Washington Senatorial Election, 2006
From AtlasWiki
The Washington senatorial election of 2006 is expected to be one of the closer senatorial elections of 2006 and is being seriously contested by both major parties. Democratic incumbent Maria Cantwell was narrowly elected in 2000, defeating Republican incumbent Slade Gorton by a slim 2,000 votes.
Contents |
Candidates
| Candidate | Party | Website |
|---|---|---|
| Maria Cantwell (I) | Democrat | Official website |
| Mark Wilson | Democrat | Official website |
| Mike McGavick | Republican | Official website |
| Bruce Guthrie | Libertarian | none |
| Aaron Dixon | Green | Official website |
The Democratic candidate will be incumbent Senator Maria Cantwell. She is being challeneged in the Democratic primaries by Mark Wilson, a perennial candidate who has run multiple times for various office as either a Green or Libertarian. His campaign has not been taken seriously and he will likely be defeated by a large margin.
The Republicans have rallied behind Mike McGavick, formely the CEO of Safeco and a former aid to Slade Gorton.
Aaron Dixon, a co-founder of the Seattle chapter of the Black Panther Party, will be running as a Green. He admits that while Cantwell has a strong environmental record, she has been very supportive of the war in Iraq. He opposes the war and the USA Patriot Act, both of which Cantwell supported.
Perennial Libertarian Bruce Guthrie will be running as well. Like Dixon, he will be running on his opposition to the War in Iraq and the USA Patriot Act.
Summary
Maria Cantwell has been a moderate senator during her time in Washington, DC. Many liberals are upset with her continued support of the war in Iraq and could possibly vote for Aaron Dixon, taking crucial support away from Cantwell in what may be a close election. Mike McGavick is relatively unknown but should be well-funded and is campaigning on a moderate platform.
Though most will contend that this election is no lock for the Democrats, Maria Cantwell is expected to win re-election. Reasons for this include incumbency, being a Democrat in a state that usually votes Democratic, and because the Republican Party is not expected to make many if any gains in Congress this year.
The largest threat to Cantwell right now is potential loss of liberal voters to Aaron Dixon. It is possible that McGavick could make this a close election by pulling a "moderate Republican" act, similar to that of Dino Rossi's gubernatorial campaign in 2004.
Maria Cantwell has moderate approval ratings. According to SurveyUSA as of April 2006, 48% of Washington approves and 41% disapproves. Overall, her approval ratings have been fluctuating from anywhere between 45% and 55%. She is consistently less popular than fellow Democratic Washington Senator Patty Murray. This is possibly due to Murray's more liberal position regarding the War in Iraq, causing some liberals to approve of Murray but not Cantwell.
