United States House of Representatives elections in Florida, 2006

The 2006 Florida U.S. House elections took place on November 7, 2006. Elections were held in Florida's 1st through 25th congressional 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 of Miami. A former Florida Secretary of State made famous in the 2000 presidential election challenged incumbent Senator and former astronaut Bill Nelson, and ended up losing to Nelson. Democrats set their sights on two districts in the Sarasota and Tampa 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 outgoing Governor Jeb Bush aided their gubernatorial candidate, Attorney General Charlie Crist and helped Republicans win downballot, including Crist's newly elected successor at the Attorney General position, former Rep. Bill McCollum.

* ushr|Florida|1|- Incumbent Jeff Miller defeated Joe Roberts, a Conservative Democrat, carpenter, and Vietnam veteran. Miller is known for his strong pro-business, neoconservative voting trends. [ [http://www.govtrack.us/congress/votingrecord.xpd?people=400279 Gov Track] ] Miller won by 77% in his last election. [ [http://www.congress.org/congressorg/bio/?id=1296 Congress.org] ]

* ushr|Florida|6| Long-time incumbent Cliff Stearns (Republican) beat Democrat Dave Bruderly, a former Merchant Marine and an environmental engineering consultant. Bruderly has run for Florida's House District 6 in 2002, 2004 and 2006, and lost to Stearns each time.

* ushr|Florida|8|- Incumbent Ric Keller defeated marketing consultant Charlie Stuart, a Central Florida native and member of a prominent Orlando family who was touted by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee as a top longshot candidate. Keller is known in Congress for his Cheeseburger Bill that passed without his vote because of his hospitalization for a cardiac arrhythmia in 2005. Stuart had received the backing of local figures such as Congressman Allen Boyd as well as national ones such as former Virginia Governor Mark Warner. (For details, see Florida 8th congressional district election, 2006)

* ushr|Florida|9|— Incumbent Mike Bilirakis (R) plans to retire, and many had not expected this seat to be very competitive as it is a Republican-leaning district located on Florida's Gulf Coast north of Tampa. Bilirakis' son, state Representative Gus Bilirakis, fended off a primary challenge from chiropractor Dave Langheier with 82% of the vote and then defeated former Hillsborough County Commissioner Phyllis Busansky. (For more details, see Florida 9th congressional district election, 2006).

* ushr|Florida|10|-Incumbent Bill Young (R) soundly defeated Samm Simpson.

:Simpson was the first federal candidate to qualify in Florida through signature petitions, turning in over 4,500 signatures at the last minute, of which 4089 were validated - one more than the 4088 needed. She collected the signatures in order to avoid a $9,726 filing fee. Simpson, the writer, producer, and host of local cable television series called "Media Is Propaganda," was named Vice President of Marketing for Raymond James & Associates, a national financial services company, from 1992 to 2001. Her platform was pro-peace, pro-veteran, pro-alternative energy, pro-balanced budget, pro-affordable healthcare, pro-three equal branches of government (no unitary executive), pro-separation of church and state, pro-choice, pro-social security, and pro-union. [ [http://www.sptimes.com/2006/03/29/Neighborhoodtimes/Signatures__not_fees_.shtml "Signatures, not fees, might get her into race"] , "St. Petersburg Times", March 29, 2006] [ [http://quinnell.us/b2evolution/index.php/all/2006/08/28/interview_with_samm_simpson_1 "Interview With Samm Simpson"] , August 28, 2006] [http://www.sammsimpsonforcongress.com/ Simpson campaign website]

* ushr|Florida|13|— In the state's most hotly contested district, a recount is likely (and may be automatic) in the race to fill the seat of incumbent Katherine Harris (R). Harris unsuccessfully challenged Senator Bill Nelson, a Democrat, vacating her Gulf Coast seat to do so. Wealthy Republican automobile dealer, Vern Buchanan, claimed victory in the election but his challenger, Sarasota banker and businesswoman Christine Jennings, refused to concede. With unofficial counts showing a difference of only 373 votes, a recount may be triggered automatically. [http://www.tampabays10.com/news/local/article.aspx?storyid=43249] Buchanan, State Representative Nancy Detert, former State Representative Donna Clarke, banker George "Tramm" Hudson, and former state Representative Mark Flanagan all challenged for the Republican nomination, which went to Buchanan with 32.3% of the vote. Competition between Hudson and Buchanan had been contentious, with accusations of negative campaigning and a great deal of publicity for Hudson's racially-charged remarks at a Christian Coalition campaign event, which resulted in a third-place finish for Hudson behind Detert. Jennings became the Democratic nominee after ousting the nominee in the 2004 race, Jan Schneider, whom Jennings had been heavily outraising.

* ushr|Florida|16|- After Mark Foley (R) resigned on September 29, 2006 amid an infamous scandal involving underage male Congressional aides, his name was withdrawn from the ballot and replaced with Joe Negron. Any votes cast for Foley would be regarded as accruing to the substitute nominee. [Rachel Kapochunas, [http://www.cqpolitics.com/2006/09/foleys_abrupt_resignation_puts.html "Foley’s Abrupt Resignation Puts Fla. 16 Seat Up for Grabs"] , "Congressional Quarterly", September 29, 2006] While Foley's reelection had been considered an easy task, his replacement, Negron, lost to the Democratic nominee for the seat, Tim Mahoney as part of the "Blue Wave" that swept Democrats back into control of the US House.

* ushr|Florida|22|— Democratic State Senator Ron Klein defeated Republican incumbent Clay Shaw who had been elected to twelve terms in the House and has a local following going back to his days as Mayor of Fort Lauderdale in the 1970s. Shaw faced a tough challenge back in 2000 from State Senator Elaine Bloom, who lost by only 599 votes. But Shaw was redistricted into more favorable turf and scored somewhat easier reelections in 2002 and 2004. This race to was very close as Klein is a good fundraiser and good friend of neighboring Congressman Robert Wexler. Though Shaw won reelection to this seat in 2004 with 63% of the vote, John Kerry still defeated George W. Bush in the district by a margin of 50% to 48%. Also, Shaw's opponent in 2004 dropped out before the election.

References

ee also

*Florida statewide elections, 2006
*United States House elections, 2006 complete list