1998 United States Senate election in Kentucky

none March 2026 September 2023 1998 United States Senate election in Kentucky Kentucky presidential no 1992 United States Senate election in Kentucky 1992 2004 United States Senate election in Kentucky 2004 November 3, 1998 125x136px Jim-Bunning-108th.jpg Jim Bunning Republican Party (United States) 569,817 569,817 1,145,414 2 yes Baesler.jpg Scotty Baesler Democratic Party (United States) 563,051 563,051 1,145,414 2 yes 1998 United States Senate election in Kentucky results map by county.svg County results Bunning: #ffb2b2 40–50% #e27f7f 50–60% #d75d5d 60–70% #d72f30 70–80% Baesler: #a5b0ff 40–50% #7996e2 50–60% #6674de 60–70% #584cde 70–80% U.S. Senator Wendell Ford Democratic Party (United States) Jim Bunning Republican Party (United States) The 1998 United States Senate election in Kentucky was held November 3, 1998. Democratic incumbent Wendell Ford retired rather than seeking a fifth term in office. In the open race, Republican Jim Bunning narrowly defeated Scotty Baesler. This was the first open election for Senate in Kentucky since 1972 and the first open election for this seat since 1968. With a margin of 0.59 percentage points, this election was the second-closest race of the 1998 Senate elections, behind only the election in Nevada. Bunning's swearing-in marked the first time since 1973 that Republicans held both United States Senate seats from Kentucky. Democratic primary Candidates Scotty Baesler, U.S. representative from Lexington Jim Brown Steve Henry, lieutenant governor of Kentucky Charlie Owen, businessman Ken Buchanan Thompson David L. Williams Results Democratic Primary resultshttp://www.elect.ky.gov/NR/rdonlyres/8A101B6D-0DD6-4730-9524-10CDED792DCC/0/USSenate.pdf Archived copy 2011-04-17 https://web.archive.org/web/20101113222250/http://elect.ky.gov/NR/rdonlyres/8A101B6D-0DD6-4730-9524-10CDED792DCC/0/USSenate.pdf 2010-11-13 dead Scotty Baesler Democratic Party (United States) 194,125 34.16% Charlie Owen Democratic Party (United States) 166,472 29.29% Steve Henry Democratic Party (United States) 156,576 27.55% Jim Brown Democratic Party (United States) 19,975 3.51% David L. Williams Democratic Party (United States) 16,366 2.88% Ken Buchanan Thompson Democratic Party (United States) 14,778 2.60% 568,292 100.00% Republican primary Candidates Jim Bunning, U.S. representative from Southgate Barry Metcalf, state senator from Richmond Results Republican primary resultshttp://www.elect.ky.gov/NR/rdonlyres/8A101B6D-0DD6-4730-9524-10CDED792DCC/0/USSenate.pdf Archived copy 2011-04-17 https://web.archive.org/web/20101113222250/http://elect.ky.gov/NR/rdonlyres/8A101B6D-0DD6-4730-9524-10CDED792DCC/0/USSenate.pdf 2010-11-13 dead Jim Bunning Republican Party (United States) 152,493 74.28% Barry Metcalf Republican Party (United States) 52,798 25.72% 205,291 100.00% General election Candidates Charles R. Arbegust (Reform) Scotty Baesler, U.S. representative from Lexington (Democratic) Jim Bunning, U.S. representative from Southgate (Republican) Polling Poll source Date(s) SamplesizeKey:A – all adultsRV – registered votersLV – likely votersV – unclear Marginof error ScottyBaesler (D) JimBunning (R) Other / undecidedpolling Calculated by taking the difference of 100% and all other candidates combined. SurveyUSAFiveThirtyEight's Pollster Ratings Raw Polls File https://raw.githubusercontent.com/fivethirtyeight/data/refs/heads/master/pollster-ratings/2023/raw-polls.csv October 15, 2026 GitHub FiveThirtyEight November 1, 1998 700 — 44% 51% 5%Mason-Dixon Polling & StrategyCNN AllPolitics Election '98 - Kentucky 1998 Polls https://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/1998/states/KY/polls/KY98S.html CNN 26 June 2025 https://archive.today/20250626064250/https://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/1998/states/KY/polls/KY98S.html 26 June 2025 liveOctober 26–27, 1998823 (LV)± 3.5%46%45%9%The Courier-JournalOctober 20–25, 1998589 (LV)± 3.5%43%44%13%TMR ResearchPoll sponsored by the Kentucky Herald-Leader & WKYTOctober 15–21, 1998800 (RV)± 3.5%39%44%17%Mason-Dixon Polling & StrategySeptember 28–30, 1998818 (LV)± 3.5%42%44%14%The Courier-JournalSeptember 25–30, 1998575 (LV)± 4.0%37%41%22%Mason-Dixon Polling & StrategyAugust 31 – September 1, 1998833 (LV)± 3.5%42%41%17%Mason-Dixon Polling & StrategyJuly 9–11, 1998811 (LV)± 3.5%44%38%18% Results General election resultshttp://www.elect.ky.gov/NR/rdonlyres/F18F5DA0-5B11-42DA-8878-394A70CEF18F/5951/res_ussenate.txt Archived copy 2011-04-17 https://web.archive.org/web/20101113222402/http://elect.ky.gov/NR/rdonlyres/F18F5DA0-5B11-42DA-8878-394A70CEF18F/5951/res_ussenate.txt 2010-11-13 dead Jim Bunning Republican Party (United States) 569,817 49.75% +13.94% Scotty Baesler Democratic Party (United States) 563,051 49.16% -13.73% Charles R. Arbegust Reform Party (United States) 12,546 1.10% 6,766 0.59% -26.48% 1,145,414 100.00% Republican Party (United States) Democratic Party (United States) See also 1998 United States Senate elections Notes Partisan clients References United States Senate Kentucky 1998