1998 United States Senate election in Colorado

The 1998 United States Senate election in Colorado was held November 3, 1998, alongside other elections to the United States Senate in other states as well as elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections. Incumbent Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell won re-election to a second term by a landslide. This was Campbell's first election as a Republican as he left the Democratic Party in 1995.

1998 United States Senate election in Colorado

← 1992 November 3, 1998 2004 →
 
Nominee Ben Nighthorse Campbell Dottie Lamm
Party Republican Democratic
Popular vote 829,370 464,754
Percentage 62.49% 35.02%

County results
Nighthorse Campbell:
     50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%
Lamm:      50–60%

U.S. senator before election

Ben Nighthorse Campbell
Republican

Elected U.S. Senator

Ben Nighthorse Campbell
Republican

As of 2024, this is the last time that a Republican won the Class 3 Senate seat from Colorado, and the last time that a Native American was elected to the United States Senate until 2022.

Democratic primary

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Candidates

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Results

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Democratic primary results[1]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Dottie Lamm 84,929 57.98%
Democratic Gil Romero 61,548 42.02%
Total votes 146,477 100.00%

Republican primary

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Candidates

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Results

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Republican primary results[1]
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Ben Nighthorse Campbell (Incumbent) 154,702 70.62%
Republican Bill Eggert 64,347 29.38%
Total votes 219,049 100.00%

General election

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Candidates

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Campaign

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Campbell, who was elected in 1992 as a Democrat, switched parties after the 1994 Republican Revolution. He faced a primary challenger, but won with over 70% of the vote. In the general election, Democratic nominee Dottie Lamm criticized Campbell of flip flopping from being a moderate liberal to moderate conservative.[2][3] In fact, throughout the entire campaign, Lamm mostly sent out negative attack advertisements about Campbell.[4]

Results

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General election[5]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Republican Ben Nighthorse Campbell (Incumbent) 829,370 62.49% +19.78%
Democratic Dottie Lamm 464,754 35.02% −16.76%
Libertarian David S. Segal 14,024 1.06% +1.06%
Constitution Kevin Swanson 9,775 0.74%
Natural Law Jeffrey Peckham 4,101 0.31%
Independent John Heckman 3,230 0.24%
Independent Gary Swing 1,981 0.15%
Majority 364,616 27.47% +18.40%
Turnout 1,327,235
Republican hold Swing

See also

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Notes

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References

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  1. ^ a b http://www.sos.state.co.us/pubs/elections/ElectionArchives/1998/Primary/1998UnitedStatesSenateResults.pdf[permanent dead link]
  2. ^ By Blake, Peter; 700+ words. "Data". Archived from the original on October 26, 2012. Retrieved May 4, 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  3. ^ "Archives : The Rocky Mountain News". nl.newsbank.com.
  4. ^ "Denver Post: Archive Results". nl.newsbank.com.
  5. ^ "Office of the Clerk, U.S. House of Representatives". Clerk.house.gov. Retrieved May 4, 2021.