In 1998 Lungren ran as the Republican candidate for the governorship against Democratic Lieutenant Governor Gray Davis. Davis received 57.9% of the votes, while Lungren got 38.4%. During the campaign, Davis maintained that Lungren, who presented himself as the political heir to former California Governor and U.S. President Ronald Reagan, was too conservative for California. Davis also criticized Lungren's hesitancy, as California Attorney General, to enforce laws restricting assault weapons and his waiting until the last minute to become part of a class action lawsuit against the cigarette industry.