2006 United States Senate election in Missouri

2006 United States Senate election in Missouri

← 2002 (special) November 7, 2006 2012 →
 
Nominee Claire McCaskill Jim Talent
Party Democratic Republican
Popular vote 1,055,255 1,006,941
Percentage 49.58% 47.31%

County results
McCaskill:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%
Talent:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%

U.S. senator before election

Jim Talent
Republican

Elected U.S. Senator

Claire McCaskill
Democratic

The 2006 United States Senate election in Missouri was held November 7, 2006, to decide who would serve as senator for Missouri between January 3, 2007, and January 3, 2013. This election was the fifth consecutive even-number year in which a senate election was held in Missouri after elections in 1998, 2000, 2002, and 2004.

Incumbent Republican Senator Jim Talent was elected in a 2002 special election over incumbent Democrat Jean Carnahan, who was appointed to the Senate seat after the posthumous election of her husband Mel Carnahan, who died in a plane crash shortly before the 2000 election. Talent ran for re-election for his first full term, his Democratic opponent was Missouri State Auditor Claire McCaskill.

Both Talent and McCaskill faced unknowns in their respective primaries on August 8 and defeated them soundly. Early on the morning of November 8, Talent conceded defeat to McCaskill, having faced considerable political headwinds. Talent lost the election with 47% of the vote, to 50% of the vote for McCaskill. This was the last election an incumbent Republican senator lost in Missouri.