1998 Iowa gubernatorial election

none January 2025 September 2023 1998 Iowa gubernatorial election Iowa Flag of Iowa (xrmap collection).svg presidential no 1994 Iowa gubernatorial election 1994 2002 Iowa gubernatorial election 2002 November 3, 1998 150x150px File:Tom Vilsack 2006.jpg Tom Vilsack Democratic Party (United States) 500,231 52.30% File:Lightfoot (cropped).jpg Jim Ross Lightfoot Republican Party (United States) 444,787 46.51% 1998 Iowa gubernatorial election results map by county.svg 240px County resultsVilsack: #a5b0ff 40–50% #7996e2 50–60% #6674de 60–70%Lightfoot: #ffb2b2 40–50% #e27f7f 50–60% #d75d5d 60–70% #d72f30 70–80% #c21b18 80–90% Governor Terry Branstad Republican Party (United States) Tom Vilsack Democratic Party (United States) Sally Pederson Enola "Almo" Hawkins The 1998 Iowa gubernatorial election took place on November 3, 1998. Incumbent Republican Governor Terry Branstad did not seek re-election to a fifth consecutive term; he later successfully ran again in 2010 and 2014. To replace him, State Senator Tom Vilsack narrowly won the nomination of the Democratic Party while former United States Congressman Jim Ross Lightfoot, who was previously the Republican nominee for the United States Senate in 1996, won his party's nomination. Lightfoot was the odds-on favorite to win and polling consistently showed him in the lead,http://www.news-releases.uiowa.edu/1998/november/1102heartland.html Despite tight race for Iowa governor, Lightfoot ahead among most likely voters 2014-10-20 https://web.archive.org/web/20060901153622/http://www.news-releases.uiowa.edu/1998/november/1102heartland.html 2006-09-01 dead but Vilsack won the general election in a stunning upset, becoming the first Democrat to serve as governor of Iowa since 1969 and the 5th Democrat to hold the office in the 20th century. Lightfoot never conceded defeat.O. Kay Henderson Henderson O. Kay Meet the Press, November 29, 2020 https://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/meet-press-november-29-2020-n1249279 NBC News 29 November 2020 Democratic primary Candidates Tom Vilsack, state senator from Mount Pleasant Mark McCormick, former justice of the Iowa Supreme Court (1972–86) Results thumb|240px|Primary results by county: Vilsack #000800 Vilsack—91-100% #001044 Vilsack—81-90% #011966 Vilsack—71-80% #0030c0 Vilsack—61-70% #154bef Vilsack—51-60% McCormick #011e01 McCormick—81-90% #002400 McCormick—71-80% #003900 McCormick—61-70% #006400 McCormick—51-60% #59d622 McCormick—41-50% Tie #cd42ca Tie between Vilsack and McCormick-49% Democratic primary resultsIowa Primary Election - June 2, 1998 http://publications.iowa.gov/135/1/elections/10-7.pdf Iowa Publications Tom Vilsack Democratic Party (United States) 59,130 51.20 Mark McCormick Democratic Party (United States) 55,950 48.45 Write-ins Democratic Party (United States) 410 0.36 115,490 100.00 Republican primary Candidates Jim Ross Lightfoot, former U.S. representative from Shenandoah and 1996 U.S. Senate nominee David A. Oman, telecommunications executive and chief of staff to Terry Branstad Paul Pate, secretary of state of Iowa Results Republican primary results Jim Ross Lightfoot Republican Party (United States) 113,499 69.89 David A. Oman Republican Party (United States) 35,402 21.80 Paul Pate Republican Party (United States) 13,299 8.19 Write-ins Republican Party (United States) 193 0.12 162,393 100.00 Reform Party primary Candidates Jim Hennager Edward Moses Jeffrey L. Hughes Sr. Results Reform Party primary results Jim Hennager Reform Party (United States) 131 35.60 Edward Moses Reform Party (United States) 99 26.90 Jeffrey L. Hughes, Sr. Reform Party (United States) 99 26.90 Write-ins Reform Party (United States) 39 10.60 368 100.00 General election Candidates Jim Hennager (Reform) Mark Kennis (Independent) Jim Ross Lightfoot, former U.S. representative from Shenandoah and 1996 U.S. Senate nominee (Republican) Jim Schaefer (Natural Law) Tom Vilsack, state senator from Mount Pleasant (Democratic) Polling Poll source Date(s) SamplesizeKey:A – all adultsRV – registered votersLV – likely votersV – unclear Marginof error JimmLightfoot (R) TomVilsack (D)Other / undecidedCalculated by taking the difference of 100% and all other candidates combined. pollingSelzer & Co.CNN AllPolitics Election '98 - Iowa 1998 Polls https://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/1998/states/IA/polls/IA98G.html CNN 25 June 2025 https://archive.today/20250625214135/https://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/1998/states/IA/polls/IA98G.html 25 June 2025 liveRegister Poll sponsored by The Des Moines RegisterOctober 28–30, 1998800 (LV)± 3.5%47%43%10%Mason-Dixon Polling & StrategyOctober 25–27, 1998803 (LV)± 3.5%47%42%11%Talmey-Drake Research & Strategy Inc. (D)Poll conducted for an unspecified Democratic sponsor. polling demsponsorFiveThirtyEight'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 FiveThirtyEightOctober 26, 1998408—44%44%12%Talmey-Drake Research & Strategy Inc. (D)polling demsponsorOctober 20, 1998408—46%44%10%Talmey-Drake Research & Strategy Inc. (D)polling demsponsorOctober 14, 1998408—48%40%12%Mason-Dixon Polling & StrategyOctober 11–13, 1998809 (LV)± 3.5%53%35%12%Mason-Dixon Polling & StrategySeptember 12–14, 1998804 (LV)± 3.5%54%32%14%Mason-Dixon Polling & StrategyJuly 18–21, 1998834 (LV)± 3.5%54%31%15%Selzer & Co.RegisterJune 20–24, 1998581 (LV)± 4.0%53%32%15%Mason-Dixon Polling & StrategyMay 25–27, 1998837 (LV)± 3.5%55%21%24% Results Iowa gubernatorial election, 1998Iowa General Election - November 3, 1998 https://sos.iowa.gov/elections/pdf/10-8.pdf Iowa Secretary of State Democratic Party (United States) Tom Vilsack 500,231 52.30% +10.74% Republican Party (United States) Jim Ross Lightfoot 444,787 46.51% -10.29% Reform Party (United States) Jim Hennager 5,606 0.59% Natural Law Party (United States) Jim Schaefer 3,144 0.33% -0.05% Independent politician Mark Kennis 2,006 0.21% 641 0.07% 55,444 5.80% -9.44% 956,415 Democratic Party (United States) Republican Party (United States) See also 1998 United States gubernatorial elections State of Iowa Governors of Iowa Notes Partisan clients References External links Official campaign websites (archived) Tom Vilsack (D) for Governor Jim Lightfoot (R) for Governor Gubernatorial 1998 Iowa