New York United States Senate election, 2006
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The New York 2006 U.S. Senate election held November 7, 2006 determined that incumbent Democratic Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton would continue to represent New York in the United States Senate, for a six-year term ending January 2013. This is Clinton's second term as Senator. Clinton was challenged by Republican John Spencer, the former Mayor of Yonkers, New York. Clinton gained 67% of the vote to Spencer's 31%.
Contents |
[edit] Candidates for New York Senate
[edit] The Democratic Party candidate
- Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (born Hillary Diane Rodham on October 26, 1947) is the junior United States Senator from New York, serving her freshman term since January 3, 2001. She is married to Bill Clinton, the 42nd President of the United States, and was First Lady of the United States during his two terms from 1993 to 2001. Before that, she was a lawyer and the First Lady of Arkansas. Current incumbent Senator elected in 2000 after defeating Congressman Rick Lazio
[edit] The Republican Party candidate
- John Spencer is the former Mayor of Yonkers, New York (1995-2003) and Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate seat held by incumbent Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton. Prior to entering politics as a member of the Yonkers City Council in 1991, he worked in retail, food service, construction, waste management and banking. On March 6, 2006, he was endorsed by Congressman Vito Fossella. He is the current party designee after the convention on May 31, 2006.
[edit] The Socialist Equality Party candidate
- Bill Van Auken - a full time writer for the World Socialist Web Site and the 2004 Socialist Equality Party candidate for U.S. President [1]
[edit] The Green Party candidate
- Howie Hawkins - Green Party is an American politician and activist. He co-founded the anti-nuclear Clamshell Alliance in 1976 and the Green Party in the United States in 1984.
[edit] The Libertarian Party candidate
Jeff Russell was nominated as the official Libertarian Party candidate for United States Senate at the Libertarian Party of New York Convention on April 29, 2006 in Albany, New York. Russell's campaign slogan was "A Vote for Peace and Liberty is Never a Wasted Vote."
[edit] Independent candidate
- Boris Krymskiy - An apparent independent candidate according to some FEC filings [2], but he was not listed on the ballot or included in final results.
[edit] Senate election background
[edit] Nominee Hillary Clinton
Hillary Clinton announced in November 2004 that she would seek a second term in the Senate. No major Republican entered the race; the presumptive nominee, Westchester County District Attorney Jeanine Pirro, dropped out in December 2005 after her campaign failed to gain traction.[1] Clinton easily won a September 2006 primary against labor activist and anti-war candidate Jonathan Tasini, gaining 83 percent of the vote. [2] Clinton's opponent is set to be former Yonkers Mayor John Spencer. Several third-party candidates are also running, including Bill Van Auken of the Socialist Equality Party, Howie Hawkins of the Green Party and Jeff Russell of the Libertarian Party. Polls during the campaign have generally shown Clinton with a 20-point lead or better over Spencer, with no third-party candidate showing strength.[citation needed]
[edit] Nominee John Spencer
In 2005, Spencer announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate seat held by Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton, who is seeking re-election to a second term. Politically, Spencer is generally opposed to abortion, against gun control, and a supporter of tighter border security. [3] His support for the Bush Administration and its policies is well known, including but not limited to the war in Iraq.
On May 31, 2006 Spencer won the endorsement of the state Republican Party organization but did not achieve the threshold of 75 percent he needed to prevent his rival, former Pentagon aide Kathleen Troia “K.T.” McFarland, from gaining an automatic position on the primary ballot. He only received 63 percent, and thus faced McFarland in the September 12, 2006 Republican primary, which he won by a margin of 20 points. [3] "Spencer called on McFarland to step aside after the vote, but McFarland told CQPolitics.com she had no intention of withdrawing from the race." [4]
In a June 2006 radio ad, Spencer attacked national Republicans for not funding his Senate campaign.
In his 2006 election campaign, Spencer came out in favor of New York's Court of Appeals denying same-sex marriage to 42 gay and lesbian couples who challenged that denial as unconstitutional. On his campaign page, Spencer says that marriage equality for same-sex couples equates to "special rights for gays."
[edit] Nominee Howie Hawkins
Hawkins is currently the Green Party's candidate for the United States Senate in the state of New York. His primary opponent is the current incumbent, Senator Hillary Clinton.
His signature campaign issue has been the Iraq War. Specifically, Hawkins criticizes Senator Clinton's endorsement of the Iraq war resolution, and continued support for an American troop presence in Iraq.
Hawkins pledges to implement what he describes as a modern-day version of the Hatfield-Kennedy Amendment -- a proposed Senate resolution intended to cut off funding for the Vietnam War -- which would defund military operations for the U.S. Armed Forces unless and until they were redeployed out of theater, and possibly replaced by an international peacekeeping force.
He has called upon supporters of Jonathan Tasini -- Hillary Clinton's anti-war opponent in the Democratic primary -- to vote for him in the general election, now that Tasini has lost his primary challenge.
[edit] Opinion polling
[edit] General election polling
| Source | Date | Clinton (D) | Spencer (R) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Marist College | November 3, 2006 | 65% | 32% |
| Siena Research Institute | November 3, 2006 | 65% | 28% |
| Marist College | October 20, 2006 | 67% | 30% |
| Quinnipiac | October 19, 2006 | 65% | 30% |
| Siena Research Institute | October 16, 2006 | 59% | 32% |
| Quinnipiac | October 5, 2006 | 66% | 31% |
| Zogby Interactive | September 28, 2006 | 54.7% | 31% |
| Siena Research Institute | September 18, 2006 | 62% | 33% |
| Zogby Interactive | September 11, 2006 | 56.5% | 33.2% |
| Marist College | September 8, 2006 | 62% | 32% |
| Zogby Interactive | August 28, 2006 | 55.1% | 34.4% |
| Marist College | August 23, 2006 | 60% | 35% |
| Siena Research Institute | August 7, 2006 | 58% | 32% |
| Rasmussen | August 5, 2006 | 61% | 31% |
| Zogby Interactive | July 24, 2006 | 53.7% | 34.2% |
| Marist College | July 19, 2006 | 61% | 34% |
| Quinnipiac | June 22, 2006 | 57% | 33% |
| Zogby Interactive | June 21, 2006 | 50.9% | 32.9% |
| Siena Research Institute | June 19, 2006 | 58% | 32% |
| Quinnipiac | May 18, 2006 | 63% | 27% |
| Marist College | May 10, 2006 | 63% | 33% |
| Siena Research Institute | May 4, 2006 | 58% | 33% |
| Strategic Vision (R) | April 28, 2006 | 58% | 24% |
| Zogby International | April 4, 2006 | 54% | 33% |
| Quinnipiac | March 30, 2006 | 60% | 30% |
| Strategic Vision (R) | March 2, 2006 | 63% | 24% |
| Marist College | January 30, 2006 | 62% | 33% |
| Siena Research Institute | January 30, 2006 | 58% | 31% |
| Quinnipiac | January 20, 2006 | 60% | 30% |
| Strategic Vision (R) | December 8, 2005 | 67% | 20% |
| Strategic Vision (R) | October 27, 2005 | 66% | 19% |
| Marist College | September 30, 2005 | 62% | 31% |
[edit] Election results
| 2006 United States Senate election, New York | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Democratic | Hillary Rodham Clinton (inc.) | 3,008,428 | 67.0 | +11.7 | |
| Republican | John Spencer | 1,392,189 | 31.0 | -12.0 | |
| Green | Howie Hawkins | 55,469 | 1.2 | +0.6 | |
| Libertarian | Jeff Russell | 15,929 | 0.4 | +0.3 | |
| Socialist Equality | Bill Van Auken | 11,071 | 0.2 | n/a | |
| Socialist Workers | Roger Calero | 6,967 | 0.2 | +0.2 | |
| Majority | 1,616,239 | 36.0 | |||
| Turnout | 4,490,053 | 23.3 | |||
| Democratic hold | Swing | ||||
- Percentages do not add to 100% due to rounding.
- Per New York State law, Clinton and Spencer totals include their minor party line votes.
- In addition, 213,777 ballots were blank, void, or scattered, and are not included in the Turnout sum or percentages.
[edit] Analysis of results
Clinton's victory margin over her Republican opponent (67%-31%) was a significant gain over her showing in the 2000 senate race against Rick Lazio (55%-43%), and was the second-largest margin of victory for a Senate race in New York history,[citation needed] and the third-largest for a statewide race in New York.[citation needed] Clinton's 2006 margin did not quite equal the percentage received by Eliot Spitzer in the concurrent gubernatorial race (69%-29%) nor by Charles Schumer in his 2004 Senate re-election campaign (71%-24%), both of which had also been against little-known Republican opponents.
[edit] References
- ^ Hirschkorn, Phil. "Sen. Clinton's GOP challenger quits race", CNN, 2005-12-21. Retrieved on 2006-08-22.
- ^ {{cite news | url = http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny--newyorkprimary-tu0917sep17,0,1396023.story
- ^ Issues - Spencer for Senate URL accessed April 17, 2006
- ^ Horrigan, Marie. "NY Senate: Spencer Wins GOP Nod, But Still Faces Primary", Congressional Quarterly, May 31, 2006.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
[edit] Candidate pages
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