1998 United States Senate election in Illinois

none March 2026 September 2023 1998 United States Senate election in Illinois Illinois presidential no 1992 United States Senate election in Illinois 1992 2004 United States Senate election in Illinois 2004 November 3, 1998 Peter Fitzgerald cropped.jpg 150x150px Peter Fitzgerald Republican Party (United States) 1,709,042 50.35% Sen. Carol Moseley Braun (1).jpg Carol Moseley Braun Democratic Party (United States) 1,610,496 47.44% 1998 United States Senate election in Illinois results map by county.svg 160px County resultsFitzgerald: #ffb2b2 40–50% #e27f7f 50–60% #d75d5d 60–70% #d72f30 70–80%Braun: #a5b0ff 40–50% #7996e2 50–60% #6674de 60–70% U.S. Senator Carol Moseley Braun Democratic Party (United States) Peter Fitzgerald Republican Party (United States) 50.25% The 1998 United States Senate election in Illinois was held November 3, 1998. Democratic incumbent Carol Moseley Braun ran for re-election to a second term in office but was defeated by Republican state senator Peter Fitzgerald. In the Republican primary election, Fitzgerald narrowly defeated state comptroller Loleta Didrickson. Braun was unopposed. In the primary elections, turnout was 20.55% with 1,386,694 total votes cast.Voter Turnout https://www.elections.il.gov/ElectionOperations/VoterTurnout.aspx?MID=fVf30XCcBCY%3d&T=637204877664537563 www.elections.il.gov Illinois State Board of Elections 22 March 2020 August 26, 2025 https://web.archive.org/web/20250826050848/https://www.elections.il.gov/ElectionOperations/VoterTurnout.aspx?MID=fVf30XCcBCY%3D&T=637204877664537563 dead Election Results https://www.elections.il.gov/ElectionOperations/ElectionVoteTotals.aspx www.elections.il.gov Illinois State Board of Elections 23 March 2020 22 February 2020 https://web.archive.org/web/20200222093629/https://www.elections.il.gov/ElectionOperations/ElectionVoteTotals.aspx dead In the general election, Braun was dogged by a series of controversies which had marred her first term in office, and Fitzgerald led in most public opinion polling, often by a large margin. However, Braun closed the gap late in the campaign by appealing to African American voters. On Election Day, Braun won a large majority of the vote in Cook County, beating polling by several points, but Fitzgerald won the race by a surprisingly close margin. Fitzgerald was the only Republican candidate to defeat an incumbent Democratic senator in 1998. Background During Moseley Braun's first term as U.S. senator, she was plagued by several major controversies. In 1993, she was the subject of a Federal Election Commission investigation over $249,000 in unaccounted campaign funds. The commission found that Braun had violated campaign finance law but took no action, citing a lack of resources. Moseley Braun admitted only to bookkeeping errors. The Justice Department turned down two requests by the Internal Revenue Service to investigate.Slate, Is Carol Moseley-Braun a Crook?", February 19, 2003 In 1996, Moseley Braun made a private trip to Nigeria, where she met with military dictator Sani Abacha. Despite U.S. sanctions against the country and Abacha, the senator did not notify nor register her trip with the United States Department of State. She subsequently defended Abacha's human rights record in Congress.NPR, "2004 Democratic Presidential Candidates: Carol Moseley Braun", Npr.org, May 6, 2003 Democratic primary Candidates Carol Moseley Braun, incumbent U.S. senator since 1993 Results Democratic primary results Carol Moseley Braun (incumbent) Democratic Party (United States) 666,419 100.00% 666,419 100.00% Republican primary Candidates Loleta Didrickson, Illinois comptroller Peter Fitzgerald, state senator from Inverness Campaign Fitzgerald, a multimillionaire, spent nearly $7 million in the Republican primary.https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost/access/27530977.html?dids=27530977:27530977&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Mar+19%2C+1998&author=Jon+Jeter&pub=The+Washington+Post&desc=Moseley-Braun%27s+Rich+Foe+May+Be+Surprisingly+Strong&pqatl=google https://archive.today/20120714231350/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost/access/27530977.html?dids=27530977:27530977&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Mar+19,+1998&author=Jon+Jeter&pub=The+Washington+Post&desc=Moseley-Braun's+Rich+Foe+May+Be+Surprisingly+Strong&pqatl=google dead July 14, 2012 Moseley-Braun's Rich Foe May Be Surprisingly Strong Pqasb.pqarchiver.com March 19, 1998 April 4, 2015 Results Fitzgerald won the Republican primary with 51.8% of the vote to Didrickson's 48.2%.Election Results: General Primary - 3/17/1998 https://web.archive.org/web/20161130153048/http://www.elections.il.gov/ElectionResults.aspx?ID=ja0yDQ6QgdA%3d November 30, 2016 , Illinois State Board of Elections. Retrieved October 30, 2016. Republican primary results Peter Fitzgerald Republican Party (United States) 372,916 51.83% Loleta Didrickson Republican Party (United States) 346,606 48.17% 719,522 100.00% thumb|248x248px| Results by county Map legend #C21B18 Fitzgerald—80–90% #D72F30 Fitzgerald—70–80% #D75D5D Fitzgerald—60–70% #E27F7F Fitzgerald—50–60% #FF9A50 Didrickson—50–60% Reform primary Candidates Steve Denarie Don A. Torgersen Results Reform primary results Don A. Torgersen Reform Party (United States) 403 53.52% Steve Denari Reform Party (United States) 350 46.48% 753 100.00% General election Candidates Carol Moseley Braun, incumbent U.S. senator since 1993 (Democratic) Peter Fitzgerald, state senator from Inverness (Republican) Raymond Stalker (U.S. Taxpayers) Don A. Torgersen (Reform) Campaign In September, Moseley Braun created controversy again by using the racial slur "nigger" in describing her own experiences with racism.https://www.newspapers.com/article/chicago-tribune-senator-apologizes-for-e/158021325/ Senator Apologizes For Epithet Moseley-Braun Uses Slur In Calling Columnist Racist Rick Pearson Graeme Zielinski Chicago Tribune 1, 7 September 8, 1998 April 4, 2015 Most polls over the first few months showed Moseley-Braun trailing badly. However, after she was helped in the final month by notable Democrats such as first lady Hillary Clinton and U.S. Representative Luis Gutiérrez, three polls published in the last week showed her within the margin of error, and, in one poll, running even with Fitzgerald.Belluck Pam https://www.nytimes.com/1998/11/03/us/the-1998-campaign-illinois-moseley-braun-trailing-pushes-hard.html?pagewanted=1 The 1998 Campaign – Illinois – Moseley-Braun, Trailing, Pushes Hard Illinois The New York Times A23 November 3, 1998 April 4, 2015 subscription https://archive.today/20250622040753/https://www.nytimes.com/1998/11/03/us/the-1998-campaign-illinois-moseley-braun-trailing-pushes-hard.html 22 June 2025 live Between the primary and general election, Fitzgerald spent over $12 million in total on the two races. Polling Poll source Date(s) SamplesizeKey:A – all adultsRV – registered votersLV – likely votersV – unclear Marginof error CarolMoseley Braun (D) PeterFitzgerald (R) Undecided Harris Insights & AnalyticsFiveThirtyEight'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 October 30, 1998 847 — 39% 58% 3%Zogby InternationalCNN AllPolitics Election '98 - Illinois 1998 Polls https://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/1998/states/IL/polls/IL98S.html CNN 22 June 2025 https://archive.today/20250622052250/https://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/1998/states/IL/polls/IL98S.html 22 June 2025 liveZogbyOctober 28–29, 1998703 (LV)± 4.0%45%42%13% Richard Day Research Inc. October 27, 1998 712 — 40% 50% 10%Mason-DixonOctober 24–26, 1998813 (LV)± 3.5%41%49%10% Harris Insights & Analytics October 20, 1998 1,209 — 38% 52% 10% Illinois Wesleyan University October 20, 1998 423 — 31% 53% 16% KRC/Communications Research October 20, 1998 400 — 40% 50% 10%Market Shares Corp.TribuneOctober 17–20, 19981,009 (LV)± 3.0%38%48%14% University of Illinois at Chicago October 16, 1998 597 — 31% 48% 21% WCIA-TV October 14, 1998 401 — 37% 54% 9%Mason-DixonOctober 10–12, 1998830 (LV)± 3.5%37%49%14%Market Shares Corp.TribuneOctober 3–6, 19981,009 (LV)± 3.0%36%49%15%Market Shares Corp.TribuneSeptember 19–22, 19981,102 (LV)± 3.0%38%48%14%Mason-DixonSeptember 11–14, 1998811 (LV)± 3.5%37%46%17%KRC Communications ResearchPoll sponsored by the Chicago Sun-Times & WBBM-TVSeptember 8–10, 1998400 (LV)± 4.8%35%50%15%Zogby InternationalZogby Poll sponsored by the St. Louis Dispatch and KMOV TVAugust 31 – September 1, 1998726 (LV)± 4.0%35%46%19%Market Shares Corp.TribuneAugust 11–17, 19981,109 (RV)± 4.0%39%46%15%Mason-DixonJuly 10–13, 1998807 (LV)± 3.5%46%42%12%University of IllinoisPoll sponsored by the University of Illinois at ChicagoJune 9 – July 3, 1998465 (LV)± 5.0%49%31%20%Mason-DixonMarch 8–10, 1998831 (LV)± 3.0%42%41%17%WCIA-TVMarch 5–10, 1998952 (RV)± 3.0%41%41%18%Mason-DixonFebruary 6–8, 1998804 (RV)± 3.5%43%38%19%Market Shares Corp.Tribune Poll sponsored by the Chicago TribuneJanuary 28–29, 1998700 (RV)± 3.7%41%35%24% Results Moseley Braun was narrowly defeated, winning only five of Illinois's 102 counties. However, the race must closer than expected, thanks to Moseley Braun's massive margin in Cook County and the city of Chicago. For the general election, turnout was 50.25%, with 3,394,521 votes cast.Voter Turnout https://www.elections.il.gov/ElectionOperations/VoterTurnout.aspx?MID=fVf30XCcBCY%3d&T=637204879738085590 www.elections.il.gov Illinois State Board of Elections 22 March 2020 May 2, 2025 https://web.archive.org/web/20250502212157/https://www.elections.il.gov/ElectionOperations/VoterTurnout.aspx?MID=fVf30XCcBCY%3D&T=637204879738085590 dead 1998 United States Senate election in IllinoisPear Robert https://www.nytimes.com/1998/11/04/us/the-1998-elections-state-by-state-midwest-illinois.html The 1998 Elections – State by State – Midwest – Illinois Illinois The New York Times B8 November 4, 1998 2024-10-28=GE&ElectionID=11&SearchType =OfficeSearch&OfficeID=1305&QueryType =Office& Illinois State Board of Elections Ballots Cast for U.S. Senator 11/3/1998 https://web.archive.org/web/20171107023408/http://www.elections.illinois.gov/ElectionInformation/VoteTotalsList.aspx?ElectionType 2017-11-07 Retrieved October 17, 2015. Republican Party (United States) Peter Fitzgerald 1,709,041 50.35% +7.4% Democratic Party (United States) Carol Moseley Braun (incumbent) 1,610,496 47.44% -5.6% Reform Party (United States) Don Torgersen 74,704 2.20% N/A US Taxpayers Raymond Stalker 280 0.01% N/A 3,394,521 100.00% N/A Republican Party (United States) Democratic Party (United States) Aftermath Fitzgerald initially sought to run for re-election to a second term in 2004. However, after many Republicans and Democrats announced their intentions to challenge him, Fitzgerald decided to retire. On January 3, 2005, Fitzgerald was succeeded by Democrat Barack Obama. See also 1998 United States Senate elections Notes Partisan clients References 30em 1998 Illinois United States Senate