Lott Succeeds Dole As Leader Gregarious Mississippian Elected In Lopsided Vote

Sen. Trent Lott, a gregarious Mississippian and ally of House Speaker Newt Gingrich, was elected Senate majority leader Wednesday in a lopsided vote of his Republican colleagues.

Lott replaces Bob Dole, R-Kan., who resigned from the Senate on Tuesday to run for president full time. Lott defeated his Mississippi colleague, Sen. Thad Cochran, by a vote of 44-8.

“The torch has been passed, but the flame remains the same,” Lott, 54, said at a news conference. He had held the No. 2 Senate leadership position under Dole, who phoned Wednesday from his campaign plane to congratulate Lott.

Although Lott said he plans no major departures from the deregulatory and budget-balancing agenda Dole pursued, he is expected to emphasize more conservative economic issues over time.

He has, for example, been a more prominent proponent of tax cuts than Dole, who stressed deficit reduction.

Lott’s election marks a major internal power shift in the Senate. Senators of Dole’s Depression-era generation, who have been more moderate and supportive of government, have lost ground, while Lott’s younger, more aggressive conservatives have gained.

That was evident in March 1995, when Lott supported an effort to strip Dole ally Sen. Mark Hatfield, a moderate Republican from Oregon, of his Appropriations Committee chairmanship as punishment for voting against the balanced-budget constitutional amendment.