2006 United States broadcast television realignment, Stations
Under the new network, a new service called The CW Plus began serving Nielsen markets with rankings of 100 and lower, featuring a pre-supplied master schedule of programs acquired from the syndication market in addition to CW network programming. The CW Plus is structured similarly to The WB 100+ Station Group, which supplied locally branded WB-affiliated cable channels. In most cases, distribution for The CW Plus covers not only cable but broadcast television as well, including the digital subchannels discussed above.


2006 United States broadcast television realignment, Stations
On March 1, 2006, five stations – four WB affiliates and one UPN affiliate – were the first outside the core CBS and Tribune stations to sign affiliation deals with The CW. By May 18, 2006, 174 stations had signed agreements to become affiliates of The CW, reaching 105 million households and covering 95.3% of the country (the latter two figures excluding the CW stations in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands).


2006 United States broadcast television realignment, Stations
Station groups that signed up a large number of their stations as CW affiliates included Pappas Telecasting Companies, ACME Communications and Sinclair Broadcast Group, although many other large groups, including Hearst-Argyle Television, Clear Channel Communications and Belo Corporation had signed up selected stations. Sinclair signed deals to carry the network in early May, despite reservations with The CW's reported demands for reverse compensation.


2006 United States broadcast television realignment, Stations
While WGN-TV in Chicago became a charter affiliate of The CW, its former national counterpart WGN America never aired programs from The CW through a formal affiliation when it operated as WGN-TV's out-of-market superstation feed prior to December 2014 (although it did carry reruns of select CW series in marathon form in 2013), as the network has sufficient enough affiliate coverage that The CW did not need to use the national WGN feed to carry its programming; WGN America had previously carried WB programming from that network's January 1995 launch until October 1999, when Tribune Broadcasting and Time Warner mutually decided that The WB's national broadcast coverage had increased to a level that allowed the WGN national feed to discontinue carrying the network.


2006 United States broadcast television realignment, Stations
Several affiliates changed their call letters to reflect their new affiliation with The CW (e.g. KPWB-TV (Des Moines) to KCWI, WNPA-TV (Pittsburgh) to WPCW-TV, WJWB (Jacksonville) to WCWJ, WHCP (Portsmouth, Ohio, serving the Charleston, West Virginia market) to WQCW, WEWB (Albany, New York) to WCWN, KWCV (Wichita, Kansas) to KSCW, WBDC (Washington, D.C.) to WDCW, KBHK (San Francisco) to KBCW, and KHWB (Houston) to KHCW). Some stations, however, retained call signs that referred to UPN and The WB, such as WUPA in Atlanta and KWBA-TV in Tucson, Arizona, respectively. In August 2006, CBS Corporation's CW stations dropped all references to UPN from their branding.


2006 United States broadcast television realignment, Stations
Due to the availability of "instant duopoly" digital subchannels, and the overall lack of a need to settle for a secondary affiliation with shows aired in problematic timeslots, both The CW and MyNetworkTV launched with far greater national coverage than that enjoyed by UPN and The WB when they started in 1995. For several years, UPN had coverage gaps in the top 30 markets, and by 2005 had only managed to reach 86% of the population.


2006 United States broadcast television realignment, Stations
This resulted in secondary affiliations with other networks (with some dual WB-UPN affiliates airing the latter network's programming immediately after The WB's primetime lineup, and vice versa) and diluted ratings when programs were shown out of their intended timeslots, or the lack of the program airing at all (a problem experienced by many Star Trek fans with Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: Enterprise).


2006 United States broadcast television realignment, Repercussions, Comparisons to 1994 realignment
The WB and UPN were the first major television networks to shut down since the collapse of the DuMont Television Network in 1956, although other small broadcast television networks have also ceased operations over the years.


2006 United States broadcast television realignment, Repercussions, Comparisons to 1994 realignment
Given the merger of the two networks to create The CW (as well as the eventual launch of MyNetworkTV and the proliferation of digital subchannels), the scope of the realignment caused the largest single shakeup in American broadcast television since the Fox/New World Communications alliance of 1994, which preceded the subsequent launches of UPN and The WB the following year that drastically reduced the number of independent television stations in the U.S., some of which had been marketed and distributed as superstations as recently as the mid-1990s.


2006 United States broadcast television realignment, Repercussions, Comparisons to 1994 realignment
While The CW's debut affected more markets, unlike the Fox/New World deal of the mid-1990s, it was unlikely to cause the same degree of viewer confusion as almost no affiliates of the four major networks dropped those affiliations to become CW affiliates. Only two former Big Four affiliates switched their primary affiliation, in both cases from Fox to MyNetworkTV:


2006 United States broadcast television realignment, Repercussions, Comparisons to 1994 realignment
There were several other cases where Big Four affiliates picked up The CW, MyNetworkTV, or both as a secondary affiliation on their main channel or as a digital subchannel affiliation, even in markets where viable non-network affiliate stations remained.


2006 United States broadcast television realignment, Repercussions, Network affiliation repercussions
In media markets where there were separate affiliates of The WB and UPN, one local station was left out in the merger. Many of these stations signed with MyNetworkTV including the vast majority of the Fox stations acquired in the 2001 acquisition of BHC Communications (the former Chris-Craft stations). Additionally, MyNetworkTV signed with three Tribune stations that did not take the CW affiliation: WPHL (channel 17) in Philadelphia, WATL (channel 36) in Atlanta and KTWB (channel 20) in Seattle.


2006 United States broadcast television realignment, Repercussions, Network affiliation repercussions
Tribune had indicated interest in Fox-developed programming blocks such as MyNetworkTV for stations that did not pick up the CW affiliation; the company announced on May 15 that the aforementioned stations would join MyNetworkTV. In contrast, CBS initially seemed more hostile to MyNetworkTV, and announced its remaining UPN affiliates – KTXA (channel 21) in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex, WSBK-TV (channel 38) in Boston, WBFS-TV (channel 33) in Miami/Fort Lauderdale, and WUPL (channel 54) in New Orleans as well as WB affiliate WTCN-CA (channel 50) in West Palm Beach – would all become independent stations. Four of the five stations, excluding KTXA, eventually all joined MyNetworkTV.


2006 United States broadcast television realignment, Repercussions, Network affiliation repercussions
Some stations bypassed by The CW that did not take MyNetworkTV instead opted to become (or revert to) independent stations. For example, the two remaining former Viacom-owned UPN stations – WSBK and KTXA – reverted to their roots as independent stations (the latter was constrained to independence in any event due to Fox-owned KDFI (channel 27), affiliating with MyNetworkTV). As a consequence, in three of the top 10 media markets – Boston, Dallas/Fort Worth and San Francisco – programs from The WB, UPN and MyNetworkTV were all available to viewers from September 5 to 17.


2006 United States broadcast television realignment, Repercussions, Network affiliation repercussions
MyNetworkTV affiliated with longtime former independent stations WZMY (channel 50) in Derry, New Hampshire (serving the Boston market) and KDFI, while in San Francisco the network affiliated with former longtime NBC affiliate KRON-TV (channel 4; WB affiliate KBWB channel 20, reverted to independent status). Other stations elected to become (or revert to) independent stations as well, particularly in situations where either more than two non-major network affiliate stations existed or another station picked up an affiliation with The CW or MyNetworkTV via a digital subchannel.


2006 United States broadcast television realignment, Repercussions, Network affiliation repercussions
Additionally, four former UPN affiliates became affiliates of "Big Four" networks themselves:


2006 United States broadcast television realignment, Repercussions, Network affiliation repercussions
Additionally, while some stations joined newly established or lesser-known broadcast networks such as RTV), whose now-defunct parent company Equity Broadcasting did not commit any of its WB affiliates to The CW, other stations (mainly digital subchannels, cable channels such as those that were WB 100+ cable channels, and struggling low-power stations) which received neither The CW nor the MyNetworkTV affiliation opted instead to cease operations entirely. For example, in Dayton, Ohio, the "UPN17" cable channel run by CBS affiliate WHIO-TV (channel 7) closed down at the end of 2006.


2006 United States broadcast television realignment, Repercussions, Network affiliation repercussions
Despite the launch of The CW on September 18, 2006, many households around the country were not able to see the new network when it premiered because stations in several markets, primarily those that chose to carry The CW on a digital subchannel of the station's primary affiliate, were unsuccessful in trying to strike a deal with Time Warner Cable to carry their CW subchannels on basic cable lineups, despite the fact that The CW was 50% owned by the provider's then-parent company Time Warner. These markets included Cincinnati; Honolulu; Charleston, South Carolina; El Paso; Corpus Christi; Palm Springs and Lima, Ohio. In late 2006, the Honolulu, El Paso and Palm Springs affiliates were made available on TWC systems in those markets.


2006 United States broadcast television realignment, Repercussions, Network transition repercussions
After the conclusion of the May 2006 sweeps period, as both The WB and UPN started shutting down, both programming schedules and on-screen graphics were affected, and on August 14, 2006 both networks stopped inserting their logo bugs into prime time programming in order to allow CW affiliates-to-be to add lower thirds and bugs promoting the new network during this time – this practice was automatically used on WB affiliates' primetime programming.


2006 United States broadcast television realignment, Repercussions, Network transition repercussions
Also on August 14, 2006, UPN discontinued all promotional advertising for its programs during network time periods (except for audition promotions for America's Next Top Model that aired during that program), though some local stations still aired promos for the network's shows.


2006 United States broadcast television realignment, Repercussions, Network transition repercussions
The network also stopped customizing the closing credits of its shows to the network's standardized graphics scheme (perhaps in reaction to affiliate preemptions, see below), instead showing the program's studio credits full-screen with theme music intact (save for ANTM, where previews for the next episode and casting calls for future CW cycles were shown on the left side of the screen with the studio credits on the right). In contrast, at The WB, advertising for its shows continued during network time periods, with promos for The CW mixed in, and the network's standard closing credits format remained unchanged with promos in the upper two-thirds of the screen and credits in the lower third.


2006 United States broadcast television realignment, Repercussions, Network transition repercussions
The networks also filled spare timeslots with low-cost movies on some weeks (including UPN on Wednesday night and The WB during its infamous "Friday night death slot"), and reruns and unaired episodes of long-cancelled programs, such as the sketch comedy series Blue Collar TV on Wednesday nights, and repeat and unaired episodes of the dramedy Just Legal on Sunday nights (both on The WB).


2006 United States broadcast television realignment, Repercussions, Network transition repercussions
Prior to the MyNetworkTV announcement, many stations (including those snubbed by The CW) had reportedly begun to search for new programming to fill empty timeslots, which had been likely to further boost the fortunes of the syndication industry. Ironically, one of those syndicated offerings, Desire, eventually became part of MyNetworkTV's fall 2006 schedule.


2006 United States broadcast television realignment, Repercussions, Other affiliate repercussions
Following the CW announcement, the fate of many WB and UPN affiliates changed drastically. On January 27, 2006, KQEG-CA (channel 23) in La Crosse, Wisconsin dropped its UPN affiliation, becoming the first station to disaffiliate from a partner network due to the CW announcement; it retained its FamilyNet affiliation.


2006 United States broadcast television realignment, Repercussions, Other affiliate repercussions
Many affected affiliates took similar measures. Following the May 2006 sweeps period, many stations began to pre-empt UPN and WB programming for a variety of reasons. In the Green Bay/Appleton market, future MyNetworkTV affiliate WACY (channel 32), on June 5, opted to replace programs that aired during UPN's second hour of primetime (except for Veronica Mars) whenever possible with infomercials. In Cincinnati, eventual independent station WBQC-LP (channel 25) moved its UPN programming on July 4 to between 2:00 and 4:00 a.m. early Tuesday to Saturday morning, with the intention of promoting the station's "Independence Day" programming in its place.


2006 United States broadcast television realignment, Repercussions, Other affiliate repercussions
Another eventual independent station, KPNZ (channel 24) in Salt Lake City, dropped UPN programming in June 2006 with no replacement affiliate for the remaining two months (KPNZ is now an owned-and-operated station of Spanish-language network Estrella TV). In Springfield, Massachusetts, WB 100+ cable channel WBQT was at one point referred as a CW affiliate on the official website and even started advertising as such, but due to a lack of confirmation, the channel's call letters (which were fictional as WB 100+ stations were not licensed by the FCC due to being cable-only services) were removed. However, on August 29, 2006, WBQT signed a formal affiliation agreement with The CW as a member channel of The CW Plus. In 2015, WBQT was dissolved, with The CW Plus moving over-the-air to NBC affiliate WWLP's second subchannel.


2006 United States broadcast television realignment, Repercussions, Other affiliate repercussions
Before the merger, the cash-strapped Granite Broadcasting Corporation had reached an agreement to sell its WB affiliates in San Francisco and Detroit to AM Media, a unit of private-equity firm Acon Investments. With The CW choosing to affiliate with CBS-owned UPN stations in those markets, the Granite-AM Media deal eventually collapsed, and Granite responded by deciding to instead sell the stations to DS Audible, LLC for a lesser price. Granite later announced that it would sue CBS and Time Warner over the failed deal.


2006 United States broadcast television realignment, Repercussions, Other affiliate repercussions
On July 18, 2006, the deal to sell to DS Audible also fell apart, and on December 11, 2006, Granite filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization after missing an interest payment on its $400 million+ debt. Granite emerged from bankruptcy in June 2007 under control of Silver Point Capital, which also took over another bankrupt broadcasting company, Communications Corporation of America (a key Fox affiliate group in smaller markets within the Southern U.S.), later that year. As of 2019, Granite has since sold both stations to separate parties.


2006 United States broadcast television realignment, Repercussions, Other affiliate repercussions
In New Orleans, CBS filed a lawsuit against Belo, owner of market-dominant CBS affiliate WWL-TV (channel 4), in February 2006 over allegations that Belo tried to renege on the terms of buying WUPL after Tribune-owned WNOL (channel 38) was named the market's CW affiliate (but before WUPL's affiliation with MyNetworkTV was announced). The deal, already complicated in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina which caused catastrophic damage to much of the Greater New Orleans area, would have created a duopoly between WWL-TV and WUPL with both stations merging into WWL's longtime studios on Rampart Street in New Orleans' French Quarter.


2006 United States broadcast television realignment, Repercussions, Other affiliate repercussions
All matters were eventually settled, and the deal closed in February 2007. However, the Belo purchase of WUPL delayed that station's transition to high definition until mid-2010 as the secondary master controls for WUPL at the WWL-TV facility were only capable of pillarboxed 4:3 standard definition broadcasts until the recent upgrades took place (the Gannett Company purchased WUPL and WWL-TV in 2013 as part of their acquisition of Belo, and has since been spun off to Gannett's broadcasting successor, Tegna).


2006 United States broadcast television realignment, UPN and The WB closures, UPN
UPN quietly ceased operations on Friday, September 15, 2006, with its usual airing of WWE Friday Night SmackDown; in addition, some stations aired the network's usual, but optional, weekend repeat block. The low-key closure was not surprising given that in nine media markets, including the three largest, UPN was not available because the local affiliates were owned by Fox Television Stations and switched to its new network, MyNetworkTV, on September 5. UPN programs stopped airing on WPWR (channel 50) in Chicago and KUTP (channel 45) in Phoenix on September 1, and on the other seven Fox-owned stations (including WWOR-TV (channel 9) in New York City and KCOP (channel 13) in Los Angeles) the day before, August 31.


2006 United States broadcast television realignment, UPN and The WB closures, UPN
Several CW affiliates began airing Smackdown and some other CW-renewed UPN programming a few weeks early to replace UPN affiliates that had switched to MyNetworkTV. Otherwise, it was unclear whether MyNetworkTV affiliates would air UPN or WB programs at all. Additionally, Tribune-owned Fox affiliate WXMI (channel 17) in Grand Rapids, Michigan aired Smackdown on tape delay between WXSP-CA (channel 15)'s switch to MyNetworkTV and the launch of WWMT (channel 3)'s digital subchannel as the local CW affiliate.


2006 United States broadcast television realignment, UPN and The WB closures, The WB
The WB closed on Sunday, September 17 with a five-hour block of pilot episodes of the network's past signature series, including Felicity, Angel, Buffy the Vampire Slayer (which was a two-hour episode) and Dawson's Creek. Commercial breaks shown on the network that evening featured re-airings of past image campaigns and network promotions, promo spots given to cable networks that carried these shows in off-network syndication, as well as ads for each series' TV-on-DVD box set.


2006 United States broadcast television realignment, UPN and The WB closures, The WB
After its final commercial break, a montage featuring stars of several of The WB's shows over the years was broadcast just prior to the network's shutdown, ending with a silhouette of former mascot Michigan J. Frog taking a final bow. This was followed by the studio credits for the pilot of Dawson's Creek; the credits for the other three pilots that aired were shown in the network's standardized credits format. The final night of WB programming netted relatively low ratings, mustering only a share of 2, meaning just 2% of viewers were tuned into The WB on its final night.


2006 United States broadcast television realignment, UPN and The WB closures, The WB
The reasoning for the low ratings was due to the fact that WB affiliates in certain areas had already affiliated with MyNetworkTV at that network's launch, which rendered The WB's programming unavailable in these markets during its final two weeks of broadcasting. It also aired against the second ever game (a Cowboys–Washington rivalry game at Texas Stadium) of NBC Sunday Night Football, assuring fewer viewers due to the curiosity of the NFL's prime game now being on Sunday evenings.


2006 United States broadcast television realignment, UPN and The WB closures, The WB
That evening, after The WB shut down, some Tribune-owned affiliates that would join The CW when it launched the following night acknowledged the pending switchover within their newscasts, with most adopting their new CW station brands immediately. WPIX in New York City aired a montage of all of the logos used throughout the station's history leading up to the introduction of its new "CW11" logo before the start of its 10:00 p.m. newscast, while KHCW (channel 39) in Houston aired a retrospective of the station's history during its 9:00 p.m. news.


2006 United States broadcast television realignment, UPN and The WB closures, The WB
In Dallas–Fort Worth, KDAF (channel 33) had retitled its primetime newscast to CW33 News at Nine immediately following the end of WB programming, and featured a video clip of the signage being changed outside the station's studios (however, the old WB33 News at Nine bumper aired upon returning from the first commercial break that night).


2006 United States broadcast television realignment, Post-realignment, The CW
Since 2006, The CW and MyNetworkTV have struggled significantly in the Nielsen ratings, despite The CW showing initial signs of promise. The CW has usually finished fifth in the Nielsen ratings, even falling behind Spanish-language network Univision at times, though it has come close to beating out NBC (which had similar ratings challenges beginning in the 2004–05 television season, before moderating in the 2012–13 season) on several occasions.


2006 United States broadcast television realignment, Post-realignment, The CW
However, The CW has had some successful series (by the standards of the network's viewership, which has rarely peaked above 4 million viewers for a single episode), such as Gossip Girl, The Vampire Diaries and Arrow. Additionally in 2008, concerns regarding the future of The CW led Tribune to begin rebranding its CW affiliates in a way that deemphasized its network affiliation, and another major CW affiliate ownership group, Pappas Telecasting Companies, cited The CW's poor performance as a factor in its Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing. Pappas has since wound down operations, while most of Tribune's CW stations (with the exceptions of WGN-TV and KTLA, the latter of which only includes network references in promos for CW shows) began reincorporating references to their CW affiliation beginning in 2011.


2006 United States broadcast television realignment, Post-realignment, The CW
The merger of UPN and The WB to form The CW has led to instability of the airings of WWE SmackDown, which had aired on UPN for its first seven years. After September 26, 2008, WWE Friday Night SmackDown left The CW for MyNetworkTV in large part due to The CW's newfound focus on targeting 18- to 34-year-old female viewers, though WWE would later air the short-lived WWE Saturday Morning Slam on The CW Saturday mornings.


2006 United States broadcast television realignment, Post-realignment, The CW
SmackDown eventually moved to cable as part of WWE's contract with NBCUniversal for its other programs, initially to Syfy in October 2010, prompted by a move back to Thursday nights in November 2014 (where it had originally aired before 2005), then to USA Network (longtime home to WWE Raw, save for a five-year period on The New TNN/Spike TV from 2000 to 2005) in January 2016, followed again by another move only six months later—this time to Tuesday nights—as part of the 2nd brand extension.


2006 United States broadcast television realignment, Post-realignment, The CW
SmackDown returned to broadcast television on Fox in October 2019, accompanied by a return to Friday nights, as part of Fox's emphasis on sports and live event programming due in part of the sale of much of 21st Century Fox to The Walt Disney Company. The move of SmackDown back to broadcast television also poses a potential conflict of interest with Fox's largest affiliate group, the Sinclair Broadcast Group, which purchased rival wrestling promotion Ring of Honor in 2011 after SmackDown had moved to cable.


2006 United States broadcast television realignment, Post-realignment, The CW
In September 2008, The CW outsourced its five-hour Sunday block to Media Rights Capital (MRC) in order to concentrate on its weekday schedule. The MRC-programmed Sunday lineup performed poorly in the ratings and was replaced by reruns and movies programmed by the network that November; The CW eventually gave back its Sunday primetime slots to the network's local affiliates in September 2009, reducing its prime time programming to weeknights only (and the network's programming to six days a week overall, when its Saturday morning children's lineup and weekday daytime block is accounted).


2006 United States broadcast television realignment, Post-realignment, The CW
The CW's ratings struggles eventually subsided in later years: the network beat NBC for the first time in the key demographic of Adults 18–49 for a single calendar night on November 21, 2013. Other recent series successes (including the revival of the U.S. version of the improv comedy series Whose Line Is It Anyway?, The Flash and Jane the Virgin) helped The CW increase its ratings year-over-year by the 2014–15 season – at which point, The CW posted its highest season average total viewership since the 2007–08 season with 2.15 million.


2006 United States broadcast television realignment, Post-realignment, MyNetworkTV
Since its launch, MyNetworkTV has struggled to gain an audience. In 2009, it was announced that the network would convert to a syndicated programming service, and since SmackDown moved to Syfy in October 2010, MyNetworkTV has been devoid of first-run programming other than that shared with syndicators, and can be more fairly compared to Ion Television, which also carries the same type of scheduling pattern, on a broader all-day basis.


2006 United States broadcast television realignment, Post-realignment, MyNetworkTV
In many markets (mainly in smaller and lower-tier mid-sized markets), it now shares channel space with other full-time subchannel networks such as Antenna TV or MeTV and is more apt to air out of prime time on several affiliates (in Monroe, Louisiana, for instance, after their first affiliate left the airwaves completely and their second affiliate ended carriage to become a full-time religious station, it now is carried in the graveyard slot on a CW Plus subchannel of KNOE-TV, mainly to overlay dead time that would only be filled with paid programming).


2006 United States broadcast television realignment, Post-realignment, MyNetworkTV
In September 2015, West Coast flagship KCOP-TV in Los Angeles moved MyNetworkTV programming to late night, both replacing it with lower-tier entertainment newsmagazines in primetime, and freeing Fox sister station KTTV of any in-house competition in primetime, though it returned to primetime after those programs flopped, until the summer of 2021, when it resumed airing MyNetworkTV in late night. In Chicago, WPWR-TV moved the lineup to nearly out of primetime on September 1, 2016, upon assuming the CW affiliation from WGN-TV which became an independent station.


2006 United States broadcast television realignment, Post-realignment, MyNetworkTV
WPWR-TV would lose its affiliation with the CW in September 2019 and the network's programs would move to WCIU-TV, but retained the same scheduling of MyNetworkTV programming. A similar move happened in Cleveland in July 2018 when MyNetworkTV affiliate WUAB unexpectedly assumed the CW affiliation from WBNX-TV while keeping its MyNetworkTV affiliation in the late-night hours temporarily; it was eventually bumped to sister station WOIO's MeTV subchannel in January 2019, immediately after Gray Television assumed ownership over the former Raycom Media stations.


2006 United States elections
The 2006 United States elections were held on Tuesday, November 7, 2006, in the middle of Republican President George W. Bush's second term. Democrats won control of both houses of Congress, which was the first time either party did so since the 1994 elections.


2006 United States elections
In the Senate, Democrats won a net gain of six seats to take a narrow majority in that chamber. Democrats picked up 31 seats in the House of Representatives, and after the election Nancy Pelosi became the first female Speaker of the House. In the gubernatorial elections, Democrats won a net gain of six seats. Nationwide, Republicans failed to win any congressional or gubernatorial seat that was held by a Democrat going into the election. This was also the first time since 1994 where a party did not lose a single incumbent in a gubernatorial or congressional election.


2006 United States elections
Reasons for the Democratic Party victory included the decline of the public image of George W. Bush, the dissatisfaction of his administration's handling of both Hurricane Katrina and the War in Iraq, the beginning of the collapse of the United States housing bubble, Bush's legislative defeat regarding Social Security Privatization and immigration reform, the Republican-controlled Congress's unprecedented and unpopular involvement in the Terri Schiavo case and a series of scandals in 2006 involving Republican politicians.


2006 United States elections, Background
In March 2003, President George W. Bush ordered an invasion of Iraq, a state which the Bush administration claimed was linked to the September 11 attacks in 2001, and claimed was producing weapons of mass destruction. That May, just two months after the initial invasion, Bush announced the end of major combat operations in Iraq. In the following months, insurgents began resisting the American occupation. Additionally, religious tensions between majority Shiite and minority Sunni Muslims, tensions which had been suppressed under the grip of Saddam's regime, began to result in violence. By the end of 2003, despite the war being initially popular, the post-war occupation was losing support from the American public. A November 2003 Gallup poll showed that Bush's job approval rating had fallen to 50% from a high of 71% at the outset of the war.


2006 United States elections, Background
The next year, Bush won reelection over Democratic nominee Senator John Kerry with less than 51% of the popular vote and 286 electoral votes (only 16 votes ahead of the 270 votes needed), the smallest winning margin for an incumbent president since Woodrow Wilson in the 1916 election. It was, however, the first time since 1988 that a winner garnered a popular majority. Terrorism and the war in Iraq dominated the election, with domestic issues taking a secondary role.


2006 United States elections, Background
Bush began his second term with a continuation of the occupation and a push to overhaul Social Security with his privatization plan. Both policies proved unpopular, and violence in Iraq continued to increase. Compounding the unpopularity of the war was that no weapons of mass destruction were found. August 2005 was the last time any major public opinion poll recorded majority approval of Bush's job. Negative perceptions of Bush following the slow governmental response to Hurricane Katrina further weighed on his popularity.


2006 United States elections, Background
Simultaneously, the Republican-controlled 109th Congress's popularity was declining as well. A series of notable congressional scandals also took place in Washington, D.C., including the ongoing Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal as well as the Mark Foley scandal and the Cunningham scandal, both in October 2006. Throughout 2006, sectarian violence was ongoing in Baghdad and other areas of Iraq; many claimed that the conflict was evolving into a civil war. President Bush's job approval rarely rose above 40%. Perceptions of Congress and Republicans in general remained highly negative.


2006 United States elections, Background
Additionally, the Congress had a smaller than average list of major accomplishments (considering that the Party in charge of both the House and Senate also had control of the White House) and was not in session for a larger than average number of days, allowing Democrats and others to characterize it as a "Do-Nothing" congress and blame the Republican leadership for the lack of progress.


2006 United States elections, Summary of results
The Democratic Party won a majority of the state governorships and the U.S. House and Senate seats each for the first time since 1994, an election-year commonly known as the "Republican Revolution." For the first time since the creation of the Republican party in 1854, no Republican captured any House, Senate, or Gubernatorial seat previously held by a Democrat.


2006 United States elections, Summary of results
Democrats took a 233–202 advantage in the House of Representatives, and achieved a 49–49 tie in the United States Senate. The Senate figure is sometimes quoted in the media as 51–49, which includes two members who ran as independent candidates Bernie Sanders and Joe Lieberman, who promised to caucus with the Democrats. The final Senate result was decided when Democrat Jim Webb was declared the winner in Virginia against incumbent George Allen, as reported by the Associated Press. On November 9, 2006, Allen and fellow Republican incumbent Sen. Conrad Burns of Montana both conceded defeat, ceding effective control of the Senate to the Democrats.


2006 United States elections, Summary of results
The election made Nancy Pelosi (D-California) the first-ever female, first-ever Italian-American, and first-ever Californian Speaker of the House and Harry Reid (D-Nevada) the first Mormon Senate Majority Leader. Keith Ellison (D-Minnesota) became the first Muslim ever elected to the U.S. Congress and Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) and Hank Johnson (D-Georgia) became the first Buddhists in a United States governing body. Although seven states banned recognition of same-sex marriage, Arizona became the first state to reject such a ballot initiative. South Dakota rejected a ban on abortion under almost any circumstances, which was intended to overturn federal constitutional abortion-rights nationwide by setting up a strong test case that proponents hoped would lead to the overruling of Roe v. Wade.


2006 United States elections, Summary of results
Some of the Republican House and Senate seats lost by the Republicans belonged to members of the Republican Revolution of 1994. Senators Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania and Mike DeWine of Ohio, and Representatives Charlie Bass of New Hampshire, John Hostettler of Indiana, Gil Gutknecht of Minnesota, and J. D. Hayworth of Arizona all won previously Democratic seats in 1994 elections and were defeated in 2006. Representative Sue Kelly of New York, also first elected in 1994, was defeated as well. The Democrats also won back the Kansas 2nd and Ohio 18th, both of which they had lost in 1994.


2006 United States elections, Summary of results
The Democratic Party also claimed a majority of state governorships in the 2006 elections, gaining control of Republican-held governorships in New York, Massachusetts, Colorado, Arkansas, Maryland and Ohio, to give the party a 28–22 advantage in governorships.


2006 United States elections, Summary of results
Scandals, including the Mark Foley congressional page scandal, the Jack Abramoff scandal, and various allegations of marital infidelity and abuse doomed certain candidates, especially incumbents in PA-10 and NY-20, which hosted one of the most negative campaigns in the country. Virginia Senator George Allen, a potential Republican 2008 Presidential candidate, saw his chances for reelection disappear when he was caught on video using a racial slur to describe a young Indian-American who worked for his opponent's campaign.


2006 United States elections, Federal elections
Democrats won control of Congress for the first time since the 1994 election, which is commonly known as the "Republican Revolution." For the first time since the creation of the Republican party in 1854, no Republican captured any House, Senate, or Gubernatorial seat previously held by a Democrat.


2006 United States elections, Federal elections, United States Senate
The 33 seats in the United States Senate Class 1 were up for election. The Democrats gained six Senate seats by defeating Republican Senators in the states of Missouri, Montana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Virginia. Including Bernie Sanders and Joe Lieberman, two independents who caucused with the Democrats, Democrats won a 51-to-49 majority in the Senate. Summary of the November 7, 2006, United States Senate election results


2006 United States elections, Federal elections, United States House of Representatives
All 435 seats in the United States House of Representatives were up for election. The Democrats won the national popular vote by a margin of eight percentage points and gained thirty-one seats from the Republicans.


2006 United States elections, Federal elections, United States House of Representatives
The election made Nancy Pelosi (D-California) the first-ever female, first-ever Italian-American, and first-ever Californian Speaker of the House Keith Ellison (D-Minnesota) became the first Muslim ever elected to the U.S. Congress and Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) and Hank Johnson (D-Georgia) became the first Buddhists in a United States governing body.


2006 United States elections, State elections, Governors
Of the 50 United States governors, 36 were up for election. Twenty two of those contested seats were held by Republicans, and the remaining 14 were held by Democrats. Of the 36 state governorships up for election, ten were open due to retirement, term limits, or primary loss. Democrats won open Republican-held seats in New York, Massachusetts, Ohio, Arkansas and Colorado, in addition to defeating incumbent Bob Ehrlich in Maryland and holding their sole open seat in Iowa. As a result of the 2006 gubernatorial elections, there are now 28 Democratic governors and 22 Republican governors, a reversal of the numbers held by the respective parties prior to the elections.


2006 United States elections, State elections, Governors
Additionally, governorships were up for election in the U.S. territories of Guam, held by a Republican, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, where the Democratic governor was retiring. In each location, the incumbent party maintained control of the governorship.


2006 United States elections, State elections, State legislatures
Nearly all state legislatures were up for election. Prior to the general elections, with the exception of the nonpartisan Nebraska Legislature, 21 legislatures were controlled by Republicans, 19 by Democrats, and nine were split legislatures (where each house is controlled by a different party). As a result of the 2006 elections, 23 legislatures were carried by Democrats, 17 by Republicans, and 9 legislatures were split. In all, Republicans lost, and Democrats gained, more than 300 state legislative seats. Democrats gained control of the Oregon Legislative Assembly, the Minnesota Legislature, the Iowa General Assembly and the New Hampshire General Court.


2006 United States elections, State elections, State legislatures
In New Hampshire's case, both houses of the legislature flipped from the Republicans to the Democrats. The Republicans, meanwhile, did not gain control of any state legislature. Instead, state Republicans lost their majorities in the Wisconsin Senate, the Michigan House of Representatives, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, and the Indiana House of Representatives, turning those legislatures into split bodies. Conversely, Republicans gained control of 2 state houses – the Montana House of Representatives changed from a 50–50 split to a 50-49-1 split, with the lone Constitution Party representative voting for Republican control of that body. Also, the election produced a 26–26 split in the Mississippi Senate, previously under a Democratic majority, with the tie-breaking vote coming from Republican Lieutenant Governor Amy Tuck.


2006 United States elections, State elections, State legislatures
Democrats gained or retained control of the state legislatures and governorships of 15 states, thus creating unified government in Arkansas, Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Washington and West Virginia, although the governorship of Louisiana reverted to the Republicans with the October 2007 election of Bobby Jindal. Republicans now control ten state governments, these being, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Missouri, North Dakota, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas and Utah.


2006 United States elections, State elections, State legislatures
Democrats won a veto-proof supermajority in both houses of the Connecticut General Assembly, with Democrats holding a commanding 131–56 majority.


2006 United States elections, State elections, State legislatures
The most dramatic change in party control occurred with the New Hampshire General Court, where Republicans held a 92-seat majority in the lower House and an eight-seat majority in the upper Senate prior to the election. By the end of the evening, Republicans were down 81 seats in the House and five in the Senate, giving control of the General Court to the Democrats. This coincided with the landslide reelection of Democratic Governor John Lynch, the takeover of both of New Hampshire's U.S. House seats by Democrats, and New Hampshire's unique Executive Council gaining a Democratic majority.


2006 United States elections, State elections, State legislatures, Third parties
Third parties received largely mixed results in the 2006 elections. In the Maine House of Representatives, Green State Representative John Eder was narrowly defeated by Democratic rival Jon Hinck in a bitterly contested campaign over Portland's 118th District. Eder's loss deprived the U.S. Green movement's highest elected position in any state office.


2006 United States elections, State elections, State legislatures, Third parties
In the Vermont House of Representatives, the Vermont Progressive Party successfully maintained its six seats within the chamber. The Vermont Progressive Party has in recent years become one of the most consistently successful third parties in the U.S. to be elected to higher office.


2006 United States elections, State elections, State legislatures, Third parties
In Illinois, out of seemingly dissatisfaction of both the candidacies of Democratic Governor Rod Blagojevich and Republican candidate Judy Baar Topinka resulted in 10% of the electorate voting for the Green Party candidate Rich Whitney, an accomplishment by all means considering Whitney did not campaign on television or radio.


2006 United States elections, State elections, State legislatures, Third parties
In Montana, Rick Jore made history becoming the first candidate of the right-wing Constitution Party to be elected to a state legislature, elected to the 12th District in the Montana House of Representatives. Jore initially won in 2004 by three votes, only to see the courts throw out enough ballots to give the Democrat the victory. In the 2006 elections, Jore won convincingly, garnering 56.2% of the vote. However, the Montana Constitution Party is no longer chartered under the national party, denying the United States Constitution Party the claim of holding a higher office.


2006 United States elections, State elections, State legislatures, Third parties
Neither the Libertarian nor the Reform Parties gained any state legislative seats.


2006 United States elections, Local elections
Numerous other elections for local, city, and county public offices were held.


2006 United States elections, Local elections
An unusual local election occurred in South Dakota; Marie Steichen was elected to Jerauld County Commissioner, despite the fact that she died two months before the election. Her name was never replaced on the ballot, and voters who chose her were aware of her death.


2006 United States elections, Local elections
In Richmond, California, a city of more than 100,000 residents, the Green Party challenger, City Councilperson Gayle McLaughlin, unseated Democratic incumbent Irma Anderson and will now become the first Green Party Mayor of a city of that size.


2006 United States elections, Local elections
Two candidates in Nevada's branch of the Constitution Party, called the Independent American Party (Nevada), were also elected to office. Jackie Berg was elected Eureka County Clerk with 54.1% of the vote, easily topping Republican and Libertarian opposition. Also, Cel Ochoa will be the new Constable in Searchlight, Nevada by virtue of winning 54.93% of the vote to defeat her Republican rival. Another Nevada Independent Party member, Bill Wilkerson, was elected to the Elko, Nevada, School Board, in a non-partisan race.


2006 United States elections, Local elections
In Missoula County, Montana, residents passed a measure to encourage the County Sheriff's Department to make marijuana enforcement a last priority.


2006 United States elections, Local elections
In Dallas County, Texas, Democrats regained control in 41 out of 42 contested GOP judgeships, as well as the district attorney's office and the county judge's seat.


2006 United States elections, Reasons for Democratic win
Beginning just after George W. Bush's reelection, political analysts point to a number of factors and events that led to the eventual Republican defeat in 2006. It is generally agreed that the single most important issue during the 2006 election was the war in Iraq, and more specifically President Bush's handling of it and the overall public weariness over it.


2006 United States elections, Reasons for Democratic win
Public opinion polling conducted during the days just before the election and the weeks just after it showed that the war in Iraq was considered the most important election issue by the largest segment of the public. Exit polling showed that relatively large majorities of voters both fell into the category of disapproving of the war or expressing the desire to withdraw troops in some type of capacity. Both brackets broke extremely heavily for Democrats.


2006 United States elections, Reasons for Democratic win
The issue of the war seemed to play a large part in the nationalization of the election, a departure from previous midterm elections, which tended to be about local, district-centric issues. The effect of this was a general nationwide advantage for Democrats, who were not seen as being as tied to the war as Republicans, led by George Bush, were.


2006 United States elections, Reasons for Democratic win
President Bush himself, seen as the leader and face of the Republican party, was a large factor in the 2006 election. Exit polls showed that a large block of the electorate had voted for Democrats or for third parties specifically because of personal opposition to or dislike for Bush. The size of the segment that said it had voted specifically to support Bush was not as large.


2006 United States elections, Reasons for Democratic win
Opposition to Bush was based on a number of factors, these not limited to opposition to his Social Security privatization plan, the slow response of his administration to Hurricane Katrina, his perceived inaction in the face of and association with rising gas prices, and as mentioned above, his continued commitment to the war.


2006 United States elections, Reasons for Democratic win
Congressional approval, which had been slightly negative since before the 2004 election, began a steady drop beginning in March 2005. Congress's unprecedented and unpopular involvement in the Terri Schiavo controversy is often pointed to as the catalyst for this drop. Congressional scandals, such as the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal, the sentencing of Duke Cunningham to over eight years in prison, the indictment of then House majority leader Tom DeLay, the corruption of William J. Jefferson and Bob Ney, the misconduct of Cynthia McKinney, and the Mark Foley scandal all continued to pull down congressional popularity. In the months leading up to the election, congressional approval ratings flirted with all-time historical lows. Because congress was controlled by Republicans, this high disapproval affected Republicans much more negatively than it did Democrats.


2006 United States elections, Reasons for Democratic win
Democrats were successful in portraying the congress as a lazy, greedy, egotistical and inefficient "Do-Nothing Congress. ", which they contrasted with their "New Direction for America" campaign. Indeed, the congress had been in session much less than previous ones had (including those under Republican control), and numerous public opinion polls showed that large majorities believed that the congress had accomplished less than normal. This too, took a toll on Republicans (as the leaders of the government).


2006 United States elections, Reasons for Democratic win
The listed scandals were all dwarfed by the highly publicised Mark Foley scandal, which broke in late September and rapidly metastasized to include the House Republican leadership. Florida Representative Mark Foley, who ironically headed the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children, was found to have been making sexually lewd and highly inappropriate contacts online with male congressional pages, and it was soon found that members of the Republican leadership knew in some capacity of Foley's advances, yet took little action.


2006 United States elections, Reasons for Democratic win
The scandal allowed Democrats to adopt corruption as a campaign issue, and exit polls on election day showed that corruption remained an important issue, one that Democrats held an advantage on. In addition, many (at the time and after the fact) cited the scandal as an event that sealed the fate of the Republican congress. After the election, top Republican strategist Karl Rove specifically named the Foley scandal as the cause of the Republicans' loss of congress.


2006 United States elections, Reasons for Democratic win
The result was that on election day, many congressional seats had been touched by Republican scandals and were easier to pick up for Democrats than under normal conditions. These include but are not limited to the Montana Senate, Virginia Senate, CA-11, PA-07, PA-10, TX-22, OH-18, FL-16 and NY-20 races.


2006 United States elections, Reasons for Democratic win
Almost all of the gains made by Democrats came from large gains among independents, not Republicans. Democrats, Republicans, and independents all accounted for proportions of the electorate similar to what they did in 2004. Democrats and Republicans voted nearly as loyally for their parties in 2006 as they did in 2004, but independents exhibited a large swing towards Democrats. In 2004, independents split 49–46, slightly in favor of Democrats, but in 2006 they voted 57–39 for Democrats, a fifteen-point swing and the largest margin among independents for Democrats since the 1986 elections.


2006 United States elections, Voting issues
There were scattered reports of problems at polling places across the country as new electronic voting systems were introduced in many states. The problems ranged from voter and election official confusion about how to use new voting machines to apparent political dirty tricks designed to keep certain voters from casting their votes to inclement voter suppressing turnout.


2006 United States elections, Ramifications
Many political analysts concluded that the results of the election were based around President George W. Bush's policies in the War in Iraq and corruption in Congress. At a press conference given to address the election results, President Bush called the cumulative results of the election a "thumpin'" by the Democrats.


2006 United States elections, Ramifications, Democratic agenda
Democrats promised an agenda that includes withdrawing from the war in Iraq, raising the minimum wage, implementing all of the 9/11 Commission recommendations, eliminating subsidies for oil companies, restricting lobbyists, repealing tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, lowering interest rates on college loans, expanding stem-cell research, investigating political appointees for actions taken during and leading to the war in Iraq, allowing current tax cuts to expire, and negotiating Medicare prescription drug prices. They planned to legislate these issues within their first 100 legislative hours of power in January 2007. According to Brian Wright, president of Democrasource, LLC (an Ohio-based national political consulting group), "There's no question, the administration and Iraq set the tone for this year. This new balance of power can be a true catalyst to get the country back on track."


2006 United States elections, Ramifications, Democratic agenda, Six-point plan
Prior to the election in July 2006 Democrats unveiled a six-point plan they promised to enact if elected with congressional majorities. The plan was billed the "Six for 06 agenda" and officially called "A New Direction For America" and compared to the 1994 Republican "Contract with America". The six-points of the plan include: "honest leadership and open government, real security, energy independence, economic prosperity and educational excellence, a healthcare system that works for everyone, and retirement security".


2006 United States elections, Ramifications, Domestic, Donald Rumsfeld
With apparent reference to the impact of the Iraq war policy, in a press conference held on November 8, Bush talked about the election and announced the resignation of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. Bush stated, "I know there's a lot of speculation on what the election means for the battle we're waging in Iraq. I recognize that many Americans voted last night to register their displeasure with the lack of progress being made there." Prior to the election, Bush had stated that he intended to keep Rumsfeld on as Secretary of Defense until the end of his presidency.


2006 United States elections, Ramifications, Domestic, Donald Rumsfeld
However, Bush then went on to add Rumsfeld's resignation was not due to the Democratic victories on November 8. Rumsfeld's job reportedly had been on the line for several months prior to the election, and the decision for him to stay until after the election, if he was going to be let go at all, was also reportedly made several months earlier. All this led to his resignation.


2006 United States elections, Ramifications, Domestic, Republican leadership
On the same day, then Speaker of the House, Representative Dennis Hastert of the 14th Congressional District of Illinois, said he would not seek the Minority Leader position for the 110th Congress.


2006 United States elections, Ramifications, Domestic, Voting trends
In the aftermath of the election The Weekly Standard published a number of articles highly critical of how the Republican Party had managed the United States Congress. It called the electoral defeat for the G.O.P. "only a little short" of "devastating" saying the "party of reform ... didn't reform anything" and warned that the Democratic Party has expanded its "geographical sphere of Democratic power" to formerly Republican-held states such as Montana, Colorado, Arizona, Wyoming, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota, while it solidified former swing states like Illinois as Democratic strongholds.


2006 United States elections, Ramifications, Domestic, Voting trends
In the New England region, popular Republican Senator Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island was defeated, despite having approval ratings near 60% and Republicans now only control a single district, the CT-04 seat held by Chris Shays, out of 22 congressional districts. The Democrats also became the clear majority in the Mid Atlantic region as well. Two Republican incumbent Congressmen were defeated in New York state and the Democrats picked up a Republican open seat, all from Republican regions upstate, and four Republican Congressmen were defeated in Pennsylvania.


2006 United States elections, Ramifications, Domestic, Voting trends
Democrats picked up seats in all Northeastern state legislatures holding elections, except Rhode Island, which remained unchanged (and Democrats clearly in the majority), winning a supermajority in both the Connecticut House and Senate, and winning both houses of the New Hampshire legislature for the first time since 1874. Democrats kept both vulnerable Senate seats in Maryland and New Jersey, winning them by wider margins than predicted, and they won the heavily contested Senate seats in Missouri and Virginia.


2006 United States elections, Ramifications, Domestic, Voting trends
The Democratic expansion into Indiana, Virginia and Ohio has "seriously diminished the chances for future Republican success" it claimed.


2006 United States elections, Ramifications, Domestic, Voting trends
The paper, which has been described as the "quasi-official organ of the Bush Administration" also stated that more people would have to "bendover" to get anywhere in a political office and has called on Republicans to move to the center for the sake of the party's future viability saying "conservatives won't want to hear this, but the Republican who maneuvered his way into the most impressive victory ... won  ... after moving to the center" and that "the South is not enough space to build a national governing majority".


2006 United States elections, Ramifications, International, Middle East
I'd also like to say a word to the winners of the recent elections in the U.S. :


2006 United States elections, Ramifications, International, Middle East
The United States has had many administrations; some who have left a positive legacy, and others that are neither remembered fondly by the American people nor by other nations.


2006 United States elections, Ramifications, International, Middle East
Now that you control an important branch of the U.S. Government, you will also be held to account by the people and by history.


2006 United States elections, Ramifications, International, Middle East
If the U.S. Government meets the current domestic and external challenges with an approach based on truth and Justice, it can remedy some of the past afflictions and alleviate some of the global resentment and hatred of America . But if the approach remains the same, it would not be unexpected that the American people would similarly reject the new electoral winners, although the recent elections, rather than reflecting a victory, in reality point to the failure of the current administration's policies. These issues had been extensively dealt with in my letter to President Bush earlier this year.


2006 United States federal budget
The 2006 United States Federal Budget began as a proposal by President George W. Bush to fund government operations for October 1, 2005 – September 30, 2006. The requested budget was submitted to the 109th Congress on February 7, 2005.


2006 United States federal budget
The government was initially funded through a series of three temporary continuing resolutions. Final funding for the government was enacted as several appropriations bills enacted between August 2 and December 30, 2005. As of 2018, this is the last fiscal year to be funded without the use of an omnibus spending bill or full-year continuing resolution.


2006 United States federal budget, Total Spending
The President's budget for 2006 totals $2.7 trillion. This budget request is broken down by the following expenditures:


2006 United States gubernatorial elections
The 2006 United States gubernatorial elections were held on November 7, 2006, in 36 states and two territories. The elections coincided with the midterm elections of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives.


2006 United States gubernatorial elections
Democrats won open Republican-held governorships in Arkansas, Colorado, Massachusetts, New York, and Ohio; and they defeated Republican incumbent Bob Ehrlich in Maryland while retaining all of their seats, including their lone open seat in Iowa. Meanwhile, Republicans held open seats in Florida, Idaho, and Nevada, as well as Alaska, where incumbent governor Frank Murkowski was defeated in the primary. Voters in the United States territories of Guam (then-Republican) and the United States Virgin Islands (then-Democratic, but term-limited) also chose their governors and voters elected a new mayor for the District of Columbia, the District's chief executive.


2006 United States gubernatorial elections
As part of the 2006 Democratic sweep, Democrats did not lose a single incumbent or open seat to the Republicans in any congressional or gubernatorial contest.


2006 United States gubernatorial elections, Major parties
The results of the 2006 elections gave Republicans 22 governors to the Democrats' 28, a reversal of the numbers held by the respective parties prior to the elections. There were 22 races in states that were previously held by Republicans, and 14 in states previously held by Democrats. Republicans held the majority of governorships from 1995 until 2007.


2006 United States gubernatorial elections, Election ratings
Incumbents who were term-limited or chose not to run for reelection have parentheses around their name. Those who ran for reelection but lost in the primary have an asterisk next to their name.


2006 United States gubernatorial elections, Closest races
Red denotes states won by Republicans. Blue denotes states won by Democrats.


2006 United States gubernatorial elections, Election summaries
In 2006, ten governorships were open due to retirement, term limits, or primary loss.


2006 United States gubernatorial elections, Election summaries, Retired Democratic governors, Tom Vilsack (Iowa)
Congressman Jim Nussle was the Republican nominee, while the Democratic Party nominated Iowa Secretary of State Chet Culver, a progressive whose father was a U.S. Senator. An October 11 poll by Rasmussen Reports showed the candidates tied at 42% each. An October 19 Rasmussen Reports poll had Culver leading Nussle 47% to 44%.


2006 United States gubernatorial elections, Election summaries, Retired Democratic governors, Tom Vilsack (Iowa)
The Democratic nominee, Chet Culver, was elected with 54% of the vote.


2006 United States gubernatorial elections, Election summaries, Retired Republican governors, Frank Murkowski (Alaska)
Governor Frank Murkowski, suffering poor approval ratings, was not favored to win renomination. An August 8 poll by Rasmussen Reports showed that going into the primary election his approval rating was at 27%, while his disapproval rating stood at 72%. Former Wasilla Mayor Sarah Palin and former state Railroad Commissioner John Binkley challenged Murkowski in the Republican primary. Former governor Tony Knowles was widely considered the favorite to win the Democratic nomination.


2006 United States gubernatorial elections, Election summaries, Retired Republican governors, Frank Murkowski (Alaska)
In the primary held on August 22, Palin won the Republican nomination for governor with 51.1% of the vote, Binkley received 29.6%, and Murkowski received just 18.9% of the vote. Knowles won the Democratic nomination with 68.6% of the vote; state representative Eric Croft, who received 23.1% of the vote, was his nearest competitor.


2006 United States gubernatorial elections, Election summaries, Retired Republican governors, Frank Murkowski (Alaska)
Palin campaigned on a clean government platform in a state with a history of corruption. An October 15 CRG Research poll had the candidates tied at 43%. An October 28 Rasmussen Reports poll showed Palin leading Knowles by a single percentage point.


2006 United States gubernatorial elections, Election summaries, Retired Republican governors, Frank Murkowski (Alaska)
Republican nominee Sarah Palin was elected with about 48% of the vote, a plurality.


2006 United States gubernatorial elections, Election summaries, Retired Republican governors, Mike Huckabee (Arkansas)
Governor Mike Huckabee was term-limited. The Republican Party nominated Asa Hutchinson, a former congressman, U.S. Attorney, DEA head, and Undersecretary of Homeland Security. The Democratic nominee was Arkansas Attorney General Mike Beebe. Beebe's campaign centered on what his campaign called his "Believe in Arkansas Plan", which outlined his plans for improving access to affordable healthcare, improving education, and stimulating economic development and job growth. Beebe led in most statewide polls, although his margin of victory in those polls varied wildly. Just days before the election, a Rasmussen Reports poll showed Beebe winning by just 8%, while a SurveyUSA poll showed him winning by 20%.


2006 United States gubernatorial elections, Election summaries, Retired Republican governors, Mike Huckabee (Arkansas)
Democratic nominee Mike Beebe was elected with about 55% of the vote.


2006 United States gubernatorial elections, Election summaries, Retired Republican governors, Bill Owens (Colorado)
The retirement of term-limited Governor Bill Owens revealed divisions among the state's Republicans. Republican Congressman Bob Beauprez, widely regarded as a conservative, was attacked by his primary opponent, former University of Denver President Marc Holtzman for compromising with Democrats in Congress. Beauprez became the nominee when Holtzman failed to submit enough valid signatures to qualify for the ballot, but the negative attacks they exchanged damaged Beauprez's campaign. The Democratic nominee was former Denver District Attorney Bill Ritter, a pro-life Catholic and a political centrist who could not easily be portrayed as a liberal.


2006 United States gubernatorial elections, Election summaries, Retired Republican governors, Bill Owens (Colorado)
Ritter did, however, support Referendum I and oppose Amendment 43; conversely, the public defeated the former and passed the latter. Ritter's campaign was boosted when he was endorsed by a group of Larimer County Republicans. During the period of January through August, Ritter raised almost twice as much as Beauprez. According to an October 16 Zogby poll, Ritter led Beauprez 47% to 45%. An October 22 SurveyUSA poll showed Ritter leading Beauprez by a larger margin, 56% to 38%. Similarly, an October 22 Rasmussen Reports poll showed Ritter leading Beauprez, 51% to 39%.


2006 United States gubernatorial elections, Election summaries, Retired Republican governors, Bill Owens (Colorado)
Democratic nominee Bill Ritter was elected with 57% of the vote.


2006 United States gubernatorial elections, Election summaries, Retired Republican governors, Jeb Bush (Florida)
Governor Jeb Bush was term-limited. Florida Attorney General Charlie Crist, a moderate, won the Republican primary with 64%, defeating the Chief Financial Officer of Florida, Tom Gallagher, who received only 34%. Congressman Jim Davis of Tampa won the Democratic primary with 47% of the vote, defeating State Senator Rod Smith of Alachua, who received 41% of the vote. In addition to Crist and Davis, Reform Party nominee Max Linn also appeared on the ballot in the general election.


2006 United States gubernatorial elections, Election summaries, Retired Republican governors, Jeb Bush (Florida)
Crist came out of the September 12 primary with momentum, but as the election drew closer, polls began to show a more competitive race. An October 23 Quinnipiac poll October 23 showed Crist's lead down to 2%. However, an October 26 Rasmussen Reports poll had Crist leading Davis 52% to 41%.


2006 United States gubernatorial elections, Election summaries, Retired Republican governors, Jeb Bush (Florida)
Republican nominee Charlie Crist was elected with 52% of the vote.


2006 United States gubernatorial elections, Election summaries, Retired Republican governors, Jim Risch (Idaho)
Governor Jim Risch was elected Lieutenant Governor in 2002; in May 2006, he succeeded to the governorship when his predecessor, Dirk Kempthorne, resigned to become United States Secretary of the Interior. Before Kempthorne's appointment, Risch, a former Ada County District Attorney and state Senator, had committed to a reelection campaign for Lieutenant Governor, which meant the campaign for the governorship remained open.


2006 United States gubernatorial elections, Election summaries, Retired Republican governors, Jim Risch (Idaho)
Republican Congressman C.L. "Butch" Otter, a former lieutenant governor himself, was heavily favored to succeed Risch. On May 23 he easily won a four-way Republican primary, receiving 70% of the vote. In the general election, he faced newspaper publisher Jerry Brady, who was the Democratic nominee for the second consecutive gubernatorial election. Although Brady won the state's most populous county (Ada County, the location of Boise) in 2002, he was decisively defeated by Kempthorne statewide. He was expected to fare similarly against Otter; however, the race became fairly competitive, possibly due to a national trend towards the Democratic party.


2006 United States gubernatorial elections, Election summaries, Retired Republican governors, Jim Risch (Idaho)
Republican nominee Butch Otter was elected with 53% of the vote. Brady received 44%, making this gubernatorial election the closest in Idaho since 1994.


2006 United States gubernatorial elections, Election summaries, Retired Republican governors, Mitt Romney (Massachusetts)
With his approval ratings down, Governor Mitt Romney opted not to seek a second term. Romney endorsed his lieutenant governor, Kerry Healey, in her bid to succeed him. Healey was unopposed in the Republican primary. Deval Patrick, a former U.S. Assistant Attorney General who headed the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division, won the Democratic primary with 50% of the vote against Thomas Reilly and Chris Gabrieli. Third party candidates included Grace Ross of the Green-Rainbow Party and independent Christy Mihos, a former Republican and board member on the state Turnpike Authority. Over the course of the campaign, Patrick was the victim of several smears by the Healey campaign, including reports of his brother-in-law's criminal history that were leaked to the press.


2006 United States gubernatorial elections, Election summaries, Retired Republican governors, Mitt Romney (Massachusetts)
On November 7, Deval Patrick was elected with 56% of the vote. He became the first African American governor ever elected in the history of the state, and just the second in the nation's history (the first was Douglas Wilder, a Democrat from Virginia, who served as Governor of Virginia from 1990 to 1994). Patrick was also the first Democratic governor of Massachusetts since Michael Dukakis left office in 1991.


2006 United States gubernatorial elections, Election summaries, Retired Republican governors, Kenny Guinn (Nevada)
Governor Kenny Guinn, a moderate Republican, was term-limited. His retirement resulted in competitive primaries in both parties. The Democratic nominee was State Senate Minority Leader Dina Titus, who won the primary with 54% of the vote over Henderson mayor Jim Gibson. The Republican nominee was Congressman Jim Gibbons, who won the primary with 48% of the vote, defeating state senator Bob Beers and Lieutenant Governor Lorraine Hunt. Gibbons, who then represented Nevada's 2nd congressional district, had a strong base in northern Nevada. Titus had a strong base in the Las Vegas Valley due to her legislative and education careers. An October 17 Rasmussen Reports poll put Gibbons ahead of Titus with a 51% to 43% lead. Polls in late October conducted by Mason-Dixon and Research 2000 indicated that Gibbons was on track to win the election.


2006 United States gubernatorial elections, Election summaries, Retired Republican governors, Kenny Guinn (Nevada)
Republican nominee Jim Gibbons was elected with 48% of the vote, a plurality. Titus received 44% of the vote and Christopher H. Hansen, the nominee of the Independent American Party of Nevada, received about 3%.


2006 United States gubernatorial elections, Election summaries, Retired Republican governors, George Pataki (New York)
Governor George Pataki, a moderate Republican, opted not to seek a fourth term in office. Without an incumbent in the race, the Democratic nominee was heavily favored to win the election. New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer won the Democratic primary with 81% of the vote, defeating Nassau County Executive Tom Suozzi. As attorney general, Spitzer became well known for prosecuting cases relating to corporate white collar crime, securities fraud, internet fraud and environmental protection. The Republican nominee was attorney John Faso, a former New York State Assembly minority leader. Throughout the race, polls showed Spitzer defeating Faso by a large margin.


2006 United States gubernatorial elections, Election summaries, Retired Republican governors, George Pataki (New York)
Democratic nominee Eliot Spitzer was elected in a landslide, winning 58 out of the state's 62 counties and taking 65.3% of the vote.


2006 United States gubernatorial elections, Election summaries, Retired Republican governors, Bob Taft (Ohio)
Term -limited incumbent Governor Bob Taft was viewed as one of the most unpopular Governors in the history of Ohio. Polls showed his approval rating in the vicinity of 10% to 25%. Congressman Ted Strickland won the Democratic primary with 79% of the vote, defeating state representative Bryan Flannery. The Republican primary, between Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell and Ohio Attorney General Jim Petro, was more competitive by far. Petro came under fire for switching positions on same-sex marriage and abortion, as well as allegedly taking business from lawyers who refused to give him campaign contributions. Blackwell and Petro also split over proposals to reduce state spending. Blackwell ultimately won the primary with 56% of the vote.


2006 United States gubernatorial elections, Election summaries, Retired Republican governors, Bob Taft (Ohio)
Blackwell was not a close ally of disgraced Governor Taft, but Taft's unpopularity still damaged his campaign. The negativity of the Republican primary also damaged Blackwell's general election campaign. In addition, in 2006 there was a nationwide trend towards the Democratic Party. An October 6 poll by Rasmussen Reports showed that Strickland led by 52% to 40%, a decline from September. By contrast, an October 12 SurveyUSA poll had Strickland leading Blackwell 60% to 32%.


2006 United States gubernatorial elections, Election summaries, Retired Republican governors, Bob Taft (Ohio)
Democratic nominee Ted Strickland was elected with 60% of the vote. He became the first Democratic Governor of Ohio since Dick Celeste.


2006 United States gubernatorial elections, Election summaries, Notable Democratic incumbents, Rod Blagojevich (Illinois)
Incumbent Rod Blagojevich proven to be an incredible fundraiser, and governed a relatively strong blue state. But recent opinion polling showed that his approval rating at a rather dismal 44%. Blagojevich initially had the advantage in the general election, leading his Republican challenger, state Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka by eight percentage points in polls, although not reaching the fifty percent "safe zone" for incumbents. In March, Topinka won the GOP primary by 38% to 32% over dairy magnate Jim Oberweis. Meanwhile, a former Chicago Alderman named Edwin Eisendrath won a surprising 30% in the Democratic primary. During the election United States Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald was looking into the hiring practices of Governor Blagojevich.


2006 United States gubernatorial elections, Election summaries, Notable Democratic incumbents, Rod Blagojevich (Illinois)
An October 15 Rasmussen Reports poll showed Blagojevich dropping 4 points, to end with 44% and Topinka staying at 36%. An October 22 SurveyUSA poll had Blagojevich leading Topinka 44% to 34% with 8% undecided. However, an October 31 Mason-Dixon poll showed Blagojevich leading Topinka only 44% to 40% with 9% undecided.


2006 United States gubernatorial elections, Election summaries, Notable Democratic incumbents, Rod Blagojevich (Illinois)
Democratic incumbent Rod Blagojevich was re-elected. Green Party candidate Rich Whitney showed one of the best showings of a third party candidate in the 2006 election. Whitney received 361,336 votes, or 10% of the ballot share. This made the Green party an official major party in the state of Illinois.


2006 United States gubernatorial elections, Election summaries, Notable Democratic incumbents, John Baldacci (Maine)
In February 2006, Baldacci was given a mere 41% approval rating by the voters of Maine in one poll. But when the GOP unexpectedly nominated conservative state Senator Chandler Woodcock over the more moderate state Senator Peter Mills and former Congressman Dave Emery, Baldacci was handed a huge boost.


2006 United States gubernatorial elections, Election summaries, Notable Democratic incumbents, John Baldacci (Maine)
Polls consistently showed Baldacci with a small lead. An October 17 Rasmussen Reports poll had Baldacci with 44% and Woodcock at 34%. Meanwhile, a  announced by WCSH on November 6, one day before the election, gave John Baldacci his smallest lead yet with only 36%, with Senator Chandler Woodcock 30% and the now leading independent Barbara Merrill 22%, more than doubling her share. Green Independent candidate Pat LaMarche polled at 11%.


2006 United States gubernatorial elections, Election summaries, Notable Democratic incumbents, John Baldacci (Maine)
Baldacci was reelected with 38% of the vote compared to Woodcock's 30%, with 21.55% going to independent Barbara Merrill.


2006 United States gubernatorial elections, Election summaries, Notable Democratic incumbents, Jennifer Granholm (Michigan)
Michigan, like many other Midwestern states, had been unable to take advantage of reported national economic and job growth. A string of plant and factory closings by big name companies such as General Motors in Granholm's state led to growing disapproval of her among voters. Opposing her was wealthy Republican businessman Dick DeVos. Throughout the race polls showed the election to be close, but in the last days Granholm pulled ahead. According to a November 1 EPIC-MRA poll, Granholm led DeVos 52% to 43% with 5% undecided. A November 4 SurveyUSA poll had Granholm leading DeVos 51% to 45%. Ultimately, Democratic incumbent Jennifer Granholm was re-elected with 56 percent of the vote.


2006 United States gubernatorial elections, Election summaries, Notable Democratic incumbents, Ted Kulongoski (Oregon)
Democratic Governor Ted Kulongoski was elected in 2002 barely defeating former State Representative Kevin Mannix. Kulongoski leads his challenger, former Portland Public School Board member Ron Saxton 51% to 44%. Oregon has not elected a Republican as governor since 1982, when Kulongoski lost to then-Governor Victor Atiyeh. Democratic incumbent Ted Kulongoski was re-elected.


2006 United States gubernatorial elections, Election summaries, Notable Democratic incumbents, Jim Doyle (Wisconsin)
In 2002, Doyle was elected with only 45 percent of the vote because of an unusually strong challenge from the Libertarian party. Although his early 2006 approval rating was a mildly unfavorable 45 percent, he led both Republican challengers, Milwaukee County Executive Scott Walker and Congressman Mark Green by six to nine points in polls; he has not been able to poll greater than fifty percent. Green got a big break when Walker dropped out of the race. And more recent polls show that Green has pulled even.


2006 United States gubernatorial elections, Election summaries, Notable Democratic incumbents, Jim Doyle (Wisconsin)
Wisconsin is a swing state in the strongest sense, with George W. Bush losing the state by some 5,700 votes in 2000 and around 12,400 votes in 2004, although they hadn't voted for a Republican for president since 1984, and they hadn't had a Republican senator since 1993. An October 18 Rasmussen Reports poll has Doyle leading Green 48% to 44% and an October 31 Research 2000 poll has Doyle leading Green 50% to 44%. Democratic incumbent Jim Doyle was re-elected.


2006 United States gubernatorial elections, Election summaries, Notable Republican incumbents, Arnold Schwarzenegger (California)
Arnold Schwarzenegger won the 2003 recall election and replaced Gray Davis. Despite his failed special election and budget cuts, Arnold Schwarzenegger seemed to be ahead in the polls against Phil Angelides. Schwarzenegger's aggressive push for environment-friendly legislation, his support for stem cell research, gay rights and opposition to sending the National Guard to the border has made him very popular among the voters. Republican incumbent Arnold Schwarzenegger was re-elected.


2006 United States gubernatorial elections, Election summaries, Notable Republican incumbents, Bob Ehrlich (Maryland)
Bob Ehrlich's approval rating was 48%, which suggested a close election. Martin O'Malley, Mayor of Baltimore City, who was expected to run for governor almost as soon as the 2002 election was over, was initially expected to be a shoo-in for the Democratic nomination, but he was challenged by Montgomery County Executive Doug Duncan, who then unexpectedly dropped out of the race, citing a recent diagnosis of clinical depression, saving Democrats from a costly and potentially divisive primary.


2006 United States gubernatorial elections, Election summaries, Notable Republican incumbents, Bob Ehrlich (Maryland)
A November 2 SurveyUSA poll had O'Malley leading Ehrlich 48% to 47% with 2% undecided. A November 3 Mason-Dixon poll has O'Malley and Ehrlich tied at 45% with 9% undecided. Democratic nominee Martin O'Malley was elected.


2006 United States gubernatorial elections, Election summaries, Notable Republican incumbents, Bob Ehrlich (Maryland)
When Ehrlich unexpectedly beat his Democratic challenger, Lt. Governor Kathleen Kennedy in 2002, and became first Republican Governor of Maryland since Spiro T. Agnew, he was regarded by many as potential presidential candidate for 2008.


2006 United States gubernatorial elections, Election summaries, Notable Republican incumbents, Bob Ehrlich (Maryland)
O'Malley defeated Ehrlich in the general election, 53% to 46%.


2006 United States gubernatorial elections, Election summaries, Notable Republican incumbents, Tim Pawlenty (Minnesota)
Pawlenty's approval rating was measured at 56% on September 21, 2006. In 2002, Pawlenty won the governor's mansion with only 44% of the vote, facing a strong challenge from DFL Party candidate Roger Moe and Independence Party candidate Tim Penny, a former DFLer himself. Pawlenty has been criticized by some Minnesotans for budget cuts to programs such as MinnesotaCare to balance the budget (and controversial moves such as deferring required payments to the state's education and health care funds to later budget biennia to make the budget appear balanced when it was actually not).


2006 United States gubernatorial elections, Election summaries, Notable Republican incumbents, Tim Pawlenty (Minnesota)
Pawlenty faces another strong DFL challenge this year in state Attorney General Mike Hatch, who fended off a liberal primary challenge from State Senator Becky Lourey. Pawlenty and Hatch were virtually neck and neck, with between 40-45% support for both candidates as recently as September, until the Mark Foley scandal hit the papers late that month, and 5-6% for Independence Party candidate Peter Hutchinson.


2006 United States gubernatorial elections, Election summaries, Notable Republican incumbents, Tim Pawlenty (Minnesota)
An October 23 SurveyUSA poll has Hatch leading Pawlenty 45% to 44% and Hutchinson with 7% . A November 1 Saint Cloud Times poll has Hatch at 46% and Pawlenty at 36%. Republican incumbent Tim Pawlenty was re-elected.


2006 United States gubernatorial elections, Election summaries, Notable Republican incumbents, Donald Carcieri (Rhode Island)
Recent polls have shown Carcieri running even with his Democratic challenger, Lieutenant Governor Charles J. Fogarty, and Carcieri is a Republican governor in one of the most liberal states in the country. Carcieri's approval rating is currently 52%. Judging from recent polling, many voters may be willing to punish Carcieri for their displeasure with President George W. Bush. A November 2 Mason-Dixon poll has Carcieri leading Fogarty 50% to 42% with 8% undecided. Republican incumbent Donald Carcieri was re-elected.


2006 United States gubernatorial elections, Election summaries, Notable Republican incumbents, Rick Perry (Texas)
Challenges from two popular independents, coupled with Perry's mediocre approval ratings, made the race interesting. Populist state Comptroller Carole Keeton Strayhorn decided to defect from the GOP and run against Perry, her bitter political foe, as an independent. Six weeks after the announcement of her candidacy, she moved to within single digits of Perry in polls. In addition to Perry and Strayhorn, former Congressman Chris Bell ran as the Democratic candidate, with country singer and Texas icon Kinky Friedman as another independent. This resulted in a peculiar four-way race (technically, a six-way race including the Libertarian candidate and a write-in candidate) in which no run-off would take place. Perry was elected to a second full term with just 39% of the vote.


2006 United States gubernatorial elections, Election summaries, Notable Republican incumbents, Felix Camacho (Guam)
In the U.S. territory of Guam, in the western Pacific Ocean, Republican Governor Felix P. Camacho was challenged by Democrat Robert Underwood. A former Guam Delegate-at-Large in the U.S. House of Representatives, Underwood had previously represented Guam from 1993 to 2003. The race was a rematch of the 2002 gubernatorial election in which Camacho handily defeated Underwood and won his first term in office by 10 points (see Politics of Guam). However, the race was significantly more close and competitive in 2006, with Camacho narrowly winning reelection by a 2-point margin over Underwood.


2006 United States immigration reform protests
In 2006-2007, millions of people participated in protests over a proposed change to U.S. immigration policy. These large scale mobilizations are widely seen as a historic turn point in Latino politics, especially Latino immigrant civic participation and political influence, as noted in a range of scholarly publications in this field. The protests began in response to proposed legislation known as H.R. 4437, which would raise penalties for illegal immigration and classify illegal aliens and anyone who helped them enter or remain in the US as felons. As part of the wider immigration debate, most of the protests not only sought a rejection of this bill, but also a comprehensive reform of the country's immigration laws that included a path to citizenship for all illegal immigrants.


2006 United States immigration reform protests
The 2006 immigration protests were a series of demonstrations that began in Chicago and continued throughout major cities nationwide for a period of eight weeks. The first major demonstration in Chicago was held on March 10, 2006, and was estimated to have about 100,000 participants. It was the initial impetus for many of the other protests which followed throughout the country. The largest single protest occurred on March 25, 2006 in downtown Los Angeles with an official estimate of more than 500,000 people marching in what organizers called "La Gran Marcha" ("The Great March") .


2006 United States immigration reform protests
Organizers of La Gran Marcha, however, state that the actual revised number of participants is somewhere between 1.25 and 1.5 million estimated through later photographic analysis. The largest nationwide day of protest occurred on April 10, 2006, in 102 cities across the country, with 350,000–500,000 in Dallas. The overwhelming majority of the protests were peaceful and attracted modest media attention. Additional protests took place on May Day.


2006 United States immigration reform protests, May Day
The marches reached a climax on May 1, 2006 and were nicknamed "A Day Without Immigrants." Naming the protests in such way encouraged immigrants and aliens to quit their daily labor-intensive jobs for a day to draw attention to their significant contributions to U.S. daily life. Latino immigrants and aliens across the country were urged to boycott work, school and other economic activities. Those outside the Latino community were shocked to see the growing workforce of janitors, nannies, restaurant workers and many other service workers leave their jobs to join the protests. The mobilization of working-class illegal aliens was intended to challenge the belief that the United States would be able to prosper without illegal immigrants.


2006 United States immigration reform protests, May Day
The protests took place on May 1, a date meant to honor workers throughout the country. The May 1st marches reflected the immigrant protesters' identities as workers and significant contributors to U.S. society. Most immigrants of Latin American descent come to the United States seeking economic prosperity for themselves and their families, they infrequently accept low wage jobs to survive in the United States. Therefore, missing work for a day burdened their families. Yet, thousands of immigrants risked their jobs and joined the marches to demand political recognition.


2006 United States immigration reform protests, Illegal immigration
Mexicans were not considered "immigrants" until 1960, when the United States issued visas to emigrate to America. Before 1960, Mexicans could only apply for work visas as Braceros or cross the border without inspection. Mexicans didn't have a "legal" way to enter the United States before then.


2006 United States immigration reform protests, Illegal immigration
To understand the 2006 immigrant protests and the discourse behind illegal immigration as a leading topic in U.S. political debate, it is necessary to understand the history of illegal immigration. Since the 19th century, mass illegal immigration from Latin America to the United States has greatly impacted Latino politics. Illegal immigrants are individuals who arrive and live in the United States without legal documentation.


2006 United States immigration reform protests, Illegal immigration
In many cases, individuals arrive to the United States with legal documentation such as tourist or student visas and overstay the amount of time they are allowed to remain in the United States, thus becoming illegal immigrants. Many others cross the borders between the United States and Mexico, or the United States and Canada, without legal documentation. Today, undocumented entry to the United States is a misdemeanor. Illegal immigration did not always exist to the extent that it does today. Before 1965, the United States did not have numerical restrictions on immigration from countries in the western hemisphere.


2006 United States immigration reform protests, Illegal immigration
In 1965, the United States passed the Immigration Nationality Act and repealed the 1924 National Origins Act designed to limit migration from southern and eastern European countries, thus making it possible for eastern-hemisphere countries to have equal access to visas in addition and consequently restricting migration from the western hemisphere for the first time. Furthermore, the 1965 Act provided unlimited number of visas for family reunification because it allowed naturalized U.S. citizens and permanent residents to request permission to bring their family members to the United States.


2006 United States immigration reform protests, Illegal immigration
The 1965 Act influenced Latinos/as citizens and permanent residents to request visas that allowed their family members to immigrate to the United States. This resulted in a shift of the country's ethno racial makeup and the creation of a large Latino population in the United States. The 1965 Act's restriction on the number of visas allotted to western hemisphere countries created the phenomenon of large scale illegal western hemisphere migration, particularly from Latin American countries like Mexico.


2006 United States immigration reform protests, Illegal immigration
In the 1980s, the United States government began to express concern about the large scale flow of illegal immigration, which led to the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) of 1986. First, the Act made it illegal for employers to hire workers who could not provide proof of legal immigration to the United States. Second, it allowed for the legalization of immigrants who could prove residency in the U.S. since January 1, 1982 and agricultural workers who began working in the United States prior to May 1986.


2006 United States immigration reform protests, Illegal immigration
Out of the 3 million migrants that applied for IRCA, 2.7 million, many of whom were Mexican, were given a path to citizenship. However, in the long term, IRCA was not successful in reducing the flow of illegal immigration to the United States. As a result, the U.S. government began to increase the funding of Border Patrol as a means to regulate the flow of undocumented immigrants to the United States. These actions proved to have little impact on illegal immigration, resulting in about eleven million illegal immigrants living in the United States, the majority being of Mexican origin. Therefore, discourse about the flow of illegal immigration has been known as a "Mexican" or "Latino" problem. The large scale flow of illegal migrants and the significant ethno-racial shift that occurred as a result of 1965 Act, have resulted in anti-immigrant backlash that targets Latino immigrants.


2006 United States immigration reform protests, Role of Spanish-language media and religious leaders
Spanish-language media outlets, in particular Univision, Telemundo, Azteca América and La Opinión (Los Angeles' largest Spanish newspaper), advertised the protests on their front page. They called it a "Mega Marcha", a mega march, as a way to emphasize the large scale of the marches. This strategy allowed for the spread of mobilizations throughout the country. KMEX- TV in Los Angeles, an Univision owned and operated television station, called the protests "Pisando Firme", stepping strong, to remind protesters to march "with pride, with dignity, with order, for your children, for your people, for your community." Although television and newspapers effectively mobilized protesters, it was radio stations which truly promoted the protests.


2006 United States immigration reform protests, Role of Spanish-language media and religious leaders
Various Spanish-language radio stations across the country, in large part aided in mobilizing people for the protests. Eddie "Piolín" Sotelo, a Spanish-language radio personality from Los Angeles, persuaded eleven of his counterparts from Spanish-language radio stations based in Los Angeles to also rally listeners to attend planned protests. Piolin Por La Mañana, is known to be one of the most popular radio shows in the country.


2006 United States immigration reform protests, Role of Spanish-language media and religious leaders
The Piolín's radio show, recorded near Los Angeles, is broadcast in 47 markets across the country including Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Miami, Phoenix, San Francisco and New York, many of the cities where the protests took place. In addition to mobilizing thousands of immigrant protestors, Eddie "Piolin" Sotelo made multiple appearances during protests, which increased his moral authority towards his Latino audience.


2006 United States immigration reform protests, Role of Spanish-language media and religious leaders
Religious leader Cardinal Roger M. Mahony, from the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, showed his support of immigrant protesters and urged Catholics, many of whom are Latino, to support the protests. He urged the Catholic community to spend Lent fasting and praying for an immigration reform that would counteract HR-4437 and the criminalization of immigrants. Cardinal Mahony made an official statement against HR-4437 through which he instructed Catholic priests to defy any law that required them to ask immigrants for legal documents. He stated that immigration was not about politics, rather the way in which human beings treat one another, while asserting that all Americans are of immigrant ancestry and share universal citizenship.


2006 United States immigration reform protests, Role of Spanish-language media and religious leaders
It was not media alone that mobilized protesters, rather the media in partnership with migrant organizations and leaders. When analyzing the immigrant civic participation in the 2006 protests simply acknowledging the media's influence is not enough. It absolutely necessary to understand the "meta-network" of activists and leaders that used media as a call to action.


2006 United States immigration reform protests, Controversy and backlash over flag symbolism and protests
The initial protests caused much controversy after some protesters waved Mexican and Central American flags instead of American flags. Various talk-radio hosts and columnists played up the contentious nature of displaying non-U.S. flags during the protests. One particular incident referred to involved a protest at Montebello High School in California, where a Mexican flag was raised on a flagpole over a United States flag flying in the distressed (or upside-down) position.