Florida gubernatorial election, 2006

Florida gubernatorial election, 2006

2002 ← November 7, 2006 → 2010

Candidate Charlie Crist Jim Davis Party Republican Democratic Running mate Jeff Kottkamp Daryl Jones Popular vote 2,519,845 2,178,289 Percentage 52.2% 45.1%

Election results by county

Governor before election Jeb Bush Republican Elected Governor Charlie Crist Republican

Elections in Florida
Federal government Presidential elections 1860 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 Presidential primaries Democratic 2008 2012 Republican 2008 2012 U.S. Senate elections 1968 1970 1976 1980 1982 1986 1988 1992 1994 1998 2000 2004 2006 2010 2012 U.S. House elections 2006 5th 8th 9th 16th 2008 2010 2012 2014
State government Gubernatorial elections 1966 1970 1974 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014 Attorney General elections 2002 2006 2010 2014 Chief Financial Officer elections 2006 2010 Agriculture Commissioner of Florida 1994 2006 2010 Ballot measures Other elections 2006 2010
Jacksonville Mayoral elections 2003 2007 2011
Tampa Mayoral elections 2011
Orlando Mayoral elections 2012

The 2006 Florida gubernatorial election took place on November 7, 2006. Governor Jeb Bush was term-limited, and could not run for re-election. Republican Charlie Crist, the state's Attorney General, won the election for Governor of Florida.

Democrats

Jim Davis won the Democratic primary on September 5. Davis was the Congressman from Florida's 11th congressional district and served in the Florida House of Representatives, where he also served as the Majority Leader. On September 13, Davis selected former State Senator and 2002 Gubernatorial candidate Daryl Jones of Miami as his running mate.

Defeated candidates

• Rod Smith - Member of the Florida Senate.
• Glenn Aldine Burkett
• Carol Castagnero - Retired teacher, member County Citizens’ a watch dog group over DCF (HRS)
• John M. Crotty

Democratic primary, Florida gubernatorial election, 2006
Party		Candidate	Votes	Percentage
	Democratic	Jim Davis	405,879	47.3%
	Democratic	Rod Smith	353,161	41.2%
	Democratic	Carol Castagnero	45,161	5.3%
	Democratic	Glenn Burkett	32,984	3.8%
	Democratic	John M. Crotty	20,629	2.4%
Totals			857,814	100%

Republicans

Charlie Crist, the Republican candidate, won the primary on September 5 with 64% of the vote. Crist was Florida's Attorney General at the time. Previously he was elected State Education Commissioner, and has served in the Florida Senate. He faced Bob Graham for his seat in the United States Senate in 1998. On September 13, 2006, Crist announced that State Representative Jeff Kottkamp of Cape Coral would be his running mate.

Defeated candidates

• Tom Gallagher - State Chief Financial Officer, former State Treasurer-Insurance Commissioner, former Education Commissioner, 1986 and 1994 gubernatorial candidate
• Michael W. St. Jean - Ordained minister; hailing from Jacksonville, Florida
• Vernon Palmer
• Austin Brooks
• Bernie DeCastro - Ordained minister; involved in numerous prison ministry projects and faith-based initiatives. Believed Jesus "nominated him from Heaven" to become Governor of Florida, ran on a largely death penalty-based platform.

Republican primary, Florida gubernatorial election, 2006
Party		Candidate	Votes	Percentage
	Republican	Charlie Crist	630,816	64.0%
	Republican	Tom Gallagher	330,165	33.5%
	Republican	Vernon Palmer	13,547	1.4%
	Republican	Michael W. St. Jean	11,458	1.2%
Totals			985,986	100%

Reform Party

• Max Linn

No Party Affiliation-(NPA)

What is No Party Affiliation? (NPA) also see Independent

• Karl C. Behm - 2008 Presidential Candidate; with Carol Castagnero of Lakeland, FL for Lt. Governor
• Richard Paul Dembinsky - Wastewater engineer; 2004 candidate for Florida House
• John Wayne Smith - 2006 Candidate for Florida Governor with No Party Affiliation-(NPA) who later ran in 2008 as a Vice Presidential Candidate for the Boston Tea Party

Write-in candidates

• Piotr Blass
• Omari Musa - Socialist Workers Party member
• C.C. Reed
• Bob Wirengard
• Atlee Yarrow - Socialist Party

Election results

2006 gubernatorial election, Florida
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Charlie Crist	2,519,845	52.2	-3.8
	Democratic	Jim Davis	2,178,289	45.1	+1.9
	Reform	Max Linn	92,595	1.9	n/a
	Independent	John Wayne Smith - NPA	15,987	0.3	n/a
	Independent	Richard Paul Dembinsky - NPA	11,921	0.2	n/a
	Independent	Karl Behm - NPA	10,487	0.2	n/a
	Write-ins		147	0.0	0
Majority			341,556	7.1	-5.7
Turnout			4,829,271
	Republican hold		Swing

Opinion polling

Gubernatorial Race

Source	Date	Crist (R)	Davis (D)
Survey USA	November 6, 2006	49%	47%
Strategic Vision	November 6, 2006	51%	44%
Orlando Sentinel	November 3, 2006	50%	43%
Mason-Dixon	November 3, 2006	50%	43%
Strategic Vision	November 2, 2006	50%	44%
Zogby/WSJ	October 31, 2006	49.9%	45.1%
St. Petersburg Times	October 28, 2006	48%	42%
Rasmussen	October 26, 2006	52%	41%
Strategic Vision	October 25, 2006	51%	42%
Quinnipiac	October 23, 2006	46%	44%
Zogby/WSJ	October 19, 2006	50.2%	41%
Rasmussen	October 18, 2006	46%	41%
Rasmussen	October 2, 2006	54%	38%
Strategic Vision	September 28, 2006	50%	40%
Zogby/WSJ	September 25, 2006	50.1%	36.6%
Rasmussen	September 19, 2006	45%	40%
Zogby/WSJ	September 11, 2006	50.6%	36.4%
Rasmussen	September 5, 2006	45%	41%
Strategic Vision	August 30, 2006	49%	41%
Zogby/WSJ	August 28, 2006	52.4%	38.5%
Rasmussen	August 1, 2006	47%	42%
Quinnipiac	July 26, 2006	44%	38%
Strategic Vision	July 26, 2006	49%	39%
Mason-Dixon	July 24, 2006	48%	32%
Zogby/WSJ	July 24, 2006	42.8%	39.0%
Quinnipiac	June 29, 2006	41%	39%
Rasmussen	June 29, 2006	49%	35%
Strategic Vision	June 28, 2006	49%	41%
Zogby/WSJ	June 21, 2006	42.5%	39.8%
Strategic Vision	May 25, 2006	48%	40%
Quinnipiac	May 24, 2006	37%	40%
Rasmussen	May 22, 2006	44%	39%
Rasmussen	April 21, 2006	44%	33%
Quinnipiac	April 19, 2006	37%	39%
Quinnipiac	February 22, 2006	40%	36%
Rasmussen	January 6, 2006	36%	35%
Rasmussen	November 16, 2005	38%	41%
Quinnipiac	November 15, 2005	39%	40%

See also

• U.S. gubernatorial elections, 2006
• Governor of Florida
• List of Governors of Florida
• Florida United States Senate election, 2006