California's 11th congressional district election, 2006

Infobox Election
election_name = Californias 11th congressional district election, 2006
country = California
type = presidential
ongoing = no
previous_election = United States House of Representatives elections in California, 2004#District 11
previous_year = 2004
next_election = United States House of Representatives elections in California, 2008#District 11
next_year = 2008
election_date = November 7 2006


nominee1 = Jerry McNerney
party1 = Democratic Party (United States)
popular_vote1 = 109,868
percentage1 = 53.3%


nominee2 = Richard Pombo
party2 = Republican Party (United States)
popular_vote2 = 96,396
percentage2 = 46.7%
title = Representative
before_election = Richard Pombo
before_party = Republican Party (United States)
after_election = Jerry McNerney
after_party = Democratic Party (United States)

The 2006 California 11th congressional district election was an election for the United States House of Representatives in California's 11th congressional district. The two major party candidates were longtime Republican incumbent Richard Pombo and Democratic challenger Jerry McNerney. Both faced serious challenges in their respective primaries, on June 6, 2006. [http://vote.ss.ca.gov/Returns/usrep/1100.htm California's 11th district primary election results] ]

In the November 7, 2006 general election, this race ordinarily would have been considered a safe Republican seat, since Pombo won reelection in 2004 by a comfortable 61% to 39% margin, and faced the same opponent in 2006. However, due to a contentious primary, a nationwide movement to oust Republicans, and strong organization by the McNerney campaign, the race became increasingly competitive over the course of the campaign season. In early October, "CQPolitics.com" changed their rating of this race from "Republican Favored" to "Leans Republican". [cite news | title=Competitive Race Lies Beneath Flurry of GOP Activity in Calif. 11|author=Ryan Kelly | date=2006-10-03|url=http://www.cqpolitics.com/2006/10/competitive_race_lies_beneath.html | publisher=CQPolitics.com]

Primary campaign and results

Republican

Pombo was challenged in the primary by former Republican Congressman Pete McCloskey, perhaps best known for challenge to Richard Nixon's re-election bid in 1972. McCloskey last ran for office in 1982, when he left the San Francisco Bay Area House seat he had held for 16 years to run for a U.S. Senate seat (he lost in the primary). McCloskey had been endorsed by the "Sacramento Bee", the "San Jose Mercury News", and the League of Conservation Voters.

McCloskey attacked Pombo on the Iraq war as well as Pombo's ethics and longstanding reputation as an anti-environmentalist. Critics of Pombo noted that as chair of the House Resources Committee, "Pombo has been an advocate of easing land-use regulations throughout his House career, and is spearheading efforts to scale back the Endangered Species Act (which McCloskey helped author in 1973)." [cite news | title=CA 11: Party Elder’s Comeback Bid Could Make Pombo Stumble | author=Rachel Kapochunas|date=2006-01-24| publisher=CQPolitics.com|url=http://www.cqpolitics.com/2006/01/ca_11_party_elders_comeback_bi.html] A third candidate joined the race, businessman Thomas A. Benigno, who had run against Pombo and received 13 percent of the vote in the 2002 Republican primary. In 2006, Pombo's winning percentage was quite low for an incumbent:

:

Results

The Democratic nominee, Jerry McNerney, in the general election, again faced incumbent Pombo. This election was held on November 7, 2006, and McNerney won 53% to 47% percent. While Pombo narrowly defeated McNerney in heavily Republican San Joaquin County, which makes up a majority of the district's population; McNerney defeated Pombo in the other three counties by wide margins, more than making up for his loss in San Joaquin.

Election box begin no change
title = California's 11th congressional district election, 2006 [cite web |url=http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/sov/2006_general/congress.pdf |title=United States House of Representatives |date=2006-12-16 |accessdate=2008-08-06 |format=PDF |publisher=California Secretary of State] Election box winning candidate with party link no change
party = Democratic Party (United States)
candidate = Jerry McNerney
votes = 109,868
percentage = 53.27Election box candidate with party link no change
party = Republican Party (United States)
candidate = Richard Pombo (incumbent)
votes = 96,396
percentage = 46.73Election box total no change
votes = 206,264
percentage = 100.00Election box gain with party link without swing
winner = Democratic Party (United States)
loser = Republican Party (United States)

References

External links

* [http://www.jerrymcnerney.org/ Jerry McNerney's campaign site]
* [http://citmedia.org/projects/politics/ Center for Citizen Media's VoteGuide]