2000 United States Senate election in Florida

The 2000 United States Senate election in Florida was held on November 7, 2000, on the same date as the U.S. House of Representatives and presidential election. Incumbent Republican Senator Connie Mack III decided to retire instead of seeking a third term. Democrat Bill Nelson won the open seat.

2000 United States Senate election in Florida

November 7, 2000

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

County results Nelson:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70% McCollum:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%

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

Republican primary

Candidates

• Hamilton A. S. Bartlett
• Bill McCollum, U.S. Representative

Results

Republican primary results[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Bill McCollum	660,592	81.13
	Republican	Hamilton A. S. Bartlett	153,613	18.87
Total votes			814,205	100.00

Democratic primary

Candidates

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

Results

Democratic primary results[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Bill Nelson	692,147	77.48
	Democratic	Newall Jerome Daughtrey	105,650	11.83
	Democratic	David B. Higginbottom	95,492	10.69
Total votes			893,289	100.00

General election

Major

• Bill McCollum (R), U.S. Representative
• Bill Nelson (D), State Treasurer and former U.S. Representative

Minor

• Joel Deckard (Re), former U.S. Representative from Indiana
• Willie Logan (I), State Representative
• Andy Martin (I), perennial candidate
• Darrell McCormick (I)
• Joe Simonetta (NL)
• Nikki Oldaker (WI)

Campaign

This election was in conjunction to the presidential election, where Bush narrowly defeated Gore after an intense recount. The Senate election was evenly matched, with two U.S. Congressmen named Bill in their mid-50s. Both parties heavily targeted this senate seat.[3] The election became very nasty as Nelson called his opponent "an extremist who would sacrifice the elderly, the poor, and the working class to coddle the rich." McCollum called the Democrat "a liberal who would tax everything that moves, and some things that don't." The election advertisements were very negative, as both candidates talked more about each other than themselves.[4]

Nelson raised only soft money,[5] but had help from Gore and President Bill Clinton.[6] Two days before the election, McCollum predicted he would win by a 6-point margin.[7] On election day, he lost by a five-point margin.

Debates

• Complete video of debate, October 12, 2000

Results

Bill Nelson with a "thank you" sign after his victory.

General election results[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Bill Nelson	2,989,487	51.04
	Republican	Bill McCollum	2,705,348	46.19
	Independent	Willie Logan	80,830	1.38
	Natural Law	Joe Simonetta	26,087	0.45
	Independent	Darrell L. McCormick	21,664	0.37
	Reform	Joel Deckard	17,338	0.30
	Independent	Andy Martin	15,889	0.27
	Write-in	Nikki Oldaker	88	0.00
Total votes			5,856,731	100.00
	Democratic gain from Republican

See also

• 2000 United States Senate elections

References

1. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-07-18. Retrieved 2019-08-26.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
2. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-07-18. Retrieved 2019-08-26.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
3. https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=o0EgAAAAIBAJ&sjid=RH8EAAAAIBAJ&pg=6654,152782&dq=bill+mccollum+nelson&hl=en
4. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-07-14. Retrieved 2017-02-20.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
5. http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=MH&s_site=miami&p_multi=MH&p_theme=realcities&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EB72E5B1B1E71AA&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM
6. https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/tampatribune/access/57459375.html?dids=57459375:57459375&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Jul+31%2C+2000&author=WILLIAM+MARCH&pub=Tampa+Tribune&desc=McCollum%2C+Nelson+come+out+swinging&pqatl=google
7. http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=NJ&p_theme=nj&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EB51B511C29FC0A&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM
8. http://clerk.house.gov/member_info/electionInfo/2000/2000Stat.htm