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 County results Fordice: 50-60% 60-70% 70-80% Molpus: 50-60% 60-70% 70-80% 80-90% Tie: 50-60% | |||||||||||||||||
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| Elections in Mississippi |
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The 1995 Mississippi gubernatorial election took place on November 7, 1995 to elect the Governor of Mississippi. Incumbent Republican Kirk Fordice won reelection to a second term. This is the last time that a gubernatorial nominee and a lieutenant gubernatorial nominee of different political parties were elected governor and lieutenant governor in Mississippi.
In 1993, John Grisham, a novelist and former state legislator, helped Molpus raise over $200,000. [1] Mississippi Secretary of State Dick Molpus won the Democratic primary, defeating business consultant and 1991 independent candidate Shawn O'Hara.
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Dick Molpus | 396,816 | 77.10 | |
| Democratic | Shawn O'Hara | 117,833 | 22.90 | |
| Total votes | 514,649 | 100.00 | ||
Incumbent Governor Kirk Fordice won the Republican primary, defeating two minor candidates.
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Kirk Fordice (incumbent) | 117,907 | 93.74 | |
| Republican | George "Wagon Wheel" Blair | 4,919 | 3.91 | |
| Republican | Richard O'Hara | 2,956 | 2.35 | |
| Total votes | 125,782 | 100.00 | ||
Molpus sought to prevail with a coalition of blacks, white progressives, and possibly white blue collar workers. [4] By the 1990s, Mississippi's politics were trending in an increasingly conservative direction and the interest in reform initiated by Winter's administration was fading. [5] Fordice's position was bolstered by the improving economic and fiscal situation of the state in the 1990s, and early polls indicated that he had a large lead. [6] Since both men faced minimal opposition for their party's nominations, they were able to concentrate their rhetoric on each other early in their campaigns. [7] Anticipating that Molpus would campaign on education improvements, Fordice proposed a conservative education plan [8] which entailed allowing local school districts to fund private schools with state funds. [9] Molpus argued that such a scheme would undermine public schools. [6] [8]
Both candidates proposed tax cuts, though through different means. Molpus suggested reducing the state sales tax on food from 7 percent to 3.5 percent with a corresponding cut of 1.5 percent in overall government expenditures, saying that such a scale-back would encourage legislators to maximize government efficiency. [10] Fordice, who favored an income tax reduction, accused Molpus of flip-flopping, since Molpus had supported a sales tax increase in 1992. [11] Both men supported bond issues to finance economic development efforts, though Molpus accused Fordice of employing general obligation bonds in a "helter-skelter and out of focus" manner that created too much debt. [10] Molpus stated he would create a new statewide bonding program with "a clearer, long-term vision". [10]
The campaign was marked by personal animosity between Molpus and Fordice. [6] Early in the contest Molpus stated that he had "irreconcilable differences" with Fordice's policy positions. Fordice had used the same phrase to describe marriage troubles with his wife, Pat, in 1993. At a joint appearance before business conference in April, Fordice brought his wife on stage to defend their marriage and accused Molpus of taking "thinly-veiled cheap shot" against their relationship. [7] Molpus maintained that his words had been misunderstood, but the media widely reported the exchange. [7] Fordice also demanded that Molpus resign from his office, since the secretary of state was responsible for overseeing elections and thus had a possible conflict of interest in doing so while running for another state office. Molpus refused, calling the solicitation "ridiculous". [12]
Both men participated in the first-ever political debate held at the Neshoba County Fair in August. [13] A bitter exchange occurred after the moderator questioned Fordice about his troubled marriage, with Fordice answering in defense of himself while pointing his finger at Molpus. Molpus said to the governor, "Your private life doesn't interest me ... Your public life is what appalls me," causing the crowd to go into uproar. [14] In reference to the 1964 Mississippi Burning murders, Fordice said, "I'll tell you this. I don't believe we need to keep running this state by Mississippi Burning and apologizing for what happened 30 years ago. This is the '90s. This is now. We are on a roll. We've got the best race relations in the United States of America." [15] He finished his remarks by saying, "Never apologize! Never look back! Forward together!" [16] Molpus responded by referring to his 1989 speech, "I apologized to the family, the mother and father and sisters of those three young men who lost their life in Mississippi. I make no apologies to you about that... Kirk Fordice leads more by venom than vision." [15] In a subsequent interview, he accused the governor of being "openly antagonistic to blacks." [16]
In October Molpus' campaign ran a television advertisement featuring his wife criticizing Fordice's education policies. Fordice subsequently mocked her voice at a lunch with journalists. Molpus denounced Fordice's mimicry, saying "Frankly, I'd like to take him out behind the woodshed." [17] Several days later, Fordice approached Molpus after a televised appearance and told him, "This 61-year-old man will take you to the woodshed and I'll whip your ass". [18] Molpus hoped to leverage the incident to his advantage by appealing to more women voters, [6] presenting himself as a gentleman acting in defense of his wife's honor. A poll conducted by Mason-Dixon Political/Media Research in late October showed the margins of support between the two candidates narrowing, with Molpus having picked up additional support from women. [17]
Fordice won the November 7, earning 455,261 votes (55.6 percent) to Molpus' 364,210 votes (44.4 percent). [19] Molpus received about 25,000 more votes than Democrat Mabus had in 1991. He garnered less than 20 percent of the white vote while Fordice won fifty-one of the fifty-eight majority white counties, [18] [20] while Molpus won twenty-one of the state's twenty-four majority black counties. [20] His campaign manager suggested that white voters wanted to "punish" him for his 1989 comments on the Mississippi Burning murders. [21] Molpus' supporters accused Fordice of prevailing due to the use of racist dog whistles, a charge which the governor's backers disputed. [20]
Fordice spent $3.16 million during the campaign while Molpus spent $2.38 million. [22]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Kirk Fordice (incumbent) | 455,261 | 55.56% | |
| Democratic | Dick Molpus | 364,210 | 44.44% | |
| Total votes | 819,471 | 100.00 | ||
| Republican hold | ||||
David Ronald Musgrove is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 62nd governor of Mississippi from 2000 to 2004. A Democrat, he previously served as the 29th lieutenant governor of Mississippi from 1996 to 2000. He was the Democratic nominee in the 2008 special election for one of Mississippi's seats in the United States Senate, losing to incumbent Senator Roger Wicker. Musgrove is a principal at a public affairs consulting firm, Politics. In 2014, he became founding partner of a new law firm in Jackson, Mississippi, Musgrove/Smith Law. As of 2024, he is the most recent Democrat to hold the office of Governor of Mississippi.
Daniel Kirkwood "Kirk" Fordice Jr. was an American politician and businessman who served as the 61st governor of Mississippi from 1992 to 2000. He was the first Republican governor of the state since Reconstruction, and the state's first governor elected to two consecutive four-year terms.
Raymond Edwin Mabus Jr. is an American politician and lawyer. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 75th United States Secretary of the Navy from 2009 to 2017. Mabus previously served as the State auditor of Mississippi from 1984 to 1988, as the 60th governor of Mississippi from 1988 to 1992, and as the United States ambassador to Saudi Arabia from 1994 to 1996.
William Aloysius Allain was an American politician and lawyer who held office as the 59th governor of Mississippi as a Democrat from 1984 to 1988. Born in Adams County, Mississippi, he attended the University of Notre Dame and received a law degree from the University of Mississippi School of Law in 1948.
Richard Henderson Molpus Jr. is an American businessman and Democratic Party politician who served as Secretary of State of Mississippi from 1984 until 1996. He unsuccessfully ran for governor in 1995 against Republican incumbent Kirk Fordice. He later established a timberland management company. Throughout his public life he has pushed for reforms to support public education and promote racial reconciliation.
William Lowe Waller Sr. was an American politician and attorney. A Democrat, Waller served as the 56th governor of Mississippi from 1972 to 1976. Born near Oxford, Mississippi to a farming family, Waller went to law school and in 1950 established a law practice in Jackson. Nine years later, he was elected District Attorney of Hinds County, Mississippi. Waller attempted to reform the position and provoked the ire of local law enforcement for aggressively prosecuting several cases. In 1964, he twice prosecuted Byron De La Beckwith for the murder of civil rights activist Medgar Evers, with both trials resulting in deadlocked juries. In 1967, he launched an unsuccessful campaign for governor, finishing fifth in the Democratic primary.
Rubel Lex Phillips was an American politician and lawyer. He grew up poor in Alcorn County, Mississippi, and graduated from the University of Mississippi School of Law. Hailing from a politically active family and initially a member of the Democratic Party, he served as a circuit court clerk from 1952 to 1956 and chaired the Mississippi Public Service Commission from 1956 to 1958. In 1962 Phillips joined the Republican Party. He ran as a Republican in the 1963 Mississippi gubernatorial election, the first person to do so since 1947. Supporting a platform of racial segregation and opposition to the presidential administration of John F. Kennedy, he lost, garnering only 38 percent of the vote.
William Forrest Winter was an American attorney and politician who served as 58th governor of Mississippi from 1980 to 1984. A member of the Democratic Party, he also served as the lieutenant governor, state treasurer, state tax collector, and in the Mississippi House of Representatives.
Bradford Johnson Dye Jr. was an American politician and lawyer who served as the 27th Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi from 1980 until 1992. Dye was the only individual in state history to have served as lieutenant governor for 12 consecutive years.
Michael Cameron Moore is an American attorney and politician. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the Attorney General of Mississippi from 1988 to 2004.
Aaron Henry was an American civil rights leader, politician, and head of the Mississippi branch of the NAACP. He was one of the founders of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party which tried to seat their delegation at the 1964 Democratic National Convention.
Charles Wayne Dowdy is an American politician, lawyer and jurist from Mississippi. He was first elected in a 1981 special election and served four terms in the United States House of Representatives from 1981 to 1989. He later served as chairman of the Mississippi Democratic Party.
The Mississippi Democratic Party is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in the state of Mississippi. The party headquarters is located in Jackson, Mississippi.
John Arthur Eaves Jr. is an American attorney and politician. He was the unsuccessful Democratic Party nominee in the 2007 general election for Governor of Mississippi.
Patrick Hayes "Pete" Johnson Jr. is an American politician and lawyer who served as State Auditor of Mississippi from 1988 to 1992. Originally a Democrat, he joined the Republican Party in 1989, thus becoming the first Republican to hold statewide office in Mississippi since the Reconstruction era. He mounted an unsuccessful campaign for governor in 1991. He served as Federal Co-Chairman of the Delta Regional Authority from 2002 to 2011.
Jack Raymond Reed Sr. was an American businessman and politician. Born in Tupelo, Mississippi, he served in the United States Army during World War II and earned degrees from Vanderbilt University and New York University before returning home to help run his family's retail business. He later assumed control over their department store after his father's death in 1956. Active in local civic affairs, he chaired the Mississippi Economic Council from 1963 to 1964 and became a vocal proponent for public education. Appointed to the Mississippi Board of Education in 1984, he chaired the body until he decided to run for the office of governor of Mississippi in 1987 as a moderate Republican. Reed lost the general election but performed better than any Republican gubernatorial candidate had in Mississippi in the 20th century to that point. In his later life he continued to advocate for public education. He died in 2016.
Eddie Jerome Briggs is an American politician and lawyer. After service in the Mississippi State Senate, Briggs was the 28th Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi, a position which he held from 1992 to 1996. He was the first Republican to have held the office of lieutenant governor of Mississippi since Reconstruction.
The 1991 Mississippi gubernatorial election took place on November 5, 1991 to elect the Governor of Mississippi. Incumbent Democrat Ray Mabus unsuccessfully ran for reelection to a second term. This election marked the first time a Republican was elected Governor of Mississippi since Reconstruction, when Adelbert Ames won the office in 1873.
Gilbert Ellzey Carmichael was an American businessman and politician. Born in Columbia, Mississippi, he attended Texas A&M University and served in the United States Coast Guard during the Korean War, earning a Silver Lifesaving Medal for helping rescue crewmen from a sinking tanker. In June 1950 Carmichael was hired by the Dow Jones & Company to sell its newspaper, The Wall Street Journal. After eight years, he joined a friend in distributing cars in Shreveport, Louisiana. He later became a partner in a car dealership in Meridian, Mississippi, before taking over the business. A member of the Republican Party, he became involved in politics in the 1960s, making two unsuccessful bids for a seat in the Mississippi State Legislature. Carmichael also ran for a U.S. Senate seat in 1972 and in 1975 ran for the office of Governor of Mississippi, the first serious Republican contender for the post in decades. He lost a narrow race and made another unsuccessful bid in 1979. He also launched an unsuccessful independent campaign in 1983 to be elected Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi. From the 1970s to the 1990s he served on various national transportation advisory boards. He died in 2016.
Steven A. Patterson is an American lawyer and politician who served as State Auditor of Mississippi from 1992 to 1996. A Democrat, he worked on several political campaigns in the 1970s and served as treasurer for Bill Allain's 1983 gubernatorial campaign. With Allain's backing, Patterson assumed the chairmanship of the Mississippi Democratic Party, which he held until 1987.
