The 2006 United States Senate election in Nebraska was held November 7, 2006. Incumbent
Democrat
Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to:
Politics
*A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people.
*A member of a Democratic Party:
**Democratic Party (United States) (D)
**Democratic ...
Ben Nelson
Earl Benjamin Nelson (born May 17, 1941) is an American attorney, businessman, and politician who served as the 37th governor of Nebraska from 1991 to 1999 and as a United States Senator from Nebraska from 2001 to 2013. He is a member of the Demo ...
won reelection to a second term, defeating
Republican
Republican can refer to:
Political ideology
* An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law.
** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
Pete Ricketts
John Peter Ricketts (born August 19, 1964) is an American politician serving as the 40th governor of Nebraska since 2015. He is a member of the Republican Party.
Ricketts is the son of Joe Ricketts, founder of TD Ameritrade. He is also, with o ...
with 63.9% of the vote to Ricketts' 36.1%. Ricketts would later become Governor after winning the
2014 gubernatorial election.
As of 2022, this is the last statewide race in Nebraska to be won by a Democrat.
Democratic primary
Candidates
*
Ben Nelson
Earl Benjamin Nelson (born May 17, 1941) is an American attorney, businessman, and politician who served as the 37th governor of Nebraska from 1991 to 1999 and as a United States Senator from Nebraska from 2001 to 2013. He is a member of the Demo ...
, incumbent U.S. Senator
Results
Republican primary
Candidates
*
Pete Ricketts
John Peter Ricketts (born August 19, 1964) is an American politician serving as the 40th governor of Nebraska since 2015. He is a member of the Republican Party.
Ricketts is the son of Joe Ricketts, founder of TD Ameritrade. He is also, with o ...
, former COO of
TD Ameritrade
TD Ameritrade is a stockbroker that offers an electronic trading platform for the trade of financial assets including common stocks, preferred stocks, futures contracts, exchange-traded funds, forex, options, mutual funds, fixed income investmen ...
*
Don Stenberg
Don Stenberg (born September 30, 1948) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 31st Attorney General of Nebraska from 1991 to 2003 and 43rd Treasurer of Nebraska from 2011 to 2019. A member of the Republican Party, he previously ...
, former
Attorney General of Nebraska
The Nebraska Attorney General is the chief law enforcement officer and lawyer for the U.S. state of Nebraska
Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the e ...
and nominee for the U.S. Senate in
2000
File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...
* David J. Kramer, Former Chairman of the
Nebraska Republican Party
The Nebraska Republican Party (NEGOP) is the affiliate of the Republican Party in Nebraska. The party is led by chair Dan Welch. Its headquarters is located in Lincoln. It is currently the dominant party in the state, controlling all of Nebrask ...
Campaign
Since Ricketts was a millionaire, he could finance his own campaign. His opponents could not raise enough money to keep up. Kramer raised $330,000 and Stenberg raised $246,000 in 2005.
Results
General election
Candidates
*
Ben Nelson
Earl Benjamin Nelson (born May 17, 1941) is an American attorney, businessman, and politician who served as the 37th governor of Nebraska from 1991 to 1999 and as a United States Senator from Nebraska from 2001 to 2013. He is a member of the Demo ...
(D), incumbent U.S. Senator
*
Pete Ricketts
John Peter Ricketts (born August 19, 1964) is an American politician serving as the 40th governor of Nebraska since 2015. He is a member of the Republican Party.
Ricketts is the son of Joe Ricketts, founder of TD Ameritrade. He is also, with o ...
(R), former COO of
TD Ameritrade
TD Ameritrade is a stockbroker that offers an electronic trading platform for the trade of financial assets including common stocks, preferred stocks, futures contracts, exchange-traded funds, forex, options, mutual funds, fixed income investmen ...
Campaign
The primary election was held May 9, 2006. Pete Ricketts won the Republican nomination with 48% of the vote. Ben Nelson was unopposed for the Democratic nomination. Nelson was elected in 2000 by a margin of 51% to 49% after serving as the state's governor for two terms. Nelson, considered the most conservative Democrat in the Senate, was the lone Democrat in Nebraska's Congressional delegation. This election was one of the most expensive in Nebraska history. In 2005, Ben Nelson raised $3.9 million for his re-election campaign.
Pete Ricketts
John Peter Ricketts (born August 19, 1964) is an American politician serving as the 40th governor of Nebraska since 2015. He is a member of the Republican Party.
Ricketts is the son of Joe Ricketts, founder of TD Ameritrade. He is also, with o ...
contributed $14.35 million of his own money to his campaign; he raised an additional $485,000 in contributions. The race also attracted national attention and generated several high-level campaign appearances. President
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
appeared at a rally for Ricketts on November 5, 2006, in
Grand Island, while then-U.S. Senator
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...
appeared at a fundraiser for Nelson and other Nebraska Democrats on May 5, 2006 in
Omaha
Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest city ...
. However, he won re-election by a large margin.
Predictions
Polling
Results
Results by county
From CNN
See also
*
2006 United States Senate elections
6 (six) is the natural number following 5 and preceding 7. It is a composite number and the smallest perfect number.
In mathematics
Six is the smallest positive integer which is neither a square number nor a prime number; it is the second small ...
References
External links
Ben Nelson for U.S. Senate(Not Active)
Pete Ricketts for U.S. Senate(Inactive)
{{2006 United States elections
Nebraska
Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the southwe ...
2006
File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...
2006 Nebraska elections
Ricketts family