2006 United States Senate elections

2006 United States Senate elections

← 2004 November 7, 2006 2008 →
33 of the 100 seats in the United States Senate 51 seats needed for a majority
Majority party Minority party   Leader Harry Reid Bill Frist (retired) Party Democratic Republican Leader since January 3, 2005 January 3, 2003 Leader's seat Nevada Tennessee Seats before 44 55 Seats after 49 49 Seat change 5 6 Popular vote 32,344,708 25,437,934 Percentage 53.2% 41.8% Seats up 17 15 Races won 22 9   Third party Fourth party   Party CFL Independent Last election 0 1 Seats before 0 1[Note 2] Seats after 1[Note 1] 1[Note 3] Seat change 1 Popular vote 564,095 378,142 Percentage 0.8% 0.6% Seats up 0 1 Races won 1 1
Results of the elections:      Democratic gain      Connecticut for Lieberman gain      Democratic hold      Republican hold      Independent hold      No election ^ Though Joe Lieberman (CT) won on the Connecticut for Lieberman ticket, he referred to himself as an independent Democrat and was listed on the Senate website as ID-CT. ^ Jim Jeffords (VT) caucused with the Democrats. ^ Bernie Sanders (VT) caucused with the Democrats.
Majority Leader before election Bill Frist Republican Elected Majority Leader Harry Reid Democratic

The 2006 United States Senate elections were held on November 7, 2006, with all 33 Class 1 Senate seats being contested. The term of office for those elected in 2006 ran from January 3, 2007, to January 3, 2013. Before the election cycle, the Republican Party controlled 55 of the 100 Senate seats.

The Senate elections were part of the Democratic sweep during the 2006 elections, in which Democrats made numerous gains and no congressional or gubernatorial seat held by a Democrat was won by a Republican.^[1] However, Democratic incumbent Joe Lieberman in Connecticut was defeated in the primary and was later reelected as a third-party candidate; he continued to caucus with the Democrats. Because of this, this is the first time since 1970 in which a member of a third party, who is not an independent, was elected to the Senate. Independent Jim Jeffords in Vermont retired but was succeeded by another Independent, Bernie Sanders, retaining their presence in the Senate. Jeffords and Sanders both caucused with Democrats. Democrats picked 6 seats up by defeating Republican incumbents in Missouri, Montana, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Rhode Island, and Virginia, while holding open seats in Maryland and Minnesota. Republicans held their sole open seat in Tennessee.

Following the elections, no party held a majority of seats for the first time since January 1955. The Democrats were able to control the chamber because the two Independents caucused with the Democrats. They needed at least 51 seats to control the Senate because Vice President Dick Cheney would have broken any 50–50 tie in favor of the Republicans. This was the only time between 1990 and 2022 that Democrats gained Senate seats in a midterm.

As of 2024^[update], this was the last time a Democrat won a Senate election in Nebraska, the last time a Democrat did not win a seat in Connecticut, and the last time that the tipping point state was decided by under 1%, with Jim Webb of Virginia winning by a margin of under .4%.

↓

49

2

49

Democratic

Independent

Republican

Summary of the November 7, 2006, United States Senate election results

Parties										Total
		Republican	Democratic	Independent	Libertarian	Green	Independence	Constitution	Others
Before these elections		55	44	1[a]	—	—	—	—	—	100
Not Up	Total	40	27	—	—	—	—	—	—	67
	Class 2 (2002→2008)	21	12	0	—	—	—	—	—	33
	Class 3 (2004→2010)	19	15	0	—	—	—	—	—	34
Up	Class 1	15	17	1[a]	—	—	—	—	—	33
Incumbent retired	Held by same party	1	2	1	—	—	—	—	—	4
	Replaced by other party	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	0
Incumbent ran	Total before	14	15[b]	—	—	—	—	—	—	29
	Won re-election	8	14	—	—	—	—	—	—	22
	Lost re-election	6 Republicans replaced by 6 Democrats		—	—	—	—	—	—	6
	Lost renomination, held by same party	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	0
	Lost renomination, and party lost	—	1 Democrat re-elected as an Independent[a]		—	—	—	—	—	1
	Result after	8	20	1[a]	—	—	—	—	—	29
Net gain/loss		6	5	1	—	—	—	—	—	6
Total elected		9	22	2[a]	—	—	—	—	—	33
Result		49	49	2[a]	—	—	—	—	—	100
Popular vote	Votes (turnout: 29.7 %)	25,437,934	32,344,708	378,142	612,732	295,935	231,899	26,934	1,115,432	60,839,144
	Share	41.81%	53.16%	0.62%	1.01%	0.49%	0.38%	0.04%	1.83%	100%

Sources:

• Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Elections
• United States Elections Project at George Mason University Archived January 25, 2013, at the Wayback Machine

D1	D2	D3	D4	D5	D6	D7	D8	D9	D10
D20	D19	D18	D17	D16	D15	D14	D13	D12	D11
D21	D22	D23	D24	D25	D26	D27	D28 Calif. Ran	D29 Conn. Ran	D30 Del. Ran
D40 N.Y. Ran	D39 N.M. Ran	D38 N.J. Ran	D37 Neb. Ran	D36 Minn. Retired	D35 Mich. Ran	D34 Mass. Ran	D33 Md. Retired	D32 Hawaii Ran	D31 Fla. Ran
D41 N.D. Ran	D42 Wash. Ran	D43 W.Va. Ran	D44 Wis. Ran	I1 Vt. Retired	R55 Wyo. Ran	R54 Va. Ran	R53 Utah Ran	R52 Texas Ran	R51 Tenn. Retired
Majority →
R41 Ariz. Ran	R42 Ind. Ran	R43 Maine Ran	R44 Miss. Ran	R45 Mo. Ran	R46 Mont. Ran	R47 Nev. Ran	R48 Ohio Ran	R49 Pa. Ran	R50 R.I. Ran
R40	R39	R38	R37	R36	R35	R34	R33	R32	R31
R21	R22	R23	R24	R25	R26	R27	R28	R29	R30
R20	R19	R18	R17	R16	R15	R14	R13	R12	R11
R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	R9	R10

D1	D2	D3	D4	D5	D6	D7	D8	D9	D10
D20	D19	D18	D17	D16	D15	D14	D13	D12	D11
D21	D22	D23	D24	D25	D26	D27	D28 Calif. Re-elected	D29 Del. Re-elected	D30 Fla. Re-elected
D40 N.D. Re-elected	D39 N.Y. Re-elected	D38 N.M. Re-elected	D37 N.J. Elected[d]	D36 Neb. Re-elected	D35 Minn. Hold	D34 Mich. Re-elected	D33 Mass. Re-elected	D32 Md. Hold	D31 Hawaii Re-elected
D41 Wash. Re-elected	D42 W.Va. Re-elected	D43 Wis. Re-elected	D44 Mo. Gain	D45 Mont. Gain	D46 Ohio Gain	D47 Pa. Gain	D48 R.I. Gain	D49 Va. Gain	I1 Conn. Re-elected New party
Majority (with Independents) ↑									I2 Vt. Hold
R41 Ariz. Re-elected	R42 Ind. Re-elected	R43 Maine Re-elected	R44 Miss. Re-elected	R45 Nev. Re-elected	R46 Tenn. Hold	R47 Texas Re-elected	R48 Utah Re-elected	R49 Wyo. Re-elected
R40	R39	R38	R37	R36	R35	R34	R33	R32	R31
R21	R22	R23	R24	R25	R26	R27	R28	R29	R30
R20	R19	R18	R17	R16	R15	R14	R13	R12	R11
R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	R9	R10

Key:	D# Democratic I# Independent R# Republican

State	Incumbent	Last election[e]	Crystal Ball[2]	Rothenberg[3]	Cook[4]	Result
Arizona	Jon Kyl	79.3% R	Lean R	Lean R	Lean R	Kyl 53.3% R
California	Dianne Feinstein	55.8% D	Safe D	Safe D	Safe D	Feinstein 59.4% D
Connecticut	Joe Lieberman (lost renomination)	63.2% D	Lean I (flip)	Safe I (flip)	Safe I (flip)	Lieberman 49.7% I (flip)
Delaware	Tom Carper	55.5% D	Safe D	Safe D	Safe D	Carper 67.1% D
Florida	Bill Nelson	51% D	Safe D	Safe D	Safe D	Nelson 60.3% D
Hawaii	Daniel Akaka	72.7% D	Safe D	Safe D	Safe D	Akaka 61.4% D
Indiana	Richard Lugar	66.5% R	Safe R	Safe R	Safe R	Lugar 87.3% R
Maine	Olympia Snowe	68.9% R	Safe R	Safe R	Safe R	Snowe 74.4% R
Maryland	Paul Sarbanes (retired)	63.2% D	Lean D	Lean D	Tossup	Cardin 54.2% D
Massachusetts	Ted Kennedy	72.9% D	Safe D	Safe D	Safe D	Kennedy 69.5% D
Michigan	Debbie Stabenow	49.4% D	Likely D	Likely D	Lean D	Stabenow 56.9% D
Minnesota	Mark Dayton (retired)	48.8% D	Likely D	Safe D	Likely D	Klobuchar 58.1% D
Mississippi	Trent Lott	65.9% R	Safe R	Safe R	Safe R	Lott 63.6% R
Missouri	Jim Talent	49.8% R (2002 special)[f]	Tilt D (flip)	Lean D (flip)	Tossup	McCaskill 49.6% D (flip)
Montana	Conrad Burns	50.6% R	Lean D (flip)	Lean D (flip)	Tossup	Tester 49.2% D (flip)
Nebraska	Ben Nelson	51% D	Likely D	Likely D	Safe D	Nelson 63.9% D
Nevada	John Ensign	55.1% D	Safe R	Safe R	Safe R	Ensign 55.4% R
New Jersey	Bob Menendez	Appointed (2006)[g]	Tilt D	Lean D	Tossup	Menendez 53.4% D
New Mexico	Jeff Bingaman	61.7% D	Safe D	Safe D	Safe D	Bingaman 70.6% D
New York	Hillary Clinton	55% D	Safe D	Safe D	Safe D	Clinton 67.0% D
North Dakota	Kent Conrad	61.4% D	Safe D	Safe D	Safe D	Conrad 68.8% D
Ohio	Mike DeWine	59.9% R	Likely D (flip)	Likely D (flip)	Lean D (flip)	Brown 56.2% D (flip)
Pennsylvania	Rick Santorum	52.4% R	Safe D (flip)	Likely D (flip)	Lean D (flip)	Casey 58.7% D (flip)
Rhode Island	Lincoln Chafee	56.8% R	Lean D (flip)	Lean D (flip)	Tossup	Whitehouse 53.5% D (flip)
Tennessee	Bill Frist (retired)	65.1% R	Lean R	Tossup	Tossup	Corker 50.7% R
Texas	Kay Bailey Hutchison	65% R	Safe R	Safe R	Safe R	Hutchison 61.7% R
Utah	Orrin Hatch	65.6% R	Safe R	Safe R	Safe R	Hatch 62.6% R
Vermont	Jim Jeffords (retired)	65.6% R[h]	Safe I	Safe I	Likely I	Sanders 65.4% I
Virginia	George Allen	52.3% R	Tilt D (flip)	Lean D (flip)	Tossup	Webb 49.6% D (flip)
Washington	Maria Cantwell	48.7% D	Likely D	Likely D	Likely D	Cantwell 56.81% D
West Virginia	Robert Byrd	77.7% D	Safe D	Safe D	Safe D	Byrd 64.4% D
Wisconsin	Herb Kohl	61.5% D	Safe D	Safe D	Safe D	Kohl 67.31% D
Wyoming	Craig L. Thomas	73.7% R	Safe R	Safe R	Safe R	Thomas 69.99% R

There were no special elections during the 109th Congress.

In these general elections, the winners were elected for the term beginning January 3, 2007; ordered by state.

All of the elections involved the Class 1 seats.

State	Incumbent			Result	Candidates
	Senator	Party	Electoral history
Arizona	Jon Kyl	Republican	1994 2000	Incumbent re-elected.	▌Y Jon Kyl (Republican) 53.3% ▌Jim Pederson (Democratic) 43.5% ▌Richard Mack (Libertarian) 3.2%
California	Dianne Feinstein	Democratic	1992 (special) 1994 2000	Incumbent re-elected.	▌Y Dianne Feinstein (Democratic) 59.4% ▌Dick Mountjoy (Republican) 35.2% Others ▌Don Grundmann (American Independent) 1.8% ▌Todd Chretien (Green) 1.7% ▌Michael Metti (Libertarian) 1.6% ▌Marsha Feinland (Peace and Freedom) 1.3%
Connecticut	Joe Lieberman	Democratic	1988 1994 2000	Incumbent lost renomination, but re-elected as an independent. Independent Democratic gain.	▌Y Joe Lieberman (CFL) 49.7% ▌Ned Lamont (Democratic) 39.7% ▌Alan Schlesinger (Republican) 9.6% Others ▌Ralph Ferrucci (Green) 0.5% ▌Timothy Knibbs (Concerned Citizens) 0.4%
Delaware	Tom Carper	Democratic	2000	Incumbent re-elected.	▌Y Tom Carper (Democratic) 67.1% ▌Jan C. Ting (Republican) 27.4% ▌Christine O'Donnell (Write-in) 4.4% ▌William E. Morris (Libertarian) 1.1%
Florida	Bill Nelson	Democratic	2000	Incumbent re-elected.	▌Y Bill Nelson (Democratic) 60.3% ▌Katherine Harris (Republican) 38.1% Others ▌Belinda Noah (Independent) 0.5% ▌Brian Moore (Green) 0.4% ▌Floyd Ray Frazier (Independent) 0.3% ▌Roy Tanner (Independent) 0.3%
Hawaii	Daniel Akaka	Democratic	1990 (appointed) 1990 (special) 1994 2000	Incumbent re-elected.	▌Y Daniel Akaka (Democratic) 61.4% ▌Cynthia Thielen (Republican) 36.8% ▌Lloyd Mallan (Libertarian) 1.9%
Indiana	Richard Lugar	Republican	1976 1982 1988 1994 2000	Incumbent re-elected.	▌Y Richard Lugar (Republican) 87.3% ▌Steve Osborn (Libertarian) 12.6%
Maine	Olympia Snowe	Republican	1994 2000	Incumbent re-elected.	▌Y Olympia Snowe (Republican) 74.4% ▌Jean Hay Bright (Democratic) 20.5% ▌Bill Slavick (Independent) 5.2%
Maryland	Paul Sarbanes	Democratic	1976 1982 1988 1994 2000	Incumbent retired. Democratic hold.	▌Y Ben Cardin (Democratic) 54.2% ▌Michael Steele (Republican) 44.2% ▌Kevin Zeese (Green) 1.5%
Massachusetts	Ted Kennedy	Democratic	1962 (special) 1964 1970 1976 1982 1988 1994 2000	Incumbent re-elected.	▌Y Ted Kennedy (Democratic) 69.5% ▌Kenneth Chase (Republican) 30.5%
Michigan	Debbie Stabenow	Democratic	2000	Incumbent re-elected.	▌Y Debbie Stabenow (Democratic) 56.9% ▌Mike Bouchard (Republican) 41.3% Others ▌Leonard Schwartz (Libertarian) 0.7% ▌David Sole (Green) 0.6% ▌W. Dennis FitzSimons (Constitution) 0.5%
Minnesota	Mark Dayton	DFL	2000	Incumbent retired. Democratic (DFL) hold.	▌Y Amy Klobuchar (DFL) 58.1% ▌Mark Kennedy (Republican) 37.9% ▌Robert Fitzgerald (Independence) 3.2% Others ▌Michael Cavlan (Green) 0.5% ▌Ben Powers (Constitution) 0.3%
Mississippi	Trent Lott	Republican	1988 1994 2000	Incumbent re-elected.	▌Y Trent Lott (Republican) 63.6% ▌Erik Fleming (Democratic) 34.8% ▌Harold Taylor (politician)
Missouri	Jim Talent	Republican	2002 (special)	Incumbent lost re-election. Democratic gain.	▌Y Claire McCaskill (Democratic) 49.6% ▌Jim Talent (Republican) 47.3% Others ▌Frank Gilmour (Libertarian) 1.2% ▌Lydia Lewis (Green) 0.9%
Montana	Conrad Burns	Republican	1988 1994 2000	Incumbent lost re-election. Democratic gain.	▌Y Jon Tester (Democratic) 49.2% ▌Conrad Burns (Republican) 48.3% ▌Stan Jones (Libertarian) 2.6%
Nebraska	Ben Nelson	Democratic	2000	Incumbent re-elected.	▌Y Ben Nelson (Democratic) 63.9% ▌Pete Ricketts (Republican) 36.1%
Nevada	John Ensign	Republican	2000	Incumbent re-elected.	▌Y John Ensign (Republican) 55.4% ▌Jack Carter (Democratic) 41.0% Others None of These Candidates 1.4% ▌David Schumann (Constitution) 1.3% ▌Brendan Trainor (Libertarian) 0.9%
New Jersey	Bob Menendez	Democratic	2006 (appointed)	Interim appointee elected.	▌Y Bob Menendez (Democratic) 53.4% ▌Thomas Kean Jr. (Republican) 44.3% Others ▌Len Flynn (Libertarian) 0.7% ▌Ed Forchion (Marijuana) 0.5% ▌J. M. Carter (Independent) 0.4% ▌N. Leonard Smith (Independent) 0.3% ▌Daryl Brooks (Independent) 0.2% ▌Angela Lariscy (Socialist Workers) 0.2% ▌Greg Pason (Socialist) 0.1%
New Mexico	Jeff Bingaman	Democratic	1982 1988 1994 2000	Incumbent re-elected.	▌Y Jeff Bingaman (Democratic) 70.6% ▌Allen McCulloch (Republican) 29.3%
New York	Hillary Clinton	Democratic	2000	Incumbent re-elected.	▌Y Hillary Clinton (Democratic) 67.0% ▌John Spencer (Republican) 31.0% Others ▌Howie Hawkins (Green) 1.2% ▌Jeff Russell (Libertarian) 0.4% ▌Bill Van Auken (Socialist Equality) 0.2% ▌Róger Calero (Socialist Workers) 0.2%
North Dakota	Kent Conrad	Democratic-NPL	1986 1992 (retired) 1992 (special) 1994 2000	Incumbent re-elected.	▌Y Kent Conrad (Democratic-NPL) 68.8% ▌Dwight Grotberg (Republican) 29.5% Others ▌Roland Riemers (Independent) 1.0% ▌James Germalic (Independent) 0.6%
Ohio	Mike DeWine	Republican	1994 2000	Incumbent lost re-election. Democratic gain.	▌Y Sherrod Brown (Democratic) 56.2% ▌Mike DeWine (Republican) 43.8%
Pennsylvania	Rick Santorum	Republican	1994 2000	Incumbent lost re-election. Democratic gain.	▌Y Bob Casey Jr. (Democratic) 58.7% ▌Rick Santorum (Republican) 41.3%
Rhode Island	Lincoln Chafee	Republican	1999 (appointed) 2000	Incumbent lost re-election. Democratic gain.	▌Y Sheldon Whitehouse (Democratic) 53.5% ▌Lincoln Chafee (Republican) 46.5%
Tennessee	Bill Frist	Republican	1994 2000	Incumbent retired. Republican hold.	▌Y Bob Corker (Republican) 50.7% ▌Harold Ford Jr. (Democratic) 48.0% Others ▌Ed Choate (Independent) 0.6% ▌David Gatchell (Independent) 0.2% ▌Emory "Bo" Heyward (Independent) 0.2% ▌H. Gary Keplinger (Independent) 0.2% ▌Chris Lugo (Green) 0.1%
Texas	Kay Bailey Hutchison	Republican	1993 (special) 1994 2000	Incumbent re-elected.	▌Y Kay Bailey Hutchison (Republican) 61.7% ▌Barbara Ann Radnofsky (Democratic) 36.0% ▌Scott Jameson (Libertarian) 2.3%
Utah	Orrin Hatch	Republican	1976 1982 1988 1994 2000	Incumbent re-elected.	▌Y Orrin Hatch (Republican) 62.6% ▌Pete Ashdown (Democratic) 30.8% ▌Scott Bradley (Constitution) 3.8% Others ▌Roger Price (Personal Choice) 1.6% ▌Dave Seely (Libertarian) 0.8% ▌Julian Hatch (Green) 0.4%
Vermont	Jim Jeffords	Independent	1988[i] 1994 2000	Incumbent retired. Independent hold.	▌Y Bernie Sanders (Independent) 65.4% ▌Richard Tarrant (Republican) 32.3% Others ▌Cris Ericson (Independent) 0.6% ▌Craig Hill (Green) 0.5% ▌Peter Moss (Independent) 0.5% ▌Peter Diamondstone (Liberty Union) 0.3%
Virginia	George Allen	Republican	2000	Incumbent lost re-election. Democratic gain.	▌Y Jim Webb (Democratic) 49.6% ▌George Allen (Republican) 49.2% ▌Gail Parker (Indy Green) 1.1%
Washington	Maria Cantwell	Democratic	2000	Incumbent re-elected.	▌Y Maria Cantwell (Democratic) 56.8% ▌Mike McGavick (Republican) 39.9% Others ▌Bruce Guthrie (Libertarian) 1.4% ▌Aaron Dixon (Green) 1.0% ▌Robin Adair (Independent) 0.8%
West Virginia	Robert Byrd	Democratic	1958 1964 1970 1976 1982 1988 1994 2000	Incumbent re-elected.	▌Y Robert Byrd (Democratic) 64.4% ▌John Raese (Republican) 33.7% ▌Jesse Johnson (Mountain) 1.9%
Wisconsin	Herb Kohl	Democratic	1988 1994 2000	Incumbent re-elected.	▌Y Herb Kohl (Democratic) 67.3% ▌Robert Lorge (Republican) 29.5% Others ▌Rae Vogeler (Green) 2.0% ▌Ben Glatzel (Independent) 1.2%
Wyoming	Craig L. Thomas	Republican	1994 2000	Incumbent re-elected.	▌Y Craig L. Thomas (Republican) 70.0% ▌Dale Groutage (Democratic) 29.9%

In eight races the margin of victory was under 10%.

District	Winner	Margin
Virginia	Democratic (flip)	0.4%[j]
Montana	Democratic (flip)	0.9%
Missouri	Democratic (flip)	2.3%
Tennessee	Republican	2.7%
Rhode Island	Democratic (flip)	7.0%
New Jersey	Democratic	9.0%
Arizona	Republican	9.8%
Connecticut	Independent (flip)	9.9%

Two Democrats, one Republican, and one Independent retired rather than seek re-election.

State	Senator	Replaced by
Maryland	Paul Sarbanes	Ben Cardin
Minnesota	Mark Dayton	Amy Klobuchar
Tennessee	Bill Frist	Bob Corker
Vermont	Jim Jeffords	Bernie Sanders

Six Republicans and one Democrat sought re-election but lost in the primary or general election.

State	Senator	Replaced by
Connecticut	Joe Lieberman	Joe Lieberman
Missouri	Jim Talent	Claire McCaskill
Montana	Conrad Burns	Jon Tester
Ohio	Mike DeWine	Sherrod Brown
Pennsylvania	Rick Santorum	Bob Casey Jr.
Rhode Island	Lincoln Chafee	Sheldon Whitehouse
Virginia	George Allen	Jim Webb

One Republican died on June 4, 2007, and was replaced by a Republican appointee on June 22, 2007. One other Republican resigned on December 18, 2007, and was replaced by a Republican appointee on December 31, 2007.

State	Senator	Replaced by
Mississippi (Class 1)	Trent Lott	Roger Wicker
Wyoming (Class 1)	Craig L. Thomas	John Barrasso

Arizona election

← 2000 2012 →

Nominee Jon Kyl Jim Pederson Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 814,398 664,141 Percentage 53.3% 43.5%

County results Kyl:      50–60%      60–70% Pederson:      50–60%      60–70%

U.S. senator before election Jon Kyl Republican Elected U.S. Senator Jon Kyl Republican

Incumbent Republican Jon Kyl won re-election to a third term over Democrat Jim Pederson, real estate developer and former chairman of the Arizona Democratic Party.

Republican primary^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Jon Kyl (Incumbent)	297,636	99.5%
	Republican	Write-ins	155	0.05%
Total votes			297,791	100.00%

Democratic primary^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Jim Pederson	214,455	100.00%
Total votes			214,455	100.00%

Libertarian primary^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Libertarian	Richard Mack	3,311	100.00%
Total votes			3,311	100.00%

The incumbent, Republican Jon Kyl, was elected to the Senate in 1994 and was re-elected to a second term in 2000; having previously spent eight years in the U.S. House of Representatives. Kyl's Democratic opponent for the general election was wealthy real-estate developer Jim Pederson, who served as the Arizona Democratic Party Chairman from 2001 to 2005. During his tenure, Pederson spent millions of dollars of his own money to help Democrats modernize and to elect Janet Napolitano as Governor of Arizona. The deadline for signing petition signatures to appear on the September 12, 2006, primary ballot was June 14, 2006.

Not long after the 2004 election, Pederson's name began being mentioned as a potential Senate candidate for the 2006 race. On July 28, 2005, Pederson formally stepped down as Chairman of the Arizona Democratic Party, further fueling those speculations. In early September 2005, an e-mail was sent from the Arizona Democratic Party's website, inviting people to an announcement by Pederson on September 7. In an anticlimactic move, an e-mail was sent out shortly after the first saying that the announcement would be postponed due to Hurricane Katrina. It was requested that any money that would be donated to Pederson's campaign at the announcement be directed to relief efforts instead. Similarly, a meeting in Arizona of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) was scheduled for around the same time. It was also postponed and the same request was made involving donations. On September 7, 2005, Pederson filed to run for the U.S. Senate. On September 14, 2005, Pederson formally announced his intention to run, in his hometown of Casa Grande, Arizona.

Although Kyl started the campaign with a sizable lead in most polls, the gap quickly narrowed, especially after Pederson released his array of ads.

Pederson lost the election by 9.84% or 150,257 votes, despite Democratic Incumbent Governor Janet Napolitano easily being re-elected and winning every county statewide. While Pederson lost it was still notable, as it was the worst performance of Senator Kyl's career. Kyl did well as Republicans usually do in Maricopa County home of Phoenix. Pederson did well in Pima County home of Tucson which tends to support Democrats. Kyl was called the winner by CNN at around 8 P.M. local time, 11 P.M. EST. Pederson called Senator Kyl and conceded defeat at 9:02 p.m. local time, 12:02 A.M. EST.

Arizona general election^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Jon Kyl (Incumbent)	814,398	53.34%	−25.98%
	Democratic	Jim Pederson	664,141	43.50%	+43.50%
	Libertarian	Richard Mack	48,231	3.16%	−1.90%
	Write-ins		13	0.00%
Majority			150,257	9.84%	61.66%
Turnout			1,526,782
	Republican hold		Swing

California election

← 2000 2012 →

Nominee Dianne Feinstein Dick Mountjoy Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 5,076,289 2,990,822 Percentage 59.43% 35.02%

County results Feinstein:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90% Mountjoy:      40–50%      50–60%

U.S. senator before election Dianne Feinstein Democratic Elected U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein Democratic

Incumbent Democrat Dianne Feinstein won re-election to her third full term.

The Republican candidate was Dick Mountjoy, who had never held a statewide elected position, but had been a state senator for several years. Also running was Libertarian Michael Metti, Don Grundmann of the American Independent Party, Todd Chretien of the Green Party and Marsha Feinland of the Peace and Freedom Party.

Because California is a state that requires a large amount of money to wage a competitive statewide campaign, it is not unusual - as was the case for this race - for a popular incumbent to have no significant opponent. Several prominent Republicans, such as Bill Jones, Matt Fong, and others, declined to run, and a previous announced challenger, businessman Bill Mundell, withdrew his declaration after determining he would not be a self-funded candidate (like Michael Huffington was in the 1994 election).

Democratic primary

Candidate		Votes	%
Dianne Feinstein (Incumbent)		2,176,888	86.95%
Colleen Fernald		199,180	7.96%
Martin Luther Church		127,301	5.09%
Total votes		2,503,369	100.00%

Green primary

Candidate		Votes	%
Todd Chretien		12,821	46.14%
Tian Harter		10,318	37.13%
Kent Mesplay		4,649	16.73%
Total votes		27,788	100.00%

Other primaries

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Dick Mountjoy	1,560,472	100.00%
	American Independent	Don J. Grundmann	30,787	100.00%
	Libertarian	Michael S. Metti	16,742	100.00%
	Peace and Freedom	Marsha Feinland	4,109	100.00%

On September 22, the Los Angeles Times reported that Mountjoy's official biography, as found on his campaign website, falsely asserted that he had served aboard the battleship USS Missouri during the Korean War—he'd actually served aboard the heavy cruiser USS Bremerton. A review of the ships' logs corroborated this and the website was quickly changed to reflect his service aboard the Bremerton rather than the Missouri. Mountjoy denied having been responsible for adding the incorrect information^[7]

Feinstein won the election easily. Feinstein won almost every major urban area, winning in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sacramento, and San Diego. Feinstein was projected the winner as the polls closed at 11 p.m. EST.

2006 United States Senate election in California^[8][9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Dianne Feinstein (incumbent)	5,076,289	59.43%
	Republican	Dick Mountjoy	2,990,822	35.02%
	Green	Todd Chretien	147,074	1.72%
	Libertarian	Michael S. Metti	133,851	1.57%
	Peace and Freedom	Marsha Feinland	117,764	1.38%
	American Independent	Don Grundmann	75,350	0.88%
	Green	Kent Mesplay (write-in)	160	0.00%
	Independent	Jeffrey Mackler (write-in)	108	0.00%
	Independent	Lea Sherman (write-in)	47	0.00%
	Independent	Connor Vlakancic (write-in)	11	0.00%
Invalid or blank votes			357,583	4.19%
Total votes			8,899,059	100.00%
Turnout				53.93%
	Democratic hold

Connecticut election

← 2000 2012 →

Nominee Joe Lieberman Ned Lamont Alan Schlesinger Party Independent Democratic Republican Popular vote 564,095 450,844 109,198 Percentage 49.7% 39.7% 9.6%

County results Municipality results Lieberman:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70% Lamont:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%

U.S. senator before election Joe Lieberman Democratic Elected U.S. Senator Joe Lieberman Independent

Incumbent Democrat Joe Lieberman lost the August 8 Democratic primary to cable executive Ned Lamont, a former Greenwich selectman. Lieberman formed his own third party and won in the general election to a fourth term.

Because Connecticut was believed to be a Democratic stronghold, Connecticut's Senate seat was considered safe to remain as a Democratic seat by political analysts,^[10][11] but Lieberman's continued support for conservative and Bush administration policies made him vulnerable to a Democratic primary challenger. Lieberman's critics objected to what they call Lieberman's lack of commitment to the Democratic party;^[12] his opposition to affirmative action;^[13] his opposition to a Connecticut state law that would require Catholic hospitals to provide emergency contraception to rape victims;^[14] his membership in the bipartisan Gang of 14;^[15] his support of Florida governor Jeb Bush in the Terri Schiavo case;^[16] his initial willingness to compromise on Social Security privatization;^[17] his alliances with Republicans;^[18] and his attacks on other Democrats.^[19][20][21]

On March 13, 2006, Ned Lamont announced his candidacy for the Democratic nomination. Lamont was more liberal than Lieberman, but he was not immune from criticism from within his own party. The New Republic senior editor and "liberal hawk" Jonathan Chait criticized Lamont's supporters by comparing them to activists who he felt "tore the party apart" in the 1960s and 70s.^[22]

Early polling showed Lieberman with as much as a 46-point lead,^[23] but subsequent polls showed Lamont gaining until Lamont took the lead just weeks before the primary.^[24] A controversy about a "kiss" Lieberman supposedly received from President Bush during the 2005 State of the Union address highlighted concerns that the senator was too close to the unpopular president to be a credible Democratic nominee.^[25] Lieberman released several campaign advertisements over the summer of 2006, seeking to connect himself to former President Bill Clinton and to portray Lamont as standing for little more than opposition to Lieberman. Lamont struck back against some of Lieberman's more negative ads with an advertisement produced by well-known political consultant Bill Hillsman. In Lamont's ad, a foreboding narrator says, "Meet Ned Lamont. He can't make a decent cup of coffee, he's a bad karaoke singer, and he has a messy desk." Lamont then chimes in, "Aren't you sick of political attack ads that insult your intelligence? Senator Lieberman, let's stick to issues and pledge to support whoever wins the Democratic primary."^[26]

From midmorning August 7 to well past August 9, Lieberman's official campaign site was taken offline; officials from Lieberman's campaign claimed, "dirty politics" and "Rovian tactics" on the part of Lamont's supporters, and more specifically, a sustained Distributed Denial of Service attack that, according to the Lieberman campaign, had left the site down for several days.^[27]

Tim Tagaris, Lamont's Internet communications director, denied the charge and attributed the downtime to the fact that the Lieberman campaign had chosen an inferior web host, or ISP, and was only paying $15/month to operate its site (in comparison to the $1500/month being spent by the Lamont campaign).^[28][29][30] On December 20, 2006, a joint investigation by Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal's office and the U.S. attorney's office cleared the Lamont campaign of the hacking accusations. A spokesman for Kevin O'Connor, the U.S. Attorney for Connecticut, stated, "The investigation has revealed no evidence the problems the Web site experienced were the result of criminal conduct."^[31]

Lamont won the primary with 51.79% of the vote, as opposed to Lieberman's 48.21%.^[32] However, in his concession speech, Lieberman announced that he would stand by his prior statements that he'd run as an independent if he lost the Democratic primary.^[33]

In the Republican Party primary, Alan Schlesinger drew fire in July when it was revealed that he had been gambling under an alias in order to avoid detection as a card counter. Despite calls to withdraw from the race, Schlesinger remained in the race,^[34] ultimately becoming the Republican nominee when no other Republican challengers entered the race.

Democratic Primary

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Ned Lamont	146,587	51.8%
	Democratic	Joseph Lieberman (Incumbent)	136,468	48.2%
Total votes			283,055	100.0%

On June 12, Ned Lamont began running radio ads promising if he lost the primary to endorse Lieberman, challenging Lieberman to abandon consideration of an independent run by making a similar pledge. Lieberman refused to make this pledge; his campaign manager, Sean Smith said, "Are we going to support Ned Lamont? Ah, no!"^[35]

On July 3 in Hartford, Lieberman announced that he would collect signatures in order to guarantee himself a position on the November ballot. Both Lieberman and Smith said that Lieberman will run as a "petitioning Democrat" and would caucus with Senate Democrats if elected.^[36] On July 10, the Lieberman campaign officially filed paperwork allowing him to collect signatures to form a new political party, the Connecticut for Lieberman party.^[37]

Upon Lieberman's announcement, independent polls continued to show him favored to win a plurality or outright majority of the vote in a three-way general election (see below). The petition issue led to charges against the Lieberman campaign of political opportunism and lack of respect for the political process.^[38] Lieberman received strong support from many prominent conservative pundits and publications. "[H]is most vocal support came from places like The Weekly Standard, National Review, and Commentary Magazine; Sean Hannity, Bill Kristol and right-wing radio hosts cheered for his victory."^[39] Thus, "Lieberman was able to run in the general election as the de facto Republican candidate — every major Republican office-holder in the state endorsed him — and to supplement that GOP base with strong support from independents."^[40]

On August 9, Democratic Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid and DSCC Chair Chuck Schumer issued the following joint statement on the Connecticut Senate race:

The Democratic voters of Connecticut have spoken and chosen Ned Lamont as their nominee. Both we and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) fully support Mr. Lamont's candidacy. Congratulations to Ned on his victory and on a race well run. Joe Lieberman has been an effective Democratic Senator for Connecticut and for America. But the perception was that he was too close to George Bush and this election was, in many respects, a referendum on the President more than anything else. The results bode well for Democratic victories in November and our efforts to take the country in a new direction.^[41]

According to The Hill, a Democratic aide to a high-ranking senator commented that Lieberman might be stripped of his Democratic privileges in the Senate. "At this point Lieberman cannot expect to just keep his seniority," said the aide. "He can't run against a Democrat and expect to waltz back to the caucus with the same seniority as before. It would give the view that the Senate is a country club rather than representative of a political party and political movement."^[42]

Lieberman won with approximately 50% of the vote, and served a six-year term from January 3, 2007, to January 3, 2013. Exit polls showed that Lieberman won the vote of 33% of Democrats, 54% of independents and 70% of Republicans.^[43] Lieberman won every county in the November general election.^[44]

2006 United States Senate election, Connecticut^[45]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent	Joe Lieberman (incumbent)	564,095	49.7%
	Democratic	Ned Lamont	450,844	39.7%
	Republican	Alan Schlesinger	109,198	9.6%
	Green	Ralph Ferrucci	5,922	0.6%
	Concerned Citizens	Timothy Knibbs	4,638	0.4%
	Write-in	Carl E. Vassar	80	0.0%
Majority			113,251	10.0%
Turnout			1,134,777
	Independent gain from Democratic

Delaware election

← 2000 2012 →

Nominee Tom Carper Jan Ting Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 170,567 69,744 Percentage 67.1% 27.4%

County results Carper:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%

U.S. senator before election Thomas Carper Democratic Elected U.S. Senator Thomas Carper Democratic

Incumbent Democrat Thomas R. Carper won re-election to a second term over a Republican Temple University law professor, Jan C. Ting.^[46]

Republican primary^[47]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Jan Ting	6,110	42.47%
	Republican	Michael D. Protack	5,771	40.12%
	Republican	Christine O'Donnell	2,505	17.41%
Total votes			14,386	100.00%

Delaware general election^[48]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Thomas Carper (Incumbent)	170,567	67.13%	+11.60%
	Republican	Jan Ting	69,734	27.44%	−16.26%
	Write-in	Christine O'Donnell	11,127	4.38%
	Independent Party	Karen M. Hartley-Nagle	5,769	2.2%
	Libertarian	William E. Morris	2,671	1.05%	+0.71%
Majority			100,833	39.68%	+27.85%
Turnout			254,099
	Democratic hold		Swing

Florida election

← 2000 2012 →

Nominee Bill Nelson Katherine Harris Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 2,890,548 1,826,127 Percentage 60.3% 38.1%

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

Incumbent Democrat Bill Nelson won re-election to a second term over Republican congresswoman Katherine Harris.

Republican primary^[49]

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%
Turnout			960,654	100.00%

The organization Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, 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.^[50]

Nelson was easily re-elected, winning all but 10 of Florida's 67 counties and receiving 60.3% of the vote, winning by 1,064,421 votes or 22.2%. Nelson was projected the winner as the polls closed at 7 p.m. EST.

Florida general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Bill Nelson (Incumbent)	2,890,548	60.3%	+9.8%
	Republican	Katherine Harris	1,826,127	38.1%	−8.1%
	Independent	Belinda Noah	24,880	0.5%	n/a
	Independent	Brian Moore	19,695	0.4%	n/a
	Independent	Floyd Ray Frazier	16,628	0.3%	n/a
	Independent	Roy Tanner	15,562	0.3%	n/a
	Write-ins		94	0.0%	n/a
Majority			1,064,421	22.2%	+17.4%
Turnout			4,793,534
	Democratic hold		Swing

Hawaii election

← 2000 2012 →

Nominee Daniel Akaka Cynthia Thielen Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 210,330 126,097 Percentage 61.4% 36.8%

County results Akaka:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%

U.S. senator before election Daniel Akaka Democratic Elected U.S. Senator Daniel Akaka Democratic

Incumbent Democrat Daniel Akaka won re-election to his third full term over Republican State Representative Cynthia Thielen.

Democratic congressman Ed Case ran against Akaka in the Democratic Primary, having stated that although he had the deepest respect for Akaka, Hawaii was in a time of transition with regard to the state's representation in Congress which required that the state elect Senators of the next generation to provide continuity. He warned the state would lose all clout in Washington if the state's two US Senators, both of whom were over 80 years old, left office within a short time of each other. If a Senator were to die, Hawaii election law requires that the governor appoint a replacement of the same party.^[51]

Hawaii's other Representative, Neil Abercrombie, and other Senator, Daniel Inouye, pledged their support to Akaka, who won the primary with 55% of the vote.^[52]

Democratic primary^[53]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Daniel K. Akaka (Incumbent)	129,158	55%
	Democratic	Ed Case	107,163	45%
Total votes			236,321	100%

Republican primary^[53]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Jerry Coffee	10,139	41.01%
	Republican	Mark Beatty	6,057	24.50%
	Republican	Akacase Collins	3,146	12.72%
	Republican	Jay Friedheim	2,299	9.30%
	Republican	Steve Tataii	1,601	6.48%
	Republican	Eddie Pirkowski	1,482	5.99%
Total votes			24,724	100%

Hawaii State Representative Cynthia Thielen was selected to be the Republican nominee after Jerry Coffee, who had previously withdrawn his candidacy, won the primary. Akaka won in all 4 Hawaii counties, taking at least 60% of the vote in each area.

Hawaii general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Daniel Akaka (Incumbent)	210,330	61.4%	−11.5%
	Republican	Cynthia Thielen	126,097	36.8%	+12.3%
	Libertarian	Lloyd Mallan	6,415	1.9%	+1.0%
Majority			84,233	24.6%
Turnout			342,842
	Democratic hold		Swing

Indiana election

← 2000 2012 →

Nominee Richard Lugar Steve Osborn Party Republican Libertarian Popular vote 1,171,553 168,820 Percentage 87.3% 12.6%

County results Lugar:      70–80%      80–90%      >90%

U.S. senator before election Richard Lugar Republican Elected U.S. Senator Richard Lugar Republican

Incumbent Republican Richard Lugar was unopposed by any Democratic candidate and was re-elected to his sixth six-year term with 87.3% of the vote over Libertarian radio operator Steve Osborn. This would be Lugar's last race of his political career.

Lugar faced no opposition from the Democratic Party, as they felt Lugar was unbeatable. The Indiana Senate race was the only one in 2006 where the incumbent faced no challenger from the other major party. Also running was Libertarian Steve Osborn. Osborn was from La Porte, Indiana, and was an amateur radio operator. Exit polls projected a landslide victory for Lugar which was borne out by the result.

The election was not close, with Lugar winning every county. Osborn's best performance was in Switzerland County, where he received just over 22% of the vote.

General election^[54]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Richard Lugar (Incumbent)	1,171,553	87.3%
	Libertarian	Steve Osborn	168,820	12.6%
	No party	Write-Ins	738	0.1%
Majority			1,002,733
Turnout			1,341,111	40%
	Republican hold		Swing

Maine election

← 2000 2012 →

Nominee Olympia Snowe Jean Hay Bright Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 402,598 111,984 Percentage 74.01% 20.59%   Nominee Bill Slavick Party Independent Popular vote 29,220 Percentage 5.37%

County results Municipality results Snowe:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%      >90% Bright:      40–50% Slavick:      80–90%

U.S. senator before election Olympia Snowe Republican Elected U.S. Senator Olympia Snowe Republican

Incumbent Republican Olympia Snowe won re-election to a third term over Democratic activist Jean Hay Bright.

Snowe, who had been elected to both of her previous terms by approximately 2-to-1 margins, had never lost an election. Snowe won by a landslide even as Democrats won across the country due to her being a centrist Republican and having a very high approval rating in Maine. Meanwhile, her Democratic opponent in the 2006 election, Jean Hay Bright, had never been elected to political office.

Democrats' best hope for taking the seat was that Snowe would retire rather than run in 2006, but there was never any indication that she seriously considered not running for re-election.^[55]

The filing deadline for major party candidates was March 15, 2006. The primary was held June 13, 2006. Olympia Snowe was unopposed for the Republican nomination; Jean Hay Bright narrowly won the Democratic nod with 50.7% of the vote against Eric Mehnert.

Hay Bright announced her candidacy in May 2005. Hay Bright was previously an unsuccessful candidate for the Democratic nomination to the House in 1994 and the Senate in 1996.

The race had been called by FOX News for Snowe 23 minutes after the polls had closed. Snowe won re-election by a greater margin than any U.S. Senator that cycle except Indiana's Richard Lugar, who faced only a Libertarian opponent. Snowe won in all of Maine's counties, taking at least 60% of the vote in each region.

Maine general election^[56]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Olympia Snowe (Incumbent)	402,598	74.01%	+5.5%
	Democratic	Jean Hay Bright	111,984	20.59%	−10.6%
	Independent	Bill Slavick	29,220	5.37%	n/a
Majority			290,614	53.42%
Turnout			543,802
	Republican hold		Swing

Maryland election

← 2000 2012 →

Nominee Ben Cardin Michael Steele Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 965,477 787,182 Percentage 54.2% 44.2%

County results Cardin:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80% Steele:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%

U.S. senator before election Paul Sarbanes Democratic Elected U.S. Senator Ben Cardin Democratic

Incumbent Democrat Paul Sarbanes, Maryland's longest serving United States senator, decided to retire instead of seeking a sixth term. Democratic nominee Ben Cardin won the open seat.

Kweisi Mfume, a former congressman and NAACP President, was the first to announce for the position, in March 2005. Ben Cardin, then a congressman since 1987, was the only other major candidate until September 2005, when Dennis F. Rasmussen, a former Baltimore County Executive, American University professor Allan Lichtman, and wealthy Potomac businessman Josh Rales entered the contest. Thirteen other candidates subsequently also entered the primary. As of August 2006, Cardin had raised more than $4.8 million and collected endorsements from a number of Democratic politicians, the AFL–CIO, and The Washington Post; Mfume had raised over $1.2 million and collected endorsements from the Maryland State Teachers Association, Progressive Maryland, former Maryland Governor Parris Glendening, the National Organization for Women, and Maryland Congressmen Elijah Cummings and Al Wynn.

Democratic primary^[57]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Benjamin L. Cardin	257,545	43.67%
	Democratic	Kweisi Mfume	238,957	40.52%
	Democratic	Josh Rales	30,737	5.21%
	Democratic	Dennis F. Rasmussen	10,997	1.86%
	Democratic	Mike Schaefer	7,773	1.32%
	Democratic	Allan Lichtman	6,919	1.17%
	Democratic	Theresa C. Scaldaferri	5,081	0.86%
	Democratic	James H. Hutchinson	4,949	0.84%
	Democratic	David Dickerson	3,950	0.67%
	Democratic	A. Robert Kaufman	3,908	0.66%
	Democratic	Anthony Jaworski	3,486	0.59%
	Democratic	Thomas McCaskill	3,459	0.59
	Democratic	George T. English	2,305	0.39%
	Democratic	Bob Robinson	2,208	0.37%
	Democratic	Lih Young	2,039	0.35%
	Democratic	Blaine Taylor	1,848	0.31%
	Democratic	Joseph Werner	1,832	0.31
	Democratic	Charles Ulysses Smith	1,702	0.29%
Total votes			589,695	100%

Michael S. Steele, Lieutenant Governor and former chairman of the Maryland Republican Party, was expected to win the Republican primary, and the Baltimore Sun wrote the month before that he faced "only nominal opposition".^[58] Among a field of nine other candidates, the only Republican receiving significant media coverage was Daniel Vovak.

Republican primary^[57]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Michael S. Steele	190,790	86.96%
	Republican	John Kimble	6,280	2.86%
	Republican	Earl S. Gordon	4,110	1.87%
	Republican	Daniel "Wig Man" Vovak	4,063	1.85%
	Republican	Thomas J. Hampton	3,946	1.80%
	Republican	Corrogan R. Vaughn	2,565	1.17%
	Republican	Daniel Muffoletto	2,335	1.06%
	Republican	Richard Shawver	2,298	1.05%
	Republican	Ray Bly	2,114	0.96%
	Republican	Edward Raymond Madej	902	0.41%
Total votes			219,403	100%

This was Maryland's first open Senate seat since 1986, when Senator Barbara Mikulski was first elected.

Kevin Zeese, the nominee for the Green, Populist and Libertarian Parties, was also on the ballot.

Though Steele lost the general election by 10% of the vote, a much wider margin than predicted, his was and remains the best showing for a Republican in a Senate race in Maryland since Charles Mathias, Jr. was re-elected in 1980 with 66% of the vote.

Both Steele and Cardin made controversial statements and advertising throughout the campaign.

Cardin primarily attacked Steele over his close relations with President Bush, including pictures of Bush and Steele in Cardin's TV ads.^[59] Steele focused on low taxes, less government spending, free markets and national security.^[60]

Despite polls days before the election showing the race at a 3% margin, Cardin won by more than 10% with a 178,295-vote margin. Steele conceded defeat at 9:02 p.m. EST.

Maryland general election^[61]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Ben Cardin	965,477	54.21%	−9.0%
	Republican	Michael S. Steele	787,182	44.19%	+7.5%
	Green	Kevin Zeese	27,564	1.55%	n/a
	Write-ins		916	0.05%	0%
Majority			178,295	10.02%
Turnout			1,781,139	100
	Democratic hold		Swing

Massachusetts election

← 2000 2010 (special) →

Nominee Ted Kennedy Kenneth Chase Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 1,500,738 661,532 Percentage 69.3% 30.6%

County results Municipality results Kennedy   40–50%   50–60%   60–70%   70–80%   80–90%   90-100% Chase   50–60%

U.S. senator before election Ted Kennedy Democratic Elected U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy Democratic

Incumbent Democrat Ted Kennedy won re-election to his ninth (his eighth full) term, beating Republican language school owner and activist Kenneth Chase. This was Kennedy's last election to the Senate.

At the Massachusetts Republican Party Convention^[62] Kenneth Chase received the official endorsement with a majority of delegates, though both candidates qualified for the September primary. Former White House Chief-of-Staff Andy Card also received 3 votes.^[63]

Republican primary^[64]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Kenneth Chase	35,497	50.94%
	Republican	Kevin Scott	34,179	49.05%
Total votes			69,676	100.00%

Kennedy captured every county in the state, winning at least 62% in each region.^[65]

Massachusetts general election^[66]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Ted Kennedy (Incumbent)	1,500,738	69.30%	−3.4%
	Republican	Kenneth Chase	661,532	30.55%	+17.7
Majority			839,206	38.75%
Turnout			2,165,490
	Democratic hold		Swing	20.8

Michigan election

← 2000 2012 →

Nominee Debbie Stabenow Mike Bouchard Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 2,151,278 1,559,597 Percentage 56.9% 41.3%

Stabenow:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80% Bouchard:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%

U.S. senator before election Debbie Stabenow Democratic Elected U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow Democratic

Incumbent Democrat Debbie Stabenow won re-election to a second term, beating Republican Michael Bouchard, Oakland County Sheriff

Economic issues took front-and-center in the campaign, as Michigan's unemployment rate was one of the highest in the nation. In July 2006, unemployment in Michigan stood at approximately 7%, compared with a 4.7% rate nationwide. Pessimism about the state's economic future had left Michigan ranked 49th nationally between 2000 and 2005 in retaining young adults. Since its peak, Detroit had lost over a million people. Bouchard claimed that the incumbent had accomplished nothing, dubbing her "Do-Nothing Debbie."^[67]

From a long way out, Stabenow looked like she might be vulnerable. President Bush even came to Michigan to campaign for Bouchard, raising over $1,000,000 for him. However, Bouchard never won a single poll. By October the Republican Party, started taking resources out of Michigan to focus on closer races, essentially ceding the race to Stabenow. Stabenow would go on to win the election easily, capturing nearly 57% of the vote. Stabenow did well throughout Michigan but performed better in heavily populated cities like Detroit, Lansing, Ann Arbor, and Kalamazoo. Bouchard did win Grand Rapids, a typical Republican area. He also won in many rural areas around the state. However, Bouchard failed to put a dent in Stabenow's lead, largely due to her strong performance in heavily populated areas. Bouchard conceded to Stabenow at 9:58 p.m. EST.

Michigan general election^[68]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Debbie Stabenow (Incumbent)	2,151,278	56.9%	+7.4%
	Republican	Michael Bouchard	1,559,597	41.3%	−6.6%
	Libertarian	Leonard Schwartz	27,012	0.7%	0%
	Green	David Sole	23,890	0.6%	−0.3%
	Constitution	Dennis FitzSimons	18,341	0.5%	+0.2%
Majority			591,681	15.6%
Turnout			3,780,142
	Democratic hold		Swing	7%

Minnesota election

← 2000 2012 →

Nominee Amy Klobuchar Mark Kennedy Party Democratic (DFL) Republican Popular vote 1,278,849 835,653 Percentage 58.1% 37.9%

Klobuchar:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80% Kennedy:      40–50%      50–60%

U.S. senator before election Mark Dayton Democratic (DFL) Elected U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar Democratic (DFL)

Incumbent DFL senator Mark Dayton decided in February 2005 that he would retire instead of seeking a second term. The primary elections took place on September 12, 2006. DFL nominee Amy Klobuchar won the open seat over Mark Kennedy (R), U.S. Congressman.

Klobuchar gained the early endorsement of the majority of DFL state legislators in Minnesota.

Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor primary^[69]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic (DFL)	Amy Klobuchar	294,671	92.51%
	Democratic (DFL)	Darryl Stanton	23,872	7.49%
Total votes			318,543	100.00%

Republican primary^[70]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Mark Kennedy	147,091	90.21%
	Republican	John Uldrich	10,025	6.15%
	Republican	Harold Shudlick	5,941	3.64%
Total votes			163,057	100.00%

Independence primary^[69]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independence	Robert Fitzgerald	5,520	51.61%
	Independence	Miles W. Collins	2,600	24.31%
	Independence	Stephen Williams	2,575	24.08%
Total votes			10,695	100.00%

Kennedy's routine support of President George W. Bush in House votes was a central issue for Democrats in the campaign. In June 2006, allegations were made that many references to and photos of Bush had been removed from Kennedy's official U.S. House website; in rebuttal, Republicans said that there were 72 references to Bush on the website and that the changes noted by critics had been made some time ago, as part of the normal updating process.^[71] Ben Powers was the only ballot-qualified candidate not to be invited to appear on Minnesota Public Television's Almanac program, despite Mr. Powers's offer to fill the space left unfilled by Ms. Klobuchar's decision not to appear with Mr. Kennedy and Mr. Fitzgerald on the program. Green candidate Michael Cavlan appeared on the program twice during the 2006 campaign as a special guest.

Minnesota general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic (DFL)	Amy Jean Klobuchar	1,278,849	58.06%	+9.23%
	Republican	Mark Kennedy	835,653	37.94%	−5.35%
	Independence	Robert Fitzgerald	71,194	3.23%	−2.58%
	Green	Michael Cavlan	10,714	0.49%	n/a
	Constitution	Ben Powers	5,408	0.25%	+0.15%
	Write-ins		954
Majority			443,196	20.2%
Turnout			2,202,772	70.64%
	Democratic (DFL) hold		Swing

Mississippi election

← 2000 2008 (special) →

Nominee Trent Lott Erik R. Fleming Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 388,399 213,000 Percentage 63.6% 34.9%

County results Lott:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90% Fleming:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%

U.S. senator before election Trent Lott Republican Elected U.S. Senator Trent Lott Republican

Incumbent Republican Trent Lott won re-election to a fourth term.

Democratic primary^[72]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Erik R. Fleming	46,185	44.07%
	Democratic	Bill Bowlin	23,175	22.11%
	Democratic	James O'Keefe	20,815	19.86%
	Democratic	Catherine Starr	14,629	13.96%
Total votes			104,804	100%

Democratic primary runoff results^[73]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Erik R. Fleming	19,477	64.99%
	Democratic	Bill Bowlin	10,490	35.01%
Total votes			29,967	100%

Lott ran for re-election without facing any opposition in his party's primary. While it had been speculated that Lott might retire after his home was destroyed in Hurricane Katrina, he instead chose to run for re-election. Fleming is an African American, which represents 37% of the state's population. However, no African American has ever been elected to statewide office. The last black U.S. Senator was Hiram Revels, who was appointed and took office in 1870. Fleming got little help from the DSCC, which only donated $15,000 to his campaign.^[74]

Mississippi general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Trent Lott (Incumbent)	388,399	63.58%
	Democratic	Erik R. Fleming	213,000	34.87%
	Libertarian	Harold Taylor	9,522	1.56%
Majority			175,399	28.71%
Turnout			591,178
	Republican hold		Swing

Missouri election

← 2002 (special) 2012 →

Nominee Claire McCaskill Jim Talent Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 1,055,255 1,006,941 Percentage 49.6% 47.3%

County results McCaskill:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80% Talent:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%

U.S. senator before election Jim Talent Republican Elected U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill Democratic

Incumbent Republican Jim Talent was elected in a special election in 2002 when he narrowly defeated incumbent Democrat Jean Carnahan. Carnahan had been appointed to the Senate seat following the posthumous election of her husband Mel Carnahan, who had died in a plane crash shortly before the 2000 election. Talent was running for a full term, his Democratic opponent was Missouri State Auditor Claire McCaskill. Early on the morning of November 8, Talent conceded defeat to McCaskill, having faced considerable political headwinds. Talent lost the election with 47% of the vote, to 50% of the vote for McCaskill.

The election was always expected to be very close, which seems fitting for a seat that has changed hands twice, both by very narrow margins, within the last six years. In 2000, the late Missouri Governor Mel Carnahan, a Democrat, narrowly defeated incumbent Republican Senator John Ashcroft 50% to 48%. Two years later in a special election held for the seat, incumbent Senator Jean Carnahan lost an even closer election to former Congressman Talent, 50% to 49%.

Missouri was seen as the nation's bellwether state throughout the 20th century: It had voted for the winner of every presidential election since 1900, except for 1956 (when the state narrowly favored Adlai Stevenson over Dwight D. Eisenhower). Missouri's bellwether status was due to the fact that it not only voted for the electoral victor, but that its returns usually mirrored national returns.

The state itself is a geographically central state, bordered by both the edges of Southern and Midwestern regions. In statewide contests for much of the 20th century, Missouri favored the Democratic Party. In recent elections, the Republican Party (GOP) has emerged in statewide contests. The election of 2004 was an important one; as George W. Bush was re-elected he carried Missouri. But this time his margin in the state was greater than it was nationwide. Bush won the Presidency 51% to 48%, he carried Missouri 53% to 46%. This trend had begun in 2000, when Bush lost the national popular vote to Al Gore 47% to 48% but still won Missouri, 50% to 47%. Bush's victory also saw Republicans triumph in several statewide contests; Senator Kit Bond was re-elected by a decisive 56% to 43% margin and Matt Blunt won the election for Governor, narrowly defeating state auditor Claire McCaskill 51% to 48%. The GOP also captured control of the state legislature for the first time in eighty years.

Talent, anticipating a tough re-election battle and attempting to dissuade challengers, had accumulated a large campaign fund.^[75] For most of 2005, he had no opposition. State Senator Chuck Graham had briefly entered the race early in the year, but dropped out soon after. However, on August 30, 2005, Democrat Claire McCaskill announced her intention to run for Talent's Senate seat.

McCaskill started with a large financial disadvantage, but she was also an experienced candidate with high name recognition. McCaskill had run two successful campaigns for state auditor. She was also a candidate for governor in 2004, when she defeated the incumbent Democratic Governor Bob Holden in the primary election but lost with 48% of the vote in the general election.

Both Talent and McCaskill faced unknowns in their respective primaries on August 8, 2006, and defeated them soundly.

The Missouri contest was seen as vitally important to control of the United States Senate; as a toss-up election between two strong candidates, the race was expected to attract a lot of interest as well as money spent on ads and turning out supporters. If Talent won, then a Democratic takeover of the U.S. Senate depended upon victories in Tennessee, where the Republican Bob Corker won, and Virginia, where Democrat Jim Webb won; the Democrats needed to win six seats to take control of the chamber with 51 seats. To do this, they would need to retain their 19 incumbent seats, win the four Republican-held seats of Montana, Ohio, Rhode Island, and Pennsylvania (where Democratic chances seemed above 50%, and Democrats won all 4.) and two of the following three "toss-up" races: Missouri, Tennessee and Virginia.

It is believed^{[by whom?]} that statewide ballot issues drove the November 2006 vote. Talent was on the opposite of the majority of voters in this poll on just about every issue: 66% of Missouri voters favored raising the minimum wage to $6.50 an hour; 62% of Missouri voters favored raising taxes to replace Medicaid funding cut by the current Republican Governor, Matt Blunt; 54% opposed a law that would require all Missourians to show a photo ID before they vote; 58% favored campaign donation limitations; and 66% favored restoring Medicaid coverage to about 90,000 Missourians who lost coverage when Blunt and the Republican legislature tightened eligibility requirements.

Perhaps most importantly, 62% favored a ballot proposal that would allow all types of embryonic stem cell research allowed under federal law - a measure Talent had recently announced that he was against.^[76]

On election night the race was, as expected, too close to call. With 85% of the vote in and with still no call, McCaskill claimed victory. At the time McCaskill declared victory, she was ahead by a vote margin of 867,683 to Talent's 842,251 votes; in percentage terms, with 85% of the vote in, McCaskill led Talent, 49% to 48%. Finally, at 11:38 p.m. Central Time the Associated Press called McCaskill as the winner. St. Louis County, adjacent to St. Louis, and Jackson County, home of Kansas City, are probably what pushed McCaskill over the finish line.

Missouri general election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Claire McCaskill	1,055,255	49.6%	+0.9%
	Republican	Jim Talent (Incumbent)	1,006,941	47.3%	−2.5%
	Libertarian	Frank Gilmour	47,792	2.2%	+1.2%
	Progressive	Lydia Lewis	18,383	0.9%	n/a
	Write-ins		88	0.0%	n/a
Plurality			48,314	2.3%
Turnout			2,128,459
	Democratic gain from Republican		Swing

Montana election

← 2000 2012 →

Nominee Jon Tester Conrad Burns Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 199,845 196,283 Percentage 49.16% 48.29%

County results Tester:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80% Burns:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%

U.S. senator before election Conrad Burns Republican Elected U.S. Senator Jon Tester Democratic

Incumbent Republican Conrad Burns was running for re-election to a fourth term but was defeated by Democrat Jon Tester, President of the Montana State Senate, by a margin of 0.87%, or 3,562 votes out of 406,505 votes.

Burns was first elected as a United States senator from Montana in 1988, when he defeated Democratic incumbent John Melcher in a close race, 51% to 48%. Burns was re-elected 62.4% to 37.6%, over Jack Mudd in the Republican Revolution year of 1994. In 2000, Burns faced the well-financed Brian Schweitzer whom he beat 50.6% to 47.2%.

In 2000, George W. Bush carried Montana 58% to 33% in the race for president, but Burns won by 3.4%. Since the direct election of Senators began in 1913, Burns is only the second Republican Montana has elected to the U.S. Senate. Also, for thirty-two straight years, 1952 to 1984, Montana elected only Democratic Senators.

Burns's involvement in the Jack Abramoff scandal made him vulnerable.^[77] A SurveyUSA poll released in March 2006 found that 38% of Montanans approved of him, while 52% disapproved of him.^[78] Polls against leading Democratic candidates had him below his challengers.^[79]

On May 31, 2006, Richards, citing the closeness of the race, and his own position (third) in the polls, withdrew from the race, and threw his support to Tester.^[80] Morrison started off strong in the race for the Democratic nomination for Senator, collecting $1.05 million as of the start of 2006, including $409,241 in the last three months of 2005.^[81] but Morrison's advantages in fundraising and name identification did not translate into a lead in the polls.^[82] Later, the race was called a "deadlock,"^[83] but Tester continued to gather momentum.

Democratic primary^[84]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Jon Tester	65,757	60.77%
	Democratic	John Morrison	38,394	35.48%
	Democratic	Paul Richards	1,636	1.51%
	Democratic	Robert Candee	1,471	1.36%
	Democratic	Kenneth Marcure	940	0.87%
Total votes			108,198	100.00%

Republican primary^[84]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Conrad Burns (Incumbent)	70,434	72.26%
	Republican	Bob Keenan	21,754	22.32%
	Republican	Bob Kelleher	4,082	4.19%
	Republican	Daniel Loyd Neste Huffman	1,203	1.23%
Total votes			97,473	100.00%

The race was expected to be close, due to Burns's previous narrow winning margins and recent political scandal involving him personally; Republican incumbents everywhere were facing more challenging races in 2006 due to the waning popularity of Congress and the leadership of President George W. Bush. In July 2006, the Rasmussen report viewed Burns as the "second most vulnerable Senator seeking re-election this year (Pennsylvania's Rick Santorum was still the most vulnerable)."^[85]

Senator Conrad Burns of Montana faced a strong challenge from Brian Schweitzer in 2000, being re-elected by 3.4% in a state that went for Bush twice by margins of over 20%.^[86][87] This, combined with the increasing strength of the state Democratic party^[88] and accusations of ethical issues related to the Jack Abramoff scandal,^[89] made this a highly competitive race.

On July 27, Burns was forced to apologize after he confronted out of state firefighters who were preparing to leave Montana after helping contain a summer forest fire and directly questioned their competence and skill; Burns was strongly criticized.^[90]

On August 31, in a letter faxed to the office of Montana governor Brian Schweitzer, Burns urged the governor, a Democrat, to declare a fire state of emergency and activate the Montana Army National Guard for firefighting. Schweitzer had already declared such a state of emergency on July 11 — thus, activating the Montana Army National Guard. He issued a second declaration on August 11. A Burns spokesman said the senator was "pretty sure" Schweitzer had already issued such a disaster declaration, but just wanted to make sure. "The genesis of the letter was just to make sure that all the bases were covered," Pendleton said. "This is not a political football. It's just a cover-the-bases letter and certainly casts no aspersions on the governor."^[91]

Montana general election^[92]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Jon Tester	199,845	49.16%	+1.92%
	Republican	Conrad Burns (incumbent)	196,283	48.29%	−2.27%
	Libertarian	Stan Jones	10,377	2.55%
Majority			3,562	0.88%	−2.44%
Turnout			406,505
	Democratic gain from Republican		Swing

Due to errors with polling machines the Montana count was delayed well into Wednesday November 8. The race was too close to call throughout the night and many pundits predicted the need for a recount. After a very close election, on November 9, incumbent Conrad Burns conceded defeat.^[93]

Just before 11:00 am (MST) on November 8, Jon Tester was declared Senator-elect for Montana in USA Today.^[94] At 2:27 pm EST on November 8, CNN projected that Jon Tester would win the race.^[95]

Burns conceded the race on November 9, and congratulated Tester on his victory.^[96]

The race was the closest Senate election of 2006 in terms of absolute vote difference; the closest race by percentage difference was the Virginia senate election.^[97]

Nebraska election

← 2000 2012 →

Nominee Ben Nelson Pete Ricketts Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 378,388 213,928 Percentage 63.9% 36.1%

Nelson:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80% Ricketts:      50–60%

U.S. senator before election Ben Nelson Democratic Elected U.S. Senator Ben Nelson Democratic

Incumbent Democrat Ben Nelson won re-election to a second term. As of 2021, this is the last Senate election in Nebraska won by a Democrat.

Democratic primary^[98]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Ben Nelson (Incumbent)	92,501	100.00%
Total votes			92,501	100.00%

Republican Pete Ricketts, former COO of TD Ameritrade and future Governor of Nebraska financed his own campaign. His opponents could not raise enough money to keep up. Kramer raised $330,000 and Stenberg raised $246,000 in 2005.

Republican primary^[99]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Pete Ricketts	129,643	48.14%
	Republican	Don Stenberg	96,496	35.83%
	Republican	David J. Kramer	43,185	16.03%
Total votes			269,324	100.00%

The primary election was held May 9, 2006. Pete Ricketts won the Republican nomination with 48% of the vote. Ben Nelson was unopposed for the Democratic nomination. Nelson was elected in 2000 by a margin of 51% to 49% after serving as the state's governor for two terms. Nelson, considered the most conservative Democrat in the Senate, was the lone Democrat in Nebraska's Congressional delegation. This election was one of the most expensive in Nebraska history. In 2005, Ben Nelson raised $3.9 million for his re-election campaign. Pete Ricketts contributed $14.35 million of his own money to his campaign; he raised an additional $485,000 in contributions. The race also attracted national attention and generated several high-level campaign appearances. President George W. Bush appeared at a rally for Ricketts on November 5, 2006, in Grand Island, while then-U.S. Senator Barack Obama appeared at a fundraiser for Nelson and other Nebraska Democrats on May 5, 2006, in Omaha. However, he won re-election by a wide margin.

Nebraska general election^[100]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Ben Nelson (incumbent)	378,388	63.88%	+12.88%
	Republican	Pete Ricketts	213,928	36.12%	−12.70%
Majority			164,460	27.77%	+25.58%
Turnout			590,961
	Democratic hold		Swing

Nevada election

← 2000 2012 →

Nominee John Ensign Jack Carter Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 322,501 238,796 Percentage 55.4% 41.0%

County results Ensign:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%

U.S. senator before election John Ensign Republican Elected U.S. Senator John Ensign Republican

Incumbent Republican John Ensign won re-election to a second term over Democrat Jack Carter, Navy veteran and son of President Jimmy Carter.

Democratic primary vote^[101]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Jack Carter	92,270	78.30%
	Democratic	None of these candidates	14,425	12.24%
	Democratic	Ruby Jee Tun	11,147	9.46%
Total votes			117,842	100.00%

Republican primary^[101]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	John Ensign (Incumbent)	127,023	90.47%
	Republican	None of these candidates	6,754	4.81%
	Republican	Ed Hamilton	6,629	4.72%
Total votes			140,406	100.00%

Popular Las Vegas mayor Oscar Goodman had said in January that he would probably run,^[102] but in late April, he decisively ruled that out.^[103] Goodman did not file by the May 12, 2006, deadline. Carter's advantages included his formidable speaking abilities and kinship with a former U.S. president. On the other hand, Ensign was also considered to be an effective speaker and as of the first quarter of 2006, held an approximately 5–1 advantage over Carter in cash-on-hand.

Nevada general election^[104]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	John Ensign (Incumbent)	322,501	55.36%	+0.27%
	Democratic	Jack Carter	238,796	40.99%	+1.30%
	None of These Candidates		8,232	1.41%	-0.50%
	Independent American Party (Nevada)	David K. Schumann	7,774	1.33%	+0.91%
	Libertarian	Brendan Trainor	5,269	0.90%	+0.01%
Majority			83,705	14.37%	−1.03%
Turnout			582,572
	Republican hold		Swing

Ensign won a majority of the votes in every county in the state, with his lowest percentage at 53%.^[105]

New Jersey election

← 2000 2012 →

Nominee Bob Menendez Thomas Kean, Jr. Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 1,200,843 997,775 Percentage 53.3% 44.3%

County results Congressional district results Municipality results Menendez:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%      90–100% Kean:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%