The Secretary of State - Elections matter more than money
Of the 36 states that elected Governors in 1998, 26 also elected Secretaries of State. The voters gave the Republicans 16 of the 26 Secretaries with less than 50% of the vote. So, except for the aberration of the Attorneys General, the Republicans continued their dominance of the results with a bare majority or plurality of the votes.
Republican candidates for Secretary of State received 20,032,221 (49.4%) votes to the Democrats 18,995,848 (46.8%) with the Independents getting 1,577,891 (3.8%).
The Secretary of State is a more important office than many people think. It usually receives the 4th highest number of votes in any election. In 1998, the Secretary of State's race actually got the most number of votes in Michigan, more than the Governor, Attorney General and House of Representatives. It is very, very unusual for the Secretary of State's race to come first. In three other states: Illinois, Indiana and Minnesota, the Secretary of State's race came 3rd, after Governor and Senator, the House of Representative races, and Attorney General respectively.
In Minnesota, the top three offices were Governor, Attorney General and Secretary of State. They were won respectively by an independent, a Democrat and a Republican. Minnesota voted itself a coalition government of Republicans, Democrats and independents.
In 10 states, the Secretary's race came 4th. It received the 5th highest number of votes in 5 states; the 6th highest in 5 states and the 7th highest in 2 states. The interesting thing to note in this ranking is that both the Attorney General and the Secretary of State races usually receive more votes than the State Treasurer, Auditor or Comptroller.
Like the Attorneys General races, where almost half the winners were from a different party than the Governor, the same was true in the Secretary of State races. In 11 of the 24 states that elected both a Governor and a Secretary of State, the party affiliation of the two was split. In California, where the Democrats were winning landslide victories in almost all statewide races, the Republican Secretary candidate won over the son of former San Francisco Mayor Alioto.
With Humphrey's loss in Minnesota, the Alioto defeat shows that, when given a choice, voters prefer not to have heredity a major factor in political success. This bodes ill for both Gore and Bush. If there is a Gore-Bush race in 2000, the turnout will be historically low and the margin of victory will be very small. The Taft victory in Ohio doesn't really counter this trend. Taft was elected Governor in a year when Republicans were winning Governorships by more than 2 to 1, and Ohio is a traditionally Republican state. The telling fact is that the Governor's race in Ohio trailed the House and Senate races, which is a demonstration of uncommon weakness in that race.
The Attorney General enforces the laws and the Secretary of State's office usually runs the elections. This shows that people consider these functions more important in politics and government than handling or accounting for money. This is bad news for Steve Forbes or anyone who makes money the centerpiece of their political campaign.
Other than running the elections, Secretaries of State have almost no discretionary functions and are basically recording secretaries.
| Ab. SoS 98 | Bennett (R) | Worley (D) | Write-in | Sec of State 98 | |||||||||||
| 621,037 | 611,519 | 596 | 1,233,152 | ||||||||||||
| 50.3618% | 49.5899% | 0.0483% | Ind. total | 596 | |||||||||||
| Az. SoS. 98 | Bayless (R) | Hamilton (D) | Sec. of State 98 | ||||||||||||
| 577,724 | 414,987 | 992,711 | |||||||||||||
| 58.1966% | 41.8034% | Ind. total | 0 | ||||||||||||
| Ark. SoS 1998 | Jones (R) | Priest (D) | Sec of St. 98 | ||||||||||||
| 211,585 | 476,005 | 687,590 | |||||||||||||
| 30.7720% | 69.2280% | Ind. total | 1.46936793852786E-39 | ||||||||||||
| Cal. SoS 1998 | Bill Jones (R) | Alioto (D) | Lightfoot (Lib) | Short (AI) | Feuer (P&F) | Bialosky (NL) | Sharpe-Geisler (Rfm) | SoS 1998 | |||||||
| 3,783,665 | 3,693,927 | 216,751 | 100,225 | 78,798 | 103,513 | 72,924 | 0 | 8,049,803 | (567,846) | ||||||
| 47.0032% | 45.8884% | 2.6926% | 1.2451% | 0.9789% | 0.0000% | 1.2859% | 0.9059% | 0.0000% | Ind. Total | 572,211 | |||||
| Co. SoS 1998 | Buckley (R) | Bainter (D) | Lloyd (L) | Harkins (Const) | Craven (Ref) | Fraser (NL) | SecofState 1998 | ||||||||
| 614,760 | 563,945 | 31,765 | 14,668 | 16,527 | 10,234 | 1,063,272 | 1,251,899 | 188,627 | |||||||
| 49.1062% | 45.0472% | 2.5373% | 1.1717% | 1.3202% | 0.8175% | Ind. total | 73,194 | ||||||||
| Ct. SoS 98 | Andrews (R) | Bysiewicz (D) | Moser (L) | SOS 1998 | |||||||||||
| 358,060 | 531,644 | 9,920 | 1,022,453 | 899,624 | (122,829) | ||||||||||
| 39.8011% | 59.0962% | 1.1027% | Ind. total | 9920 | |||||||||||
| Fla. SoS 98 | Harris (R) | Gievers (D) | SoS 98 | ||||||||||||
| 2,065,313 | 1,778,924 | 0 | 3,844,237 | ||||||||||||
| 53.7249% | 46.2751% | 0.0000% | Ind. Total | 1.46936793852786E-39 | |||||||||||
| Ga. SoS 98 | McCallum (R) | Cathy Cox (D) | Antieau (Lib) | SecofState 98 | |||||||||||
| 703,941 | 983,905 | 50,281 | 1,738,127 | ||||||||||||
| 40.5000% | 56.6072% | 2.8928% | 50,281 | ||||||||||||
| Id. SoS 98 | Cenarrusa (R) | Seiffert (D) | Angstman (L) | Sec of State 98 | |||||||||||
| 256,594 | 103,423 | 12,421 | 372,438 | (14,282) | |||||||||||
| 68.8958% | 27.7692% | 3.3351% | Ind. total | 12,421 | |||||||||||
| Ill. SoS 98 | Al Salvi (R) | Jesse White (D) | Millatti (Ref) | Battaglia (W-I) | Sec. of State 98 | ||||||||||
| 1,437,420 | 1,874,626 | 67,696 | 229 | 3,379,971 | (161,408) | ||||||||||
| 42.5276% | 55.4628% | 2.0029% | 0.0068% | 67,925 | |||||||||||
| Ind. SoS 1998 | Gilroy (R) | Little (Dem) | Dillon (Lib) | Sec of State 98 | |||||||||||
| 829,750 | 653,858 | 52,201 | 1,535,809 | ||||||||||||
| 54.0269% | 42.5742% | 3.3989% | Ind. Total | 52,201 | |||||||||||
| Iowa SoS 1998 | Gilliand (R) | Culver (D) | Swanson (NL) | Blue (Ref) | Scattering | Voting 1988 | SoS 1998 | ||||||||
| 429,899 | 457,161 | 9,580 | 19,094 | 277 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 916,011 | |||||
| 46.9316% | 49.9078% | 1.0458% | 2.0845% | 0.0302% | 0.0000% | 0.0000% | 0.0000% | 0.0000% | 1.46936793852786E-39 | Ind. total | 28,951 | ||||
| Kan. SoS 98 | Thornburgh (R) | Rezac (D) | Roehr (Tax) | Rosile (Lib) | Sec of State 98 | ||||||||||
| 456,391 | 195,747 | 47,777 | 15,109 | 715,024 | 507,533 | ||||||||||
| 63.8288% | 27.3763% | 6.6819% | 2.1131% | Ind. total | 62,886 | ||||||||||
| Ma. SoS 1998 | Dale Jenkins(R) | Galvin (D) | Atkinson (Lib) | Others | Sec of State 98 | ||||||||||
| 451,556 | 1,252,912 | 86,330 | 866 | 1,791,664 | |||||||||||
| 25.2032% | 69.9301% | 4.8184% | 0.0483% | Ind. Total | 87,196 | ||||||||||
| Mich. SoS 98 | Miller (R) | Mary Parks (D) | Spencer (RFP) | Sec of State 98 | |||||||||||
| 2,055,432 | 938,557 | 42,897 | 3,036,886 | #1 office | |||||||||||
| 67.6822% | 30.9052% | 1.4125% | Ind. Total | 42,897 | |||||||||||
| Minn. SoS 98 | Kiffmeyer (R) | Garcia (D) | Shilepsky (Ref) | Iverson (Lib) | Write-in | Sec of St 1998 | |||||||||
| 928,576 | 818,236 | 192,997 | 44,663 | 1,742 | 1,986,214 | (119,129) | |||||||||
| 46.7511% | 41.1958% | 9.7168% | 2.2486% | 0.0877% | 239,402 | ||||||||||
| Neb. SoS 98 | Scott Moore (R) | Bernbeck (D) | Miller (Ref) | Write-in | Sec of State 90 | ||||||||||
| 322,340 | 140,460 | 35,947 | 287 | 581,775 | 499,034 | (82,741) | |||||||||
| 64.5928% | 28.1464% | 7.2033% | 0.0575% | Ind. total | 36,234 | ||||||||||
| Nv SoS 98 | Heller (R) | No Democrat | Brost (L) | Dickens (IA) | Lois Avery (NL) | None of These | Voting 1998 | Sec. of Sta 98 | |||||||
| 270,024 | 0 | 22,798 | 42,893 | 24,080 | 51,763 | 440,042 | 359,795 | (80,247) | |||||||
| 65.6102% | 0.0000% | 5.5394% | 10.4221% | 5.8509% | 12.5773% | Ind. total | 89,771 | ||||||||
| NMex. Sos 98 | Duran (R) | Virgil-Giron (D) | Lopez (G) | Sec of State 98 | |||||||||||
| 223,415 | 234,546 | 27,093 | 485,054 | ||||||||||||
| 46.0598% | 48.3546% | 5.5856% | 1.46936793852786E-39 | ||||||||||||
| Ohio SoS 98 | Blackwell (R) | Tavares (D) | Martin (I) | Sec of State 98 | |||||||||||
| 1,754,479 | 1,377,604 | 31 | 3,132,114 | (331,369) | |||||||||||
| 56.0158% | 43.9832% | 0.0010% | 31 | ||||||||||||
| RI SecofSt 98 | Lopez (R) | Langevin (D) | Write-in | Sec of State 98 | |||||||||||
| 53,393 | 242,216 | 320 | 295,929 | ||||||||||||
| 18.0425% | 81.8494% | 0.1081% | Ind. total | 320 | |||||||||||
| SC SoS 1998 | Jim Miles (R) | Fairchild (D) | Write-in | SecofState 1998 | |||||||||||
| 595,328 | 440,157 | 568 | 1,098,484 | 1,036,053 | (62,431) | ||||||||||
| 57.4612% | 42.4840% | 0.0548% | Ind. total | 568 | |||||||||||
| SD SoS 98 | Hazeltine (R) | Sharon Green (D) | Winter (L) | Sec of St 1998 | |||||||||||
| 174,353 | 70,082 | 11,116 | 255,551 | ||||||||||||
| 68.2263% | 27.4239% | 4.3498% | Ind. total | 11,116 | |||||||||||
| Vt. SoS 1998 | Jim Milne (R) | Markowitz (D) | Richmond (L) | Dennis Lane(VG) | Write-in | Sec. of State | |||||||||
| R to D | 94,635 | 100,152 | 6,125 | 8,347 | 93 | 209,352 | (11,639) | ||||||||
| 45.2038% | 47.8390% | 2.9257% | 3.9871% | 0.0444% | Ind. total | 14,565 | |||||||||
| Wi. SoS 1998 | Linda Cross (R) | La Follette (D) | Carlson (L) | Hemenway (T) | Mueller (Ref) | Scattering | Voting 1988 | Wi. SoS 1998 | |||||||
| 660,406 | 973,744 | 18,074 | 17,357 | 9,906 | 1,012 | 1,680,499 | |||||||||
| 39.2982% | 57.9437% | 1.0755% | 1.0328% | 0.5895% | 0.0602% | Ind. total | 46,349 | ||||||||
| Wy. SoS 98 | Meyer (R) | Mockler (D) | Voting 1998 | Sec of State 98 | |||||||||||
| 102,145 | 67,511 | 178,401 | 169,656 | (8,745) | |||||||||||
| 60.2071% | 39.7929% | Ind. total | 0 | ||||||||||||
| Total | 20,032,221 | 18,995,848 | 943,284 | 263,738 | 131,423 | 63,009 | 103,513 | 72,924 | 0 | 0 | 40,554,197 | ||||
| 49.3962% | 46.8406% | Inds. | 1,577,891 |
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