The 1990 Michigan gubernatorial election was held on November 6, 1990, to elect the

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

and

Lieutenant Governor A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...

of the state of

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

John Engler John Mathias Engler (born October 12, 1948) is an American businessman and politician who served as the 46th Governor of Michigan from 1991 to 2003. A member of the Republican Party, he later worked for Business Roundtable, where '' The Hill'' ...

, a member of the

Republican Party Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party. Republican Party may also refer to: Africa *Republican Party (Liberia) * Republican Part ...

and

State Senate A state legislature in the United States is the legislative body of any of the 50 U.S. states. The formal name varies from state to state. In 27 states, the legislature is simply called the ''Legislature'' or the ''State Legislature'', whil ...

majority leader, was elected over

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

nominee, incumbent governor

James Blanchard James Johnston Blanchard (born August 8, 1942) is an American retired attorney, diplomat, and politician who served as the 45th governor of Michigan from 1983 to 1991. A member of the Democratic Party, Blanchard previously served in the United ...

, 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 17,000 votes and a 0.7% margin. Engler's victory was considered a major upset and became infamous among pollsters. The final ''

Detroit News ''The Detroit News'' is one of the two major newspapers in the U.S. city of Detroit, Michigan. The paper began in 1873, when it rented space in the rival ''Detroit Free Press'' building. ''The News'' absorbed the ''Detroit Tribune'' on Februar ...

'' poll showed Engler trailing by 14 points, and the final ''

Detroit Free Press The ''Detroit Free Press'' is the largest daily newspaper in Detroit, Michigan, US. The Sunday edition is titled the ''Sunday Free Press''. It is sometimes referred to as the Freep (reflected in the paper's web address, www.freep.com). It primari ...

'' poll showed Engler behind by 4 points. 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. The

voter turnout In political science, voter turnout is the participation rate (often defined as those who cast a ballot) of a given election. This can be the percentage of registered voters, eligible voters, or all voting-age people. According to Stanford Unive ...

was 38.6%. This was the last time until

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

that the state elected a governor of the same party as the sitting president.

Republican primary

State Senate Majority Leader John Engler faced nominal opposition in the primary, easily defeating retired

General Motors The General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and ...

engineer and perennial political candidate John Lauve. Engler then chose state Sen. Connie Binsfeld as his running mate.

Democratic primary

, 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 Martha Wright Griffiths (January 29, 1912 – April 22, 2003) was an American lawyer and judge before being elected to the United States House of Representatives in 1954. Griffiths was the first woman to serve on the House Committee on Ways and M ...

from the Democratic ticket. There was speculation that Blanchard was positioning to appoint himself to replace Sen.

Donald W. Riegle Jr. Donald Wayne Riegle Jr. (born February 4, 1938) is an American politician, author, and businessman from Michigan. He served for five terms as a Representative and for three terms as a Senator in the U.S. Congress. Early life and family Donald W ...

should Riegle have to resign due to his involvement in the

Keating Five File:AlanCranston.jpg, Alan Cranston (D-CA) File:Dennis DeConcini.jpg, File:John Glenn Low Res.jpg, John Glenn (D-OH) File:John McCain.jpg, John McCain (R-AZ) File:Riegle2.jpg, Donald Riegle (D-MI) The Keating Five were five United States Sen ...

scandal and being under investigation by the

Senate Ethics Committee The U.S. Senate Select Committee on Ethics is a select committee of the United States Senate charged with dealing with matters related to senatorial ethics. It is also commonly referred to as the Senate Ethics Committee. Senate rules require the ...

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. 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 William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and again f ...

, 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.

Results

References

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

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