The 2006 United States Senate election in Florida was held November 7, 2006. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Bill Nelson won re-election to a second term.

Background

During the Terri Schiavo case in March 2005, a talking points memo on the controversy was written by Brian Darling, the legal counsel to Republican Senator Mel Martínez of Florida. The memo suggested the Schiavo case offered "a great political issue" that would appeal to the party's base (core supporters) and could be used against Senator Bill Nelson, a Democrat from Florida who was up for reelection in 2006, because he had refused to co-sponsor the bill which came to be known as the Palm Sunday Compromise. Bill Nelson was nevertheless reelected as Senator on November 7, 2006, with 60% of the vote.

Republican primary

Candidates

Endorsements

Polling

[[File:2006_US_Senate_Republican_Primary_in_Florida_by_county.svg|thumb|Republican Primary results by county**{{legend|#ed8783|Harris}}** {{legend|#fbdedd|30–40%}} {{legend|#f1b4b2|40–50%}} {{legend|#ed8783|50–60%}} {{legend|#e55651|60–70%}} {{legend|#d02923|70–80%}}{{legend|#dc8c53|McBride}} {{legend|#f9dfcb|30–40%}}]]

Results

General election

Candidates

Campaign

The organization Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), which monitors political corruption, complained to the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) in October 2006 that the Bacardi beverage company had illegally used corporate resources in support of a fundraising event for Nelson in 2005. CREW had previously filed a similar complaint concerning a Bacardi fundraising event for Republican Senator Mel Martinez, an event that raised as much as $60,000 for Martinez's campaign. The amended complaint alleged that, on both occasions, Bacardi violated the Federal Election Campaign Act and FEC regulations by soliciting contributions from a list of the corporation's vendors.

Endorsements

In a rare move, all twenty-two of Florida's daily newspapers supported Nelson, while none supported Harris in the general election.

Debates

Predictions

Polling

Graphical summary

Results

As expected, Nelson was easily reelected. He won with 60.3% of the vote winning by 1,064,421 votes or 22.2%, and carried 57 of Florida's 67 counties. Nelson was projected the winner right when the polls closed at 7 P.M. EST.

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic