United States gubernatorial elections, 1998

United States Gubernatorial elections, 1998

November 3, 1998

38 governorships 36 states; 2 territories   Majority party Minority party   Party Republican Democratic Last election 32 governorships 17 governorships Seats before 32 17 Seats after 31 17 Seat change 1 ±0

Republican holds   Republican pickups   Democratic holds   Democratic pickups   Reform pickups   Independent hold

United States gubernatorial elections were held on November 3, 1998 in 36 states and two territories. Going into the election 24 of the seats were held by Republicans, 11 by Democrats, and one by an Independent. The elections changed the national balance of power by the loss of one Republican and the gain of one Independent, although it shifted in nine states. Democrats gained open seats in California and Iowa and defeated incumbents Fob James of Alabama and David Beasley of South Carolina while Republicans won open seats in Colorado, Florida, Nebraska, and Nevada and the Reform Party won an open Republican governorship in Minnesota. By the end of the election, 23 seats were held by Republicans, 11 by Democrats, one by the Reform Party, and one by an Independent.

The elections coincided with the mid-term elections for the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives.

With the exception of two states (New Hampshire and Vermont), the governors elected in this election will serve 4-year terms. New Hampshire and Vermont's governors will serve 2-year terms

Summary of results

Note: Candidates' vote percentages rounded to the nearest tenth of one percent. Candidates earning 0.05% or more of the vote are included.

A bolded state name features an article about the specific election.

State	Incumbent	Party	Status	Opposing Candidates
Alabama	Fob James	Republican	Defeated, 42.1%	Don Siegelman (Democratic) 57.7%
Alaska	Tony Knowles	Democratic	Re-elected, 51.3%	Robin Taylor (Write-in) 18.3% John Lindauer (Republican) 17.9% Ray Metcalfe (Republican Moderate) 6.2% Erica Jacobsson (Green) 3.0%
Arizona	Jane Hull	Republican	Re-elected, 61.0%	Paul Johnson (Democratic) 35.5% Katherine Gallant (Libertarian) 2.7% Scott Malcomson (Reform) 0.8%
Arkansas	Mike Huckabee	Republican	Re-elected, 59.8%	Bill Bristow (Democratic) 38.7% Keith Carle (Reform) 1.6%
California	Pete Wilson	Republican	Term-limited, Democratic victory	Gray Davis (Democratic) 58.0% Dan Lungren (Republican) 38.4% Dan Hamburg (Green) 1.2% Steve Kubby (Libertarian) 0.9% Gloria La Riva (Peace & Freedom) 0.7% Nathan Johnson (American Ind.) 0.5% Harold Bloomfield (Natural Law) 0.4%
Colorado	Roy Romer	Democratic	Term-limited, Republican victory	Bill Owens (Republican) 49.1% Gail Schoettler (Democratic) 48.4% Sandra Johnson (Libertarian) 1.7% Tim Leonard (American Constitution) 0.8%
Connecticut	John Rowland	Republican	Re-elected, 62.9%	Barbara Kennelly (Democratic) 35.4% Joseph Zdoneczyk (Concerned Citizens) 0.9% Ned Vare (Libertarian) 0.6% Roberta Scaglione (Term Limits) 0.2%
Florida	Lawton Chiles	Democratic	Term-limited, Republican victory	Jeb Bush (Republican) 55.3% Buddy MacKay (Democratic) 44.7%
Georgia	Zell Miller	Democratic	Term-limited, Democratic victory	Roy Barnes (Democratic) 52.5% Guy Millner (Republican) 44.0% Jack Cashin (Libertarian) 3.4%
Hawaii	Ben Cayetano	Democratic	Re-elected, 50.1%	Linda Lingle (Republican) 48.8% George Peabody (Libertarian) 1.1%
Idaho	Phil Batt	Republican	Retired, Republican victory	Dirk Kempthorne (Republican) 67.7% Robert Huntley (Democratic) 29.1% Peter Rickards (Independent) 3.2%
Illinois	Jim Edgar	Republican	Retired, Republican victory	George Ryan (Republican) 51.0% Glenn Poshard (Democratic) 47.5% Lawrence Redmond (Reform) 1.5%
Iowa	Terry Branstad	Republican	Retired, Democratic victory	Tom Vilsack (Democratic) 52.3% Jim Lightfoot (Republican) 46.5% Jim Hennager (Reform) 0.6%
Kansas	Bill Graves	Republican	Re-elected, 73.4%	Tom Sawyer (Democratic) 22.7% Kirt Poovey (Taxpayers) 2.9% Darrel King (Reform) 1.1%
Maine	Angus King	Independent	Re-elected, 58.6%	Jim Longley (Republican) 18.9% Tom Connolly (Democratic) 12.0% Pat LaMarche (Green Independent) 6.8% William Clarke (Taxpayers) 3.6%
Maryland	Parris Glendening	Democratic	Re-elected, 55.1%	Ellen Sauerbrey (Republican) 44.8%
Massachusetts	Paul Cellucci (acting)	Republican	Elected, 50.8%	Scott Harshbarger (Democratic) 47.4% Dean Cook (Libertarian) 1.7%
Michigan	John Engler	Republican	Re-elected, 62.2%	Geoffrey Fieger (Democratic) 37.8%
Minnesota	Arne Carlson	Republican	Retired, Reform victory	Jesse Ventura (Reform) 37.0% Norm Coleman (Republican) 34.3% Skip Humphrey (Democratic) 28.1% Ken Pentel (Green) 0.3% Frank Germann (Libertarian) 0.1% Chris Wright (Grassroots) 0.1%
Nebraska	Ben Nelson	Democratic	Term-limited, Republican victory	Mike Johanns (Republican) 53.9% Bill Hoppner (Democratic) 46.0%
Nevada	Bob Miller	Democratic	Term-limited, Republican victory	Kenny Guinn (Republican) 51.6% Jan Jones (Democratic) 42.0% None of the above 2.9% Chuck Horne (Independent American) 1.7% Terry Savage (Libertarian) 1.7%
New Hampshire	Jeanne Shaheen	Democratic	Re-elected, 66.1%	Jay Lucas (Republican) 33.1%
New Mexico	Gary Johnson	Republican	Re-elected, 54.5%	Martin Chávez (Democratic) 45.5%
New York	George Pataki	Republican	Re-elected, 54.3%	Peter Vallone (Democratic) 33.2% Tom Golisano (Independence) 7.7% Betsy McCaughey (Liberal) 1.7% Michael Reynolds (Right to Life) 1.2% Al Lewis (Green) 1.1% Thomas Leighton (Marijuana Reform) 0.5% Alice France (Unity) 0.2% Christopher Garvey (Libertarian) 0.1% Alfred Duncan (Socialist Workers) 0.1%
Ohio	George Voinovich	Republican	Term-limited, Republican victory	Bob Taft (Republican) 50.1% Lee Fisher (Democratic) 44.7% John Mitchel (Independent) 3.3% Zanna Feitler (Independent) 1.9%
Oklahoma	Frank Keating	Republican	Re-elected, 57.9%	Laura Boyd (Democratic) 40.9% Hoppy Heidelberg (Reform) 1.2%
Oregon	John Kitzhaber	Democratic	Re-elected, 64.4%	Bill Sizemore (Republican) 30.0% Richard Burke (Libertarian) 1.8% Blair Bobier (Pacific Green) 1.4% Roger Weidner (Reform) 0.9% Patti Steurer (Natural Law) 0.7% Trey Smith (Socialist) 0.5%
Pennsylvania	Tom Ridge	Republican	Re-elected, 57.4%	Ivan Itkin (Democratic) 31.0% Peg Luksik (Taxpayers) 10.4% Ken Krawchuk (Libertarian) 1.1%
Rhode Island	Lincoln Almond	Republican	Re-elected, 51.0%	Myrth York (Democratic) 42.1% Bob Healey (Cool Moose) 6.3% John Patrick (Reform) 0.6%
South Carolina	David Beasley	Republican	Defeated, 45.2%	Jim Hodges (Democratic) 53.2% Timothy Moultrie (Libertarian) 1.4%
South Dakota	Bill Janklow	Republican	Re-elected, 64.0%	Bernie Hunhoff (Democratic) 32.9% Bob Newland (Libertarian) 1.7% Ronald Wieczorek (Independent) 1.4%
Tennessee	Don Sundquist	Republican	Re-elected, 68.6%	John Jay Hooker (Democratic) 29.5% George Hamilton (Independent) 0.6% Irwin Gibbs (Independent) 0.5% Lonnie Creech (Independent) 0.4% Thomas Smith (Independent) 0.2% Karl Smithson (Independent) 0.2%
Texas	George W. Bush	Republican	Re-elected, 68.2%	Garry Mauro (Democratic) 31.2% Lester Turlington (Libertarian) 0.6%
Vermont	Howard Dean	Democratic	Re-elected, 55.7%	Ruth Dwyer (Republican) 41.1% Joel Williams (Grassroots) 1.5% Amy Berkey (Libertarian) 1.0% Richard Gottlieb (Liberty Union) 0.5%
Wisconsin	Tommy Thompson	Republican	Re-elected, 59.7%	Ed Garvey (Democratic) 38.7% Jim Mueller (Libertarian) 0.6% Edward Frami (Taxpayers) 0.6% Mike Mangan (Independent) 0.3% Ja Mu Muhammad (Independent) 0.1%
Wyoming	Jim Geringer	Republican	Re-elected, 55.6%	John Vinich (Democratic) 40.5% Dave Dawson (Libertarian) 3.9%

Territory	Incumbent	Party	Status	Competing candidates
Guam[1]	Carl Gutierrez	Democratic	Re-elected, 51.18%	Joseph Ada (Republican) 44.8% Other 4.02%
United States Virgin Islands[2]	Roy Schneider	Independent	Defeated, 41.06%	Charles Turnbull (Democratic) 58.94%

References

1. http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=51703
2. http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=277492

External links

• CNN results