Elections 2000 After his father John announced he would not seek re-election in 2000, Lincoln Chafee announced he would run for the seat. When the elder Chafee died suddenly in October 1999, Governor
Lincoln Almond appointed the younger Chafee to serve out the term. In the general election he faced the
Democratic nominee, then-
U.S. Representative Robert Weygand. Chafee won the election 57%–41%.
2006 In September 2005,
Steve Laffey, the mayor of
Cranston, Rhode Island, announced his intention to run against Chafee in the Republican
primary election. Among other stances differing from those of Chafee, Mayor Laffey opposed abortion and
stem cell research. Laffey was supported by notable conservative groups, including the
Club for Growth and several anti-abortion groups. Chafee went on to defeat Laffey in the primary on September 12 by a margin of 53%–47%. The turnout for the Republican primary was the largest in Rhode Island history. In his victory speech, Chafee credited independent voters and disaffiliated Democrats for his victory. Chafee lost to Whitehouse in the general election, 54%–46%. In response to a question at a news conference on November 9, 2006, Chafee stated he was unsure whether he would remain in the
Republican Party after serving out the remainder of his term. According to Michelle R. Smith of the
Associated Press, when asked whether he felt that his loss may have helped the country by switching control of power in Congress (away from Republicans and toward the Democrats), he replied: "To be honest, yes."
Tenure Descended from a long line of moderate, center-right New England Republicans, Chafee's stances became increasingly liberal, more so than his father's positions had been. The now dominant
conservatives referred to him as a "
Republican In Name Only", or RINO. Most notable among these was
Human Events magazine, which named Chafee "the No. 1 RINO in the country." In 2006, the
National Journal rated Chafee as the most liberal Republican in the Senate, and placed him to the left of two Democrats,
Nebraska's
Ben Nelson and
Louisiana's
Mary Landrieu.
GovTrack also ranked Senator Chafee as the most liberal Republican member in 2006; according to GovTrack's analysis, Chafee was to the left of his Republican colleagues as well as to the left of fourteen Democrats. Known for often disagreeing with the Republican Party leadership, Chafee says he did not cast his ballot for President
George W. Bush in the
2004 election, instead choosing to
write in former president
George H. W. Bush as a nod to the Republican Party of his father. Chafee frequently criticized the younger Bush's record on the
environment, and expressed concern about the 2004 Republican
platform and overall philosophical direction of the party. He described the younger Bush's presidency as "an agenda of energizing the
far-right-wing base, which is divisive." Soon thereafter, he rejected Democratic overtures to leave the Republican Party after appeals to him from other Republican
senators to remain in their caucus. Chafee considered challenging George W. Bush for re-nomination in the
New Hampshire primary in 2004 on an anti- (Iraq and Afghanistan) war platform. In his autobiography,
Against the Tide (2007), he states that "In the fall of 2003, part of me thought it was cowardly to oppose the president on so many issues and then not oppose him head-on as he sought renomination." However, he decided not to run after the capture of
Saddam Hussein on December 13, 2003.
Fiscal policy Chafee also voted against both the 2001 and 2003 congressional budget bills that cut and/or rebated individuals' federal income taxes. He asserted that tax cuts reduce revenue to the federal government, thereby worsening the federal budget deficit and increasing the amount of money it has to borrow in order to operate. In 2004, Chafee broke with his party again to oppose the acceleration of the Bush tax cuts. "Four Senate moderates --
John McCain of Arizona,
Olympia J. Snowe and
Susan Collins, both of Maine, and Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island -- had insisted on attaching a provision that would have applied pay-as-you-go-rules for the next five years." On November 17, 2005, he voted in favor of reinstating the top
federal income tax rate of 39.6% (which last existed under President
Bill Clinton in the 1990s) on the highest-income taxpayers. In 2003, Chafee voted against the
Medicare Part D prescription drug expansion. However, Chafee also cast a crucial procedural vote against a Democratic attempt to kill that bill, which failed by only two votes. Chafee also co-sponsored the
Class Action Fairness Act of 2005, which expanded federal jurisdiction over class-action lawsuits, and voted against a wholesale ban on gifts from employees of lobbying companies. The
Cato Institute's Center for Trade Policy Studies identified Chafee as a "free trader" during his U.S. Senate tenure, indicating a pro-
free trade, pro-
market, and anti-
subsidies voting record. Chafee has supported
free trade agreements (e.g.,
North American Free Trade Agreement and
Dominican Republic-Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) and
bankruptcy reform. As U.S. Senator from Rhode Island, Chafee received grades of D in 2000, C− in 2001, C in 2002, C− in 2003 and 2004, and D in 2005 and 2006 from the
National Taxpayers Union, a
conservative taxpayers advocacy organization.
Environment Chafee was one of the few Republicans to vote against allowing drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and was a member of the
Republicans for Environmental Protection. He has been endorsed throughout his career by the Sierra Club and the League of Conservative Voters as a strong leader for environmental causes, despite criticisms from other progressive activist groups decrying the endorsement of a (then) Republican. Chafee sponsored the
Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act of 2002, enabling the clean up and redevelopment of thousands of abandoned urban buildings throughout the United States.
Social policy Chafee was a member of the
Republican Majority for Choice and
Republicans for Choice. Chafee was also a member of the
Republican Main Street Partnership. Chafee is
pro-choice. In 2003, Chafee was one of the three Republican Senators to oppose the
Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act. His 2006 senatorial re-election bid was endorsed by
NARAL Pro-Choice America. He also supported federal funding for
embryonic stem cell research. In 2004, Chafee was one of six Republicans to vote against the
Federal Marriage Amendment, an amendment intended to ban gay marriage; in 2006, he voted against banning gay marriage a second time. During his tenure, Chafee was the only sitting or former Republican senator to support the legalization of
same-sex marriage, until
Rob Portman of
Ohio endorsed it in 2013. He supported
affirmative action and
gun control, and was one of only two Republicans to vote against the
Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (which prevents
firearms manufacturers and
dealers from being held liable for crimes committed with their products). On June 27, 2006, Chafee was one of only three Republicans to vote against the proposed
Flag Desecration Amendment. Chafee opposes the
death penalty, and has consistently voted against limiting death penalty appeals in federal cases. He has also favored including
racial statistics in death penalty appeals, and making
DNA analysis a prerequisite for any federal-level, criminal executions. On May 23, 2005, Chafee was one of
14 bipartisan senators to forge a compromise on the Democrats' use of the judicial
filibuster, forestalling the Republican leadership's implementation of the so-called "
nuclear option". Under the agreement, the Democrats would retain the power to filibuster a Bush II judicial nominee only in an "extraordinary circumstance", and three of the most conservative Bush
appellate court nominees (
Janice Rogers Brown,
Priscilla Owen and
William Pryor) would receive a vote by the full Senate. Chafee was the only Republican to oppose George W. Bush's nomination of
Samuel Alito to the
United States Supreme Court. However, he voted to end debate on the nomination, helping to end any chance of a Democratic filibuster of it. Chafee did not announce his opposition to the nomination until a majority of Senators had already publicly said they would support Alito.
Foreign policy Chafee was the only Republican in the Senate to vote against authorization of
the use of force in Iraq in the lead-up to the
Iraq War. On June 22, 2006, he was the only Republican to vote for the Levin amendment calling for a nonbinding timetable for a withdrawal of
US troops from
Iraq. Chafee voted against the
Kerry-Feingold amendment calling for a binding timetable. Chafee is now involved in
J Street, a liberal Jewish group that calls for Israel to withdraw from all occupied territories and advocates for a "two state" solution to the
Arab–Israeli conflict. In November 2006, immediately following the midterm elections, Chafee joined key Democrats in opposing President Bush's renomination of
John Bolton as
United States Ambassador to the United Nations. On December 4, 2006, the White House announced that Bolton would no longer seek the appointment, and would resign within a matter of weeks.
Committee assignments •
U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations •
U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works •
U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs ==Political hiatus (2007–2009)==