Kansas gubernatorial election, 1998

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Kansas gubernatorial election, 1998
Flag of Kansas.svg
  1994 November 3, 1998 2002  

  Bill Graves.jpg No image.svg
Nominee Bill Graves Tom Sawyer
Party Republican Democratic
Running mate Gary Sherrer Elizabeth Baker
Popular vote544,882 168,243
Percentage73.37% 22.65%

Kansas Gubernatorial Election Results by County, 1998.svg

County Results
Graves:     50–60%     60–70%     70–80%     80–90%

Governor before election

Bill Graves
Republican

Elected Governor

Bill Graves
Republican

The Kansas gubernatorial election of 1998 took place on November 3, 1998. Incumbent Republican Governor Bill Graves won re-election in a landslide over his opponent, State Representative Tom Sawyer.

Bill Graves 43rd Governor of Kansas

William Preston Graves is a former American politician who was the 43rd Governor of Kansas from 1995 until 2003.

Kansas House of Representatives lower house of the legislature of the U.S. state of Kansas

The Kansas House of Representatives is the lower house of the legislature of the U.S. state of Kansas. Composed of 125 state representatives from districts with roughly equal populations of at least 19,000, its members are responsible for crafting and voting on legislation, helping to create a state budget, and legislative oversight over state agencies.

Tom Sawyer is an American politician currently serving as the Minority Leader of the Kansas House of Representatives. A Democrat, Sawyer has represented the 95th district, covering southwest Wichita, since 2013. Sawyer previously represented the same district from 1987 to 1999 and from 2003 to 2009, serving as both Majority Leader and Minority Leader during his first stint in the legislature.

Contents

Democratic primary

Candidates

Fred Phelps American pastor and activist

Fred Waldron Phelps Sr. was the American minister of the Westboro Baptist Church and a civil rights attorney who became known for his extreme views on homosexuality and protests near the funerals of gay people, military veterans, and disaster victims, whose deaths, he believed, were the result of God punishing the U.S. for having "bankrupt values" and tolerating gay people.

Westboro Baptist Church American church

Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) is an American church known for its use of inflammatory hate speech, especially against LGBT+ people, Catholics (anti-Catholicism), Orthodox Christians (anti-Orthodoxy), atheists (anti-atheism), Muslims (Islamophobia), Jews (antisemitism), Romani people (antiziganism), and U.S. soldiers and politicians (anti-Americanism). Multiple sources describe it as a hate group and the WBC is monitored as such by the Anti-Defamation League and the Southern Poverty Law Center. The church has been involved in actions against gay people since at least 1991, when it sought a crackdown on homosexual activity at Gage Park six blocks northwest of the church. In addition to conducting anti-gay protests at military funerals, the organization pickets celebrity funerals and public events. Protests have also been held against Jews and Catholics, and some protests have included WBC members stomping on the American flag or flying the flag upside down on a flagpole. The church also has made statements such as "thank God for dead soldiers," "God blew up the troops," "thank God for 9/11," and "God hates America." The church has faced several accusations of brainwashing and has been criticised for resembling a cult.

Results

Democratic primary results [1]
PartyCandidateVotes%
Democratic Tom Sawyer88,24885.28
Democratic Fred Phelps 15,233 14.72
Total votes103,481100.00

Republican primary

Candidates

Kansas Republican Party

The Kansas Republican Party is the state affiliate political party in Kansas of the United States Republican Party. The Kansas Republican Party was organized in May 1859 and has been the dominant political party of Kansas ever since.

Results

Republican primary results [1]
PartyCandidateVotes%
Republican Bill Graves (inc.)225,78272.80
Republican David Miller 84,368 27.20
Total votes310,150100.00

General election

Results

Kansas gubernatorial election, 1998 [2]
PartyCandidateVotes%±
Republican Bill Graves (inc.) 544,882 73.37% +9.27%
Democratic Tom Sawyer 168,243 22.65% -13.25%
Constitution Kirt Poovey 21,710 2.92%
Reform Darrel King 7,830 1.05%
Majority 376,639 50.71% +22.53%
Turnout 742,665
Republican hold Swing

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