1987 United States gubernatorial elections

1987 United States gubernatorial elections

←  1986 October 24 and November 3, 1987 1988  →
4 governorships 3 states; 1 territory
Majority party Minority party   Party Democratic Republican Seats before 26 24 Seats after 26 24 Seat change Seats up 3 0 Seats won 3 0
Democratic hold

United States gubernatorial elections were held on November 3, 1987, in three states and one territory. Democrats retained all three seats up for election; although three new people were elected governor.

This is also the last time Louisiana, Kentucky and Mississippi all elected governors of the same party.

Election results

State	Incumbent	Party	First elected	Result	Candidates
Kentucky	Martha Layne Collins	Democratic	1983	Incumbent term-limited. New governor elected. Democratic hold.	Y Wallace Wilkinson (Democratic) 64.5% John Harper (Republican) 34.9%
Louisiana	Edwin Edwards	Democratic	1972 1979 (term-limited) 1983	Incumbent lost re-election and withdrew from advanced runoff. New governor elected. Democratic hold.	Y Buddy Roemer (Democratic) 33.2% Edwin Edwards (Democratic) 27.9% Bob Livingston (Republican) 18.5% Billy Tauzin (Democratic) 9.9% Jim Brown (Democratic) 8.9% Speedy Long (Democratic) 1.2%
Mississippi	William Allain	Democratic	1983	Incumbent term-limited. New governor elected. Democratic hold.	Y Ray Mabus (Democratic) 53.4% Jack Reed (Republican) 46.6%

Close states

States where the margin of victory was under 10%:

1. Louisiana, 5.3%
2. Mississippi, 6.8%