Reid Narrowly Wins in Nevada

Incumbent Sen. Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, narrowly won re-election today, defeating his Republican challenger, Rep. John Ensign, by 459 votes.

The race was the last of 34 Senate races to be decided in Tuesday's elctions. Trucking had targeted Mr. Reid for defeat following his abortive attempt to include a ban on triple-trailer trucks in the highway bill signed into law in June.

The elections brought no significant changes to congressional committees with oversight over trucking issues. Sen. Ernest Hollings (D-S.C.), the senior Democrat on the Senate Commerce Committee, won a difficult re-election bid, while Commerce Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) was swept into another six-year term.

No major changes in key House committees occurred as a result of the election, although Rep. Glenn Poshard (D-Ill.), a member of the House Transportation Committee, lost his bid to become governor of Illinois. Mr. Poshard waged a negative campaign against Illinois Secretary of State George Ryan, trying unsuccessfully to link him to allegations of agency employees receiving bribes to issue commercial driver licenses to applicants who could not speak English. Some of the bribe money allegedly ended up in Mr. Ryan's campaign fund.

Despite Mr. Ryan's denials of any wrong doing, Mr. Poshard ran television ads trying to connect Mr. Ryan to the 1994 death of six children that occurred when the minivan they were riding in hit a part that fell from the truck of an Illinois-licensed truck driver.

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