1998 United States Senate election in California

The 1998 United States Senate election in California was held November 3, 1998. Incumbent Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer won re-election to a second term, defeating Republican Matt Fong.

1998 United States Senate election in California

← 1992 November 3, 1998 2004 →

Nominee Barbara Boxer Matt Fong Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 4,411,705 3,576,351 Percentage 53.06% 43.01%

County results Boxer:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80% Fong:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%

U.S. senator before election Barbara Boxer Democratic Elected U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer Democratic

Democratic primary

Candidates

• Barbara Boxer, incumbent U.S. Senator
• John Pinkerton

Results

1998 California Democratic primary^{[citation needed]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Barbara Boxer (incumbent)	2,574,264	92.15%
	Democratic	John Pinkerton	219,250	7.85%
Total votes			2,793,514	100.00%

Republican primary

Candidates

• John M. Brown, businessman
• Linh Dao, activist
• Matt Fong, State Treasurer
• Darrell Issa, businessman and activist
• Mark Raus, pharmacist
• Frank Riggs, U.S. Representative from Windsor

Results

1998 California Republican primary^{[citation needed]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Matt Fong	1,292,662	45.28%
	Republican	Darrell Issa	1,142,567	40.02%
	Republican	Frank Riggs	295,886	10.36%
	Republican	John M. Brown	48,941	1.71%
	Republican	Mark Raus	45,480	1.59%
	Republican	Linh Dao	29,241	1.02%
Total votes		2,854,777	100.00%

Other primaries

1998 United States Senate primary, California (Others)

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Libertarian	Ted Brown	67,408	100.00%
	Peace and Freedom	Ophie C. Beltran	52,306	100.00%
	Reform	Timothy R. Erich	45,601	100.00%
	American Independent	Joseph Perrin, Sr.	24,026	100.00%
	Natural Law	Brian M. Rees	23,945	100.00%

General election

Candidates

• Ophie C. Beltran (Peace & Freedom)
• Barbara Boxer, incumbent U.S. Senator (Democratic)
• Ted Brown, perennial candidate (Libertarian)
• Timothy R. Erich (Reform)
• Matt Fong, State Treasurer (Republican)
• Joseph Perrin Sr. (American Independent)
• Brian M. Rees (Natural Law)

Results

Although the race was predicted to be fairly close, Boxer still defeated Fong by a ten-point margin. As expected, Boxer did very well in Los Angeles County and the San Francisco Bay Area.

1998 United States Senate election, California^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Barbara Boxer (Incumbent)	4,410,056	53.06%
	Republican	Matt Fong	3,575,078	43.01%
	Libertarian	Ted Brown	93,926	1.13%
	Reform	Timothy R. Erich	82,918	1.00%
	American Independent	Joseph Perrin, Sr.	54,699	0.66%
	Peace and Freedom	Ophie C. Beltran	48,685	0.56%
	Natural Law	Brian M. Rees	46,543	0.59%
Total votes			8,311,905	100.00%
Turnout
	Democratic hold

Results by county

Final results from the Secretary of State of California.^[2]

Shift by county

Trend by county

Legend

•   Republican — >15%
•   Republican — +12.5−15%
•   Republican — +10−12.5%
•   Republican — +7.5−10%
•   Republican — +5−7.5%
•   Republican — +2.5−5%
•   Republican — +0−2.5%
•   Democratic — +0−2.5%
•   Democratic — +2.5−5%
•   Democratic — +5−7.5%
•   Democratic — +7.5-10%
•   Democratic — +10−12.5%
•   Democratic — +12.5−15%
•   Democratic — >15%

County	Boxer	Votes	Fong	Votes	Others	Votes
San Francisco	75.23%	179,889	21.93%	52,443	2.83%	6,777
Alameda	69.62%	266,329	27.37%	104,699	3.00%	11,520
Marin	65.41%	66,160	31.76%	32,118	2.83%	2,861
San Mateo	63.14%	130,064	33.87%	69,776	2.98%	6,146
Santa Cruz	62.75%	53,363	32.09%	27,293	5.16%	4,391
Sonoma	61.14%	96,170	34.14%	53,695	4.72%	7,424
Los Angeles	60.84%	1,198,403	35.78%	704,782	3.37%	66,603
Yolo	58.12%	28,491	38.10%	18,680	3.78%	1,852
Santa Clara	57.81%	242,600	38.21%	160,350	3.99%	16,733
Mendocino	57.73%	16,346	35.84%	10,147	6.44%	1,822
Contra Costa	57.52%	172,595	39.30%	117,922	3.18%	9,519
Solano	56.29%	56,772	39.71%	40,051	3.98%	4,027
Lake	54.84%	10,104	40.19%	7,406	4.97%	916
Napa	54.48%	22,654	41.01%	17,052	4.50%	1,874
Monterey	53.17%	46,651	42.63%	37,399	4.19%	3,688
Imperial	51.45%	11,597	41.47%	9,346	7.09%	1,596
San Benito	51.05%	6,428	44.02%	5,543	4.93%	620
Humboldt	50.60%	23,342	44.16%	20,371	5.25%	2,414
Sacramento	50.46%	180,389	45.86%	163,957	3.68%	13,144
Santa Barbara	49.53%	60,911	46.77%	57,512	3.71%	4,554
Merced	48.39%	19,008	47.45%	18,638	4.17%	1,634
San Joaquin	48.00%	59,312	48.10%	59,434	3.91%	4,830
San Bernardino	47.47%	155,093	47.32%	154,591	5.21%	17,033
Stanislaus	47.41%	47,238	48.74%	48,560	3.86%	3,841
Ventura	46.88%	97,207	48.92%	101,440	4.21%	8,716
San Diego	46.21%	339,658	49.22%	361,812	4.58%	33,575
Alpine	45.86%	249	49.17%	267	4.96%	27
Riverside	45.78%	151,287	49.63%	164,019	4.58%	15,152
Fresno	44.28%	75,570	51.81%	88,412	3.91%	6,670
San Luis Obispo	44.16%	37,178	51.93%	43,719	3.92%	3,293
Tuolumne	43.74%	8,752	51.43%	10,289	4.82%	966
Mono	42.84%	1,404	52.46%	1,719	4.70%	154
Kings	42.75%	9,338	52.87%	11,547	4.38%	957
Amador	42.21%	5,614	54.11%	7,197	3.68%	489
Del Norte	41.79%	2,992	52.84%	3,783	5.36%	384
Calaveras	41.44%	6,502	53.04%	8,321	5.53%	866
Nevada	41.17%	15,903	54.88%	21,200	3.95%	1,525
Yuba	41.01%	5,355	53.38%	6,971	5.60%	732
Butte	40.73%	26,540	53.89%	35,112	5.36%	3,503
Trinity	39.27%	1,875	52.06%	2,486	8.66%	414
Siskiyou	39.22%	6,162	55.17%	8,669	5.62%	882
Tulare	39.16%	28,284	56.99%	41,167	3.84%	2,782
Orange	39.05%	276,594	56.75%	401,960	4.19%	29,734
Placer	38.60%	34,160	57.70%	51,063	3.71%	3,278
El Dorado	38.54%	21,697	57.46%	32,345	4.00%	2,254
Mariposa	38.23%	2,690	56.05%	3,944	5.72%	402
Madera	37.55%	9,715	58.13%	15,042	4.32%	1,118
Inyo	37.25%	2,443	57.40%	3,764	5.35%	351
Colusa	37.08%	1,734	58.97%	2,758	3.95%	185
Tehama	36.98%	6,598	56.68%	10,112	6.34%	1,131
Kern	36.58%	51,476	59.25%	83,391	4.17%	5,870
Sutter	35.58%	7,716	60.81%	13,188	3.61%	783
Sierra	34.36%	582	59.50%	1,008	6.14%	104
Shasta	33.97%	17,790	60.01%	31,428	6.03%	3,151
Plumas	33.05%	2,718	61.52%	5,059	5.43%	446
Lassen	32.92%	2,624	60.34%	4,810	6.75%	538
Glenn	31.97%	2,321	62.47%	4,536	5.57%	404
Modoc	31.80%	1,068	60.99%	2,048	7.21%	242

See also

• 1998 United States Senate elections

References

1. "STATISTICS OF THE CONGRESSIONAL ELECTION OF NOVEMBER 3, 1998". Clerk.House.gov. Retrieved August 7, 2023.
2. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on March 25, 2009. Retrieved July 31, 2008.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)

External links

• JoinCalifornia 1998 General Election
• SmartVoter.org page on the California Senate race.^{[permanent dead link]}