By DPA,
Washington : Veteran Alaskan Republican Senator Ted Stevens narrowly lost his bid for re-election, increasing the Democrats’ majority in the US upper house, US media has reported.
Stevens, 85, the longest-serving Republican in the senate, will be replaced by the mayor of Anchorage, Democrat Mark Begich, 46.
As Alaska’s division of elections counted the last absentee ballots from the Nov 4 election, Begich was ahead by 3,724 votes, an insurmountable lead with only a few thousand absentee ballots left to be counted, reported Alaska’s Kimo TV news.
During his 40-year congressional career, Stevens had been known for steering billions of dollars in federal funds to his state. But he faced an uphill re-election bid after his conviction last month on charges of hiding $250,000 in gifts from an Alaska company.
Begich’s victory brings the Democrats to two seats short of a 60-seat majority in the 100-member senate, which would be enough to prevent the Republicans from holding a filibuster, a parliamentary tactic to delay legislation through endless debate.
Two razor-close senate races remain to be decided.