2006 United States Senate election in Minnesota

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2006 United States Senate election in Minnesota
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  Amy Klobuchar.jpg Mark Kennedy, official photo portrait, color.jpg
Nominee Amy Klobuchar Mark Kennedy
Party Democratic (DFL) Republican
Popular vote1,278,849835,653
Percentage58.06%37.94%
2006 United States Senate election in Minnesota results map by county.svg
2006 United States Senate election in Minnesota results map by precinct.svg
Klobuchar:     40–50%     50–60%     60–70%     70–80%     80–90%     >90%
Kennedy:     40–50%     50–60%     60–70%     70–80%     80–90%     >90%
Tie:     40–50%     50%     No votes
U.S. senator before election

Mark Dayton
Democratic (DFL)

Elected U.S. Senator

Amy Klobuchar
Democratic (DFL)

The 2006 United States Senate election in Minnesota took place on November 7, 2006. Incumbent Senator Mark Dayton announced in February 2005 that he would retire instead of seeking a second term. Fellow Democrat Amy Klobuchar won the open seat by 20.2 percentage points. Primary elections took place on September 12, 2006.

Contents

DFL primary

Candidates

Withdrew

  • Patty Wetterling, children's safety advocate and candidate for U.S. House in 2004

Campaign

Klobuchar gained the early endorsement of the majority of DFL state legislators in Minnesota. A poll taken of DFL state delegates showed Klobuchar beating her then closest opponent, Patty Wetterling, 66% to 15%. As of June 30, 2005, Klobuchar had more cash on hand than any other candidate, nearly $1,100,000.

Klobuchar was endorsed by EMILY's List on September 29, 2005. On January 20, 2006, Wetterling dropped out of the race and endorsed Klobuchar. [1]

Former Senate candidate and prominent lawyer Mike Ciresi, who was widely seen as the only other serious potential DFL candidate, indicated on February 7, 2006, that he would not enter the race. That removal of her most significant potential competitor for the DFL nomination was viewed as an important boost for Klobuchar. [2]

The only other serious candidate for the DFL endorsement was veterinarian Ford Bell. Bell, a staunch liberal, ran on a platform of implementing single-payer healthcare and immediate withdrawal from Iraq. [3] Klobuchar won the official DFL endorsement on June 9, 2006. [4] Bell dropped out of the race on July 10, citing inability to compete financially, and also endorsed Klobuchar. [3]

Results

Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party primary results [5]
PartyCandidateVotes%
Democratic (DFL) Amy Klobuchar 294,671 92.51
Democratic (DFL) Darryl Stanton23,8727.49
Total votes318,543 100.00

Republican primary

Candidates

Campaign

Kennedy had faced potential challenges from former U.S. Senator Rod Grams, as well as U.S. Representative Gil Gutknecht, but both men were persuaded by national GOP leaders to run for the House instead. (Grams lost to Representative Jim Oberstar, while Gutknecht lost his reelection bid to Tim Walz.)

Results

Republican primary results [6]
PartyCandidateVotes%
Republican Mark Kennedy 147,091 90.21
Republican John Uldrich10,0256.15
Republican Harold Shudlick5,9413.64
Total votes163,057 100.00

Independence primary

Candidates

Results

Independence primary results [5]
PartyCandidateVotes%
Independence Robert Fitzgerald 5,520 51.61
Independence Miles W. Collins2,60024.31
Independence Stephen Williams2,57524.08
Total votes10,695 100.00

General election

Candidates

Major

Minor

  • Michael Cavlan (G), nurse and independent journalist
  • Peter Idusogie (I), businessman (write-in)
  • Ben Powers (C), quality control technician

Campaign

Klobuchar with Barack Obama and Tim Walz AmyBarackTim2006RochesterMN.JPG
Klobuchar with Barack Obama and Tim Walz
Major party candidates: Kennedy, Klobuchar, and Fitzgerald MN2006campaignSenate.JPG
Major party candidates: Kennedy, Klobuchar, and Fitzgerald
Candidates Mark Kennedy, Amy Klobuchar, and Robert Fitzgerald debated on November 5, 2006. MN senate debate 11.05.06.JPG
Candidates Mark Kennedy, Amy Klobuchar, and Robert Fitzgerald debated on November 5, 2006.

Kennedy's routine support of President George W. Bush in House votes appeared to be 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. [7] Ben Powers was the only ballot-qualified candidate not invited to appear on Minnesota Public Television's Almanac program, despite Powers's offer to fill the space left unfilled by Klobuchar's decision not to appear with Kennedy and Fitzgerald on the program. Green candidate Michael Cavlan appeared on the program twice during the campaign as a special guest.

Debates

Predictions

SourceRankingAs of
The Cook Political Report [8] Likely DNovember 6, 2006
Sabato's Crystal Ball [9] Likely DNovember 6, 2006
Rothenberg Political Report [10] Safe DNovember 6, 2006
Real Clear Politics [11] Lean DNovember 6, 2006

Polling

After the release of the Star Tribune poll [12] on September 17, 2006, showing Klobuchar ahead by 24%, Kennedy's campaign issued a statement [13] from Joe Pally, the campaign's communications director. He claimed that the margin was exaggerated because of bias by the Star Tribune and that the poll was "clearly more about discouraging Kennedy supporters than on reflecting the true status of one of the most closely contested Senate races in the country." [14] This press release came in the wake of news that the Republican party was scaling back funding for Kennedy's election campaign to shore up campaigns in states seen as winnable. Kennedy's campaign frequently accused the Star Tribune of bias in favor of Klobuchar, whose father was an editorial columnist and sportswriter for the paper until his retirement. A subsequent poll by Rasmussen Reports showed a similar lead for Klobuchar, and the St. Paul Pioneer Press also showed Klobuchar with a 15% lead in September. Klobuchar won the November 7 election by more than 20 percentage points.

SourceDateKlobuchar (DFL)Kennedy (R)Fitzgerald (IPM)
Rasmussen [15] December 23, 200548%41%
Rasmussen [16] January 28, 200643%42%
Rasmussen [17] February 28, 200645%42%
Zogby/WSJ [18] March 31, 200649%41%
Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Poll [19] May 9, 200650%42%
Rasmussen [20] May 10, 200645%43%
Zogby/WSJ [18] June 21, 200649%41%
Rasmussen [21] June 30, 200647%44%
''Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune'' Minnesota Poll [22] July 16, 200650%31%
Zogby/WSJ [18] July 24, 200649%43%
Bennett, Petts, and Blumenthal (D) [23] July 24, 200648%30%
SurveyUSA [24] July 24, 200647%42%8%
Rasmussen [25] August 7, 200650%38%5%
Zogby/WSJ [26] August 28, 200650%42%
Rasmussen [27] August 28, 200647%40%8%
Gallup [28] September 5, 200650%40%
Zogby/WSJ [26] September 11, 200649%40%
''Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune'' Minnesota Poll [29] September 17, 200656%32%3%
University of Minnesota Humphrey Institute [30] September 21, 200652%36%7%
Minnesota Public Radio / Pioneer Press /Mason-Dixon [31] September 25, 200652%37%1%
SurveyUSA [32] September 28, 200651%43%2%
Rasmussen [33] October 4, 200653%36%6%
''Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune'' Minnesota Poll [34] October 15, 200655%34%3%
Zogby/WSJ [35] October 19, 200650%43%
SurveyUSA [36] October 24, 200655%39%3%
Rasmussen [37] October 25, 200654%39%
University of Minnesota Humphrey Institute [38] November 1, 200655%33%3%
''Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune'' Minnesota Poll [39] November 4, 200654%34%4%
SurveyUSA [40] November 6, 200656%40%2%

Endorsements

Amy Klobuchar (DFL)
Individuals

Organizations

Results

The race was, as expected, not close, with Klobuchar winning decisively. She did well in major cities, such as Minneapolis and St. Paul, while Kennedy did well only in smaller, less populated counties. The turnout was high, although not unusual for Minnesota, one of the highest voter turnout states. Official turnout came in at 70.64%.

General election results
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Democratic (DFL) Amy Klobuchar 1,278,849 58.06% +9.23%
Republican Mark Kennedy 835,65337.94%−5.35%
Independence Robert Fitzgerald71,1943.23%−2.58%
Green Michael Cavlan10,7140.49%n/a
Constitution Ben Powers5,4080.25%+0.15%
Write-ins954
Majority443,19620.2%
Turnout 2,202,77270.64%
Democratic (DFL) hold Swing

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

By congressional district

Klobuchar won all 8 congressional districts, including three that elected Republicans. [43]

DistrictKlobucharKennedyRepresentative
1st 55%40% Gil Gutknecht (109th Congress)
Tim Walz (110th Congress)
2nd 55%42% John Kline
3rd 55%42% Jim Ramstad
4th 64%32% Betty McCollum
5th 73%22% Martin Olav Sabo (109th Congress)
Keith Ellison (110th Congress)
6th 50%47% Mark Kennedy (109th Congress)
Michele Bachmann (110th Congress)
7th 53%43% Collin Peterson
8th 60%36% Jim Oberstar

See also

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References

  1. ↑ "The latest from the StarTribune". Star Tribune . Archived from the original on October 22, 2007.
  2. ↑ "The Fix -- Chris Cillizza's Politics Blog on washingtonpost.com". blog.washingtonpost.com. Archived from the original on February 24, 2006. Retrieved January 11, 2022.
  3. 1 2 Scheck, Tom (July 11, 2006). "Ford Bell drops out of U.S. Senate race". MPR News. Retrieved April 30, 2021.
  4. ↑ Zdechlik, Mark; Bakst, Brian (June 9, 2006). "Klobuchar wins DFL Senate endorsement". MPR News. Associated Press. Retrieved April 30, 2021.
  5. 1 2 "electionresults.sos.state.mn.us". Archived from the original on October 16, 2020. Retrieved May 21, 2011.
  6. ↑ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on January 12, 2011. Retrieved May 21, 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  7. ↑ The latest from the StarTribune [ permanent dead link ]
  8. ↑ "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.
  9. ↑ "Election Eve 2006: THE FINAL PREDICTIONS". Sabato's Crystal Ball. November 6, 2006. Retrieved June 25, 2021.
  10. ↑ "2006 Senate Ratings". Senate Ratings. The Rothenberg Political Report. Retrieved June 25, 2021.
  11. ↑ "Election 2006". Real Clear Politics. Retrieved June 25, 2021.
  12. ↑ Minnesota Poll
  13. ↑ Mark Kennedy for US Senate
  14. ↑ "Mark Kennedy for Senate". Archived from the original on October 4, 2006.
  15. ↑ Rasmussen Archived January 6, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
  16. ↑ Rasmussen
  17. ↑ Rasmussen
  18. 1 2 3 Zogby/WSJ
  19. ↑ Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Poll
  20. ↑ Rasmussen
  21. ↑ Rasmussen
  22. ↑ Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune Minnesota Poll [ permanent dead link ]
  23. ↑ Bennett, Petts, and Blumenthal (D)
  24. ↑ SurveyUSA
  25. ↑ Rasmussen Archived August 30, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
  26. 1 2 Zogby/WSJ
  27. ↑ Rasmussen
  28. ↑ Gallup
  29. ↑ Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune Minnesota Poll
  30. ↑ University of Minnesota Humphrey Institute
  31. ↑ Minnesota Public Radio/Pioneer Press/Mason-Dixon
  32. ↑ SurveyUSA
  33. ↑ Rasmussen
  34. ↑ Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune Minnesota Poll
  35. ↑ Zogby/WSJ
  36. ↑ SurveyUSA
  37. ↑ Rasmussen
  38. ↑ University of Minnesota Humphrey Institute
  39. ↑ Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune Minnesota Poll [ permanent dead link ]
  40. ↑ SurveyUSA
  41. ↑ "Amy Klobuchar (Senate -MN) | WesPAC". November 4, 2006. Archived from the original on November 4, 2006. Retrieved April 8, 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  42. ↑ "Endorsements". Archived from the original on October 6, 2006.
  43. ↑ https://x.com/JMilesColeman/status/1146892410649305096
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