1998Flipped from RepublicanFinal results
1998 election for Iowa Governor
Governor · Iowa
Tom Vilsack (D) won with 52.9% of the vote, defeating James Lightfoot (R) by 5.9 points, a seat Republicans won last time.
Tom VilsackDemocrat · winner
52.9%500,231
James LightfootRepublican
47.1%444,787
945,018 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