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| Turnout | 49.5%[1] | |||||||||||||||||||
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 County results Congressional district results Precinct resultsBush: 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% >90% MacKay: 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% >90% Tie: 40–50% 50% No votes | ||||||||||||||||||||
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The1998 Florida gubernatorial election was held on November 3, 1998, to determine theGovernor of Florida. Two-term Democratic incumbent GovernorLawton Chiles was term-limited and could not run for re-election.John Ellis "Jeb" Bush, who had previously run for governor in1994 was theRepublican nominee, and incumbentLieutenant GovernorKenneth Hood "Buddy" MacKay was theDemocratic nominee. Bush defeated MacKay by nearly 11% of the vote, and won his first of two terms as governor.
Jeb Bush was one of four GOP pickups nationwide in the1998 gubernatorial elections. Nonetheless, the Republican party still netted a loss of one governorship. With his win, Republicans won a trifecta in the state for the first time since 1875.
On December 12, 1998, incumbent Governor Lawton Chiles suddenly died of a heart attack,[2] thrusting MacKay into the governor's office, for which he had just lost the election, for 24 days. This was the second election in which MacKay had unsuccessfully run to succeed Chiles in an elected office, the first being the1988 Senate race.
The primary season was largely uneventful, as MacKay (D) and Bush (R) officially ran unopposed for their respective nominations.[3] Initially the Democratic primary saw a three-way race between MacKay,Rick Dantzler andJ. Keith Arnold, but the latter two dropped out of the race early on. Dantzler became MacKay's running mate forlieutenant governor,[4] and Arnold ran forEducation Commissioner instead.[5]
The lack of competitiveness saw a very low turnout of just 16.6% of voters for the September 1 primary.[6]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Buddy MacKay | 1,244,044 | 100.00% | |
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Jeb Bush | 998,566 | 100.00% | |
Jeb Bush enjoyed double-digit leads in polling through most of the campaign, and had a large fundraising advantage over MacKay.[4][7][8] Bush attempted to revamp his image after appearing too hard-right during the 1994 race.[4] Internal struggles amongst key Democratic constituencies, particularly the African-American community, hurt MacKay. MacKay and the Florida Democratic party drew the ire of the black community after state representativeWillie Logan, poised to become the first blackspeaker of theFlorida House, was ousted by party leaders.[8] Logan endorsed Bush in the general election.
Meanwhile, after receiving only 5% of the African-American vote in 1994, Bush sought to connect to minorities,[7][9] a group he admittedly ignored in 1994.[4] Setting a tone ofcompassionate conservatism, and portraying himself as a "consensus-building pragmatist,"[7] he met with African American leaders, and reached out to Jews and Hispanics. He introduced his Mexican-born wifeColumba on the campaign trail, and demonstrated his fluent bi-lingual abilities, particularly inSouth Florida.[9] MacKay ran from behind for the entire race, and barely managed closed to gap to ten points in the days leading up to the general election.
On election day, Bush won by almost 11%. He garnered 61% of the Hispanic vote and 14% of the African American vote, a surprising showing for a Republican seeking statewide office. With his brotherGeorge W. Bush winning re-election inTexas, the two brothers became the first siblings to govern two states at the same time sinceNelson andWinthrop Rockefeller governedNew York andArkansas from 1967 to 1971.[7] Despite his strong statewide showing, Bush was unable to providecoattails for other Republicans further down the ticket.Charlie Crist was easily defeated in hisSenate race, andHouse Republicans did not pick up any seats in themidterms. In thestate legislature, the GOP netted no newSenate seats, and picked up only two seats in theHouse.
A little over a month after the election,Lawton Chiles died suddenly of a heart attack.Buddy MacKay, still the sittinglieutenant governor, was sworn in as the 42nd governor of Florida on December 13, 1998, and served out the final 23 days of Chiles' second term. In an ironic twist, MacKay managed to serve in the office he lost the race for, but stated "There's no great pleasure in this."[10] MacKay oversaw the state funeral of Chiles, and made a handful of minor appointments, before Bush was sworn in as the 43rd Governor on January 5, 1999.
| Poll source | Date(s) administered | Sample size[a] | Margin of error | Buddy MacKay (D) | Jeb Bush (R) | Undecided |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mason Dixon[11] | October 26–28, 1998 | 822 (LV) | ± 3.5% | 43% | 51% | 6% |
| Forman Center for Political Studies/University of Florida[11][A] | October 18–25, 1998 | 557 (LV) | ± 4.0% | 43% | 51% | 6% |
| Independent Market Research of Tampa[11][B] | October 21–23, 1998 | 670 (LV) | ± 3.8% | 40% | 51% | 9% |
| Mason Dixon[11] | October 15–18, 1998 | 836 (LV) | ± .% | 41% | 51% | 8% |
| Mason Dixon[11] | September 22–24, 1998 | 815 (LV) | ± 3.5% | 37% | 52% | 11% |
| Forman Center for Political Studies/University of Florida[11][A] | September 9–23, 1998 | 403 (LV) | ± 5.0% | 38% | 55% | 7% |
| Mason Dixon[11] | August 24–25, 1998 | 804 (LV) | ± 3.5% | 35% | 51% | 14% |
| Mason Dixon[11] | July 17–20, 1998 | 802 (LV) | ± 3.5% | 34% | 54% | 12% |
| Forman Center for Political Studies/University of Florida[11][A] | July 7–23, 1998 | 600 (RV) | ± 4.0% | 38% | 50% | 12% |
| Forman Center for Political Studies/University of Florida[11][A] | May 9–28, 1998 | 608 (RV) | ± 4.0% | 38% | 51% | 11% |
| Forman Center for Political Studies/University of Florida[11][A] | March 7–22, 1998 | 608 (RV) | ± 4.0% | 39% | 50% | 11% |
| Forman Center for Political Studies/University of Florida[11][A] | January 8–20, 1998 | 607 (RV) | ± 4.0% | 42% | 47% | 11% |
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Jeb Bush | 2,191,105 | 55.27% | |
| Democratic | Buddy MacKay | 1,773,054 | 44.72% | |
| Write-in | 282 | 0.01% | ||
| Total votes | 3,964,441 | 100.00% | ||
| Republicangain fromDemocratic | ||||
(1) Midterm Election Coverage, which includes Bush's victory speech from November 3, 1998[1]
(2) Florida Gubernatorial Debate from October 20, 1998[2]
(3) Florida Gubernatorial Debate from October 3, 1998[3]
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