1998Flipped from RepublicanFinal results
1998 election for California Governor
Governor · California
Gray Davis (D) won with 60.2% of the vote, defeating Daniel E. Lungren (R) by 20.3 points, a seat Republicans won last time.
Gray DavisDemocrat · winner
60.2%4,860,702
Daniel E. LungrenRepublican
39.8%3,218,030
8,078,732 votes
Source: Algara, Carlos; Amlani, Sharif (Harvard Dataverse)Updated Oct 5, 2026, 12:23 AM ET
The seat over time
D − R margin in this seat's races around 1998
Races before and after
Source: Algara, Carlos; Amlani, Sharif (Harvard Dataverse)Updated Oct 5, 2026, 12:23 AM ET