United States Senate election in Florida, 2000

United States Senate election in Florida, 2000
Florida
November 7, 2000

 
Nominee Bill Nelson Bill McCollum
Party Democratic Republican
Popular vote 2,989,487 2,705,348
Percentage 51.0% 46.2%
U.S. Senator before election

Connie Mack III
Republican

 Elected U.S. Senator

Bill Nelson
Democratic

The 2000 United States Senate election in Florida was held on November 7, 2000. Incumbent U.S. Senator Connie Mack III decided to retire instead of seeking a third term. Democrat Bill Nelson won the open seat.

Republican primary

Candidates

Results

Republican primary results[1]
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Bill McCollum 660,592 81.13
Republican Hamilton A. S. Bartlett 153,613 18.87
Total votes 814,205 100

Democratic primary

Candidates

Results

Democratic primary results[2]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Bill Nelson 692,147 77.48
Democratic Newall Jerome Daughtrey 105,650 11.83
Democratic David B. Higginbottom 95,492 10.69
Total votes 893,289 100

General election

Candidates

Major

Minor

Campaign

This election was in conjunction to the presidential election, where Bush narrowly defeated Gore after an intense recount. The senate election was evenly matched with two U.S. Congressmen named Bill in their mid-50s. Both parties heavily targeted this senate seat.[3] The election became very nasty as Nelson called his opponent "an extremist who would sacrifice the elderly, the poor, and the working class to coddle the rich." McCollum called the Democrat "a liberal who would tax everything that moves, and some things that don't." The election advertisements were very negative, as both candidates talked more about each other than themselves.[4]

Nelson raised only soft money,[5] but had help from President Bill Clinton and VP Al Gore.[6] Two days before the election, McCollum predicted he would win by a 6-point margin.[7] On election day, he lost by a 5-point margin.

Results

General election results[8]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Democratic Bill Nelson 2,989,487 51.04
Republican Bill McCollum 2,705,348 46.19
Independent Willie Logan 80,830 1.38
Natural Law Joe Simonetta 26,087 0.45
Independent Darrell L. McCormick 21,664 0.37
Reform Joel Deckard 17,338 0.30
Independent Andy Martin 15,889 0.27
Write In Nikki Oldaker 88 0.00
Majority 284,139 4.85
Turnout 5,856,731
Democratic gain from Republican Swing

References

  1. ↑ https://doe.dos.state.fl.us/elections/resultsarchive/Index.asp?ElectionDate=9/5/2000&DATAMODE=
  2. ↑ https://doe.dos.state.fl.us/elections/resultsarchive/Index.asp?ElectionDate=9/5/2000&DATAMODE=
  3. ↑ https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=o0EgAAAAIBAJ&sjid=RH8EAAAAIBAJ&pg=6654,152782&dq=bill+mccollum+nelson&hl=en
  4. ↑ https://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0712FA3C5A0C7B8DDDA90994D8404482
  5. ↑ http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=MH&s_site=miami&p_multi=MH&p_theme=realcities&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EB72E5B1B1E71AA&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM
  6. ↑ https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/tampatribune/access/57459375.html?dids=57459375:57459375&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Jul+31%2C+2000&author=WILLIAM+MARCH&pub=Tampa+Tribune&desc=McCollum%2C+Nelson+come+out+swinging&pqatl=google
  7. ↑ http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=NJ&p_theme=nj&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EB51B511C29FC0A&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM
  8. ↑ http://clerk.house.gov/member_info/electionInfo/2000/2000Stat.htm
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