United States Senate election in Florida, 2000

United States Senate election in Florida, 2000

November 7, 2000

113px Nominee Bill Nelson Bill McCollum Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 2,989,487 2,705,348 Percentage 51.0% 46.2%

County results

U.S. senator before election Connie Mack III Republican Elected U.S. Senator Bill Nelson Democratic

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 third term. Democrat Bill Nelson won the open seat.

Democratic primary

Candidates

• Bill Nelson, State Treasurer and former U.S. Representative from the 9th and 11th districts
• Newall Jerome Daughtrey, nominee for Florida State Comptroller in 1998
• David B. Higginbottom, nominee for FL-10 in 1986 and 1988

Results

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

Republican primary

Candidates

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

Results

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

General election

Candidates

Major

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

Minor

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

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 named Bill 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