November 7, 2006 2008 → 53.3% 46.7% | 109,868 96,396 | |
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The 2006 California 11th congressional district election was an election for the United States House of Representatives in California's 11th congressional district. The two major party candidates were longtime Republican incumbent Richard Pombo and Democratic challenger Jerry McNerney. Both faced serious challenges in their respective primaries, on June 6, 2006.
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In the November 7, 2006, general election, this race ordinarily would have been considered a safe Republican seat, since Pombo won reelection in 2004 by a comfortable 61% to 39% margin against McNerney. However, due to a contentious primary, a nationwide movement to oust Republicans, and strong organization by the McNerney campaign, the race became increasingly competitive over the course of the campaign season. In early October, CQPolitics.com changed their rating of this race from Republican Favored to Leans Republican.
Republican
Pombo was challenged in the primary by former Republican Congressman Pete McCloskey, perhaps best known for challenge to Richard Nixon's re-election bid in 1972. McCloskey last ran for office in 1982, when he left the San Francisco Bay Area House seat he had held for 16 years to run for a U.S. Senate seat (he lost in the primary). McCloskey had been endorsed by the Sacramento Bee, the San Jose Mercury News, and the League of Conservation Voters.
McCloskey attacked Pombo on the Iraq war as well as Pombo's ethics and longstanding reputation as an anti-environmentalist. Critics of Pombo noted that as chair of the House Resources Committee, "Pombo has been an advocate of easing land-use regulations throughout his House career, and is spearheading efforts to scale back the Endangered Species Act (which McCloskey helped author in 1973)." A third candidate joined the race, businessman Thomas A. Benigno, who had run against Pombo and received 13 percent of the vote in the 2002 Republican primary.
Democratic
There were three Democratic challengers running for the Democratic nomination: Steve Filson, a Navy veteran and former airline pilot; Gerald M. "Jerry" McNerney, a wind turbine company CEO who won 39 percent of the general election vote against Pombo in 2004, as the Democratic nominee; and Steve Thomas, an electrician and anti-war activist. Party insiders were split, with McNerney endorsed by the California Democratic Party and Filson backed by the national Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
McNerney won the election with just over half of the vote.
General campaign
As of June 30, 2006, Pombo had raised $2.2 million for his reelection campaign and had $939,000 on hand. McNerney had raised $449,000 and had $152,000 in cash as of that date. Even though Pombo generally votes against pro-labor legislation, Unite Here, representing 90,000 workers in the gaming industry, and the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, an AFL-CIO affiliate, each donated $10,000 to Pombo's 2006 campaign. Pombo had a 4:1 advantage in terms of "cash-on-hand." McNerney was helped by the presence of many environmental 501c4 organizations working to defeat Pombo, including Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund, Sierra Club, League of Conservation voters, and Clean Water Action.
In late July, Republicans McCloskey and Thomas Benigno endorsed McNerney.
In September, the Swing State Project reported "The NRCC wouldn't drop over a quarter of a million dollars on this seat if McNerney wasn't threatening Pombo in their internal polls".
Signalling the closeness of the race, both candidates received late-season campaign support from national political figures. In early November, former President Bill Clinton stumped for McNerney; President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush both campaigned for Pombo in the last month before the election.
Polls and ratings
In September, the Rothenberg Political report changed its evaluation of the race from "Republican safe" to "Republican favored". On October 3, 2006 a poll commissioned by Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund was released that showed McNerney leading Pombo 48 percent to 46 percent. It is known that two polls were commissioned by the NRCC, but results were not released. In early October, CQPolitics.com changed their rating of this race from Republican Favored to Leans Republican. In late October, the Cook Political Report rated it "toss up".
Results
The Democratic nominee, Jerry McNerney, in the general election, again faced incumbent Pombo. This election was held on November 7, 2006, and McNerney won 53% to 47% percent. While Pombo narrowly defeated McNerney in heavily Republican San Joaquin County, which makes up a majority of the district's population; McNerney defeated Pombo in the other three counties by wide margins, more than making up for his loss in San Joaquin.