1998 United States Senate election in South Carolina

none March 2026 September 2023 1998 United States Senate election in South Carolina South Carolina presidential no 1992 United States Senate election in South Carolina 1992 2004 United States Senate election in South Carolina 2004 November 3, 1998 150x150px FritzHollings.jpg Fritz Hollings Democratic Party (United States) 562,791 52.70% File:Bob Inglis, official portrait (103rd Congress) (cropped).jpg Bob Inglis Republican Party (United States) 488,132 45.67% South Carolina Senate Election Results by County, 1998.svg 230px County resultsHollings: #a5b0ff 40–50% #7996e2 50–60% #6674de 60–70% #584cde 70–80% Inglis: #ffb2b2 40–50% #e27f7f 50–60% #d75d5d 60–70% U.S. Senator Ernest Hollings Democratic Party (United States) Ernest Hollings Democratic Party (United States) The 1998 United States Senate election in South Carolina was held November 3, 1998. Democratic incumbent Fritz Hollings won reelection to his seventh term in office over Republican congressman Bob Inglis. 2026, this is the last time that a Democrat has won a U.S. Senate election in South Carolina. Republican primary Candidates Stephen Brown, chair of the Greenville County Republican Party Bob Inglis, U.S. representative from Greenville Elton Legrand Results 1998 U.S. Senate Republican primary Republican Party (United States) Bob Inglis 115,029 74.6% Republican Party (United States) Stephen Brown 33,530 21.7% Republican Party (United States) Elton Legrand 5,634 3.7% General election Candidates Fritz Hollings, incumbent U.S. senator since 1966 (Democratic) Bob Inglis, U.S. representative from Greenville (Republican) Richard T. Quillian (Libertarian) Campaign The race between Hollings and Inglis gave the voters a choice of two very different visions of and for South Carolina. Hollings was from the Lowcountry, a face of the Old New South, and secured a large amount of federal funds for the state. On the other hand, Inglis came from the Upstate, was a face of the New New South, and opposed to pork barrel spending. Hollings viciously attacked Inglis on the campaign trail as a "goddamn skunk" and when Inglis requested that Hollings sign a pledge for campaign courtesy, Hollings replied that Inglis could "kiss his fanny." Inglis tried to tie Hollings to President Clinton, who had been tainted by the Lewinsky scandal. Ultimately, Hollings won the race for four crucial reasons. First, Inglis refused to accept PAC donations which allowed Hollings to enjoy a huge financial advantage and blanket the state with his television advertisements. Secondly, Inglis came from the Upstate which already provided GOP majorities whereas Hollings came from the Lowcountry which was a key tossup region in the state. Thirdly, the voters two years prior in the 1996 Senate election had rewarded Strom Thurmond for his long service to the state and it was unlikely that they would then deny re-election to Hollings. Finally, the 1998 South Carolina GOP ticket was dragged down with unpopular Governor David Beasley at the top of the ticket who would go on to lose his re-election campaign to Jim Hodges. Polling Poll sourceDate(s)SamplesizeFritz Hollings(D)Bob Inglis(R)Other / undecidedCalculated by taking the difference of 100% and all other candidates combined. pollingNorth Star Opinion Research/Ayres, McHenry & Associates (R)Poll conducted for Bob Inglis. pollingFiveThirtyEight'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 28, 1998600Average of multiple versions or turnout models listed in the poll. polling43.5%43.5%13%Mason-Dixon Polling & StrategyOctober 27, 199880649%44%7%Mason-Dixon Polling & Strategy September 1998 ?49% 42% 9%Mason-Dixon Polling & Strategy August 1998 ?48% 40% 12%Mason-Dixon Polling & Strategy June 1998 ? 47% 42% 21%Whit AyresApril 1998 ? 42% 42%16% Results South Carolina U.S. Senate Election, 1998Clerk of the United States House of Representatives Clerk of the United States House of Representatives STATISTICS OF THE CONGRESSIONAL ELECTION OF NOVEMBER 3, 1998 https://history.house.gov/Institution/Election-Statistics/1998election/ United States House of Representatives 16 November 2020 40,41 PDF Democratic Party (US) Fritz Hollings (Incumbent) 563,377 52.70% +2.6% Republican Party (US) Bob Inglis 488,238 45.67% -1.2% Libertarian Party (US) Richard T. Quillian 16,991 1.59% -0.3% No party Write-Ins 457 0.04% -0.1% 75,139 7.03% +3.8% 1,069,063 52.8%November 2020 | Democratic Party (United States) | colspan=5 |Democratic hold See also List of United States senators from South Carolina 1998 United States Senate elections 1998 South Carolina gubernatorial election Notes References Bibliography Candy Crowley S.C. Senate race pits old South against new http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/stories/1998/10/27/sc.senate/ CNN October 27, 1998 January 30, 2008 Candy Crowley Stuart Rothenberg Incumbent Hollings wins close race in South Carolina http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/stories/1998/11/03/election/senate/south.carolina/ CNN November 3, 1998 January 30, 2008 David Plotz Foghorn Leghorn Meets an Owl http://www.slate.com/id/4525 Slate October 22, 1998 January 30, 2008 South Carolina 1998 United States Senate