2006 United States Senate election in California

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2006 United States Senate election in California
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  Dianne Feinstein, official Senate photo 2 (cropped).jpg Dick Mountjoy.jpg
Nominee Dianne Feinstein Dick Mountjoy
Party Democratic Republican
Popular vote5,076,2892,990,822
Percentage59.43%35.02%
2006 United States Senate election in California results map by county.svg
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

The 2006 United States Senate election in California was held November 7, 2006. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein won re-election to her third full term.

Contents

Feinstein stood against Republican 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 previously announced challenger, businessman Bill Mundell, withdrew his declaration after determining he would not be a self-funded candidate (as Michael Huffington was in the 1994 election). As of 2024, this is the most recent U.S. Senate election in California where both major party nominees have since died. [1] [2] [3]

Primaries

Link to primary results

Democratic

2006 United States Senate Democratic primary, California
CandidateVotes %
Dianne Feinstein (Incumbent)2,176,88886.95
Colleen Fernald199,1807.96
Martin Luther Church127,3015.09
Total votes2,503,369 100.00

Green

2006 United States Senate Green primary, California
CandidateVotes %
Todd Chretien 12,82146.14
Tian Harter10,31837.13
Kent Mesplay4,64916.73
Total votes27,788 100.00

Others

2006 United States Senate primary, California (Others)
PartyCandidateVotes%
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%

Candidates

Democratic Party

Lost in primary

Republican Party

American Independent Party

Green Party

Lost in primary

Libertarian Party

Peace and Freedom Party

General election

Controversy

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.

I think it was just something that somebody picked up, it didn't come from me.

— Richard Mountjoy [4]

Predictions

SourceRankingAs of
The Cook Political Report [5] Solid DNovember 6, 2006
Sabato's Crystal Ball [6] Safe DNovember 6, 2006
Rothenberg Political Report [7] Safe DNovember 6, 2006
Real Clear Politics [8] Safe DNovember 6, 2006

Polling

SourceDateFeinstein (D)Mountjoy (R)
Field Poll April 19, 200659%31%
Los Angeles Times Poll May 28, 200659%30%
Field Poll June 4, 200654%28%
Rasmussen July 13, 200660%33%
Public Policy July 26, 200642%21%
Field Poll August 3, 200656%34%
SurveyUSA August 28, 200656%34%
Rasmussen August 31, 200656%34%
Rasmussen September 12, 200658%35%
Datamar Archived September 27, 2007, at the Wayback Machine September 18, 200649%38%
SurveyUSA September 27, 200655%35%
Los Angeles Times Poll [ dead link ]September 29, 200654%36%
Mason-Dixon October 2, 200653%23%
Field Poll October 3, 200657%29%
SurveyUSA October 26, 200659%33%
Field Poll November 1, 200655%33%
SurveyUSA November 5, 200660%31%

Results

Feinstein won the election easily. She won almost every major populated area, winning in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sacramento, and San Diego. Feinstein was projected the winner as soon as the polls closed at 11 P.M. EST.

United States Senate election in California, 2006 [9] [10]
PartyCandidateVotes%
Democratic Dianne Feinstein (incumbent) 5,076,289 59.43%
Republican Dick Mountjoy 2,990,82235.02%
Green Todd Chretien 147,0741.72%
Libertarian Michael S. Metti133,8511.57%
Peace and Freedom Marsha Feinland 117,7641.38%
American Independent Don J. Grundmann75,3500.88%
Green Kent Mesplay (write-in)1600.00%
Independent Jeffrey Mackler (write-in)1080.00%
Independent Lea Sherman (write-in)470.00%
Independent Connor Vlakancic (write-in)110.00%
Invalid or blank votes357,5834.19%
Total votes8,899,059 100.00%
Turnout {{{votes}}}53.93
Democratic hold

Results breakdown

Final results from the Secretary of State of California.

County Feinstein Votes Mountjoy VotesOthersVotes
San Francisco 80.54%187,6928.31%19,37411.15%25,979
Marin 77.56%82,02516.82%17,7885.62%5,946
Alameda 76.07%307,49516.46%66,5507.46%30,173
San Mateo 74.80%152,08220.19%41,0435.02%10,200
Santa Cruz 72.96%65,21419.33%17,2797.71%6,891
Santa Clara 69.84%298,45124.89%106,3835.27%22,521
Sonoma 69.50%119,67223.01%39,6197.49%12,906
Contra Costa 68.48%205,51626.91%80,7644.60%13,818
Los Angeles 67.13%1,298,82027.72%536,2005.15%99,646
Monterey 65.28%56,88729.15%25,4005.57%4,852
Mendocino 64.50%19,64525.16%7,66210.34%3,149
Yolo 64.25%34,54830.10%16,1875.65%3,036
Napa 64.05%27,14430.58%12,9585.37%2,277
Solano 63.06%64,82832.06%32,9564.89%5,025
San Benito 60.74%8,62633.58%4,7685.68%807
Imperial 60.02%13,18233.41%7,3386.57%1,442
Humboldt 58.07%27,65231.51%15,00310.42%4,964
Alpine 57.17%30335.47%1887.36%39
Santa Barbara 57.00%68,97037.08%44,8645.92%7,157
Sacramento 56.59%201,22137.94%134,8875.47%19,447
Lake 56.41%10,83034.85%6,6918.74%1,678
San Joaquin 54.71%75,01140.02%54,8745.27%7,224
Merced 53.84%22,08141.24%16,9144.93%2,021
Ventura 53.22%115,47142.12%91,3744.66%10,110
San Diego 53.03%403,71142.39%322,7604.58%34,875
Fresno 51.45%89,33143.94%76,2864.60%7,993
San Luis Obispo 50.09%47,89144.70%42,7425.21%4,977
Nevada 49.98%21,20443.88%18,6186.14%2,606
San Bernardino 49.40%167,82145.17%153,4305.43%18,442
Trinity 49.39%2,82441.20%2,3569.41%538
Stanislaus 49.30%50,65646.24%47,5134.47%4,589
Mono 48.98%1,82944.38%1,6576.64%248
Riverside 48.54%183,53246.43%175,5435.03%19,006
Del Norte 48.11%3,20744.33%2,9557.56%504
Butte 47.02%32,13145.82%31,3167.16%4,892
Kings 47.02%10,66048.59%11,0164.40%997
Tuolumne 45.52%9,53548.83%10,2285.65%1,184
Orange 45.13%321,64649.66%353,9245.21%37,096
Placer 44.53%53,95650.85%61,6154.62%5,594
Plumas 44.36%3,88149.66%4,3455.98%523
Amador 44.35%6,53450.10%7,3825.55%818
Calaveras 44.33%7,86048.74%8,6426.92%1,227
El Dorado 43.25%28,91550.99%34,0915.76%3,853
Mariposa 42.98%3,24950.83%3,8426.19%468
Madera 42.39%12,65852.27%15,6095.34%1,596
Tulare 42.09%28,69453.58%36,5264.34%2,956
Inyo 41.41%2,64151.44%3,2817.15%456
Siskiyou 41.20%6,75251.46%8,4337.34%1,203
Colusa 41.08%1,99454.53%2,6474.39%213
Sierra 40.67%64151.65%8147.68%121
Yuba 39.94%5,48752.82%7,2577.24%994
Sutter 39.48%9,29755.69%13,1134.83%1,138
Kern 39.29%58,33055.19%81,9445.53%8,205
Tehama 38.70%6,91455.22%9,8656.08%1,086
Shasta 37.94%22,09756.45%32,8765.61%3,267
Glenn 37.84%2,81356.76%4,2195.39%401
Lassen 35.06%2,96856.93%4,8208.01%678
Modoc 34.44%1,26457.03%2,0938.53%313
California counties shift 2000-2006 senate.svg
California counties trend 2000-2006 senate.svg

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

See also

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References

  1. ↑ Karni, Annie (September 29, 2023). "Senator Dianne Feinstein Dies at 90". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved September 29, 2023.
  2. ↑ "U.S. Senate: Senators Who Have Died in Office". www.senate.gov. Retrieved September 29, 2023.
  3. ↑ Los Angeles Times (May 19, 2015). "Richard Mountjoy, GOP legislator and key Prop. 187 backer, dies at 83". Los Angeles Times .
  4. ↑ "Senate candidate admits wrong info on bio". NBC News. September 22, 2006. Retrieved November 9, 2006.
  5. ↑ "2006 Senate Race Ratings for November 6, 2006" (PDF). The Cook Political Report. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 5, 2008. Retrieved September 30, 2021.
  6. ↑ "Election Eve 2006: THE FINAL PREDICTIONS". Sabato's Crystal Ball. Retrieved June 25, 2021.
  7. ↑ "2006 Senate Ratings". Senate Ratings. The Rothenberg Political Report. Retrieved June 25, 2021.
  8. ↑ "Election 2006". Real Clear Politics. Retrieved June 25, 2021.
  9. ↑ "United States Senate" (PDF). Secretary of State of California. December 16, 2006. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 17, 2008. Retrieved July 14, 2008.
  10. ↑ "Registration and Participation" (PDF). Secretary of State of California. December 18, 2006. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 17, 2008. Retrieved July 14, 2008.
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