The 2006 United States Senate election in Maine was held November 7, 2006. Incumbent Republican Olympia Snowe won re-election to a third term. , this was the last time Republicans won the Class 1 U.S. Senate seat in Maine.

Candidates

Democratic

* Jean Hay Bright, activist

Independent

* Bill Slavick, activist

Republican

* Olympia Snowe, incumbent U.S. Senator

Campaign

Snowe, who had been elected to both of her previous terms by approximately 2 to 1 margins, had never lost an election. Her success is accredited to her centrist Republican ideology, which resulted in high approval ratings. Meanwhile, her Democratic opponent in the 2006 election, Jean Hay Bright, had never been elected to political office. Democrats' best hope for taking the seat was that Snowe would retire rather than run in 2006, but there was never any indication that Snowe seriously considered not running for re-election.
/ref> The filing deadline for major party candidates was March 15, 2006. The primary was held June 13, 2006. Olympia Snowe was unopposed for the Republican nomination; Jean Hay Bright narrowly won the Democratic nod with 50.7% of the vote against Eric Mehnert. Hay Bright announced her candidacy in May 2005. Hay Bright was previously an unsuccessful candidate for the Democratic nomination to the House in U.S. House election, 1994, 1994 and the Senate in

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. The race had been called b
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for the Republican incumbent Olympia Snowe 23 minutes after the polls had closed. Snowe won re-election by a greater margin than any U.S. Senator that cycle except Indiana's

Richard Lugar Richard Green Lugar (April 4, 1932 – April 28, 2019) was an American politician who served as a United States Senator from Indiana from 1977 to 2013. He was a member of the Republican Party. Born in Indianapolis, Lugar graduated from De ...

, who faced only a

Libertarian Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state's e ...

opponent.

Polling

Predictions

Results

Snowe won in all of Maine's counties, taking at least 60% of the vote in each region.

References

External links

Snowe's campaign website

Hay Bright's campaign website

Mehnert's campaign website

Slavick's campaign website
Maine

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2006 Maine elections {{Use mdy dates , date=November 2017