1998 United States Senate election in Nevada

none March 2026 September 2023 1998 United States Senate election in Nevada Nevada presidential no 1992 United States Senate election in Nevada 1992 2004 United States Senate election in Nevada 2004 November 3, 1998 150x150px Harry Reid official portrait 3x4 crop.jpg Harry Reid Democratic Party (United States) 208,621 208,621 435,864 2 yes John Ensign official portrait (cropped).jpg John Ensign Republican Party (United States) 208,220 208,222 435,864 2 yes 1998 United States Senate election in Nevada results map by county.svg 250px County resultsReid: #7996e2 50–60%Ensign: #ffb2b2 40–50% #e27f7f 50–60% #d75d5d 60–70% #d72f30 70–80% U.S. Senator Harry Reid Democratic Party (United States) Harry Reid Democratic Party (United States) The 1998 United States Senate election in Nevada was held on November 3, 1998. Democratic incumbent Harry Reid won re-election to a third term over Republican congressman John Ensign. Reid won by a margin of only 401 votes, making this the closest race of the 1998 Senate elections. Republican primary Candidates John Ensign, U.S. representative from Las Vegas Ralph W. Stephens Results Republican primary resultshttp://nvsos.gov/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=193 Archived copy 2013-01-14 https://web.archive.org/web/20120621222406/http://nvsos.gov/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=193 2012-06-21 dead John Ensign Republican Party (United States) 105,263 80.57% Ralph W. Stephens Republican Party (United States) 13,679 10.47% None of these candidates Republican Party (United States) 11,704 8.96% 130,646 100.00% General election Candidates Michael Cloud (Libertarian) John Ensign, U.S. representative from Las Vegas (Republican) Harry Reid, incumbent U.S. senator since 1987 (Democratic) Michael Williams (Natural Law) Campaign Early in the campaign, Reid held a double-digit lead over Ensign in most polls. After a fierce battle of attack ads on television by both candidates, Ensign pulled into a dead heat with Reid. This reversal of fortune was attributed to several factors. More than 125,000 new residents had arrived in Nevada since 1992, many of them settling in Ensign's suburban Clark County congressional district. As such, many of them were more familiar with Ensign than with Reid, whose previous Republican opponents had hailed from other regions of the state. Republican consultant John Maddox observed that Ensign's greater familiarity to the Las Vegas metropolitan region gave him an advantage, adding that "he has won votes from Democrats who have never voted for Reid." In contrast, Reid was believed to hold an advantage with longtime Nevada residents, particularly those in slower-growing regions of the state. In addition, the number of registered Republicans in Nevada had dramatically increased as well; in 1992, Democrats had held an advantage of approximately 40,000 registered voters, but by 1998 Republicans outnumbered Democrats by 4,000. Jon Ralston, a political analyst in Las Vegas, claimed that Reid was also hurt by declining voter enthusiasm in the wake of the Monica Lewinsky scandal. Reid had been one of the first senators to express dissatisfaction with President Clinton over the scandal, describing the president's behavior as "immoral."Cannon Lou Demographic Changes Leave Nevada Senator in Jeopardy http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/campaigns/keyraces98/stories/nv092598.htm Washington Post 25 September 1998 During the campaign, Reid cited his efforts to block the storage of nuclear waste at the Yucca Mountain repository, while also using the issue to attack Ensign. In one campaign speech, Reid claimed, "You send Ensign to the Senate, you send nuclear waste to Nevada." Ensign responded to the attacks by pointing out his own position against the depository and indicated he would work with Richard Bryan, the state's other senator, to stop it. "Bryan's a Democrat who works with Republicans," he said, "and I'm a Republican who works with Democrats." The Reid campaign also attacked Ensign as an "extremist" who would weaken Social Security and referred to environmentalists as "socialists." Ensign, meanwhile accused Reid of supporting tax increases in Washington even as he claimed to support lower taxes at home. Polling Poll source Date(s) SamplesizeKey:A – all adultsRV – registered votersLV – likely votersV – unclear Marginof error HarryReid (D) JohnEnsign (R)Other / undecidedCalculated by taking the difference of 100% and all other candidates combined. pollingMason-Dixon Polling & StrategyCNN AllPolitics Election '98 - Nevada 1998 Polls https://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/1998/states/NV/polls/NV98S.html CNN 27 June 2025 https://archive.today/20250627061334/https://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/1998/states/NV/polls/NV98S.html 27 June 2025 liveOctober 25–27, 1998817 (LV)± 3.5%47%45%8%FM3 Research (D)Poll conducted for Harry Reid. pollingOctober 13, 1998488—49%44%7%Mason-Dixon Polling & StrategySeptember 26–28, 1998814 (LV)± 3.5%45%44%11%Mason-Dixon Polling & StrategyAugust 24–26, 1998838 (LV)± 3.5%46%41%13%Mason-Dixon Polling & StrategyJuly 29 – August 4, 1998837 (LV)± 3.5%46%40%14%Mason-Dixon Polling & StrategyJune 8–10, 1998808 (RV)± 3.5%44%41%15%Mason-Dixon Polling & StrategyFebruary 19–21, 1998804 (RV)± 3.5%45%36%19% Results On November 3, 1998, Reid won by 401 votes in an exceptionally close election. Ensign did not contest the results, and was elected to Nevada's other Senate seat in 2000, succeeding the retiring Richard Bryan and served with Reid until 2011. General election resultshttp://clerk.house.gov/member_info/electionInfo/1998/98Stat.htm#28 Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives Democratic Party (United States) Harry Reid (incumbent) 208,621 47.86% -3.19% Republican Party (United States) John Ensign 208,220 47.77% +7.56% Libertarian Party (United States) Michael Cloud 8,129 1.87% +0.41% 8,113 1.86% -0.79% Natural Law Party (United States) Michael E. Williams 2,781 0.64% -0.83% 435,864 100.00% Democratic Party (United States) County results County Reid % Ensign % Others %Carson City7,02942.2%8,69952.2%9305.6%Churchill1,59422.0%5,26072.5%4025.5%Clark134,16352.6%111,71843.8%8,9613.5%Douglas4,76633.3%8,81061.6%7155.0%Elko2,58925.7%7,05169.9%4534.5%Esmeralda15128.0%34363.5%468.5%Eureka16224.0%46168.2%537.8%Humboldt1,60137.7%2,42857.1%2205.2%Lander70434.0%1,20958.4%1567.5%Lincoln61631.4%1,23863.1%1095.6%Lyon3,24234.8%5,48658.9%5856.3%Mineral1,17654.3%82237.9%1697.8%Nye4,05242.7%4,91251.7%5335.6%Pershing57736.9%90257.7%855.4%Storey69141.3%83850.1%1448.6%Washoe44,11846.1%46,30048.4%5,1945.4%White Pine1,41942.7%1,74552.4%1635.9%https://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/datagraph.php?year=1998&fips=32&f=0&off=3&elect=0&class=3 1998 Senatorial General Election Data Graphs - Nevada Leip David Dave Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections April 11, 2019https://www.nvsos.gov/SOSelectionPages/results/1998Recount/senate.aspx Results of the 1998 U.S. Senate Recount December 9, 1998 Nevada Secretary of State April 11, 2019 Counties and independent cities that flipped from Democratic to Republican Carson City Washoe White Pine See also 1998 United States Senate elections Notes References 1998 Nevada Category:1998 Nevada elections Category:Harry Reid