1990 Michigan gubernatorial election

{{Infobox election

| election_name = 1990 Michigan gubernatorial election

| country = Michigan

| type = presidential

| ongoing = no

| previous_election = 1986 Michigan gubernatorial election

| previous_year = 1986

| next_election = 1994 Michigan gubernatorial election

| next_year = 1994

| election_date = November 6, 1990

| image1 = File:Vern Ehlers and John Engler (cropped).jpeg

| image_size = 150x150px

| nominee1 = John Engler

| party1 = Republican Party (United States)

| running_mate1 = Connie Binsfeld

| popular_vote1 = 1,276,134

| percentage1 = 49.8%

| image2 = File:James Blanchard (MI) (cropped).png

| nominee2 = James Blanchard

| party2 = Democratic Party (United States)

| running_mate2 = Olivia Maynard

| popular_vote2 = 1,258,539

| percentage2 = 49.1%

| map_image = 1990 Michigan gubernatorial election results map by county.svg

| map_size = 300px

| map_caption = County results
Engler: {{legend0|#ffb2b2|40-50%}} {{legend0|#e27f7f|50-60%}} {{legend0|#d75d5d|60-70%}} {{legend0|#d72f30|70-80%}}
Blanchard: {{legend0|#a5b0ff|40–50%}} {{legend0|#7996e2|50–60%}} {{legend0|#6674de|60–70%}}

| title = Governor

| before_election = James Blanchard

| before_party = Democratic Party (United States)

| after_election = John Engler

| after_party = Republican Party (United States)

}}

The 1990 Michigan gubernatorial election was held on November 6, 1990, to elect the Governor and Lieutenant Governor of the state of Michigan. John Engler, a member of the Republican Party and State Senate majority leader, was elected over Democratic Party nominee, incumbent governor James Blanchard, who was seeking his third term.

In what turned out to be one of the closest elections in recent Michigan history, Engler defeated Blanchard by less than 18,000 votes and a 0.7% margin. Engler's victory was considered a major upset and became infamous among pollsters. The final Detroit News poll showed Engler trailing by 14 points, and the final Detroit Free Press poll showed Engler behind by 4 points.{{cite web|author=Nate Silver|author-link=Nate Silver|date=November 6, 2014|title=Why Polls Missed A Shocker In Virginia’s Senate Race|url=https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/mark-warner-why-polls-missed-a-shocker-in-virginias-senate-race/|access-date=October 16, 2017|work=FiveThirtyEight}} A retrospective of the polling suggests the News poll may have had questions that favored Blanchard and too heavily incorporated the opinions of registered voters rather than likely voters, and thus failed to correctly gauge turnout.{{cite web |url=https://ropercenter.cornell.edu/public-perspective/ppscan/22/22028.pdf |title=Media Polling in Michigan: A Case for Stricter Standards |work=The Public Perspective January/February 1991 |author1=John H. Wilson |author2=Gary Ferguson |author3=Linda DiVall |access-date=October 16, 2017}}

The voter turnout was 38.6%.{{Cite web |url=http://michigan.gov/sos/0,4670,7-127-1633_8722-29616--,00.html |title=General Election Voter Registration/Turnout Statistics |publisher=State of Michigan official website }} This was the first time since 1974 and the last time until 2022 that the state elected a governor of the same party as the sitting president. As of {{CURRENTYEAR}}, this is the last Michigan gubernatorial election in which the incumbent was defeated.

Democratic primary

=Candidates=

James J. Blanchard, incumbent governor of Michigan

=Campaign=

James Blanchard, a two-term incumbent, won the Democratic primary unopposed. He created controversy in the summer 1990 with speculation that he might drop Lt. Gov. Martha Griffiths from the Democratic ticket. There was speculation that Blanchard was positioning to appoint himself to replace Sen. Donald W. Riegle Jr. should Riegle have to resign due to his involvement in the Keating Five scandal and being under investigation by the Senate Ethics Committee and wanted a younger running mate to take over as governor. After weeks of speculation, Griffiths, 78, offered to remove herself from the ticket and not formally seek the Democratic nomination for lieutenant governor at the Michigan Democratic Convention.{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/09/05/us/elderly-woman-is-off-ticket-and-michigan-politics-churns.html |title=Elderly Woman Is Off Ticket, And Michigan Politics Churns |author=Isabel Wilkerson |work=The New York Times |date=September 5, 1990 |access-date=October 16, 2017}} Olivia Maynard, who was the Director of the Michigan Office of Services to the Aging, was ultimately chosen as Blanchard's running mate.

Ultimately, Riegle survived the scandal but the scandal along with the unpopularity of President Bill Clinton,{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/07/27/us/senate-democrats-see-re-election-perils-in-94.html?pagewanted=all |title=Senate Democrats See Re-election Perils in '94 |author=Richard L. Berke |work=New York Times |date=July 27, 1993 |access-date=October 17, 2017}} led to Riegle announcing that he would not seek re-election and he left the Senate at the end of his term on January 3, 1995.{{cite web |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-09-29-mn-40330-story.html |title=Riegle Is 3rd Keating Case Senator to Not Seek Office |date=September 29, 1993 |access-date=October 17, 2017 |author=William J. Eaton |work=Los Angeles Times}}

=Results=

{{Election box begin no change|title=Michigan gubernatorial Democratic primary, 1990}}

{{Election box winning candidate with party link no change

|party = Democratic Party (United States)

|candidate = James Blanchard (incumbent)

|votes = 371962

|percentage = 99.98

}}

{{Election box candidate with party link no change

|party = Democratic Party (United States)

|candidate = Write-ins

|votes = 62

|percentage = 0.02

}}

{{Election box total no change

|votes = 372024

|percentage = 100.00

}}

Republican primary

=Candidates=

John Engler, Michigan Senate Majority Leader since 1984 and state senator from Mount Pleasant since 1979
John Lauve, retired General Motors engineer and perennial candidate

=Results=

State Senate Majority Leader John Engler faced nominal opposition in the primary, easily defeating retired General Motors engineer and perennial political candidate John Lauve.{{cite web |url=https://www.deseretnews.com/article/116325/YOUNG-FALLS-SHORT-IN-GEORGIA-RUNOFF-KANSAS-GOVERNOR-SURVIVES-SCARE.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171016175145/https://www.deseretnews.com/article/116325/YOUNG-FALLS-SHORT-IN-GEORGIA-RUNOFF-KANSAS-GOVERNOR-SURVIVES-SCARE.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=October 16, 2017 |title=YOUNG FALLS SHORT IN GEORGIA RUNOFF; KANSAS GOVERNOR SURVIVES SCARE |work=Desert News |author=Associated Press |date=August 8, 1990 |access-date=October 15, 2017}} Engler then chose state Sen. Connie Binsfeld as his running mate.

{{Election box begin no change|title=Michigan gubernatorial Republican primary, 1990{{cite book |last=Michigan |date=1993 |title=Michigan manual. 1991/1992. |via=HathiTrust |url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015071179389 |language=en }}}}

{{Election box winning candidate with party link no change

|party = Republican Party (United States)

|candidate = John Engler

|votes = 409747

|percentage = 86.59

}}

{{Election box candidate with party link no change

|party = Republican Party (United States)

|candidate = John Lauve

|votes = 63457

|percentage = 13.41

}}

{{Election box candidate with party link no change

|party = Republican Party (United States)

|candidate = Write-ins

|votes = 19

|percentage = 0.00

}}

{{Election box total no change

|votes = 473223

|percentage = 100.00

}}

General election

=Results=

{{Election box begin no change | title=Michigan gubernatorial election, 1990}}

{{Election box winning candidate with party link no change

|party = Republican Party (United States)

|candidate = John Engler

|votes = 1,276,134

|percentage = 49.76

}}

{{Election box candidate with party link no change|

|party = Democratic Party (United States)

|candidate = James Blanchard (incumbent)

|votes = 1,258,539

|percentage = 49.07

}}

{{Election box candidate with party link no change|

|party = Workers World Party

|candidate = William Roundtree

|votes = 28,091

|percentage = 1.10

}}

{{Election box candidate no change|

|party = Write-ins

|candidate =

|votes = 1799

|percentage = 0.07

}}

{{Election box majority no change

|votes =

|percentage =

}}

{{Election box gain with party link no change

| winner = Republican Party (United States)

| loser = Democratic Party (United States)

}}

References

Governor

1990

Michigan