1998 Michigan Senate election

1998 Michigan Senate elections

← 1994 3 November 1998 2002  →
38 seats in the Michigan Senate 20 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	2,974,633 (41.45%)
Majority party Minority party   Leader Dick Posthumus Retired Joe Conroy Retired Party Republican Democratic Leader since 1 January 1991 Leader's seat 31st - Alto 29th - Flint Last election 22 16 Seats after 23 15 Seat change 1 1 Popular vote 1,556,712 1,388,711 Percentage 52.33% 46.69%
Majority Leader before election Dick Posthumus Republican Majority Leader Dan DeGrow Republican

The 1998 Michigan Senate election was held on 3 November 1998 to determing which party would control the Michigan Senate for the following two years in the 90th Michigan General Assembly. All 38 senate seats were up for election. Prior to the election 22 seats were held by Republicans and 16 were held by Democrats. The general election saw the Republicans expand their majority by a single seat, thereby retaining control of the Michigan Senate. Primary elections were held on 4 August 1998. ^{[1] [2]}

Retirements

1. District 9: R. Robert Geake (R) retired.
2. District 17: Jim Berryman (D) retired.
3. District 29: Joe Conroy (D) retired.
4. District 31: Dick Posthumus (R) retired to successfully run for lieutenant governor.
5. District 33: Jon Cisky (R) retired.

Incumbents defeated

In primary

1. District 5: Michael O'Brien (D) lost renomination to Burton Leland.

Results

District 1

Michigan's 1st Senate district election, 1998

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Joseph F. Young Jr. (incumbent)	36,150	61.08%
	Republican	Frank J. Palazzolo	21,656	36.59%
	Libertarian	Constance J. Catalfio	1,378	2.33%
Total votes			59,184	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 2

Michigan's 2nd Senate district election, 1998

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Virgil C. Smith (incumbent)	42,832	92.17%
	Republican	Wanda M. Gray	3,641	7.83%
Total votes			46,473	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 3

Michigan's 3rd Senate district election, 1998

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Raymond M. Murphy (incumbent)	42,976	94.71%
	Republican	Erik Fiedler	2,402	5.29%
Total votes			45,378	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 4

Michigan's 4th Senate district election, 1998

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Jackie Vaughn III (incumbent)	57,458	96.50%
	Republican	William Johnson	2,085	3.50%
Total votes			59,543	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 5

Michigan's 5th Senate district election, 1998

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Burton Leland	47,093	90.00%
	Republican	Beverly Ann Beal	4,087	7.81%
	Libertarian	Michael L. Donahue	1,143	2.18%
Total votes			52,323	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 6

Michigan's 6th Senate district election, 1998

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	George Z. Hart (incumbent)	40,801	53.41%
	Republican	Rhonda L. Runco	33,461	43.80%
	Libertarian	Erich Trager	2,137	2.80%
Total votes			76,399	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 7

Michigan's 7th Senate district election, 1998

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Christopher D. Dingell (incumbent)	43,886	67.00%
	Republican	Rick Butkowski	19,516	29.79%
	Libertarian	Kristin K. Stoner	2,101	3.21%
Total votes			65,503	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 8

Michigan's 8th Senate district election, 1998

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Loren N. Bennett (incumbent)	33,501	52.52%
	Democratic	Kenneth A. Warfield	30,289	47.48%
Total votes			63,790	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 9

Michigan's 9th Senate district election, 1998

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Thaddeus McCotter	53,396	61.85%
	Democratic	Carol Poenisch	29,548	34.23%
	Libertarian	David A. Nagy	3,385	3.92%
Total votes			86,329	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 10

Michigan's 10th Senate district election, 1998

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Art Miller Jr. (incumbent)	44,916	65.35%
	Republican	Linda R. Goff	21,971	31.97%
	Libertarian	David A. Nagy	1,841	2.68%
Total votes			68,728	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 11

Michigan's 11th Senate district election, 1998

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Ken DeBeaussaert (incumbent)	41,890	50.74%
	Republican	Jack Brandenburg	38,588	46.74%
	Libertarian	Scott W. Allen	2,086	2.53%
Total votes			82,564	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 12

Michigan's 12th Senate district election, 1998

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	David Jaye (incumbent)	54,116	61.89%
	Democratic	Dick Kennedy	31,339	35.84%
	Libertarian	Paul M. Soyk	1,983	2.27%
Total votes			87,438	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 13

Michigan's 13th Senate district election, 1998

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Mike Bouchard (incumbent)	57,752	64.37%
	Democratic	Jeffrey Jenks	29,411	32.78%
	Libertarian	Gary Atkinson	2,550	2.84%
Total votes			89,713	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 14

Michigan's 14th Senate district election, 1998

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Gary Peters (incumbent)	53,497	65.48%
	Republican	Mike Christie Jr.	28,201	34.52%
Total votes			81,698	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 15

Michigan's 15th Senate district election, 1998

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Bill Bullard Jr. (incumbent)	62,847	61.46%
	Democratic	S. Ruth Fuller	39,414	38.54%
Total votes			102,261	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 16

Michigan's 16th Senate district election, 1998

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Mat J. Dunaskiss (incumbent)	68,366	69.11%
	Democratic	Michael L. Odette	30,563	30.89%
Total votes			98,929	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 17

Michigan's 17th Senate district election, 1998

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Beverly S. Hammerstrom	41,859	54.21%
	Democratic	Lynn Owen	35,353	45.79%
Total votes			77,212	100.0%
	Republican gain from Democratic

District 18

Michigan's 18th Senate district election, 1998

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Alma Wheeler Smith (incumbent)	53,024	62.21%
	Republican	John C. Hochstetler	32,211	37.79%
Total votes			85,235	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 19

Michigan's 19th Senate district election, 1998

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Philip E. Hoffman (incumbent)	47,714	69.77%
	Democratic	Jennie Crittendon	20,675	30.23%
Total votes			68,389	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 20

Michigan's 20th Senate district election, 1998

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Harry Gast (incumbent)	44,362	67.20%
	Democratic	David Allen DeRuiter	20,244	30.66%
	Libertarian	Tom Baker	1,413	2.14%
Total votes			66,019	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 21

Michigan's 21st Senate district election, 1998

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Dale L. Shugars (incumbent)	38,349	53.59%
	Democratic	Kristi Carambula	33,207	46.41%
Total votes			71,556	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 22

Michigan's 22nd Senate district election, 1998

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	William Van Regenmorter (incumbent)	69,986	78.57%
	Democratic	Melvin Jay Lewis	19,092	21.43%
Total votes			89,078	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 23

Michigan's 23rd Senate district election, 1998

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Joanne G. Emmons (incumbent)	50,995	68.46%
	Democratic	Louis Gula	21,743	29.19%
	Libertarian	Richard Whitelock	1,750	2.35%
Total votes			74,488	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 24

Michigan's 24th Senate district election, 1998

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Joe Schwarz (incumbent)	53,361	65.59%
	Democratic	Violet Hinton	27,990	34.41%
Total votes			81,351	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 25

Michigan's 25th Senate district election, 1998

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Dianne Byrum (incumbent)	55,200	66.04%
	Republican	Pat Gallagher	25,816	30.89%
	Libertarian	Mark Owen	2,568	3.07%
Total votes			83,584	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 26

Michigan's 26th Senate district election, 1998

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Mike Rogers (incumbent)	66,144	68.17%
	Democratic	Sylvia McCollough	28,784	29.67%
	Libertarian	Richard A. Samul	2,099	2.16%
Total votes			97,027	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 27

Michigan's 27th Senate district election, 1998

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Dan DeGrow (incumbent)	58,413	65.83%
	Democratic	Dan Bewersdorff	30,315	34.17%
Total votes			88,728	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 28

Michigan's 28th Senate district election, 1998

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	John D. Cherry (incumbent)	48,249	64.08%
	Republican	Jodi Ann Spalding	25,513	33.89%
	Libertarian	David C. Jackson	1,530	2.03%
Total votes			75,292	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 29

Michigan's 29th Senate district election, 1998

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Robert L. Emerson	53,673	72.39%
	Republican	Mercedes Kinnee	20,472	27.61%
Total votes			74,145	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 30

Michigan's 30th Senate district election, 1998

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Glenn Steil Sr. (incumbent)	47,499	62.48%
	Democratic	Carol Hennessy	28,525	37.52%
Total votes			76,024	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 31

Michigan's 31st Senate district election, 1998

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Ken Sikkema	77,949	79.93%
	Democratic	Jason Robert May	19,577	20.07%
Total votes			97,526	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 32

Michigan's 32nd Senate district election, 1998

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Leon Stille (incumbent)	57,363	67.21%
	Democratic	Greg Woodbury	27,989	32.79%
Total votes			85,352	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 33

Michigan's 33rd Senate district election, 1998

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Michael Goschka	45,764	56.39%
	Democratic	Barbara J. McDonald	35,390	43.61%
Total votes			81,154	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 34

Michigan's 34th Senate district election, 1998

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Joel Gougeon (incumbent)	47,404	58.18%
	Democratic	Tom Alley	34,073	41.82%
Total votes			81,477	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 35

Michigan's 35th Senate district election, 1998

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Bill Schuette (incumbent)	61,510	70.37%
	Democratic	Brian Baldwin	25,900	29.63%
Total votes			87,410	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 36

Michigan's 36th Senate district election, 1998

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	George A. McManus Jr. (incumbent)	65,415	65.42%
	Democratic	Joel R. Casler	34,576	34.58%
Total votes			99,991	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 37

Michigan's 37th Senate district election, 1998

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Walter H. North (incumbent)	55,143	62.31%
	Democratic	Kay Ann Chase	33,352	37.69%
Total votes			88,495	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 38

Michigan's 38th Senate district election, 1998

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Don Koivisto (incumbent)	59,717	75.74%
	Republican	Patricia Jean Ashcraft	17,884	22.68%
	Libertarian	Charles Gershfield	1,246	1.58%
Total votes			78,847	100.0%
	Democratic hold

References

1. "Legislators". legislature.mi.gov. Retrieved 20 November 2025.
2. "Election Results". mvic.sos.state.mi.us. Retrieved 20 November 2025.