Editing Nancy Johnson (section)

=== 2006 re-election campaign ===
{{BLP sources section|date = December 2019}}
In the [[US House election, 2006|November 2006 general election]], Johnson faced Democrat [[Chris Murphy]], a [[Connecticut Senate|state senator]] originally elected from the First District town of [[Southington, Connecticut]], who now lives in [[Cheshire, Connecticut|Cheshire]].

In April 2006, Johnson became the target of a negative ad campaign run by a political action committee, ''MoveOn.org'', which alleged ties to disgraced lobbyist [[Jack Abramoff]] and former Majority Leader [[Tom DeLay]] (R-TX). Johnson responded with her own advertising campaign dismissing the charges and strongly attacking Murphy, accusing him of not disavowing the MoveOn attack ads.

Johnson had a large cash advantage over her challenger. In April 2006, Johnson reported that she had raised $436,000 in the first quarter of the year, with 60% of that coming from [[political action committee|PACs]], and 56% from contributors from outside [[Connecticut]].<ref>[http://www.fec.gov Campaign contributions to Nancy Johnson], ''FEC.gov'', 2006.</ref> In the second quarter of 2006 she raised almost $800,000, and had cash on hand, as of June 30, 2006, of $2.6 million.<ref>[http://disclosure.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/dcdev/forms/C00145607/231891/ Campaign disclosure of Nancy Johnson]{{Dead link|date=August 2018|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}}, ''Nictusa.com'', 2006.</ref>

In late October, Chris Murphy had a slight lead, and heading into the election, polls showed him ahead by four points.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.newtownbee.com/11032006/polls-show-murphy-farrell-with-slight-leads-over-republicans/|title=Polls Show Murphy, Farrell with Slight Leads over Republicans}}</ref> Johnson ultimately lost the race in November to Chris Murphy by 12 points;<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|last=Writer|first=RINKER BUCK; Courant Staff|title=A TIDE OF IRE SWEEPS OUT JOHNSON|url=https://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-xpm-2006-11-08-0611080058-story.html|access-date=2020-03-11|website=courant.com|date=November 8, 2006 |language=en-US}}</ref> the only House incumbent to suffer a worse defeat was [[John Hostettler]] (IN-08).

Articles in the ''[[Hartford Courant]]'' speculated that Johnson's negative TV ads, which accused Murphy of coddling sex offenders and drug dealers, may have proven counterproductive.<ref name=":0" />  Johnson won only six of the district's 41 towns, losing many areas that had reliably supported her in the past.  For instance, she lost badly in New Britain, an area she had represented for 30 years at both the federal and state level.  She had failed to carry New Britain in her last two elections.