2006 Iowa gubernatorial election

Iowa gubernatorial election, 2006

November 7, 2006

Nominee Chet Culver Jim Nussle Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 565,199 465,451 Percentage 54.02% 44.38%

County Results

Governor before election Tom Vilsack Democratic Elected Governor Chet Culver Democratic

The Iowa gubernatorial election of 2006 took place November 7, 2006. The incumbent governor, Tom Vilsack, a Democrat, had served two terms and decided not to seek a third term. In the election, Culver defeated Nussle to win the governorship, by a margin of 54.4 percent to 44.1 percent.

Democratic primary

Candidates

• Chet Culver, Iowa Secretary of State, son of former United States Senator John Culver
• Mike Blouin, former director of the Iowa Department of Economic Development, former Congressman
• Ed Fallon, Iowa State Representative
• Sal Mohamed, 2004 Democratic candidate for Congress

Results

Democratic primary results

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Chet Culver	58,131	39.08
	Democratic	Mike Blouin	50,728	34.10
	Democratic	Ed Fallon	38,253	25.72
	Democratic	Sal Mohamed	1,545	1.04
	Democratic	Write-ins	94	0.06
Total votes			148,751	100

Republican primary

Candidates

• Jim Nussle, U.S. Representative

Results

Republican primary results

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Jim Nussle	73,975	100.00
Total votes			73,975	100.00

Independents

Green

• Wendy Barth, peace activist and software engineer from Cedar Rapids

Libertarian

• Kevin Litten, pharmacist from Cedar Rapids

General election

The Democratic nominee, Iowa Secretary of State Chet Culver, selected Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Patty Judge as his running mate. Judge had previously run for the Democratic nomination for Governor before dropping out to run for Lieutenant Governor. The Republican nominee, U.S. Congressman Jim Nussle, selected Sioux City businessman Bob Vander Plaats as his running mate. Vander Plaats, like Judge, had previously run for his party's nomination before dropping out to run for Lieutenant Governor.

Polling

Source	Date	Culver (D)	Nussle (R)
Des Moines Register	November 3, 2006	52%	43%
Rasmussen	October 27, 2006	49%	45%
Research 2000	October 17, 2006	49%	44%
Des Moines Register	October 14, 2006	46%	39%
Rasmussen	October 5, 2006	42%	42%
Des Moines Register	September 17, 2006	44%	44%
Research 2000	September 14, 2006	48%	43%
Zogby/WSJ	September 11, 2006	43.2%	45.6%
Rasmussen	September 1, 2006	42%	40%
Zogby/WSJ	August 28, 2006	47.7%	44.8%
Rasmussen	August 3, 2006	41%	38%
Zogby/WSJ	July 24, 2006	44.8%	47.1%
Zogby/WSJ	June 21, 2006	45.7%	47.0%
Research 2000	May 22–24, 2006	49%	41%
Rasmussen	May 2, 2006	46%	40%
Rasmussen	April 5, 2006	40%	38%
Rasmussen	February 15, 2006	41%	40%
Rasmussen	January 12, 2006	40%	40%
Rasmussen	November 28, 2005	41%	38%

Results

Iowa gubernatorial election, 2006

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Chet Culver	569,021	54.02%	+1.34%
	Republican	Jim Nussle	467,425	44.38%	−0.13%
	Green	Wendy Barth	7,850	0.75%	−0.68%
	Libertarian	Kevin Litten	5,735	0.54%	−0.73%
	Socialist Workers	Mary Martin	1,974	0.19%
	Write-ins		1,250	0.12%
Majority			101,596	9.65%	+1.47%
Turnout			1,053,255
	Democratic hold		Swing

See also

• U.S. gubernatorial elections, 2006
• State of Iowa
• Governors of Iowa

External links

Candidates

• Culver's Campaign Website
• Nussle's Campaign Website (Inactive)
• Barth's Campaign Website
• Litten's Campaign Website
• Blouin for Governor
• Fallon's Campaign Website
• Mohamed's Campaign Website
• Plaats' Campaign Website

Iowa Secretary of State

• Summary Election Results