The 1990 Ohio gubernatorial election was held on November 6, 1990. Incumbent Democratic governor Dick Celeste was unable to run for a third consecutive term due to term limits. Former

mayor of Cleveland The mayor of Cleveland is the head of the executive branch of Local government in the United States, government of the Cleveland, City of Cleveland, Ohio. As the chief executive in Cleveland's Mayor–council government#Strong-mayor government fo ...

George Voinovich George Victor Voinovich (July 15, 1936June 12, 2016) was an American politician who served as a United States senator from Ohio from 1999 to 2011, the 65th governor of Ohio from 1991 to 1998 and the 54th mayor of Cleveland from 1980 to 1989, th ...

, who also ran for the United States Senate in

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

, was uncontested for the Republican nomination, while

Ohio Attorney General The Ohio Attorney General is the chief legal officer of the U.S. state, State of Ohio in the United States. The office is filled by general election, held every four years. The Ohio Attorney General is Republican Dave Yost. History The office ...

Anthony J. Celebrezze Jr. Anthony Joseph "Tony" Celebrezze Jr. (September 8, 1941 – July 4, 2003) was an American politician of the Democratic party, who served as Ohio Attorney General, Ohio Secretary of State and an Ohio State Senator. He was the son of Antho ...

emerged from the Democratic primary. In the end, Voinovich was able to defeat Celebrezze by a fairly wide margin, winning his first term in office. Abortion was a key issue of the election. Celebrezze switched from his lifelong

anti-abortion Anti-abortion movements, also self-styled as pro-life or abolitionist movements, are involved in the abortion debate advocating against the practice of abortion and its legality. Many anti-abortion movements began as countermovements in respons ...

position to a pro-choice position nine days before declaring his candidacy. Assuming that this would help him in a mostly pro-choice state, he raised the issue frequently. Because of this, the topic of abortion made the news. This allowed Voinovich to have an issue to criticize Celebrezze's integrity, contributing to Voinovich's win.

Democratic primary

Candidates

, Attorney General of Ohio * Michael Hugh Lord, businessman

Results

Republican primary

Candidates

, former

, former lieutenant governor and nominee for the U.S. Senate in

Results

General election

Results

References

{{United States elections, 1990 Gubernatorial

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 ...

Ohio