1998 New York Attorney General election

The 1998 New York Attorney General election took place on November 3, 1998 along with 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. Democratic challenger Eliot Spitzer unseated one-term Republican incumbent Dennis Vacco in a major upset.

1998 New York Attorney General election

November 3, 1998

Nominee Eliot Spitzer Dennis Vacco Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 2,084,948 2,059,762 Percentage 48.2% 47.6%

Results by county Spitzer:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90% Vacco:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%

Attorney General before election Dennis Vacco Republican Elected Attorney General Eliot Spitzer Democratic

Democratic primary

Polling

Source	Date	Oliver Koppell	Catherine Abate	Eliot Spitzer	Evan Davis
Quinnipiac	February 26, 1998	7%	7%	2%	5%
Quinnipiac	July 16, 1998	16%	13%	18%	-

Statewide Results

New York Democratic Attorney General primary, 1998

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Eliot Spitzer	279,180	41.54%
	Democratic	Catherine Abate	186,626	27.77%
	Democratic	Gabriel Oliver Koppell	145,231	21.61%
	Democratic	Evan Davis	60,978	9.07%
		Blank – Void – Scattering			N/A
Majority			92,554	13.77%
Turnout			672,015	%

General election

Polling

Source	Date	Dennis Vacco (R)	Eliot Spitzer (D)
Quinnipiac	September 27, 1998	46%	37%
Quinnipiac	October 15, 1998	45%	33%
Quinnipiac	October 28, 1998	47%	34%

Results

General election results [1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Eliot Spitzer	2,084,948	48.20
	Republican	Dennis Vacco (incumbent)	2,059,762	47.62
	Independence	Catherine Abate	81,439	1.88
	Right to Life	Robert W. Dapelo	60,399	1.40
	Libertarian	Daniel A. Conti, Jr.	19,864	0.46
	Green	Johann L. Moore	18,984	0.44
Total votes			4,325,396	100.00
	Democratic gain from Republican

References

1. http://www.elections.ny.gov/NYSBOE/elections/1998/ATGENWEB.pdf

See also