1998 United States Senate election in North Carolina

none March 2026 September 2023 1998 United States Senate election in North Carolina North Carolina presidential no 1992 United States Senate election in North Carolina 1992 2004 United States Senate election in North Carolina 2004 November 3, 1998 x150px John Edwards 1996.jpg John Edwards Democratic Party (United States) 1,029,237 51.15% Lauch Faircloth (R-NC) (crop).jpg Lauch Faircloth Republican Party (United States) 945,943 47.01% 1998 United States Senate election in North Carolina results by county map.svg 325px County results Edwards: #a5b0ff 40–50% #7996e2 50–60% #6674de 60–70% #584cde 70–80%Faircloth: #ffb2b2 40–50% #e27f7f 50–60% #d75d5d 60–70% U.S. Senator Lauch Faircloth Republican Party (United States) John Edwards Democratic Party (United States) The 1998 United States Senate election in North Carolina was held on November 3, 1998. Republican incumbent Lauch Faircloth ran for re-election to a second term but was defeated by Democratic trial attorney John Edwards.Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives Clerk of the United States House of Representatives Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 3, 1998 https://clerk.house.gov/member_info/electionInfo/1998election.pdf U.S. Government Printing Office 33 At 45 years of age, Edwards became the youngest elected U.S. Senator from North Carolina. Edwards later declined to run for reelection in 2004, choosing instead to run for president of the United States. Eventually, he was chosen as the Democratic nominee for vice president by John Kerry. They lost to incumbents George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, and Edwards later ran again for president in 2008. As of 2026, this is the last time where a Democrat won North Carolina's Class 3 Senate seat, the last time a male Democrat won a Senate seat in North Carolina, and the last time a member of the incumbent president's party unseated an incumbent in a state the party had lost in the prior presidential election.Subsequently, the Republicans won the 2002 United States Senate election in Minnesota following then-president George W. Bush's loss in the state in 2000, but incumbent Democratic senator Paul Wellstone had died in a plane crash 11 days before the general election and was replaced on the ballot by Walter Mondale. Republican primary In the Republican primary, Faircloth easily defeated two minor candidates.State Board of Elections http://www.app.sboe.state.nc.us/NCSBE/Elec/Results/98primry/98p143.pdf dead https://web.archive.org/web/20081127044322/http://www.app.sboe.state.nc.us/NCSBE/Elec/Results/98primry/98p143.pdf 2008-11-27 2010-06-28 Democratic primary Candidates Bob Ayers Jr. James Carmack John Edwards, Raleigh attorney Gene Gay D. G. Martin, former vice chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Mike Robinson Ella Scarborough, former member of the Charlotte City Council Declined Mike Easley, North Carolina attorney general since 1993 Harvey Gantt, former mayor of Charlotte and 1990 and 1996 nominee for Senate Mike Robinson, Davidson County businessman Charlie Sanders, former CEO of Glaxo and candidate for Senate in 1996 Going into the 1998 campaign, several prominent Democrats declined to run for Senate, including Mike Easley, Harvey Gantt, and Charlie Sanders.EDWARDS SHOULD LEAD THE DEMOCRATIC TICKET\ https://greensboro.com/edwards-should-lead-the-democratic-ticket/article_a3684e65-a17c-5dfb-a2d4-d30a8b317bbc.html 2022-02-13 Greensboro News and Record May 1998 en Results In the Democratic primary, Edwards defeated his closest rival D.G. Martin, former vice chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The race also featured former Charlotte city councilwoman Ella Scarborough and several minor candidates.Stuart Rothenberg: Money Makes A Difference -- Again - May 7, 1998 https://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/1998/05/07/rothenberg/ 2022-02-13 www.cnn.com 1998 Democratic U.S. Senate primary John Edwards Democratic Party (US) 277,468 51.38% D. G. Martin Democratic Party (US) 149,049 27.60% Ella Scarborough Democratic Party (US) 55,486 10.28% Bob Ayers Jr. Democratic Party (US) 22,477 4.16% Mike Robinson Democratic Party (US) 20,178 3.74% James Carmack Democratic Party (US) 8,200 1.52% Gene Gay Democratic Party (US) 7,173 1.33% 540,031 100.00% General election Candidates John Edwards, Raleigh attorney (Democratic) Barbara Howe (Libertarian) Lauch Faircloth, incumbent U.S. senator since 1993 (Republican) Campaign During the campaign, Edwards fashioned himself as a "people's advocate", while Faircloth accused Edwards of being too friendly towards labor unions.Dewar Helen July 11, 1998 North Carolina's Stark Clash https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/campaigns/keyraces98/stories/nc071198.htm 2022-02-13 The Washington Post Referring to Edwards as a "tobacco-taxing liberal", Faircloth's campaign ran ads alleging that Edwards' position on tobacco regulation would lead to job losses in the state.Andron Scott ATTACK ADS SIGNIFY CLOSE SENATE RACE\ SENATE CANDIDATES JOHN EDWARDS AND LAUCH FAIRCLOTH ACCUSE EACH OTHER OF LYING ABOUT EDWARDS' STANDS ON TOBACCO. https://greensboro.com/attack-ads-signify-close-senate-race-senate-candidates-john-edwards-and-lauch-faircloth-accuse-each/article_435ac810-49be-5d25-8671-8c1965099a0f.html 2022-02-13 Greensboro News and Record 26 October 1998 en Edwards' campaign refused financial support from political action committees and ran ads criticizing Faircloth's record on Medicare and Social Security.North Carolina Senate - November 3, 1998 https://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/stories/1998/11/03/election/senate/north.carolina/ 2022-02-13 CNN Edwards' victory was partially attributed by some observers to blowback against the Faircloth campaign's use of negative advertising.Bragg Rick 1998-11-06 THE 1998 ELECTION: THE DISCONTENTED; Rejecting Negative Advertising, and the Candidate en-US The New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/1998/11/06/us/1998-election-discontented-rejecting-negative-advertising-candidate.html 2022-02-13 0362-4331 Polling Poll source Date(s) SamplesizeKey:A – all adultsRV – registered votersLV – likely votersV – unclear Marginof error LauchFaircloth (R) JohnEdwards (D)Other / undecidedCalculated by taking the difference of 100% and all other candidates combined. pollingSurveyUSAFiveThirtyEight'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 FiveThirtyEightNovember 1, 1998700—47%49%4% Harris Insights & Analytics October 30, 1998 1,418 — 39% 54% 7%Mason-Dixon Polling & StrategyCNN AllPolitics Election '98 - North Carolina 1998 Polls https://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/1998/states/NC/polls/NC98S.html CNN 28 June 2025 https://archive.today/20250628050150/https://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/1998/states/NC/polls/NC98S.html 28 June 2025 liveOctober 26–28, 1998827 (LV)± 3.5%44%43%13%Harris Insights & AnalyticsOctober 20, 19981,163—38%47%15%Mason-Dixon Polling & StrategyOctober 11–13, 1998836 (LV)± 3.5%45%43%12%Survey USAOctober 9–11, 1998500 (LV)± 4.5%43%46%11%Mason-Dixon Polling & StrategySeptember 20–22, 1998807 (LV)± 3.5%50%40%10%Mason-Dixon Polling & StrategyJuly 25–27, 1998829 (LV)± 3.5%47%38%15% Results 1998 United States Senate election in North Carolina Democratic Party (United States) John Edwards 1,029,237 51.15% Republican Party (United States) Lauch Faircloth (incumbent) 945,943 47.01% Libertarian Party (United States) Barbara Howe 36,963 1.84% 2,012,143 100.00% Democratic Party (United States) Republican Party (United States) See also 1998 United States Senate elections Notes References External links Official campaign websites (archived) John Edwards (D) for Senate Lauch Faircloth (R) for Senate North Carolina Politics 1998 North Carolina United States Senate Category:John Edwards