1998 Connecticut Secretary of the State election
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November 3, 1998
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Bysiewicz: 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% Andrews: 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% | |||||||||||||||||
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The 1998 Connecticut Secretary of the State election took place on November 3, 1998, to elect the Secretary of the State of Connecticut. Incumbent Democrat Miles S. Rapoport did not seek re-election to a second term, instead opting to run for the open CT-01 seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Democratic nominee and state representative from the 100th district Susan Bysiewicz defeated Republican nominee Ben Andrews.
Candidates
Nominee
- Susan Bysiewicz, attorney and state representative from the 100th district (1993–1999)[1]
Eliminated in primary
- Ellen Scalettar, state representative from the 114th district (1993–1999)[2]
Convention
The Democratic statewide nominating convention was held on July 19, 1998.
The convention was a competitive race between two state representatives, Ellen Scalleter from the 114th district and Susan Bysiewicz from the 100th district. According to NYT, "Ms. Bysiewicz's aides swarmed the convention floor in headsets and sunny yellow T-shirts today, while Ms. Scalletar treated delegates to dessert and breakfast, ran a shuttle bus and decorated the area around the convention with bouquets of lilies and life-size cardboard cutouts of herself."[3]
Scaletter won the party's endorsement with 58% of the vote to Bysiewicz's 42%. Bysiewicz pledged to her supporters that she would continue her campaign into the primary race in September. After the convention, Scaletter met with Bysiewicz but failed to convince her to avoid a potentially expensive primary race.[3]
Results
The Democratic primary was held on September 18, 1998. Susan Bysiewicz narrowly defeated state party-endorsed Ellen Scaletter in an upset.[4]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Susan Bysiewicz | 51,435 | 51.91% | |
| Democratic | Ellen Scaletter * | 47,652 | 48.09% | |
| Total votes | 99,087 | 100.0% | ||
* Indicates party endorsement
Republican primary
Candidates
Nominee
- Ben Andrews, former president of the Connecticut chapter of the NAACP and candidate for state representative from the 1st district in 1978[6]
Third-party candidates and independent candidates
Libertarian Party
Nominee
- Kenneth F. Mosher
Write-in candidates
- Abraham 'Abe' Ziskis