Arlen Specter Election Results

Arlen Specter Election Results - Delivering a powerful message of discontent, voters Tuesday swept out veteran Sen. Arlen Specter in Pennsylvania, nominated a “tea party” movement founder for a Senate seat in Kentucky and forced Sen. Blanche Lincoln into a runoff for the Democratic nomination in Arkansas.

Sen. Arlen Specter, Pennsylvania’s longest-serving senator, lost his bid to run for re-election as a Democrat to Rep. Joe Sestak.
With 65 percent of precincts reporting, Sestak received nearly 53 percent of votes, the AP reports, to Specter’s 47 percent.
Sestak’s victory marks a striking triumph over the establishment candidate, who just last month had a more than 20-point lead in polls.

Specter and his 30 years of incumbency became a “lightning rod” for voters angry about the lasting effects of the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, Rendell said, adding that the party switch played into voters’ distrust of career politicians. Specter’s loss is the latest sign of an anti-incumbent attitude among voters across the country, as also evidenced by the defeat of Republican Sen. Bob Bennett of Utah and Democratic Rep. Alan Mollohan of West Virginia. Early vote counts indicate Specter did not do well enough in Philadelphia, the AP reports, where he was relying on his Democratic allies to help him build up large vote margins.

In Kentucky, Rand Paul, the most visible symbol of the Tea Party movement, easily won the Republican Senate primary and delivered a significant blow to the Republican establishment. His 24-point victory over Trey Grayson, who was supported by the most powerful Republican on Capitol Hill, Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, underscored the anti-Washington sentiment echoing across the country.