2006_United_States_Senate_election_in_North_Dakota
The 2006 United States Senate election in North Dakota was held November 7, 2006. Incumbent Democratic-NPL U.S. Senator Kent Conrad won re-election to a fourth term. As of 2024, this is the last time where either party won every county for the Class 1 Senate seat in North Dakota.
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 County results Conrad: 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% | |||||||||||||||||
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Democratic-NPL
- Kent Conrad, incumbent U.S. Senator
Republican
- Dwight Grotberg
Popular Republican governor John Hoeven was heavily recruited by prominent national Republicans, including Karl Rove and Dick Cheney to run against Conrad. SurveyUSA polls showed that both Conrad and Hoeven had among the highest approval ratings of any Senators and governors in the nation. A poll conducted by PMR (8/26-9/3 MoE 3.9) for The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead had as result for a hypothetical matchup: Hoeven-35%, Conrad-27%, Uncommitted-38%. This poll showed voter conflict between two very popular politicians in a small state where party loyalty is often trumped by personality. In late September 2005, Hoeven formally declined.[1] Hoeven ran for the Senate in 2010 and was elected by a landslide, in that year's Republican midterm wave.
Debates
- Complete video of debate, October 17, 2006
Predictions
| Source | Ranking | As of |
|---|---|---|
| The Cook Political Report[2] | Solid D | November 6, 2006 |
| Sabato's Crystal Ball[3] | Safe D | November 6, 2006 |
| Rothenberg Political Report[4] | Safe D | November 6, 2006 |
| Real Clear Politics[5] | Safe D | November 6, 2006 |
Polling
| Source | Date | Kent Conrad (D) |
Dwight Grotberg (R) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rasmussen | January 30, 2006 | 59% | 31% |
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic–NPL | Kent Conrad (incumbent) | 150,146 | 68.83% | +7.46% | |
| Republican | Dwight Grotberg | 64,417 | 29.53% | -9.10% | |
| Independent | Roland Riemers | 2,194 | 1.01% | n/a | |
| Independent | James Germalic | 1,395 | 0.64% | n/a | |
| Majority | 85,729 | 39.30% | +16.56% | ||
| Turnout | 218,154 | 44.5% | |||
| Democratic–NPL hold | Swing | +8.3 | |||
Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic
- Wetzel, Dave (September 30, 2005). "North Dakota governor not running for U.S. Senate". Grand Forks Herald. Associated Press. Archived from the original on December 11, 2005. Retrieved January 25, 2016.
- "2006 Senate Race Ratings for November 6, 2006" (PDF). The Cook Political Report. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 5, 2008. Retrieved September 30, 2021.
- "Election Eve 2006: THE FINAL PREDICTIONS". Sabato's Crystal Ball. November 6, 2006. Retrieved June 25, 2021.
- "2006 Senate Ratings". Senate Ratings. The Rothenberg Political Report. Retrieved June 25, 2021.
- "Election 2006". Real Clear Politics. Retrieved June 25, 2021.
- Official campaign websites (Archived)