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 Republican U.S. Senator Ben Nighthorse Campbell won re-election to a second term. As of 2021, this is the last time the Republicans have won the Class 3 Senate Seat from Colorado.

1998 United States Senate election in Colorado

November 3, 1998

Nominee Ben Nighthorse Campbell Dottie Lamm Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 829,370 464,754 Percentage 62.5% 35.0%

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

Democratic primary

Candidates

• Dottie Lamm, former First Lady of Colorado
• Gil Romero

Results

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

Candidates

• Ben Nighthorse Campbell, incumbent U.S. Senator
• Bill Eggert, 1994 Republican congressional candidate

Results

Republican primary results[2]

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

Candidates

• Ben Nighthorse Campbell (R), incumbent U.S. Senator
• Dottie Lamm, former First Lady of Colorado

Campaign

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.[3][4] In fact, throughout the entire campaign, Lamm mostly sent out negative attack advertisements about Campbell.[5]

Results

General election[6]

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%
style="background-color: CC0C2F; width: 5px;" |	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

• 1998 United States Senate elections

References

1. http://www.sos.state.co.us/pubs/elections/ElectionArchives/1998/Primary/1998UnitedStatesSenateResults.pdf%5B%5D
2. http://www.sos.state.co.us/pubs/elections/ElectionArchives/1998/Primary/1998UnitedStatesSenateResults.pdf%5B%5D
3. HighBeam
4. http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=RM&p_theme=rm&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EB4EC77EDB1FBFF&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM
5. http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=DP&p_theme=dp&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EAF44FB039DE599&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM
6. http://clerk.house.gov/member_info/electionInfo/1998/98Stat.htm