1998 United States Senate election in Georgia

1998 United States Senate election in Georgia

←  1992 November 3, 1998 2000 (special)  →

Nominee Paul Coverdell Michael Coles Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 918,540 791,904 Percentage 52.37% 45.15%

County results Coverdell:     40–50%     50–60%     60–70%     70–80% Coles:     40–50%     50–60%     60–70%     70–80%

U.S. senator before election Paul Coverdell Republican Elected U.S. Senator Paul Coverdell Republican

The 1998 United States Senate election in Georgia was held November 3, 1998. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Paul Coverdell won a second term in office, ^[1] becoming the first of his party to ever win reelection to the U.S. Senate from Georgia. Coverdell would remain in the Senate until his death on July 18, 2000.

Democratic primary

Candidates

• Michael Coles, co-founder of Great American Cookies and nominee for U.S. Representative in 1996
• Jimmy Allen Boyd, businessman

Results

Democratic primary results

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Michael Coles	312,765	76.14%
	Democratic	Jimmy Allen Boyd	98,020	23.86%
Total votes			410,785	100.00%

General election

Candidates

• Michael Coles, businessman and co-founder of Great American Cookies (Democratic)
• Paul Coverdell, incumbent U.S. Senator (Republican)
• Daniel Fein (Socialist Workers) (write-in)
• Bert Loftman (Libertarian)

Polling

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size [a]	Margin of error	Paul Coverdell (R)	Michael Coles (D)	Undecided
Mason Dixon [2]	October 26–28, 1998	809 (LV)	± 3.5%	51%	38%	11%
Mason Dixon [2]	October 5–6, 1998	807 (LV)	± 3.5%	52%	36%	12%
Marketing Workshop [2] [A]	September 26–29, 1998	690 (RV)	± 3.7%	55%	33%	12%
Mason Dixon [2]	September 5–8, 1998	829 (LV)	± 3.5%	50%	37%	13%
Mason Dixon [2]	June 20–23, 1998	807 (LV)	± 3.5%	47%	36%	17%

Results

Georgia United States Senate election, 1998

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Paul Coverdell (incumbent)	918,540	52.37%	1.72
	Democratic	Michael Coles	791,904	45.15%	4.20
	Libertarian	Bert Loftman	43,467	2.48%	0.62
	Socialist Workers	Daniel Fein (write-in)	42	0.00%	N/A
Majority			126,636	7.22%
Total votes			1,753,953	100.00%	[b]
	Republican hold

See also

• 1998 United States Senate elections

Notes

1. Key:
   A – all adults
   RV – registered voters
   LV – likely voters
   V – unclear
2. The percentage change for the Republican and Democratic candidates are relative to the run-off in the 1992 election, while changes for the Libertarian candidate are relative to the first round in the 1992 election.

Partisan clients

1. Poll sponsored by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and WSB-TV2

References

1. Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives. "Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 3, 1998" (PDF). U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 12.
2. "CNN AllPolitics Election '98 - Georgia 1998 Polls". CNN. Archived from the original on June 19, 2025. Retrieved June 19, 2025.