1,814,180 1,028,839 Start date November 3, 1998 | 61.3% 34.8% | |
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Winner Arlen Specter | ||
The 1998 United States Senate election in Pennsylvania was held on November 3, 1998. Incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Arlen Specter won re-election to a fourth term.
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Democratic
Republican
Campaign
Leading up to this campaign, the state Democratic Party was in dire straits, as it was plagued by prior corruption allegations of several key legislators and by a lack of fund-raising. Just as in the accompanying gubernatorial race, the party had difficulty in finding a credible candidate. State Representative Bill Lloyd, who was a well-respected party leader but who had almost zero statewide name recognition, was considered to be a sacrificial lamb candidate. Specter ran a straightforward campaign and attempted to avoid mistakes, while Lloyd's bid was so underfunded that he was unable to air a single commercial until two weeks before the election. Lloyd's strategy was to portray Republicans as hyper-partisan in wake of their attempt to impeach President Bill Clinton, but he was unable to gain any traction with his message. On Election Day, Specter's win was by the second-largest margin in the history of Senate elections in Pennsylvania. He won in two counties: almost uniformly Democratic Philadelphia and his home county, rural and typically Republican Somerset County.