1998 United States Senate election in Nevada

Last updated

1998 United States Senate election in Nevada
Flag of Nevada.svg
  1992 November 3, 1998 2004  
  Harry Reid official portrait.jpg John Ensign official portrait.jpg
Nominee Harry Reid John Ensign
Party Democratic Republican
Popular vote208,621208,220
Percentage47.86%47.77%

1998 United States Senate election in Nevada results map by county.svg
County results
Reid:     50–60%
Ensign:     40–50%     50–60%     60–70%     70–80%

U.S. senator before election

Harry Reid
Democratic

Elected U.S. Senator

Harry Reid
Democratic

The 1998 United States Senate election in Nevada was held on November 3, 1998. Incumbent Democratic Senator Harry Reid won re-election to a third term by a margin of less than 0.1% and 401 votes, making this the closest race of the 1998 Senate election cycle.

Contents

Republican primary

Candidates

Results

Republican primary results [1]
PartyCandidateVotes%
Republican John Ensign 105,263 80.57%
Republican Ralph W. Stephens13,67910.47%
Republican None of these candidates11,7048.96%
Total votes130,646 100.00%

General election

Candidates

Campaign

Early in the campaign, Reid held a double-digit lead over Ensign in most polls. After a fierce battle of attack ads on television by both candidates, Ensign pulled into a dead heat with Reid. This reversal of fortune was attributed to several factors. More than 125,000 new residents had arrived in Nevada since 1992, many of them settling in Ensign's suburban Clark County congressional district. As such, many of them were more familiar with Ensign than with Reid, whose previous Republican opponents had hailed from other regions of the state. Republican consultant John Maddox observed that Ensign's greater familiarity to the Las Vegas metropolitan region gave him an advantage, adding that "he has won votes from Democrats who have never voted for Reid." In contrast, Reid was believed to hold an advantage with longtime Nevada residents, particularly those in slower-growing regions of the state. In addition, the number of registered Republicans in Nevada had dramatically increased as well; in 1992, Democrats had held an advantage of approximately 40,000 registered voters, but by 1998 Republicans outnumbered Democrats by 4,000. Jon Ralston, a political analyst in Las Vegas, claimed that Reid was also hurt by declining voter enthusiasm in the wake of the Monica Lewinsky scandal. Reid had been one of the first senators to express dissatisfaction with President Clinton over the scandal, describing the president's behavior as "immoral." [2]

During the campaign, Reid cited his efforts to block the storage of nuclear waste at the Yucca Mountain repository, while also using the issue to attack Ensign. In one campaign speech, Reid claimed, "You send Ensign to the Senate, you send nuclear waste to Nevada." Ensign responded to the attacks by pointing out his own position against the depository and indicated he would work with Richard Bryan, the state's other senator, to stop it. "Bryan's a Democrat who works with Republicans," he said, "and I'm a Republican who works with Democrats." The Reid campaign also attacked Ensign as an "extremist" who would weaken Social Security and referred to environmentalists as "socialists." Ensign, meanwhile accused Reid of supporting tax increases in Washington even as he claimed to support lower taxes at home. [2]

Polling

Poll sourceDate(s)
administered
Sample
size [a]
Margin
of error
Harry
Reid (D)
John
Ensign (R)
Undecided
Mason-Dixon [3] October 25–27, 1998817 (LV)± 3.5%47%45%8%
Mason-Dixon [3] September 26–28, 1998814 (LV)± 3.5%45%44%11%
Mason-Dixon [3] August 24–26, 1998838 (LV)± 3.5%46%41%13%
Mason-Dixon [3] July 29 – August 4, 1998837 (LV)± 3.5%46%40%14%
Mason-Dixon [3] June 8–10, 1998808 (RV)± 3.5%44%41%15%
Mason-Dixon [3] February 19–21, 1998804 (RV)± 3.5%45%36%19%

Results

On November 3, 1998, Reid won by 401 votes in an exceptionally close election. Ensign did not contest the results, and was elected to Nevada's other Senate seat in 2000, succeeding the retiring Richard Bryan and served with Reid until 2011.

General election results [4]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Democratic Harry Reid (incumbent) 208,621 47.86% −3.19%
Republican John Ensign 208,22047.77%+7.56%
Libertarian Michael Cloud8,1291.87%+0.41%
None of These Candidates 8,1131.86%-0.79%
Natural Law Michael E. Williams2,7810.64%−0.83%
Turnout 435,864100.00%
Democratic hold Swing

County breakdown

CountyReid %Ensign %Others %
Carson City 7,02942.2%8,69952.2%9305.6%
Churchill 1,59422.0%5,26072.5%4025.5%
Clark 134,16352.6%111,71843.8%8,9613.5%
Douglas 4,76633.3%8,81061.6%7155.0%
Elko 2,58925.7%7,05169.9%4534.5%
Esmeralda 15128.0%34363.5%468.5%
Eureka 16224.0%46168.2%537.8%
Humboldt 1,60137.7%2,42857.1%2205.2%
Lander 70434.0%1,20958.4%1567.5%
Lincoln 61631.4%1,23863.1%1095.6%
Lyon 3,24234.8%5,48658.9%5856.3%
Mineral 1,17654.3%82237.9%1697.8%
Nye 4,05242.7%4,91251.7%5335.6%
Pershing 57736.9%90257.7%855.4%
Storey 69141.3%83850.1%1448.6%
Washoe 44,11846.1%46,30048.4%5,1945.4%
White Pine 1,41942.7%1,74552.4%1635.9%

[5] [6]

See also

Notes

  1. Key:
    A – all adults
    RV – registered voters
    LV – likely voters
    V – unclear

References

  1. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on June 21, 2012. Retrieved January 14, 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. 1 2 Cannon, Lou (September 25, 1998). "Demographic Changes Leave Nevada Senator in Jeopardy". Washington Post.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "CNN AllPolitics Election '98 - Nevada 1998 Polls". CNN. Archived from the original on June 27, 2025. Retrieved June 27, 2025.
  4. "Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives".
  5. Leip, David. "1998 Senatorial General Election Data Graphs - Nevada". Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved April 11, 2019.
  6. "Results of the 1998 U.S. Senate Recount". Nevada Secretary of State. December 9, 1998. Retrieved April 11, 2019.