1998 California State Board of Equalization election

1998 California State Board of Equalization elections
← 1994 November 3, 1998 2002 →
All 4 seats on the California State Board of Equalization

The 1998 California State Board of Equalization elections took place on November 3, 1998, to elect all four seats of the State Board of Equalization, with the primary election taking place on June 2, 1998.^[1]^[2]

Overview

California State Board of Equalization general election, 1998
Party		Candidates	Votes		Seats
Party		Candidates	No.	%	Before	After	+/–	%
	Democratic Party	4	3,974,343	55.8%	2	2		50.0%
	Republican Party	3	2,507,252	35.2%	2	2		50.0%
	Libertarian Party	3	509,288	7.1%	0	0		0.0%
	Peace and Freedom Party	2	75,012	1.1%	0	0		0.0%
	Green Party	1	58,480	0.8%	0	0		0.0%
Total		13	7,124,375	100.0%	4	4		100.0%

Popular vote

Democratic			55.8%
Republican			35.2%
Libertarian			7.1%
Peace and Freedom			1.1%
Green			0.8%

Board of Equalization seats

Democratic			50.0%
Republican			50.0%

Board of Equalization District	Incumbent		Elected officeholder
1st	Johan Klehs	Democratic	Johan Klehs	Democratic
2nd	Dean Andal	Republican	Dean Andal	Republican
3rd	Ernest J. Dronenburg, Jr.	Republican	Claude Parrish	Republican
4th	John Chiang	Democratic	John Chiang	Democratic

District 1

The incumbent was Democrat Johan Klehs, who was elected in 1994 with 51.5% of the vote. He was running for reelection.

Primary election

Results

1998 California State Board of Equalization District 1 Democratic primary^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Johan Klehs (incumbent)	965,504	100.0
Total votes			965,504	100.0

1998 California State Board of Equalization District 1 Libertarian primary^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Libertarian	Kennita Watson	277,398	100.0
Total votes			277,398	100.0

General election

Candidates

Johan Klehs (D), incumbent member of the Board of Equalization
Kennita Watson (L)

Results

California's 1st Board of Equalization district, 1998^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Johan Klehs (incumbent)	1,440,370	78.4
	Libertarian	Kennita Watson	396,346	21.6
Total votes			1,836,716	100.0
Invalid or blank votes			665,707	26.6
	Democratic hold

District 2

The incumbent was Republican Dean Andal, who was elected in 1994 with 54.1% of the vote. He was running for reelection.

Primary election

Results

1998 California State Board of Equalization District 2 Democratic primary^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Tom Y. Santos	295,718	50.2
	Democratic	Joseph F. Micallef	293,777	49.8
Total votes			589,495	100.0

1998 California State Board of Equalization District 2 Republican primary^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Dean Andal (incumbent)	745,686	100.0
Total votes			745,686	100.0

General election

Candidates

Dean Andal (R), incumbent member of the Board of Equalization
Tom Y. Santos (D)

Results

California's 2nd Board of Equalization district, 1998^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Dean Andal (incumbent)	1,041,933	55.2
	Democratic	Tom Y. Santos	845,533	44.8
Total votes			1,887,466	100.0
Invalid or blank votes			377,911	16.7
	Republican hold

District 3

The incumbent was Republican Ernest J. Dronenburg, Jr., who was elected in 1986, 1990, and 1994. He was ineligible for reelection.

Primary election

Results

1998 California State Board of Equalization District 3 Democratic primary^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Mary Christian-Heising	196,710	44.5
	Democratic	Mark A. Spiegler	171,270	38.8
	Democratic	Fred Clayton	73,645	16.7
Total votes			441,625	100.0

1998 California State Board of Equalization District 3 Republican primary^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Claude Parrish	246,965	33.1
	Republican	Craig A. Wilson	237,724	31.9
	Republican	Patrick James Leone	91,279	12.2
	Republican	Andy Schooler	71,404	9.6
	Republican	Hal J. Styles, Jr.	50,900	6.8
	Republican	Jim Stieringer	47,231	6.3
Total votes			745,503	100.0

1998 California State Board of Equalization District 3 Libertarian primary^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Libertarian	J.R. Graham	37,677	100.0
Total votes			37,677	100.0

1998 California State Board of Equalization District 3 Peace and Freedom primary^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Peace and Freedom	Maxine Bell Quirk	15,479	100.0
Total votes			15,479	100.0

General election

Candidates

Mary Christian-Heising (D)
J.R. Graham (L)
Claude Parrish (R)
Maxine Bell Quirk (P&F)

Results

California's 3rd Board of Equalization district, 1998^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Claude Parrish	1,028,148	53.1
	Democratic	Mary Christian-Heising	806,716	41.7
	Libertarian	J.R. Graham	71,428	3.7
	Peace and Freedom	Maxine Bell Quirk	29,908	1.5
Total votes			1,936,200	100.0
Invalid or blank votes			194,842	9.1
	Republican hold

District 4

The incumbent was Democrat John Chiang, who was appointed in 1997 to finish the term of Brad Sherman, who resigned following his election to the U.S. House of Representatives. Chiang was running for reelection.

Primary election

Results

1998 California State Board of Equalization District 4 Democratic primary^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	John Chiang	217,715	34.6
	Democratic	Jose Fernandez	150,020	23.8
	Democratic	Tyrone I. Vahedi	92,336	14.7
	Democratic	Craig 'Tax Freeze' Freis	65,256	10.4
	Democratic	Gregorio Alejandro Armanta	53,130	8.4
	Democratic	Gil Eisner	51,369	8.2
Total votes			629,826	100.0

1998 California State Board of Equalization District 4 Republican primary^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Joe H. Adams, Jr.	198,881	80.6
	Republican	Khalil Khalil	47,767	19.4
Total votes			246,648	100.0

1998 California State Board of Equalization District 4 Libertarian primary^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Libertarian	William R. Jennings	24,026	100.0
Total votes			24,026	100.0

1998 California State Board of Equalization District 4 Green primary^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Green	Glenn Trujillo Bailey	22,494	100.0
Total votes			22,494	100.0

1998 California State Board of Equalization District 4 Peace and Freedom primary^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Peace and Freedom	Shirley Rachel Isaacson	22,040	100.0
Total votes			22,040	100.0

General election

Candidates

Joe H. Adams, Jr. (R)
Glenn Trujillo Bailey (G)
John Chiang (D)
Shirley Rachel Isaacson (P&F)
William R. Jennings (L)

Results

California's 4th Board of Equalization district, 1998^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	John Chiang	881,724	60.2
	Republican	Joe H. Adams, Jr.	437,171	29.9
	Green	Glenn Trujillo Bailey	58,480	4.0
	Peace and Freedom	Shirley Rachel Isaacson	45,104	3.1
	Libertarian	William R. Jennings	41,514	2.8
Total votes			1,463,993	100.0
Invalid or blank votes			194,842	11.7
	Democratic hold

References

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 "June 2, 1998, Primary Election - Member, Board of Equalization" (PDF). Secretary of State of California. Retrieved January 8, 2026.
1 2 3 4 5 "November 3, 1998, General Election - Member, Board of Equalization" (PDF). Secretary of State of California. Retrieved January 8, 2026.

[Primary-1] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 "June 2, 1998, Primary Election - Member, Board of Equalization" (PDF). Secretary of State of California. Retrieved January 8, 2026.

[General-2] 1 2 3 4 5 "November 3, 1998, General Election - Member, Board of Equalization" (PDF). Secretary of State of California. Retrieved January 8, 2026.

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