1998 California gubernatorial election


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.
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.

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. Former White House Chief of Staff Leon Panetta also decided not to run.
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. Harman spent $14.4 million in her race for Governor. Checchi spent just under $39 million on his campaign. 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. Checchi did not identify himself as a Democrat in most of his early campaign
ads.
Harman briefly overtook Checchi in state polls but declined after Checchi launched a series of negative campaign ads against her. 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 National Convention.
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. 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. Davis spent 9 million in total campaign funds in the primary and later criticized Checchi for giving money to Republicans Steve Forbes and Bob Dole in 1996.
Lungren spent $7.7 million in the primary. Davis finished first in the primary, followed by Lungren, Checchi, and Harman.

Primary results

General election

Gray Davis won the general election by almost 20% over Dan Lungren. Davis outspent Lungren 28.6 million to 23.8 million. 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-abortion in a staunchly pro-abortion state, and Lungren was anti-abortion. 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. 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. The race determined who would control reapportionment of congressional districts after the 2000 census.

Results

Final results from the Secretary of State.

Results breakdown

Davis is the last Democratic gubernatorial nominee to have won Amador, Kings, Riverside, and Trinity Counties. Davis was the last Democrat until Jerry Brown in 2010 to carry Alpine, Del Norte, Sacramento, San Joaquin, and Santa Barbara Counties, the last until Jerry Brown in 2014 to carry Merced, Mono, San Diego, San Luis Obispo, Stanislaus, and Ventura Counties, and the last until Gavin Newsom in 2018 to carry San Bernardino County.
CountyDavisVotesLungrenVotesOthersVotes
San Francisco80.03%192,49615.16%36,4644.82%11,567
Alameda73.47%282,29722.58%86,7453.95%15,195
Marin68.94%70,10826.94%27,3924.11%4,193
San Mateo68.43%142,14428.52%59,2493.05%6,320
Los Angeles65.69%1,297,89631.16%615,6423.14%62,134
Santa Cruz65.62%56,07827.73%23,6996.65%5,680
Sonoma64.29%103,23529.03%46,6166.68%10,724
Santa Clara64.28%270,10531.66%133,0154.05%17,056
Yolo63.06%31,93933.14%16,7833.80%1,926
Contra Costa62.82%190,20034.25%103,6862.93%8,867
Solano62.81%63,79133.76%34,2883.43%3,480
Napa59.86%25,80935.24%15,1934.90%2,112
Monterey59.76%54,46436.27%33,0533.97%3,619
Lake58.83%11,07435.77%6,7345.40%1,017
San Benito57.42%7,53137.87%4,9674.71%618
Sacramento57.37%206,87039.65%142,9702.98%10,721
Mendocino57.37%16,45030.20%8,65912.43%3,563
Imperial56.15%13,26236.38%8,5927.47%1,765
Merced53.39%21,20044.16%17,5352.45%973
Santa Barbara53.33%65,93742.76%52,8733.90%4,827
Ventura52.95%110,22643.76%91,0933.30%6,851
San Bernardino52.60%174,62943.39%144,0564.02%13,336
San Joaquin52.03%64,37745.62%56,4472.35%2,911
Del Norte51.34%3,82041.49%3,0877.16%533
Humboldt51.22%23,88037.88%17,65810.90%5,081
Riverside51.15%173,56745.73%155,1753.13%10,607
Stanislaus50.69%50,79347.00%47,0952.32%2,322
Alpine50.35%28543.64%2476.00%34
Kings49.98%11,37047.06%10,7042.95%673
San Diego49.45%364,16946.28%340,8344.27%31,423
Amador49.20%6,61448.19%6,4782.61%351
San Luis Obispo49.04%42,54346.53%40,3634.43%3,837
Trinity49.01%2,44743.42%2,1687.56%378
Tuolumne48.38%9,73148.58%9,7713.03%610
Fresno47.68%82,29349.46%85,3692.86%4,946
Mono47.35%1,64147.32%1,6405.34%185
Yuba46.54%6,30249.79%6,7433.67%497
Tehama46.02%8,56150.23%9,3433.75%698
Butte46.00%30,18449.86%32,7174.14%2,716
Lassen45.85%3,79249.15%4,0654.99%413
Siskiyou45.54%7,49349.23%8,1005.24%861
Calaveras45.46%7,35850.35%8,1504.18%678
Inyo45.36%3,08249.70%3,3774.95%336
Nevada44.98%17,52250.62%19,7204.40%1,717
Orange44.69%318,19852.07%370,7363.23%23,126
Tulare44.11%32,18653.54%39,0722.35%1,715
Plumas43.99%3,76452.26%4,4723.75%321
El Dorado43.84%25,42952.64%30,5343.51%2,037
Colusa43.60%2,13653.50%2,6212.89%142
Placer43.55%38,73453.68%47,7452.78%2,462
Shasta43.28%23,07652.76%28,1303.97%2,109
Sutter42.07%9,29655.73%12,3132.20%486
Mariposa41.86%3,00553.70%3,8554.45%319
Kern41.80%59,13255.29%78,2132.90%4,103
Glenn41.74%3,15054.86%4,1403.40%256
Sierra41.70%73452.50%9245.80%102
Madera41.10%10,86956.20%14,8642.70%714
Modoc40.74%1,42852.95%1,8566.30%221