1979 United States gubernatorial elections

1979 United States gubernatorial elections

←  1978 October 27, November 6, and December 8, 1979 1980  →
4 governorships 3 states; 1 territory
Majority party Minority party   Party Democratic Republican Seats before 32 18 Seats after 31 19 Seat change 1 1 Seats up 3 0 Seats won 2 1
Democratic hold   Republican gain

United States gubernatorial elections were held in the fall of 1979, in three states and one territory.

Republicans gained one gubernatorial seat in this year with Dave Treen's victory in Louisiana, who, as a result, became the first Republican Governor of that state since the Reconstruction era. Treen led a field of six major candidates in the October 27 primary and narrowly edged state senator Louis Lambert in the December 8 general election (or "runoff"). This was the first gubernatorial election in Louisiana's history that was conducted under the nonpartisan blanket primary (a.k.a. "jungle primary") format.

Democrats held control of the governor's mansions in Kentucky and Mississippi in the November 6 general elections.

Election results

State	Incumbent	Party	First elected	Result	Candidates
Kentucky [1]	Julian Carroll	Democratic	1974 [a]	Incumbent term-limited. New governor elected. Democratic hold.	Y John Y. Brown Jr. (Democratic) 59.41% Louie Nunn (Republican) 40.59%
Louisiana	Edwin Edwards	Democratic	1972	Incumbent term-limited. New governor elected. Republican gain.	Y Dave Treen (Republican) 21.79% (50.35% in Runoff) Louis Lambert (Democratic) 20.74% (49.65% in Runoff) Jimmy Fitzmorris (Democratic) 20.56% Paul Hardy (Democratic) 16.62% E. L. Henry (Democratic) 9.94 Edgar G. "Sonny" Mouton Jr. (Democratic) 9.103% L. D. Knox (Democratic) 0.46%
Mississippi	Cliff Finch	Democratic	1975	Incumbent term-limited. [2] New governor elected. Democratic hold.	Y William Winter (Democratic) 61.07% Gil Carmichael (Republican) 38.93%

Close states

States where the margin of victory was under 1%:

1. Louisiana, 0.7%

Kentucky

1979 Kentucky gubernatorial election

←  1975 November 6, 1979 1983  →
Turnout	54.3%
Nominee John Y. Brown Jr. Louie Nunn Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 558,008 381,278 Percentage 59.41% 40.59%
County results Congressional district results Brown:      50–60%     60–70%     70–80% Nunn:      50–60%     60–70%     70–80%
Governor before election Julian Carroll Democratic Elected Governor John Y. Brown Jr. Democratic

The 1979 Kentucky gubernatorial election was held on November 6, 1979. Democratic nominee John Y. Brown Jr. defeated Republican nominee Louie Nunn with 59.41% of the vote.

Louisiana

1979 Louisiana gubernatorial election

←  1975 October 27, 1979 (first round) December 8, 1979 (runoff) 1983  →

Candidate Dave Treen Louis Lambert Jimmy Fitzmorris Party Republican Democratic Democratic First round 297,674 21.79% 283,266 20.74% 280,760 20.56% Runoff 690,691 50.35% 681,134 49.65% Eliminated   Candidate Paul Hardy E. L. "Bubba" Henry Edgar G. "Sonny" Mouton, Jr. Party Democratic Democratic Democratic First round 227,026 16.62% 135,769 9.94% 124,333 9.1% Runoff Eliminated Eliminated Eliminated

First round parish results Runoff parish results Treen:     20–30%     30–40%     50–60%     60–70%     70–80% Lambert:     20–30%     30–40%     40–50%     50–60%     60–70%     70–80%     80–90% Fitzmorris:     20–30%     30–40%     40–50% Hardy:     20-30%     30-40%     40-50%     50-60% Henry:     20–30%     30–40%     40–50% Mouton:     40–50%

Governor before election Edwin Edwards Democratic Elected Governor Dave Treen Republican

The 1979 Louisiana gubernatorial election was held on December 8, 1979. Incumbent Governor Edwin Edwards was ineligible to run for a third term, making it the only gubernatorial election in Louisiana between 1972 and 1991 to not feature Edwards as a candidate. In the race to succeed him, Dave Treen narrowly defeated Louis Lambert to become the first Republican governor of Louisiana since the Reconstruction Era.

This was the first gubernatorial election held after the adoption of the Louisiana primary in 1978. ^[3] In the primary election held on October 27, Treen and Lambert finished first and second, respectively, to advance against a field of Democratic candidates including Lieutenant Governor Jimmy Fitzmorris, Secretary of State Paul Hardy, speaker of the Louisiana House E. L. Henry, and state senator Sonny Mouton.

Mississippi

1979 Mississippi gubernatorial election

←  1975 November 6, 1979 1983  →

Nominee William F. Winter Gil Carmichael Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 413,620 263,702 Percentage 61.1% 38.9%

County results Winter:     50-60%     60-70%     70-80%     80-90% Carmichael:     50-60%

Governor before election Cliff Finch Democratic Elected Governor William Winter Democratic

The 1979 Mississippi gubernatorial election took place on November 6, 1979, in order to elect the Governor of Mississippi. Incumbent Democrat Cliff Finch was term-limited, and could not run for reelection to a second term.

Notes

1. Carroll took office after his predecessor (Wendell Ford) resigned.

References

1. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on May 21, 2010. Retrieved May 23, 2010.
2. "Our Campaigns - MS Governor Race - Nov 07, 1979".
3. Wayne, Stephen (2008). Parties and Elections in America: The Electoral Process Fifth Edition. Rowman & Littlefield.