US Senate - the anti-incumbency state

[cos]

There's a state in the US where, since the 1960s, only one US Senator has been re-elected. He got re-elected several times, and was quite notorious in his day, so you might've heard of him, but he's been gone for a while now*. Do you know which state (and which Senator they did re-elect)?

Or, do you have a guess? If so, leave a comment before you Google or read other comments, I'm curious.

* edit: "a while" means more than just a couple of years :) Long enough that we already know his successor served only one term.

Edit2: To clarify, that one Senator they re-elected a few times was the exception - this state's pattern has been to not re-elect Senators. From 1970 - present, no Senator in this state except that one exception, has been elected more than once (or elected even once, if they were already serving due to being first elected before 1970).

Comments

[wotw]

North Carolina/Jesse Helms ?

[cos]

Yup!

They've had 12 Senators since the 1970, and Helms was the only one of those who got re-elected in that time.

Senator Richard Burr might break the curse this year, but he's considered the most endangered Republican incumbent and polls are close.

[kirin]

Huh. Guess maybe I should've got this one. I obviously knew Helms was around a long time, but I don't think I'd noticed that we hadn't had any other re-elections. Of course, I've only been here a decade, which isn't that long in Senate cycles.

Here's hoping Burr *doesn't* break it. Aside from the fact that I'd obviously never vote for him anyway, his ads have been incredibly annoying.

[cos]

A decade has been long enough to have had Senators Jesse Helms, John Edwards, Elizabeth Dole, Kay Hagan, and Richard Burr. I don't know if there are any other states where you'd have had five different Senators in just ten years! :)

[barking-iguana.livejournal.com]

Ah, I see I was right (about NC and Helms). I'm nearly certain there've been no other states with 5 US Senators in the last 10 years, but I'm quite certain that it haas happened in the past.