The2006 United States House of Representatives Elections in Florida took place on November 7, 2006. Elections were held in Florida's 1st through 25thcongressional districts.
Florida is known to be a moderate-to-conservative state, with more liberals residing in South Florida, and moderates and conservatives dominating both the northern and central regions of Florida, as well as a strong Republican base in Cuban-American portions ofMiami.Katherine Harris, a formerFlorida Secretary of State made famous in the 2000 presidential election, challenged incumbent senatorBill Nelson, and ended up losing to Nelson. Democrats set their sights on two districts in theSarasota andTampa area (the open seats of both Harris and the retiring Mike Bilirakis, respectively), and also on a South Florida district held by one of the Sunshine State's longest-serving congressmen.
The primary was held on September 5, 2006. The popularity of outgoinggovernorJeb Bush aided their gubernatorial candidate, Attorney GeneralCharlie Crist and helped Republicans win downballot, including Crist's newly elected successor at the Attorney General position, former Rep.Bill McCollum.
Three-term incumbent Republican congressmanJeff Miller had an easy time seeking re-election in this staunchly conservative district based in theFlorida Panhandle. Miller, who was initially elected in a special election in 2001 to replaceJoe Scarborough, took advantage of this district's large military population based around theNaval Air Station Pensacola with his membership on theHouse Veterans Affairs Committee and the naturally conservative tendencies of western Florida to defeat Democratic challenger Joe Roberts easily.
Incumbent Republican congressmanAnder Crenshaw represented thisNorth Florida andJacksonville-based district since 2001.Crenshaw was re-elected with nearly 70% of the vote.
EncompassingNorth Central Florida, this conservative district is represented by nine-term incumbent Republican congressmanCliff Stearns. Stearns, seeking a tenth term, faced off against Democratic candidate David Bruderly. Though Stearns defeated Bruderly by a wide margin, it was not the margin of victory that Stearns is used to in this gerrymandered district.
Incumbent Republican congressmanJohn Mica, initially elected in 1992, sought his eighth term in this conservative district that stretches along the coast of Florida fromSt. Augustine toDaytona Beach and peeks into theOrlando Metropolitan Area. Mica defeated Democratic candidate John Chagnon in a landslide.
Republican congressmanRic Keller, seeking a fourth term in this moderately conservative,Central Florida-based district, faced off against businessman Charlie Stuart, a moderate Democrat. Though Keller held onto his seat in the midst of aDemocratic wave that was sweeping the country, he won by only a few points.
Incumbent Republican congressmanRic Keller, best known for hisCheeseburger Bill, which prevented customers from suingfast food chains for health problems, decided to seek a fourth term in Congress. Charlie Stuart, a marketing consultant, anOrange County, Florida native and member of a prominentOrlando family, was nominated by theDemocratic Party to face Keller. Stuart was touted by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee as a top longshot candidate and received the backing of local figures such as CongressmanAllen Boyd, ex-Orlando mayorsGlenda Hood and Bill Frederick and present Orlando mayorBuddy Dyer, as well as national ones such as former Virginia governorMark Warner.
After serving twelve terms in theUnited States Congress, Republican incumbent congressmanMichael Bilirakis declined to run for re-election. His son,Gus Bilirakis, a member of theFlorida House of Representatives emerged as the Republican nominee and squared off againstPhyllis Busansky, the Democratic nominee and a formerHillsborough County Commissioner. The district has a tilt towards electing Republicans, so Busansky's campaign was not given much of a chance at first. As the campaign progressed, however, it received national attention from theDemocratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Though Bilirakis defeated Busansky by a ten-point margin, Busansky's performance was a large improvement over past years and outperformed her expected performance in the polls.[8]
In this district, which is the only congressional district in the state to lie exclusively in one county, has been represented by incumbent Republican congressmanBill Young for several decades. A former chairman of theHouse Appropriations Committee, Young has been overwhelmingly re-elected year after year. In 2006, despite the moderate nature of his district and the acidic environment for Republicans nationwide, Congressman Young swamped Democratic nominee Samm Simpson.
Rather than seek a sixth term in this liberal district based inTampa, incumbent Democratic congressmanJim Davis opted torun for Governor, creating an open seat.Hillsborough County CommissionerKathy Castor, the daughter of renowned Florida politicianBetty Castor, ran for the seat and won the Democratic nomination, defeatingFlorida State Senate Minority LeaderLes Miller. She faced Republican candidate Eddie Adams, an architect, in the general election, which she won by a convincing margin.
Incumbent Republican congressmanAdam Putnam, a member of theRepublican leadership in theHouse, sought and easily won a fourth term in Congress, defeating independent candidates Joe Viscusi and Ed Bowlin.
Two-term incumbent Republican congresswomanKatherine Harris opted torun for Senate rather than seek a third term, creating an open seat. The 13th district, based inSouthwest Florida, is fairly conservative, but a competitive race emerged between the Republican nominee, car dealership ownerVern Buchanan, and the Democratic nominee, banking executiveChristine Jennings. Though Buchanan appeared to be victorious on election day by a 350-vote margin, Jennings requested a recount. Though the recount did not change the outcome of the race, Jennings filed additional complaints due to the fact that 13% ofSarasota County residents did not vote in the Congressional election, an unusually high number and the fact that the touch-screen machines did not provide a paper trail.[10]
Believing the matter to be unsettled, Jennings sued to challenge the results of the election in court, noting the "pervasive malfunctioning of electronic voting machines."[10] A Florida circuit judge rejected her lawsuit in December 2006, ruling that her allegations of lost votes in Sarasota County were "conjecture." Jennings met further failure in June 2007, when a Florida state appellate court ruled that Jennings did not meet the "extraordinary burden" of proving the lower court judge was wrong.[11]
Though Jennings fought the results further by appealing directly to theUnited States House of Representatives, this action, too, caused her to walk away empty-handed. After a three-person House task force was created to evaluate the election,[12] the task force voted along party lines to refer an investigation into Florida's 13th district House race to theGovernment Accountability Office (GAO).[13]
In February 2008, the committee and the House accepted the findings of the GAO that no machine error affected the outcome of the election, going a step further to pass HR 989, which affirmed the findings of the committee, accepted the results of the 2006 race and formally dismissed Jennings' challenge of the election's results. Jennings formally dropped her challenge shortly thereafter to focus on her 2008 rematch against Buchanan.[14]
After winning his first Congressional election in 2004 to replacePorter Goss, incumbent Republican congressmanConnie Mack IV sought a second term in 2006. Mack's district, based in theGulf Coast region of Florida, is solidly conservative and overwhelmingly gave the congressman a second term over Democratic candidate Robert Neeld.
In thisSpace Coast-based district, incumbent Republican congressmanDave Weldon sought election to a seventh term in Congress. This district, though undoubtedly conservative, gave Weldon a smaller margin of victory over Democratic nominee Robert Bowman in 2006 than in previous years, likely due to the anti-Republican sentiment nationwide.
Incumbent Republican congressmanMark Foley was considered to be a shoo-in for re-election until theHouse page scandal involving Foley became public knowledge. The Congressman resigned on September 29, 2006,[15] thus cancelling his re-election bid. TheRepublican Party of Florida selectedFlorida state representativeJoe Negron to replace Foley, though Foley's name remained on the ballot. Though Negron launched a successful campaign to urge voters to "Punch Foley for Joe!", indicating that voters should "punch" Foley's name on the ballot to vote for Negron,[16][17] he was ultimately unsuccessful on election day and fell to Democratic nominee and businessmanTim Mahoney.
One poll taken by Hamilton Beattie on September 12, 2006, had Foley leadingTim Mahoney in a matchup by 48% for Foley to 35% for Mahoney .[18]
Mahoney has sharply criticized the Bush administration for overspending, general mismanagement, and its policies in Iraq.[20] In August, GeneralWesley Clark endorsed the candidacy of Mahoney for Congress.[21]
On September 28, 2006,ABC News reported that Republican incumbentMark Foley had sent email messages, from his personalAOL account, to a then-16-year-old formerCongressional page, asking the page to send a photo of himself to Foley, among other things that were overtlysexual in nature.[22]
Mahoney has called for a full investigation of Foley's actions.[23] The next day Foley submitted a letter of resignation from Congress on September 29, 2006 in the wake of news reports about the communications.[24]
Republicans' hold on Mark Foley's seat went "from safe to shaky overnight."[25] On October 2, 2006, the Florida Republican Party Executive Board selected state representativeJoe Negron as Mahoney's new opponent.[20] However, Negron's name did not appear on the ballot so he only received votes cast for Foley, whose name remained on the ballot by law. On election day Mahoney narrowly defeated Negron by 1.8 percentage points.[26] While Negron carried most of the more conservative areas of the district nearFort Myers, Mahoney carried the two largest counties in the district,Palm Beach andSt. Lucie counties, by a combined margin of over 10,000 votes — far more than the actual margin of victory. He was the first Democrat to represent the district since its creation in 1973 (it was the 10th District until 1983 and the 12th District until 1993).
This majority African-American district based in southernBroward County and easternMiami-Dade County has a very strong Democratic tilt and has been represented by CongressmanKendrick Meek since his initial election in2002 and was previously represented by Meek's mother,Carrie Meek, for ten years. Meek was overwhelmingly elected to a third term with no Republican or independent challenger.
Incumbent Republican congresswomanIleana Ros-Lehtinen, a respected member of theHouse Foreign Affairs Committee, represents a marginally conservative district that encompasses much ofMiami, the southern suburbs of Miami, and the entireFlorida Keys. Seeking a tenth term in Congress, Ros-Lehtinen easily defeated Democratic nominee Dave Patlak in the general election.
Incumbent Republican congressmanLincoln Diaz-Balart decided to run for an eighth term in Congress in this district composed of the western suburbs ofMiami. Conservative due to the large presence ofCuban-Americans here, this district is aHispanic-American majority district and has regularly sent Congressman Diaz-Balart back to Washington with solid victories. 2006 proved to be no different, and Diaz-Balart defeated Frank Gonzalez, though by a thinner margin than is usually achieved in this district.
This district, which stretches from northernBroward County to northernPalm Beach County, marginally leads towards the Democratic side, but incumbent Republican congressmanClay Shaw's pragmatic and moderate profile in Congress enabled him to continually be re-elected. This year, however, Shaw faced difficulty in his bid for a fourteenth term.Florida state senatorRon Klein, previously theDemocratic leader in the Senate, ultimately defeated Shaw in the general election by a three-point margin.
Incumbent Republican congressmanTom Feeney, initially elected in 2002 and re-elected unopposed in 2004 in this hand-crafted, gerrymandered district, hardly faced a challenge from Democratic candidate Clint Curtis. Feeney, however, was marred by allegations of corruption brought about by Curtis, a computer programmer who claimed that Feeney asked Curtis to create a software to "steal" votes using touch-screen voting machines. Feeney treated Curtis like a gadfly, sending out mailers featuring Curtis with atin-foil hat[28] and refusing to debate him. Polling, however, indicated that the race was tight, with aZogby poll showing Feeney at a 45% level of support and Curtis attaining 43%.[29] Ultimately, though, on election day, Feeney swamped Curtis, winning all four counties in the district. The surprisingly close race, however, indicated that Feeney could be brought down with a serious challenger.
This district, with aHispanic-American majority and based inSouth Florida, has the tendency to support Republican candidates. Incumbent Republican congressmanMario Diaz-Balart has represented the district since its creation in 2003 and had not faced a close call so far in his career. In 2006, however, though Diaz-Balart defeated Democratic opponent Michael Calderin by a solid margin, it was a thinner margin than usual.
District results
County results
