California gubernatorial election, 1998

Last updated
California gubernatorial election, 1998
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←  1994 November 3, 1998 2002  →

  Lt. Gray Davis.jpg Dan Lungren (cropped).jpg
Nominee Gray Davis Dan Lungren
Party Democratic Republican
Popular vote4,860,7023,218,030
Percentage58.0%38.4%
California Gubernatorial Election Results by County, 1998.svg
Election results by county
Davis:      40-50%     50–60%     60–70%     70–80%     80–90%
Lungren:
     40–50%     50–60%
Governor before election

Pete Wilson
Republican

Elected Governor

Gray Davis
Democratic

The 1998 California gubernatorial election was an election that occurred on November 3, 1998, resulting in the election of Gray Davis, the state's first Democratic governor in 16 years. Davis won the general election by an almost 20% margin over his closest opponent, Republican Dan Lungren. Davis succeeded Pete Wilson who was term limited.

California State of the United States of America

California is a state in the Pacific Region of the United States. With 39.6 million residents, California is the most populous U.S. state and the third-largest by area. The state capital is Sacramento. The Greater Los Angeles Area and the San Francisco Bay Area are the nation's second and fifth most populous urban regions, with 18.7 million and 8.8 million residents respectively. Los Angeles is California's most populous city, and the country's second most populous, after New York City. California also has the nation's most populous county, Los Angeles County, and its largest county by area, San Bernardino County. The City and County of San Francisco is both the country's second-most densely populated major city after New York City and the fifth-most densely populated county, behind only four of the five New York City boroughs.

Governor of California head of state and of government of the U.S. state of California

The Governor of California is the head of government of the U.S. state of California. The California Governor is the chief executive of the state government and the commander-in-chief of the California National Guard and the California State Military Reserve.

Gray Davis former governor of California

Joseph Graham "Gray" Davis Jr. is a retired American politician and attorney who served as the 37th Governor of California from 1999 to 2003. A member of the Democratic Party, only a few months into his second term, in 2003 Davis was recalled and removed from office, the second state governor successfully recalled in U.S. history. Prior to serving as governor, Davis was chief of staff to Governor Jerry Brown (1975–81), a California State Assemblyman (1983–87), California State Controller (1987–95) and the 44th Lieutenant Governor of California (1995–99). Davis holds a B.A. in history from Stanford University and a J.D. from Columbia Law School. He was awarded a Bronze Star for his service as a Captain in the Vietnam War.

Contents

The 1998 California gubernatorial election featured the state's only gubernatorial blanket primary, a practice which was later struck down in United States Supreme Court in California Democratic Party v. Jones in 2000. The primary occurred on June 2, 1998. Davis defeated fellow Democrats Jane Harman and Al Checchi for the Democratic nomination. Davis received more votes than Dan Lungren who ran against less well-known opponents in the Republican primary. The primary set a record for spending in a California gubernatorial primary.

The blanket primary is a system used for selecting political party candidates in a primary election in the United States. In a blanket primary, voters may pick one candidate for each office without regard to party lines; for instance, a voter might select a Democratic candidate for governor and a Republican candidate for senator. In a traditional blanket primary the candidates with the highest number of votes for each office in each party advance to the general election, as the respective party's nominee. Blanket primaries differ from open primaries – in open primaries voters may pick candidates regardless of their own party registration, but may only choose among candidates from a single party of the voter's choice. A blanket primary gives registered voters maximum choice in selecting candidates among those systems that separate primary from general elections.

California Democratic Party v. Jones, 530 U.S. 567 (2000), was a case in which the United States Supreme Court held that California's blanket primary violates a political party's First Amendment freedom of association.

Jane Harman American politician

Jane Margaret Lakes Harman is the former U.S. Representative for California's 36th congressional district, serving from 1993 to 1999, and from 2001 to 2011; she is a member of the Democratic Party. Harman was the ranking Democrat on the Homeland Security's intelligence subcommittee. When Democrats held the House majority, she was in line to chair the House intelligence committee but was denied the post by then-Speaker Pelosi. Resigning from Congress in February 2011, Harman became President and CEO of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. She succeeded former Congressman Lee H. Hamilton and is the first woman to lead the organization.

Open primary

The Democratic field for the race became open when the state's most well-known and popular politician Dianne Feinstein decided in January 1998 not to run for Governor despite a request from President Bill Clinton. She decided not to run in the race because of the difficulty of campaigning, the "deteriorated" nature of California statewide campaigns, and her desire to continue her work in the Senate. [1] Former White House Chief of Staff Leon Panetta also decided not to run. [2]

Dianne Feinstein American politician

Dianne Goldman Berman Feinstein is an American politician serving as the senior United States Senator from California. She took office on November 4, 1992. A member of the Democratic Party, Feinstein was Mayor of San Francisco from 1978 to 1988.

Bill Clinton 42nd president of the United States

William Jefferson Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Prior to the presidency, he was the governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981, and again from 1983 to 1992, and the attorney general of Arkansas from 1977 to 1979. A member of the Democratic Party, Clinton was ideologically a New Democrat and many of his policies reflected a centrist "Third Way" political philosophy.

Al Checchi, a Democratic airline executive and political newcomer, was among the first to declare for the race. Gray Davis also declared around the same time. Congresswoman Jane Harman joined the contest in early April 1998. In early polling the three candidates were within 12 points of each other, with Davis in last. [3] Harman spent $14.4 million in her race for Governor. [4] Checchi spent just under $39 million on his campaign. [4] The airline executive's campaign included numerous ads, one of which included school children trying to pronounce his name and another with his wife speaking Spanish. [2] Checchi did not identify himself as a Democrat in most of his early campaign ads. [5] Harman briefly overtook Checchi in state polls but declined after Checchi launched a series of negative campaign ads against her. [6] Many of Feinstein's top campaign advisers worked for Harman during the Gubernatorial primary. Harman's campaign ran a biographical ad of her at the 1960 Democratic convention. [2]

Davis ran on the campaign slogan "experience money can't buy", and he promised to make education his top priority, which matched voters' concerns in exit polls. All three major Democratic candidates made education one of their top priorities in the campaign. [6] Davis was third in polling until the final week of the campaign, and because he had trouble raising money during the early months of the campaign, he did not run campaign ads early in the race as did Harman and Checchi. [2] Davis spent 9 million in total campaign funds in the primary [4] and later criticized Checchi for giving money to Republicans Steve Forbes and Bob Dole in 1996. [2]

Steve Forbes American businessman and publisher

Malcolm Stevenson "Steve" Forbes Jr. is an American publishing executive, who was twice a candidate for the nomination of the Republican Party for President of the United States. Forbes is the Editor-in-Chief of Forbes, a business magazine. Forbes was a Republican candidate in the 1996 and 2000 Presidential primaries. Forbes is the son of longtime Forbes publisher Malcolm Forbes, and the grandson of that publication's founder, B.C. Forbes.

Bob Dole American politician

Robert Joseph Dole is a retired American politician, statesman and attorney who represented Kansas in the U.S House of Representatives from 1961 to 1969 and in the U.S. Senate from 1969 to 1996, serving as the Republican Leader of the United States Senate from 1985 until 1996. He was the Republican presidential nominee in the 1996 presidential election and the party's vice presidential nominee in the 1976 presidential election.

Lungren spent $7.7 million in the primary. [4] Davis finished first in the primary, followed by Lungren, Checchi, and Harman.

Primary results

California gubernatorial open primary, 1998
PartyCandidateVotes%
Democratic Gray Davis 2,083,39634.74
Democratic Al Checchi 748,82812.49
Democratic Jane Harman 741,25112.36
Democratic Charles "Chuck" Pineda Jr.23,3670.39
Democratic Pia Jensen12,4030.21
Democratic Michael Palitz12,0500.20
Republican Dan Lungren 2,023,61833.75
Republican Dennis Peron 72,6131.21
Republican James D. Crawford28,8810.48
Republican Eduardo M. Rivera22,2220.37
Republican Jeff Williams [7] 19,7990.33
Green Dan Hamburg 92,2981.54
Libertarian Steve W. Kubby 47,0250.78
Peace and Freedom Gloria Estela LaRiva 21,5050.36
Peace and Freedom Marsha Feinland 15,5720.26
American Independent Nathan E. Johnson19,5400.33
Natural Law Harold H. Bloomfield 12,4220.21
Invalid or blank votes209,8283.38
Total votes6,206,618100.00
Turnout {{{votes}}}

General election

Gray Davis won the general election by almost 20% over Dan Lungren. Davis outspent Lungren 28.6 million to 23.8 million. [4] Davis tried to portray Lungren as too conservative. In one debate, Davis attacked Lungren for voting no on a Safe Drinking Water Bill in the 1980s while Lungren tried to cast himself as the political heir of former California Governor Ronald Reagan. The policy differences between Davis and Lungren were substantial. Davis was pro-choice in a staunchly pro-choice state, and Lungren was pro-life. Lungren favored giving children abstinence only education. Both candidates were Roman Catholic. Al Gore, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, and Bob Kerrey made campaign stops in California on Davis's behalf. [8] [9] Davis succeeded in casting Lungren as too far right for California. Even normally conservative San Diego County went for Davis, and – foreshadowing their Democratic trends in the 21st century – the remote high mountain counties of Alpine and Mono backed a Democratic Governor for the first time since before 1950. Upon his victory, Davis promised he would focus his attention on education and would convene a special session of the legislature. [10] The race determined who would control reapportionment of congressional districts after the 2000 census. [6]

Results

Final results from the Secretary of State. [11]

1998 gubernatorial election, California
PartyCandidateVotes%
Democratic Gray Davis 4,860,70257.97
Republican Dan Lungren 3,218,03038.38
Green Dan Hamburg 104,1791.24
Libertarian Steve Kubby 73,8450.88
Peace and Freedom Gloria Estela LaRiva 59,2180.71
American Independent Nathan E. Johnson37,9640.45
Natural Law Harold H. Bloomfield31,2370.37
No party Write-ins 210.00%
Invalid or blank votes235,9257.24
Total votes8,621,142100.00
Turnout {{{votes}}}41.43
Democratic gain from Republican

Results breakdown

County Davis Votes Lungren VotesOthersVotes
San Francisco 80.03%192,49615.16%36,4644.82%11,567
Alameda 73.47%282,29722.58%86,7453.95%15,195
Marin 68.94%70,10826.94%27,3924.11%4,193
San Mateo 68.43%142,14428.52%59,2493.05%6,320
Los Angeles 65.69%1,297,89631.16%615,6423.14%62,134
Santa Cruz 65.62%56,07827.73%23,6996.65%5,680
Sonoma 64.29%103,23529.03%46,6166.68%10,724
Santa Clara 64.28%270,10531.66%133,0154.05%17,056
Yolo 63.06%31,93933.14%16,7833.80%1,926
Contra Costa 62.82%190,20034.25%103,6862.93%8,867
Solano 62.81%63,79133.76%34,2883.43%3,480
Napa 59.86%25,80935.24%15,1934.90%2,112
Monterey 59.76%54,46436.27%33,0533.97%3,619
Lake 58.83%11,07435.77%6,7345.40%1,017
San Benito 57.42%7,53137.87%4,9674.71%618
Sacramento 57.37%206,87039.65%142,9702.98%10,721
Mendocino 57.37%16,45030.20%8,65912.43%3,563
Imperial 56.15%13,26236.38%8,5927.47%1,765
Merced 53.39%21,20044.16%17,5352.45%973
Santa Barbara 53.33%65,93742.76%52,8733.90%4,827
Ventura 52.95%110,22643.76%91,0933.30%6,851
San Bernardino 52.60%174,62943.39%144,0564.02%13,336
San Joaquin 52.03%64,37745.62%56,4472.35%2,911
Del Norte 51.34%3,82041.49%3,0877.16%533
Humboldt 51.22%23,88037.88%17,65810.90%5,081
Riverside 51.15%173,56745.73%155,1753.13%10,607
Stanislaus 50.69%50,79347.00%47,0952.32%2,322
Alpine 50.35%28543.64%2476.00%34
Kings 49.98%11,37047.06%10,7042.95%673
San Diego 49.45%364,16946.28%340,8344.27%31,423
Amador 49.20%6,61448.19%6,4782.61%351
San Luis Obispo 49.04%42,54346.53%40,3634.43%3,837
Trinity 49.01%2,44743.42%2,1687.56%378
Tuolumne 48.38%9,73148.58%9,7713.03%610
Fresno 47.68%82,29349.46%85,3692.86%4,946
Mono 47.35%1,64147.32%1,6405.34%185
Yuba 46.54%6,30249.79%6,7433.67%497
Tehama 46.02%8,56150.23%9,3433.75%698
Butte 46.00%30,18449.86%32,7174.14%2,716
Lassen 45.85%3,79249.15%4,0654.99%413
Siskiyou 45.54%7,49349.23%8,1005.24%861
Calaveras 45.46%7,35850.35%8,1504.18%678
Inyo 45.36%3,08249.70%3,3774.95%336
Nevada 44.98%17,52250.62%19,7204.40%1,717
Orange 44.69%318,19852.07%370,7363.23%23,126
Tulare 44.11%32,18653.54%39,0722.35%1,715
Plumas 43.99%3,76452.26%4,4723.75%321
El Dorado 43.84%25,42952.64%30,5343.51%2,037
Colusa 43.60%2,13653.50%2,6212.89%142
Placer 43.55%38,73453.68%47,7452.78%2,462
Shasta 43.28%23,07652.76%28,1303.97%2,109
Sutter 42.07%9,29655.73%12,3132.20%486
Mariposa 41.86%3,00553.70%3,8554.45%319
Kern 41.80%59,13255.29%78,2132.90%4,103
Glenn 41.74%3,15054.86%4,1403.40%256
Sierra 41.70%73452.50%9245.80%102
Madera 41.10%10,86956.20%14,8642.70%714
Modoc 40.74%1,42852.95%1,8566.30%221

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References

  1. ↑ "No California Gubernatorial Bid For Sen. Feinstein". Archived from the original on 2007-02-19. Retrieved 2007-09-21.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "California Governor's Race Gets Tougher". Cnn.com. 1998-03-26. Retrieved 2018-03-19.
  3. ↑ "Millionaires Battle In California Governor's Primary". Cnn.com. 1998-04-06. Retrieved 2018-03-19.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 "Spending in the 1998 Governor's race". Sos.ca.gov. 2017-12-13. Retrieved 2018-03-19.
  5. ↑ "The "Inside Politics" Interview: The California Governor's Race". Cnn.com. Retrieved 2018-03-19.
  6. 1 2 3 "Lt. Governor Wins Primary in California". Washingtonpost.com. 1998-06-03. Retrieved 2018-03-19.
  7. ↑ "Engineered Finishing Systems | Robotics & Automation". CCIS. Retrieved 2018-03-19.
  8. ↑ "Lungren, Davis Feisty In Debate Democrat scoffs as GOP hopeful invokes Reagan". Sfgate.com. 1998-10-16. Retrieved 2018-03-19.
  9. ↑ Carla Marinucci (1998-07-28). "Lungren, Davis – Deep Divide Over Abortion: Candidates' religion is not common ground". Sfgate.com. Retrieved 2018-03-19.
  10. ↑ "Democrats' Sweep in California Could Have Lasting Impact". Washingtonpost.com. 1998-11-05. Retrieved 2018-03-19.
  11. ↑ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-09-10. Retrieved 2008-05-30.
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