2006 United States Senate election in Florida

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The 2006 United States Senate election in Florida was held November 7, 2006. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Bill Nelson won re-election to a second term.

Quick facts Nominee, Party ...
2006 United States Senate election in Florida
← 2000
November 7, 2006
2012 →
 
Nominee Bill Nelson Katherine Harris
Party Democratic Republican
Popular vote 2,890,548 1,826,127
Percentage 60.30% 38.10%
County results
Nelson:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%
Harris:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%
U.S. senator before election

Bill Nelson
Democratic

 Elected U.S. Senator

Bill Nelson
Democratic

Close

Background

During the Terri Schiavo case in March 2005, a talking points memo on the controversy was written by Brian Darling, the legal counsel to Republican Senator Mel Martínez of Florida.[1] The memo suggested the Schiavo case offered "a great political issue" that would appeal to the party's base (core supporters) and could be used against Senator Bill Nelson, a Democrat from Florida who was up for reelection in 2006, because he had refused to co-sponsor the bill which came to be known as the Palm Sunday Compromise.[2] Bill Nelson was nevertheless reelected as Senator on November 7, 2006, with 60% of the vote.

Florida was one of five Democratic-held Senate seats up for election in a state that George W. Bush won in the 2004 presidential election.

Republican primary

Candidates

Declined

Endorsements

Polling

More information Poll Source, Date ...
Poll Source Date LeRoy
Collins Jr.		 Katherine
Harris		 Will
McBride		 Peter
Monroe
Strategic Vision[9] July 26, 2006 9% 45% 22% 7%
Mason-Dixon[10] July 26, 2006 8% 36% 11% 2%
Quinnipiac[11] July 27, 2006 6% 40% 21% 3%
Scroth Eldon & Associates[12] August 11, 2006 9% 28% 11% 5%
SurveyUSA[13] August 24, 2006 20% 43% 15% 7%
Strategic Vision[14] August 30, 2006 19% 38% 21% 5%
Quinnipiac[15] August 31, 2006 11% 38% 22% 3%
SurveyUSA[16] August 31, 2006 12% 45% 22% 5%
Mason-Dixon[17] September 2, 2006 17% 38% 21% 2%
Primary Results September 5, 2006 15% 49% 30% 5%
Close
Republican Primary results by county
  Harris
  •   30–40%
  •   40–50%
  •   50–60%
  •   60–70%
  •   70–80%
  McBride
  •   30–40%

Results

More information Party, Candidate ...
Republican primary results[18]
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Katherine Harris 474,871 49.4
Republican Will McBride 287,741 30.0
Republican LeRoy Collins Jr. 146,712 15.3
Republican Peter Monroe 51,330 5.3
Total votes 960,654 100.0
Close

General election

Candidates

  • Floyd Ray Frazier (Independent)
  • Katherine Harris, former Florida Secretary of State and former U.S. Representative (Republican)
  • Brian Moore, retired health care executive and former congressional candidate (Independent)
  • Bill Nelson, incumbent U.S. Senator (Democratic)
  • Belinda Noah (Independent)
  • Roy Tanner (Independent)

Campaign

The organization Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), which monitors political corruption, complained to the Federal Election Commission (FEC) in October 2006 that the Bacardi beverage company had illegally used corporate resources in support of a fundraising event for Nelson in 2005. CREW had previously filed a similar complaint concerning a Bacardi fundraising event for Republican Senator Mel Martinez, an event that raised as much as $60,000 for Martinez's campaign. The amended complaint alleged that, on both occasions, Bacardi violated the Federal Election Campaign Act and FEC regulations by soliciting contributions from a list of the corporation's vendors.[19]

Endorsements

In a rare move, all twenty-two of Florida's daily newspapers supported Nelson, while none supported Harris in the general election.[20]

Debates

Predictions

More information Source, Ranking ...
Source Ranking As of
The Cook Political Report[36] Solid D November 6, 2006
Sabato's Crystal Ball[37] Safe D November 6, 2006
Rothenberg Political Report[38] Safe D November 6, 2006
Real Clear Politics[39] Safe D November 6, 2006
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Polling

Graphical summary

%support2030405060702021/02/282022/07/312022/11/2 00:00HarrisNelsonUndecided/OtherOpinion polling for the 2006 United States S...
View source data.
More information Poll Source, Date ...
Poll Source Date Bill
Nelson (D)		 Katherine
Harris (R)
Strategic Vision (R)[40] July 20, 2005 48% 40%
Strategic Vision (R)[41] August 21, 2005 47% 38%
Quinnipiac[42] August 31, 2005 57% 33%
Strategic Vision (R)[43] September 22, 2005 48% 36%
Rasmussen[44] November 14, 2005 53% 36%
Quinnipiac[45] November 15, 2005 55% 31%
Strategic Vision (R)[46] November 30, 2005 48% 32%
Rasmussen[47] January 5, 2006 54% 31%
Rasmussen[48] February 14, 2006 49% 40%
Strategic Vision (R)[49] February 22, 2006 49% 34%
Quinnipiac[50] February 24, 2006 53% 31%
University of North Florida[51] March 15, 2006 48% 28%
Mason-Dixon[52] March 29, 2006 51% 35%
Strategic Vision (R)[53] March 30, 2006 56% 28%
Zogby/WSJ[54] March 31, 2006 50% 37%
Rasmussen[55] April 14, 2006 57% 27%
Quinnipiac[56] April 20, 2006 56% 27%
Strategic Vision (R)[57] April 26, 2006 56% 24%
Rasmussen[58] May 22, 2006 60% 33%
Strategic Vision (R)[59] May 25, 2006 56% 26%
Quinnipiac[60] May 25, 2006 58% 25%
Zogby/WSJ[61] June 21, 2006 51% 33%
Strategic Vision (R)[62] June 28, 2006 61% 26%
Quinnipiac[63] June 30, 2006 59% 26%
Zogby/WSJ[61] July 24, 2006 55% 34%
Strategic Vision (R)[64] July 26, 2006 60% 22%
Mason-Dixon[10] July 26, 2006 57% 29%
Quinnipiac[65] July 27, 2006 61% 24%
Rasmussen[66] July 28, 2006 61% 33%
St. Petersburg Times[67] August 11, 2006 60% 25%
Zogby/WSJ[68] August 28, 2006 52% 32%
Strategic Vision (R)[69] August 30, 2006 63% 20%
Rasmussen[70] September 5, 2006 57% 34%
Zogby/WSJ[68] September 11, 2006 51% 33%
SurveyUSA[71] September 14, 2006 53% 38%
Mason-Dixon[72] September 20–22, 2006 53% 35%
Strategic Vision (R)[73] September 27, 2006 59% 31%
Rasmussen[74] September 27, 2006 56% 33%
Rasmussen[75] October 4, 2006 54% 37%
SurveyUSA[76] October 10, 2006 55% 37%
Quinnipiac[77] October 11, 2006 61% 33%
Mason-Dixon[78] October 16–17, 2006 57% 31%
Strategic Vision (R)[79] October 25, 2006 58% 35%
Quinnipiac[80] October 25, 2006 64% 29%
St. Petersburg Times[81] October 28, 2006 56% 30%
Strategic Vision (R)[82] November 2, 2006 59% 33%
Mason-Dixon[83] November 3, 2006 58% 34%
SurveyUSA[84] November 5, 2006 59% 36%
Close

Results

As expected, Nelson was easily reelected. He won with 60.3% of the vote winning by 1,064,421 votes or 22.2%, and carried 57 of Florida's 67 counties. Nelson was projected the winner almost immediately when the polls closed at 7 P.M. EST.

More information Party, Candidate ...
General election results
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Democratic Bill Nelson (incumbent) 2,890,548 60.30% +9.26%
Republican Katherine Harris 1,826,127 38.10% −8.09%
Independent Belinda Noah 24,880 0.52% n/a
Independent Brian Moore 19,695 0.41% n/a
Independent Floyd Ray Frazier 16,628 0.35% n/a
Independent Roy Tanner 15,562 0.32% n/a
Write-in 94 0.00% n/a
Majority 1,064,421 22.21% +17.36%
Turnout 4,793,534
Democratic hold Swing
Close

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

See also

References

External links

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