Cantwell Declared Washington Victor

By TIMOTHY EGAN

Published: November 23, 2000

SEATTLE, Nov. 22—
Maria Cantwell, a 42-year-old Democrat who made a fortune with a high-tech company and campaigned as champion of the new economy, has been named the winner of what had been the nation's last undecided Senate race, defeating the three-term Republican incumbent, Slade Gorton of Washington, by just under 2,000 votes.

With Ms. Cantwell's apparent victory, the upper chamber will be evenly divided -- 50 Democrats and 50 Republicans -- needing the vice president to break ties. However, if Senator Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut is elected vice president, Republicans would retain a one-vote advantage because the Republican governor of Connecticut would appoint a Republican to the seat.

After more than two weeks of counting late absentee votes, all 39 counties in Washington certified their ballots today, giving Ms. Cantwell a 1,953-vote margin out of 2.5 million votes. The final tally is subject to an automatic recount, but the three statewide recounts in Washington since 1977 have never changed the outcome of a major election and never added more than 230 votes to any candidate or initiative.

''This is remarkable,'' said Ellis Conklin, a spokeswoman for Ms. Cantwell. ''A few days ago Slade Gorton was preparing his victory party, and now we have pulled off the upset. And it looks like it's going to be big enough to be bullet-proof in a recount.''

Mr. Gorton did not concede today but issued a statement tonight saying he was ''cautiously pessimistic.'' He said he would not comment further until after the recount.

With Ms. Cantwell's victory, Washington becomes the third state to send two women to the United States Senate, joining California and Maine. Senator Patty Murray, a Democrat, is Washington's other Senator. There will be 13 women in the Senate next January -- a record.

Last week, when Senator Gorton was up by 16,000 votes with about 50,000 still to count, Democrats in this state had already written Ms. Cantwell's political obituary. The party leader in Washington, Paul Berendt, predicted a Gorton victory of up to 3,000 votes.

But the suburban areas in the Puget Sound region, combined with the Seattle area, gave Ms. Cantwell her victory, even though she carried only 5 of the 39 counties.

''It appears as though we lost our edge in the suburbs this time,'' said Brett Bader, a leading consultant for Republicans in this state. ''There seems to be a seismic shift going on in Washington. It's no longer a swing state; it's becoming Democratic.''

American Indians, who singled out Mr. Gorton as the target of the first nationwide campaign by the tribes against a single national office holder, and environmentalists who have long opposed the senator, say they deserve much of the credit for defeating Mr. Gorton. The senator, as chairman of a committee that controls money for Indian spending and public lands, has fought the tribes on everything from fishing rights to sovereignty and has blasted environmental organizations as extremist.

Six years ago, Ms. Cantwell was a defeated, one-term member of Congress with no job. She became an executive with RealNetworks, a Seattle software company that pioneered video and audio streaming through the Web. In her campaign, she spent $10 million of her own money -- more than a third of the personal fortune she made a RealNetworks.

Ms. Cantwell's campaign was low on ideology. She cast herself as a product of the new century economy who could move Washington well beyond its old roots in the natural resource-based economy.

Mr. Gorton allied himself with the timber, mining and agricultural industries, taking strong stands against tearing down dams to save endangered salmon. He frequently joined more conservative Western Republican senators in opposing the Clinton administration plans to set aside forests and rivers as wilderness. Last year, he inserted a rider onto a relief bill for Kosovo that would give the go-ahead to cyanide-leach gold mine in north central Washington.

''Slade Gorton lost because he was not a moderate and not green enough,'' said Ron Sims, a Democrat who lost to Mr. Gorton six years ago, and is the executive of King County, which has 29 percent of the state's population.

''Maria came across as moderate, nonpartisan and environmentalist -- and that's what people want in this state,'' said Mr. Sims.

Mr. Gorton was also the leading adviser on Western issues to Gov. George W. Bush of Texas.

Mr. Gorton has been mentioned by party leaders as a potential member of a Bush cabinet.

Mr. Gorton also was a strong ally of Microsoft in its battle with the Justice Department. And even though Bill Gates, the Microsoft co-founder, called Mr. Gorton the strongest political friend the company had ever had, Ms. Cantwell won the normally Republican areas east of Seattle, where Microsoft is based.

''It is no longer Seattle against the rest of the state,'' Mr. Bader said.

Photo: Maria Cantwell, a Democrat who won a Washington Senate seat. (Reuters)