Following his defeat, Ashcroft would later be appointed United States Attorney General by George W. Bush and served from 2001 to 2005.

[6] His opponent was incumbent two-term Democratic governor Mel Carnahan, who by state law, was barred from seeking a third term.

[9] He announced his bid for the seat on November 4, 1998, with polls at the time, showing him leading Senator Ashcroft.

[18] Ashcroft received staunch criticism for his role in defeating the judicial nomination of Ronnie White, attacking him as "pro-criminal", a move which Carnahan, and many black leaders, saw as having racial overtones.

[29] Ashcroft's campaign fund would later be fined by the Federal Election Commission for failure to disclose donors.

[33] However, owing to failing instruments and bad weather conditions, the plane crashed at around 7:30 in rural Jefferson County.

Both Al Gore and George W. Bush offered tributes to the late governor before the debate.

[38] Many media outlets and analysts even assumed that the tragedy assured Ashcroft would win a second term.

[49] He commented in a TV interview that suspending his campaign had damaged him politically, even though he still maintained it was the right thing to do.

[50] In the final week, Ashcroft focused his campaign exclusively on the issues, stringently avoiding any mentions of his late opponent.

[52] A professor of political science at the University of Missouri commented that the incumbent Senator lost the election because his candidacy was "overwhelmed" by a campaign of "emotion and symbolism.

[54] Baker claimed that huge turnout overwhelmed the polling places, and that many people were being denied the ability to vote.

[55] Kit Bond, the state's Republican senior senator alleged that this was voter fraud, and called for a federal investigation.

"[35] In December 2000, he was chosen for the position of United States Attorney General by President-elect George W. Bush and his nomination was confirmed by the Senate[57] by a vote of 58 to 42.

Jean Carnahan ran for election to complete the term but was defeated by Republican Jim Talent with a margin of approximately twenty-two thousand votes.