PROVIDENCE – A lot of people have told U.S. Sen. Lincoln D. Chafee over the last two days that they’re sorry he lost, but they’re glad control of the House and Senate has switched to the Democrats.

Do you feel that way, he was asked as he met with the press for the first time since losing to Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse. "To be honest, yes," he said.

Americans all across the country have spoken, he said, indicating that they want the Democrats and Republicans in Congress to work together. When one side doesn’t speak to the other, Chafee said, it’s “not good for the country.”

“The president now is going to have to talk to the Democrats,” said Chafee, who frequently clashed with President Bush. “I think that’s going to be good for America.”

So, is the senator OK with losing Tuesday’s election to Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse if that’s the end result?

“Well, I would have worked for that if I’d won, very, very energetically,” he said.

Chafee stopped short of saying that he planned to change parties, a speculation that surfaced on and off during his tenure. And he declined to say what his future plans might be, even when pressed about the possibility of whether he’d run for governor in four years.

When a reporter asked if he’s looking to determine where he belongs and if that might not be the Republican Party, he said, “That’s fair.”

However, considering his family’s Republican history in Rhode Island, a decision to leave the party wouldn't come easily, he said.

Chafee is a former Warwick mayor who was appointed senator in 1999 by then-Gov. Lincoln Almond upon the death of his father, U.S. Sen. John H. Chafee, who had held the Senate seat since 1976 and was a former Rhode Island governor and Secretary of the Navy.

Chafee easily defeated former Democratic U.S. Rep. Robert Weygand in 2000 to win the seat on his own.

Journal photo / Mary Murphy

U.S. Sen. Lincoln Chafee speaks to the press in his Providence office, two days after losing re-election to Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse.

“I’ve been a loyal Rhode Island Republican and trying to build the party since I was 3,” he said. “My dad was first elected state rep when I was 3, so I’ve been involved in his effort and then my own to have a two-party system in Rhode Island, so I don’t want to communicate in any way that I’m all of a sudden flying the coop or anything.”

Chafee stood behind the lectern in his Senate offices in Providence to address a roomful of print and broadcast journalists, commenting that he prefers not to stand at a podium but wanted to accommodate the many microphones set up to capture his every word.

He sounded subdued and calm, although he joked a bit about wanting to throw the lectern, given the election results.

Despite the change that Americans clearly sought at the polls on Tuesday, Chafee was hesitant to say whether the country is better off today than before the election.

“We’ll see,” he said. “I mean, let’s see what happens. If we get into, as I call [it], trench warfare, World War I, no man’s land, trenches … machine gun fire -- that’s what I’ve seen in my seven years there and it’s gotten worse. If the president’s not going to reach out, the voice of America has spoken very clearly, then that’s not good.”

This has been an exhausting period, Chafee said, with a seven-day-a-week race that takes so much from the candidates, precded in his case by a tough primary fight against Cranston Mayor Stephen Laffey.

Losing, Chafee said, is traumatic.

“I’ll be honest, it’s a kick in the guts,” he said.