1990 Michigan gubernatorial election

1990 Michigan gubernatorial election
← 1986 November 6, 1990 1994 →
	County results ; Engler: 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80%; Blanchard: 40–50% 50–60% 60–70%
Governor before election; James J. Blanchard; Democratic	Elected Governor ; John Engler; Republican

The 1990 Michigan gubernatorial election was held on November 6, 1990, to elect the Governor and Lieutenant Governor of the state of Michigan. State Senate Majority Leader John Engler, a member of the Republican Party, was elected over incumbent Democratic Governor James Blanchard, 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 less than 18,000 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 2026, this is the last Michigan gubernatorial election in which the incumbent was defeated.

Democratic primary

Candidates

James J. Blanchard, incumbent governor

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 lieutenant governor Martha Griffiths from the Democratic ticket. There was speculation that Blanchard was positioning to appoint himself to replace Donald W. Riegle Jr. in the United States Senate 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 P. 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 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

Democratic primary results^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	James J. Blanchard (inc.)	371,962	99.98%
	Democratic	Scattering	62	0.02%
Total votes			372,024	100.00%

Republican primary

Candidates

John Engler, majority leader of Michigan Senate
John Lauve, retired General Motors engineer and perennial candidate

Campaign

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.

Results

Republican primary results^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	John Engler	409,747	86.59%
	Republican	John Lauve	63,457	13.41%
	Republican	Scattering	19	0.00%
Total votes			473,223	100.00%

General election

Candidates

Major party candidates

James J. Blanchard & Olivia P. Maynard, Democratic
John Engler & Connie Binsfeld, Republican

Other candidates

William Roundtree & Brenda Kirby, Workers World

Results

1990 Michigan gubernatorial election^[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	John Engler	1,276,134	49.76%	+18.31%
	Democratic	James J. Blanchard (inc.)	1,258,539	49.07%	−19.03%
	Workers World	William Roundtree	28,091	1.10%
		Scattering	1,799	0.07%
Plurality			17,995	0.69%
Total votes			2,564,563	100.00%
	Republican gain from Democratic		Swing	+37.34%

Results by county

County^[9]	John Engler Republican		James J. Blanchard Democratic		William Roundtree Workers World		Scattering Write-in		Margin		Total votes cast
County^[9]	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	Total votes cast
Alcona	2,031	60.48%	1,313	39.10%	14	0.42%	0	0.00%	718	21.38%	3,358
Alger	1,700	48.15%	1,821	51.57%	10	0.28%	0	0.00%	-121	-3.43%	3,531
Allegan	16,342	66.65%	7,934	32.36%	205	0.84%	39	0.16%	8,408	34.29%	24,520
Alpena	4,333	49.75%	4,319	49.59%	58	0.67%	0	0.00%	14	0.16%	8,710
Antrim	3,572	56.42%	2,711	42.82%	48	0.76%	0	0.00%	861	13.60%	6,331
Arenac	1,937	45.37%	2,305	53.99%	25	0.59%	2	0.05%	-368	-8.62%	4,269
Baraga	1,298	52.11%	1,181	47.41%	12	0.48%	0	0.00%	117	4.70%	2,491
Barry	8,785	60.41%	5,567	38.28%	166	1.14%	25	0.17%	3,218	22.13%	14,543
Bay	14,886	42.82%	19,646	56.51%	214	0.62%	20	0.06%	-4,760	-13.69%	34,766
Benzie	2,305	54.22%	1,917	45.10%	27	0.64%	2	0.05%	388	9.13%	4,251
Berrien	24,019	63.47%	13,480	35.62%	344	0.91%	2	0.01%	10,539	27.85%	37,845
Branch	5,946	60.74%	3,778	38.59%	62	0.63%	3	0.03%	2,168	22.15%	9,789
Calhoun	18,819	51.99%	16,823	46.48%	539	1.49%	15	0.04%	1,996	5.51%	36,196
Cass	6,149	58.53%	4,308	41.01%	48	0.46%	0	0.00%	1,841	17.52%	10,505
Charlevoix	3,863	54.31%	3,109	43.71%	141	1.98%	0	0.00%	754	10.60%	7,113
Cheboygan	3,461	54.15%	2,895	45.29%	36	0.56%	0	0.00%	566	8.85%	6,392
Chippewa	4,442	49.50%	4,493	50.07%	39	0.43%	0	0.00%	-51	-0.57%	8,974
Clare	3,741	48.95%	3,765	49.27%	130	1.70%	6	0.08%	-24	-0.31%	7,642
Clinton	11,023	56.04%	8,412	42.77%	216	1.10%	18	0.09%	2,611	13.27%	19,669
Crawford	1,961	60.90%	1,197	37.17%	60	1.86%	2	0.06%	764	23.73%	3,220
Delta	5,155	43.42%	6,675	56.22%	41	0.35%	1	0.01%	-1,520	-12.80%	11,872
Dickinson	4,190	46.52%	4,803	53.33%	14	0.16%	0	0.00%	-613	-6.81%	9,007
Eaton	16,264	53.15%	13,818	45.16%	516	1.69%	0	0.00%	2,446	7.99%	30,598
Emmet	4,338	55.52%	3,343	42.78%	128	1.64%	5	0.06%	995	12.73%	7,814
Genesee	45,456	39.80%	67,057	58.71%	1,676	1.47%	34	0.03%	-21,601	-18.91%	114,223
Gladwin	3,097	48.56%	3,170	49.70%	109	1.71%	2	0.03%	-73	-1.14%	6,378
Gogebic	2,089	34.26%	3,989	65.41%	20	0.33%	0	0.00%	-1,900	-31.16%	6,098
Grand Traverse	12,344	58.77%	8,519	40.56%	142	0.68%	0	0.00%	3,825	18.21%	21,005
Gratiot	5,283	51.94%	4,799	47.18%	87	0.86%	2	0.02%	484	4.76%	10,171
Hillsdale	6,779	63.46%	3,823	35.79%	72	0.67%	9	0.08%	2,956	27.67%	10,683
Houghton	5,696	54.56%	4,686	44.89%	57	0.55%	1	0.01%	1,010	9.67%	10,440
Huron	6,365	56.96%	4,769	42.68%	39	0.35%	1	0.01%	1,596	14.28%	11,174
Ingham	34,878	41.90%	46,143	55.44%	2,068	2.48%	145	0.17%	-11,265	-13.53%	83,234
Ionia	8,721	56.18%	6,658	42.89%	122	0.79%	23	0.15%	2,063	13.29%	15,524
Iosco	4,258	51.34%	3,904	47.08%	130	1.57%	1	0.01%	354	4.27%	8,293
Iron	2,397	48.62%	2,512	50.95%	20	0.41%	1	0.02%	-115	-2.33%	4,930
Isabella	6,913	50.60%	6,541	47.87%	202	1.48%	7	0.05%	372	2.72%	13,663
Jackson	22,051	56.28%	16,702	42.63%	430	1.10%	0	0.00%	5,349	13.65%	39,183
Kalamazoo	30,431	50.44%	29,086	48.21%	812	1.35%	0	0.00%	1,345	2.23%	60,329
Kalkaska	2,289	60.80%	1,450	38.51%	26	0.69%	0	0.00%	839	22.28%	3,765
Kent	95,254	64.47%	50,060	33.88%	2,237	1.51%	196	0.13%	45,194	30.59%	147,747
Keweenaw	449	50.34%	442	49.55%	1	0.11%	0	0.00%	7	0.78%	892
Lake	1,385	48.17%	1,423	49.50%	66	2.30%	1	0.03%	-38	-1.32%	2,875
Lapeer	11,792	59.32%	7,639	38.43%	422	2.12%	25	0.13%	4,153	20.89%	19,878
Leelanau	3,757	58.53%	2,620	40.82%	29	0.45%	13	0.20%	1,137	17.71%	6,419
Lenawee	13,753	54.79%	11,239	44.77%	103	0.41%	7	0.03%	2,514	10.02%	25,102
Livingston	21,102	62.40%	12,162	35.96%	535	1.58%	21	0.06%	8,940	26.43%	33,820
Luce	1,053	51.29%	994	48.42%	6	0.29%	0	0.00%	59	2.87%	2,053
Mackinac	2,206	53.39%	1,901	46.01%	25	0.61%	0	0.00%	305	7.38%	4,132
Macomb	110,387	52.75%	96,088	45.91%	2,668	1.27%	141	0.07%	14,299	6.83%	209,284
Manistee	4,289	55.55%	3,386	43.85%	46	0.60%	0	0.00%	903	11.70%	7,721
Marquette	7,305	40.35%	10,676	58.97%	122	0.67%	0	0.00%	-3,371	-18.62%	18,103
Mason	5,138	55.82%	3,964	43.07%	99	1.08%	3	0.03%	1,174	12.76%	9,204
Mecosta	5,170	55.86%	4,019	43.43%	61	0.66%	5	0.05%	1,151	12.44%	9,255
Menominee	2,979	45.44%	3,559	54.29%	18	0.27%	0	0.00%	-580	-8.85%	6,556
Midland	13,087	49.94%	12,783	48.78%	317	1.21%	19	0.07%	304	1.16%	26,206
Missaukee	2,585	65.28%	1,306	32.98%	69	1.74%	0	0.00%	1,279	32.30%	3,960
Monroe	16,865	52.91%	14,811	46.47%	199	0.62%	0	0.00%	2,054	6.44%	31,875
Montcalm	8,036	57.29%	5,863	41.79%	114	0.81%	15	0.11%	2,173	15.49%	14,028
Montmorency	1,556	60.69%	997	38.88%	11	0.43%	0	0.00%	559	21.80%	2,564
Muskegon	21,519	49.16%	21,948	50.14%	288	0.66%	15	0.03%	-429	-0.98%	43,770
Newaygo	6,902	62.12%	4,120	37.08%	89	0.80%	0	0.00%	2,782	25.04%	11,111
Oakland	172,462	52.40%	153,429	46.62%	2,848	0.87%	373	0.11%	19,033	5.78%	329,112
Oceana	3,933	57.94%	2,794	41.16%	60	0.88%	1	0.01%	1,139	16.78%	6,788
Ogemaw	2,824	47.92%	2,981	50.59%	86	1.46%	2	0.03%	-157	-2.66%	5,893
Ontonagon	1,699	49.90%	1,687	49.54%	19	0.56%	0	0.00%	12	0.35%	3,405
Osceola	3,436	59.51%	2,299	39.82%	39	0.68%	0	0.00%	1,137	19.69%	5,774
Oscoda	1,361	60.84%	839	37.51%	37	1.65%	0	0.00%	522	23.33%	2,237
Otsego	3,241	56.83%	2,400	42.08%	62	1.09%	0	0.00%	841	14.75%	5,703
Ottawa	43,993	72.90%	15,888	26.33%	338	0.56%	125	0.21%	28,105	46.57%	60,344
Presque Isle	2,328	51.20%	2,168	47.68%	50	1.10%	1	0.02%	160	3.52%	4,547
Roscommon	3,891	52.43%	3,478	46.86%	53	0.71%	0	0.00%	413	5.56%	7,422
Saginaw	29,130	44.22%	36,036	54.70%	681	1.03%	31	0.05%	-6,906	-10.48%	65,878
Sanilac	7,778	61.90%	4,732	37.66%	55	0.44%	1	0.01%	3,046	24.24%	12,566
Schoolcraft	1,332	42.58%	1,786	57.10%	10	0.32%	0	0.00%	-454	-14.51%	3,128
Shiawassee	10,473	48.88%	10,751	50.17%	174	0.81%	30	0.14%	-278	-1.30%	21,428
St. Clair	22,858	58.33%	15,757	40.21%	558	1.42%	13	0.03%	7,101	18.12%	39,186
St. Joseph	8,661	61.19%	5,404	38.18%	87	0.61%	3	0.02%	3,257	23.01%	14,155
Tuscola	8,118	53.17%	7,046	46.15%	104	0.68%	0	0.00%	1,072	7.02%	15,268
Van Buren	9,827	57.10%	7,230	42.01%	143	0.83%	10	0.06%	2,597	15.09%	17,210
Washtenaw	32,942	42.29%	43,934	56.40%	913	1.17%	104	0.13%	-10,992	-14.11%	77,893
Wayne	175,344	35.81%	308,902	63.09%	5,098	1.04%	273	0.06%	-133,558	-27.28%	489,617
Wexford	4,327	54.39%	3,577	44.97%	46	0.58%	5	0.06%	750	9.43%	7,955
Total	1,276,134	49.76%	1,258,539	49.07%	28,091	1.10%	1,799	0.07%	17,595	0.69%	2,564,563

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

References

↑ Nate Silver (November 6, 2014). "Why Polls Missed A Shocker In Virginia's Senate Race". FiveThirtyEight. Archived from the original on November 7, 2014. Retrieved October 16, 2017.
↑ 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.
↑ "General Election Voter Registration/Turnout Statistics". State of Michigan official website.
↑ Isabel Wilkerson (September 5, 1990). "Elderly Woman Is Off Ticket, And Michigan Politics Churns". The New York Times. Retrieved October 16, 2017.
↑ Richard L. Berke (July 27, 1993). "Senate Democrats See Re-election Perils in '94". New York Times. Retrieved October 17, 2017.
↑ William J. Eaton (September 29, 1993). "Riegle Is 3rd Keating Case Senator to Not Seek Office". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 17, 2017.
1 2 "Official Canvass Votes, Primary Election, August 7, 1990". Michigan Manual 1991-1992. Lansing: Michigan Legislative Service Bureau. 1991. pp. 831–832. Retrieved June 14, 2026.
↑ Associated Press (August 8, 1990). "YOUNG FALLS SHORT IN GEORGIA RUNOFF; KANSAS GOVERNOR SURVIVES SCARE". Desert News. Archived from the original on October 16, 2017. Retrieved October 15, 2017.
1 2 "Official Canvass Votes, General Election, November 6, 1990". Michigan Manual 1991-1992. Lansing: Michigan Legislative Service Bureau. 1991. pp. 878–879. Retrieved June 14, 2026.

[FiveThirtyEight-1] Nate Silver (November 6, 2014). "Why Polls Missed A Shocker In Virginia's Senate Race". FiveThirtyEight. Archived from the original on November 7, 2014. 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.

[SOM-4670-3] "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.

[primary-7] 1 2 "Official Canvass Votes, Primary Election, August 7, 1990". Michigan Manual 1991-1992. Lansing: Michigan Legislative Service Bureau. 1991. pp. 831–832. Retrieved June 14, 2026.

[8] Associated Press (August 8, 1990). "YOUNG FALLS SHORT IN GEORGIA RUNOFF; KANSAS GOVERNOR SURVIVES SCARE". Desert News. Archived from the original on October 16, 2017. Retrieved October 15, 2017.

[general-9] 1 2 "Official Canvass Votes, General Election, November 6, 1990". Michigan Manual 1991-1992. Lansing: Michigan Legislative Service Bureau. 1991. pp. 878–879. Retrieved June 14, 2026.

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