2006 United States elections

2006 United States elections

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Election day	November 7
Incumbent president	George W. Bush (Republican)
Next Congress	110th
Senate elections
Overall control	Democratic gain
Seats contested	33 of 100 seats
Net seat change	Democratic +5
2006 Senate election results map      Democratic gain      Connecticut for Lieberman gain      Democratic hold      Republican hold      Independent hold
House elections
Overall control	Democratic gain
Popular vote margin	Democratic +8.0%
Net seat change	Democratic +31
2006 House election results map      Democratic gain      Democratic hold      Republican hold
Gubernatorial elections
Seats contested	38 (36 states, 2 territories)
Net seat change	Democratic +6
2006 Gubernatorial election results map      Democratic gain      Democratic hold      Republican hold

The 2006 United States elections were held on Tuesday, November 7, 2006, in the middle of Republican President George W. Bush's second term. In a political wave that broke twelve years of Republican rule, the Democratic Party was swept into power; winning majorities in both chambers of congress. These elections were widely categorized as a Democratic wave.

In the Senate, Democrats won a net gain of six seats to secure a narrow majority in that chamber. Democrats also gained 31 seats in the House of Representatives, and following the election, Nancy Pelosi became the first female Speaker of the House. In the gubernatorial elections, Democrats achieved a net gain of six seats. Nationwide, Republicans failed to win any congressional or gubernatorial seat that was held by a Democrat before 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.

Reasons for the Democratic Party's victory included the decline of the public image of George W. Bush, 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.^[1]