1998 South Carolina gubernatorial election
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 County results Hodges: 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% Beasley: 40–50% 50–60% | |||||||||||||||||
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| Elections in South Carolina |
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The 1998 South Carolina gubernatorial election was held on November 3, 1998 to select the
Democratic primary
Republican primary
The
| Republican Primary | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Votes | % |
| David Beasley (incumbent) | 114,082 | 72.2 |
| Bill Able | 43,967 | 27.8 |
General election campaign
Hodges started the campaign with a low name recognition across the state and early on it was decided by his camp to make education as their chief issue for the election. Immediately, Hodges blamed Governor Beasley for the poor
Beasley responded by trying to shift the focus of the campaign to Hodges' ties to the gambling industry. As much as 70% of the money supplied to Hodges campaign was given by the video poker operators. In addition, the Palmetto League was being financed by video poker to attack Beasley's flip-flopping on the Confederate flag issue. Hodges keenly avoided discussing the Confederate flag issue to enable him to keep the support of blacks while also attracting disaffected whites.
To tie in South Carolinians' dissatisfaction with education of the state and the Confederate flag issue, Kevin Geddings of the Hodges campaign created a series of ads featuring a character called "
Results
The general election was held on November 3, 1998 and Jim Hodges was decisively elected as the next
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Jim Hodges | 570,070 | 53.23 | +5.3 | |
| Republican | David Beasley (incumbent) | 484,088 | 45.21 | -5.2 | |
Libertarian
|
Timothy Moultrie | 14,894 | 1.4 | +1.4 | |
| No party | Write-Ins | 1,553 | 0.2 | 0.0 | |
| No party | Bobby Eubanks | 264 | 0.0 | 0.0 | |
| Majority | 85,982 | 8.0 | +5.5 | ||
| Turnout | 1,070,869 | 53.0 | -9.3 | ||
| Democratic gain from Republican | |||||
See also
- Governor of South Carolina
- List of governors of South Carolina
- South Carolina gubernatorial elections
External links
| Preceded by 1994
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South Carolina gubernatorial elections | Succeeded by 2002
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