United States Senate election in Florida, 2000

United States Senate election in Florida, 2000

1994 ← November 7, 2000 → 2006

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

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 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 fourth term. Democrat Bill Nelson won the open seat.

Democratic primary

Candidates

• Bill Nelson, U.S. Congressman from the 9th and 11th districts
• Newall Jerome Daughtrey, 1998 Democratic nominee for Florida State Comptroller
• David B. Higginbottom, 1986 and 1988 Democratic nominee for U.S. House of Representatives from in Florida's 10th congressional district

Results

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

Republican primary

Candidates

• Bill McCollum, U.S. Congressman from the 8th and 5th districts
• Hamilton A. S. Bartlett

Results

Republican primary results
Party		Candidate	Votes	Percentage
	Republican	Bill McCollum	660,592	81.13%
	Republican	Hamilton A. S. Bartlett	153,613	18.87%
Totals			814,205	100%

General election

Candidates

Major

• Bill McCollum (R), U.S. Congressman from the 8th and 5th districts
• Bill Nelson (D), U.S. Congressman from the 9th and 11th districts

Minor

• Joel Deckard (Re)
• Willie Logan (I)
• Andy Martin (I)
• Darrell McCormick (I)
• Joe Simonetta (NL)

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 in their mid-50s. Both parties heavily targeted this senate seat. 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.

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

Results

General election results
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