1998 Minnesota gubernatorial election

The 1998 Minnesota gubernatorial election took place on November 3, 1998. Reform Party candidate Jesse Ventura beat Republican Party challenger Norm Coleman and Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party challenger Hubert H. "Skip" Humphrey III.[1]

1998 Minnesota gubernatorial election

← 1994 November 3, 1998 2002 →
  Jesse Ventura 1996.jpg Norm Coleman.jpg Skip Humphrey.jpg
Nominee Jesse Ventura Norm Coleman Skip Humphrey
Party Reform Republican Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Political party/M' not found.
Running mate Mae Schunk Gen Olson Roger Moe
Popular vote 773,713 717,350 587,528
Percentage 37.0% 34.3% 28.1%

1998 Minnesota gubernatorial election results map by county.svg
County results
Ventura:      30-40%      40-50%      50-60%
Coleman:      30–40%      40–50%
Humphrey:      30-40%      40-50%      50–60%

Governor before election

Arne Carlson
Republican

Elected Governor

Jesse Ventura
Reform

Ventura's victory as a third party candidate was seen as a historic major upset, especially since he was a former professional wrestler. He ran on the Reform Party ticket, a party which had been founded by two-time presidential candidate Ross Perot who had received 23% of the vote in Minnesota in the 1992 presidential election and 12% in the 1996 election.[2]

Primary results

Democratic

Template:Election box invalid no change
Democratic Primary results[1]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democrat Skip Humphrey 154,037 37
Democrat Mike Freeman 78,895 19
Democrat Doug Johnson 78,041 19
Democrat Mark Dayton 74,706 18
Democrat Ted Mondale 29,749 7
Total votes 415,428 100
Turnout  

Republican

Template:Election box invalid no change
Republican Primary results[1]
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Norm Coleman 107,989 91
Republican Bill Dahn 10,505 9
Total votes 118,494 100
Turnout  

Results

1998 Gubernatorial Election, Minnesota
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
style="background-color: Template:Reform Party of the United States of America/meta/color; width: 5px;" | [[Reform Party of the United States of America|Template:Reform Party of the United States of America/meta/shortname]] Jesse Ventura 773,713 36.99% n/a
Republican Norm Coleman 717,350 34.29% -29.04%
Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Political party/M' not found. Skip Humphrey 587,528 28.09% -6.02%
Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Political party/G' not found. Ken Pentel 7,034 0.34% n/a
Libertarian Frank Germann 1,932 0.09% -0.80%
Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:Political party/G' not found. Chris Wright 1,727 0.08% -1.12%
People's Champion Fancy Ray McCloney 919 0.04% n/a
Socialist Workers Thomas Fiske 787 0.04% -0.14%
Write-ins 776 n/a
Majority 56,363 2.69%
Turnout 2,091,766 60%
style="background-color: Template:Reform Party of the United States of America/meta/color" | [[Reform Party of the United States of America|Template:Reform Party of the United States of America/meta/shortname]] gain from Republican Swing

1998 Minnesota Gubernatorial Election Media

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Minnesota primary results - September 15, 1998". CNN.
  2. "A 'Bad Boy' Wrestler's Unscripted Upset". The New York Times. 5 November 1998.