Major candidates

Campaign

The Democratic nominee had never run for public office and was expected to face an uphill battle in the general election, especially in a state that has not elected a Democrat statewide since 1994 and against a historically popular Hutchison. Since neither Radnofsky nor her main opponent, Gene Kelly, had received a majority of votes in the Democratic primary, a runoff was held April 11, 2006, which Radnofsky won. Radnofsky's campaign platform is available on her website.^[1] Scott Lanier Jameson won the Libertarian Party nomination at the party's state convention on June 10, 2006, defeating Timothy Wade and Ray Salinas. Arthur W. Loux, a Roman Forest City Councilman and a member of the Minutemen, was running as an independent.

Hutchison co-sponsored legislation supporting the creation of a constitutional amendment that would limit terms for senators,^{[citation needed]} but had been quoted saying that she would only leave after two terms if such a law applied to all senators.^{[citation needed]} After deciding not to challenge Governor Rick Perry this year, as had been widely speculated,^{[citation needed]} Hutchison was running for a third term.

She had no opposition in the 2006 Republican primary, and had approval ratings in the 60 percent range going into the election,^[2] although they had been slipping rapidly.

Predictions

Polling

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

• Newton (Largest city: Newton)

Counties that flipped from Republican to Democratic

• Travis (Largest city: Austin)
• Webb (Largest city: Laredo)