The curse of the senate challengers

Since Nevada's first direct election of a U.S. Senator in 1908, there haven't been too many cases of incumbent senators losing a re-election bid in Nevada -- most resign in the middle of a term, retire or die while in office. But among those who have unseated an incumbent, many went on to lose a future re-election race themselves.

Charles B. Henderson (D) was elected in a special election in 1918, but lost to Tasker L. Oddie (R) in a three-way race in 1920 in which Independent candidate Anne Martin placed third with 18 percent of the vote. Oddie served two terms and was then defeated in 1932 by Patrick A. McCarran (D) by 52.1 to 47.9 percent.

A string of incumbent defeats began in 1958 when Howard W. Cannon (D) unseated U.S. Sen. George W. Malone (R). Cannon served four terms and then narrowly lost a re-election bid to Chic Hecht (R) in 1982 by 50.1 to 47.7 percent. After just one term in office, Richard Bryan (D) defeated Hecht in 1988 by 50 to 46 percent.