2006 Iowa gubernatorial election

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, Chet Culver defeated Jim Nussle to win the governorship, by a margin of 54.4 percent to 44.1 percent.[1] As of 2021, this is the most recent time a Democrat has won the governorship of Iowa.

2006 Iowa gubernatorial election

November 7, 2006
 
Nominee Chet Culver Jim Nussle
Party Democratic Republican
Running mate Patty Judge Bob Vander Plaats
Popular vote 569,021 467,425
Percentage 54.0% 44.4%

County results
Culver:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%
Nussle:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%

Governor before election

Tom Vilsack
Democratic

Elected Governor

Chet Culver
Democratic

Democratic primary

Candidates

Results

Primary results by county:
Democratic primary results[2]
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

Withdrew

Results

Republican primary results[3]
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Jim Nussle 73,975 100.00
Total votes 73,975 100

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 Chet
Culver (D)
Jim
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% 46%
Rasmussen September 1, 2006 42% 40%
Zogby/WSJ August 28, 2006 48% 45%
Rasmussen August 3, 2006 41% 38%
Zogby/WSJ July 24, 2006 45% 47%
Zogby/WSJ June 21, 2006 46% 47%
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[4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Democratic Chet Culver 569,021 54.02% +1.33%
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% -0.74%
Socialist Workers Mary Martin 1,974 0.19%
Write-ins 1,250 0.12%
Majority 101,596 9.65% +1.48%
Turnout 1,053,255
Democratic hold Swing

See also

References

Candidates

Iowa Secretary of State

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