five-way Democratic primary with more than 50% of the vote and then faced Republican state public utility commissioner Diarmuid O'Scannlain in the general election. With the Watergate scandal fresh in the minds of voters, AuCoin became the first Democrat ever elected to the 1st district, winning 56% of the vote to O'Scannlain's 44%. He was subsequently re-elected eight times despite being initially targeted by the national Republican Party as "an easy mark." After AuCoin's departure, the Republican Party continued to regard the district as one they could expect to win, though the Democratic Party has held the seat ever since. Defense In 1981, AuCoin won a seat on the House Appropriations Committee, and two years later, was appointed to the subcommittee on Defense appropriations. AuCoin became a legislative critic of weaponizing space, opposing the Strategic Defense Initiative, basing his opposition on probability theory, holding that it could not fully defend the United States in the event of an attack. He also authored a legislative ban on U.S. flight tests of anti-satellite weapons, which carried the force of law unless the president certified that the Soviet Union tested a similar weapon of its own. His amendment effectively legislated arms control for the first time through an act of Congress. AuCoin supported the nuclear freeze movement and was a leading critic of President Reagan's proposed MX missile, arguing that such "first strike" weapons would prompt the Soviet Union to match them, and, since a first strike ability favored the aggressor, reasoning that such an event would increase the vulnerability of the U.S. Although he opposed the Reagan administration on strategic weapons, AuCoin used his position on the defense subcommittee to improve U.S. conventional arms. On an inspection tour at Fort Benning, he learned from the commander of the United States Army Infantry School that replacement of the aging M47 Dragon anti-tank missile was a major infantry priority because it exposed its operator to enemy return fire until his round found its target. AuCoin, himself a former infantryman, pressed for the development of a modern substitute, often resisting the U.S. Army Missile Command and other agencies that favored other technologies. AuCoin's legislation resulted in the adoption of the FGM-148 Javelin missile, which put its homing device in the round rather than the launcher to allow its operator to fire and immediately seek cover. The Javelin was first used in the 2003 Iraq War