McGovern left Moakley's office in 1996 and moved back to Worcester, again running for Congress. This time, he took the nomination unopposed and faced Blute in the general election. His campaign slogan focused on unseating House Speaker Newt Gingrich: "To dump Newt you have to dump Blute." Blute was endorsed by "The Boston Globe" and five other local papers, but McGovern won the election with 53 percent of the vote. He has never faced another contest nearly that close, and has been re-elected ten times. He ran unopposed in 2000 and 2002.