Illinois's 8th congressional district election, 2006

The Illinois 8th congressional district election of 2006 took place on November 7, 2006, and was considered unusual in several ways. The two main candidates in the election for the United States House of Representatives were incumbent Melissa Bean of the Democratic Party and Republican Party candidate David McSweeney, joined by third-party candidate Bill Scheurer, running as a self-proclaimed "moderate." McSweeney emerged as a candidate from a crowded and often brutal six-way Republican primary, and Bean was unopposed in the Democratic primary. As the 8th congressional district, covering parts of McHenry County, Cook County and most of Lake County, is considered to lean conservative, the United States Republican Party targeted the district as a high priority for recapture in the 2006 elections. However, Bean defeated McSweeney by a nearly five percent margin during a national election which proved unfavorable to Republicans nationwide.