mid-term elections that turned control of the House over to Republicans.
Before the polls closed last night Capitol Hill insiders already were planning for House armed services and defense appropriations panels controlled by Republicans and absent some current senior Democrats, as well as a transformed Senate.
With Republican candidates winning a majority in the House last night, the HASC now is poised to be chaired by Rep. Howard “Buck” McKeon (R-Calif.) next January. The House Appropriations Defense subcommittee (HAC-D) could be led, once again, by current Ranking Member C.W. “Bill” Young (R-Calif.), if he can work around current term-limit rules, or by another Republican appropriator.
Skelton lost his battle against Republican state lawmaker Vicky Hartzler for an 18th term in Congress, during an election cycle when Democrats were skewered by Republican challengers for their ties to Democrat leaders and votes on controversial legislation.
In the final weeks of Skelton’s campaign, polls and election predictions became more dire for Skelton, as well as for Taylor. The Mississippi congressman, an outspoken overseer of shipbuilding and defense contracting matters, lost his fight for an 11th term to the GOP’s Steven Palazzo.
Spratt, who also chairs the House Budget Committee, was bested by Republican challenger Mick Mulvaney.
In the Senate, Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Pa.), a former Navy admiral, lost his bid for the seat he wrestled from Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) in the primary election. Sestak lost last night to Republican Pat Toomey, thus leaving the former military officer out of a job at the end of the year.
Election results showed additional casualties: HAC-D member Allen Boyd (D-Fla.), and HASC members Reps. Jim Marshall (D-Ga.) and Glenn Nye (D-Va.).
Nye, a former foreign-service officer, lost the seat he won just two years ago to Republican Scott Rigell. The successful challenger slammed Nye for not being able to prevent Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ move to close U.S. Joint Forces Command (JFCOM) in Norfolk, Va.
Marshall lost his bid for a fifth term to GOP state lawmaker Austin Scott.
Boyd, a seven-term congressman and the No. 5 Democrat on the HAC-D, was bested by GOP challenger Steve Southerland.
Some close Senate races were too close to call as of press time late last night. Those include Senate Appropriations Defense subcommittee (SAC-D) member Patty Murray’s (D-Wash.) fight against Republican challenger Dino Rossi.
The Rothenberg Political Report on Monday moved the Murray-Rossi battle to the “pure toss up” category, after previously dubbing it “toss up/tilt Democrat.”
“It looked like Murray had a narrow advantage as recently as late last week but that edge appears to have evaporated,” the newsletter reported Monday. “With the expected close result and the high number of mail-in ballots, the outcome of the Washington race may not be known until well after Tuesday night.”
An Oct. 27 Rasmussen Reports survey of Washington state voters showed Rossi leading with 48 percent of the vote to Murray’s 47 percent. The Cook Political Report called the Washington state race a “toss up.”
Also unclear late last night was the result of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-Nev.) battle against Republican Sharron Angle. Rothenberg and Cook both pegged the race as a pure toss up. An Oct. 25 Rasmussen survey had Angle with 49 percent of the vote in Nevada to Reid’s 45 percent.
Control of the Senate appeared to remain in Democrats’ hands last night.
Observers said a Republican takeover of the House and its committees could spur some changes in military oversight, though likely not impact defense spending significantly.
GOP lawmakers could use their newfound subpoena power to pressure President Barack Obama’s Pentagon to turn over data the panel wants. Skelton, for example, was not a fan of using that legal authority and recently rejected calls to subpoena Gates over his plans for closing JFCOM.
Still, defense consultant Loren Thompson, chief operating officer at the Lexington Institute in Arlington, Va., said “the tangible impact of a Republican majority may be muted outside a few symbolic issue areas like missile defense.”
He pointed to how Obama has not mimicked other recent Democratic administrations in cutting defense spending, and how Republicans have few options for cutting the deficit beyond trimming Pentagon spending.
“Things aren’t likely to change much on the military front no matter who controls the House,” Thompson said Monday.
Spending in defense-minded Democrats’ races varied.
Skelton easily out-raised and out-spent Hartzler. He used up $2.27 million of the $2.56 million he earned, while she spent $733,000 and raised $1.3 million, according to pre-election campaign finance reports reflecting activity through Oct. 13 they filed with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) by Oct. 21.
Skelton’s biggest donors were defense companies, with Lockheed Martin [LMT] at the top, with $44,000 in contributions to his campaign, according to the Center for Responsive Politics’ (CRP) analysis of the FEC filings for campaign activity up to Oct. 13.
For all congressional races during the 2009-2010 cycle, Skelton remained the top recipient of defense-contractor donations, with $365,000 in total from industry employees.
McKeon, the presumptive HASC chairman next year, was the industry’s No. 3 recipient, with $274,000, according to CRP.
Murray, the Senate’s outspoken Boeing [BA] supporter, was the defense industry’s No. 5 recipient, with $167,000, the CRP data showed.
Murray also easily outdid her opponent on the fundraising front. She raised $15.31 million and spent $14.84 million, compared to Rossi’s garnering of $7.37 million and spending of $4.33 million. Boeing was her third-biggest donor, with $90,000 in contributions, according to CRP.
Back in the House, unlike in Skelton’s race, Taylor’s fundraising and spending was close to that of his Republican challenger. As of Oct. 13, Taylor raised $675,000 to Palazzo’s $658,000, and spent $603,000 to the Republican’s $503,000. Northrop Grumman [NOC], whose Pascagoula shipyard is in Taylor’s district, gave $13,000 to Taylor, more than any other donor, the CRP data showed.
Fellow HASC member Nye was easily outspent by Republican Rigell, who spent $2.76 million to the incumbent’s $1.58 million, as of Oct. 13. Rigell had raised $3.71 million to Nye’s $2.15 million in the shipbuilding-centric district. Northrop Grumman was Nye’s second-biggest funder, giving him $18,000, according to CRP.