Hillary Rodham Clinton re-elected to US Senate from New York
In November 2004, Clinton announced that she would seek a second Senate term.
The early frontrunner for the Republican nomination, Westchester County District Attorney Jeanine Pirro, withdrew from the contest after several months of poor campaign performance.[220] Clinton easily won the Democratic nomination over opposition from antiwar activist Jonathan Tasini.[221] Clinton's eventual opponents in the general election were Republican candidate John Spencer, a former mayor of Yonkers, along with several third-party candidates. She won the election on November 7, 2006, with 67 percent of the vote to Spencer's 31 percent,[222] carrying all but four of New York's sixty-two counties.[223] Clinton spent $36 million for her reelection, more than any other candidate for Senate in the 2006 elections. She was criticized by some Democrats for spending too much in a one-sided contest, while some supporters were concerned she did not leave more funds for a potential presidential bid in 2008.[224] In the following months she transferred $10 million of her Senate funds toward her presidential campaign.[225]
Second term
Clinton opposed the Iraq War troop surge of 2007.[226] In March 2007 she voted in favor of a war spending bill that required President Bush to begin withdrawing troops from Iraq within a certain deadline; it passed almost completely along party lines[227] but was subsequently vetoed by President Bush. In May 2007 a compromise war funding bill that removed withdrawal deadlines but tied funding to progress benchmarks for the Iraqi government passed the Senate by a vote of 80-14 and would be signed by Bush; Clinton was one of those who voted against it.[228] Clinton responded to General David Petraeus's September 2007 Report to Congress on the Situation in Iraq by saying, "I think that the reports that you provide to us really require a willing suspension of disbelief."[229]
In March 2007, in response to the dismissal of U.S. attorneys controversy, Clinton called on Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to resign.[230] In May and June 2007, regarding the high-profile, hotly debated comprehensive immigration reform bill known as the Secure Borders, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Reform Act of 2007, Clinton cast a number of votes in support of the bill, which eventually failed to gain cloture.[231]
As the financial crisis of 2007–2008 reached a peak with the liquidity crisis of September 2008, Clinton supported the proposed bailout of United States financial system, voting in favor of the $700 billion Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, saying that it represented the interests of the American people.[232] It passed the Senate 74–25.
The New York 2006 U.S. Senate election held November 7, 2006 determined that incumbent Democratic Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton would win a second term representing New York in the United States Senate. Clinton was challenged by Republican John Spencer, a former Mayor of Yonkers, New York. Clinton received 67% of the vote to 31% for Spencer.
