1990 Michigan gubernatorial election

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.

1990 Michigan gubernatorial election

← 1986 November 6, 1990 1994 →

Nominee John Engler James Blanchard Party Republican Democratic Running mate Connie Binsfeld Olivia Maynard Popular vote 1,276,134 1,258,539 Percentage 49.8% 49.1%

County results Engler:      40-50%      50-60%      60-70%      70-80% Blanchard:      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%

Governor before election James Blanchard Democratic Elected Governor John Engler Republican

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 poll showed Engler trailing by 14 points, and the final Detroit Free Press poll showed Engler behind by 4 points.^[1] 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.^[2]

The voter turnout was 38.6%.^[3] 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 2024, this is the last Michigan gubernatorial election in which an 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.^[4] 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,^[5] 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.^[6]

Results

Michigan gubernatorial Democratic primary, 1990^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	James Blanchard (incumbent)	371,962	99.98
	Democratic	Write-ins	62	0.02
Total votes			372,024	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.^[8] Engler then chose state Sen. Connie Binsfeld as his running mate.

Michigan gubernatorial Republican primary, 1990^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	John Engler	409,747	86.59
	Republican	John Lauve	63,457	13.41
	Republican	Write-ins	19	0.00
Total votes			473,223	100.00

General election

Results

Michigan gubernatorial election, 1990

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	John Engler	1,276,134	49.76
	Democratic	James Blanchard (incumbent)	1,258,539	49.07
	Workers World	William Roundtree	28,091	1.10
	Write-ins		1,799	0.07
Majority
	Republican gain from Democratic

References

1. Nate Silver (November 6, 2014). "Why Polls Missed A Shocker In Virginia's Senate Race". FiveThirtyEight. Retrieved October 16, 2017.
2. John H. Wilson; Gary Ferguson; Linda DiVall. "Media Polling in Michigan: A Case for Stricter Standards" (PDF). The Public Perspective January/February 1991. Retrieved October 16, 2017.
3. "General Election Voter Registration/Turnout Statistics". State of Michigan official website.
4. Isabel Wilkerson (September 5, 1990). "Elderly Woman Is Off Ticket, And Michigan Politics Churns". The New York Times. Retrieved October 16, 2017.
5. Richard L. Berke (July 27, 1993). "Senate Democrats See Re-election Perils in '94". New York Times. Retrieved October 17, 2017.
6. William J. Eaton (September 29, 1993). "Riegle Is 3rd Keating Case Senator to Not Seek Office". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 17, 2017.
7. Michigan (1993). Michigan manual. 1991/1992 – via HathiTrust.
8. Associated Press (August 8, 1990). "YOUNG FALLS SHORT IN GEORGIA RUNOFF; KANSAS GOVERNOR SURVIVES SCARE". Desert News. Retrieved October 15, 2017.