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County results Barbour: 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% Musgrove: 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% | ||||||||||||||||||||
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Elections in Mississippi |
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The 2003 Mississippi gubernatorial election took place on November 4, 2003, to elect the governor of the U.S. state of Mississippi. Former Republican National Committee chairman Haley Barbour defeated incumbent Democrat Ronnie Musgrove by a margin of 6.78%.
As of 2024, the election remains the most expensive Mississippi gubernatorial election in state history, with over $18 million having been spent between Barbour and Musgrove. [1] An additional $5 million was spent by the Republican Governors Association, mostly on television advertising. Barbour's victory in the election made him only the second Republican governor of Mississippi since Reconstruction. [2] It was also the last time the governorships of Mississippi and neighboring Louisiana simultaneously flipped to the opposite political party as of 2024.
Musgrove was elected governor in 1999 after a very close election against Michael Parker. As neither candidate had obtained a majority in the election, Musgrove was chosen as governor by the Democratic controlled Mississippi House of Representatives. [2]
As governor, Musgrove had difficulties with the state's legislators. He vetoed the whole budget one year but was overridden by the legislature. However, Musgrove campaigned on having secured the largest pay raise for teachers in the state's history. [3]
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Ronnie Musgrove (incumbent) | 392,264 | 75.82 | |
Democratic | Gilbert Fountain | 39,685 | 7.67 | |
Democratic | Elder McClendon | 30,421 | 5.88 | |
Democratic | Katie Perrone | 28,154 | 5.44 | |
Democratic | Catherine M. Starr | 26,821 | 5.18 | |
Total votes | 517,345 | 100.00 |
Barbour, a former advisor in the White House during the presidency of Ronald Reagan and Chairman of the Republican National Committee from 1993 to 1996, announced that he would run for governor on February 17, 2003. He had previously failed to be elected to the U.S. Senate for Mississippi in 1982, and in 2002 he travelled the state for several months to gauge support for his gubernatorial bid. [5]
Steve Ballmer, President (1998-2000) and CEO (2000-2014) of Microsoft [6]
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Republican | Haley Barbour | 158,284 | 83.21 | |
Republican | Mitch Tyner | 31,768 | 16.70 | |
Republican | Write-ins | 171 | 0.09 | |
Total votes | 190,223 | 100.00 |
Musgrove campaigned as an independent and conservative candidate, downplaying his membership in the Democratic Party and avoiding inviting any national figures to support him. [3] He criticized Barbour for being a lobbyist for the tobacco and pharmaceutical industries. [8] A key message of Musgrove's campaign was that Barbour's support for free trade would cost jobs in Mississippi. [9]
Barbour attacked Musgrove for his flawed leadership of the state, blaming him for the state of the economy of Mississippi. [8] He was helped by the President, George W. Bush, who made three trips to the state to support Barbour. [2] Several other leading Republican figures came to Mississippi to support Barbour including Dick Cheney, Jeb Bush and Rudy Giuliani. [3]
A poll in October 2003 showed Barbour having a narrow lead, with 50% saying they would vote for him as against 45% for Musgrove. [3] However another poll at the beginning of November showed Musgrove with 42% against 41% for Barbour and both sides regarded turnout as key to the election. [9]
Exit polls showed that black voters made up a third of the vote and 94% of them backed Musgrove. However among white voters 77% backed Barbour and a quarter of voters who supported Musgrove in his first election in 1999 now backed Barbour. [10]
Source | Ranking | As of |
---|---|---|
Sabato [11] | Tossup | September 2, 2003 |
Candidate | Party | Popular vote | Electoral vote | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Votes | % | Votes | % | |||
Haley Barbour | Republican Party | 470,404 | 52.59 | 76 | 62.30 | |
Ronnie Musgrove (incumbent) | Democratic Party | 409,787 | 45.81 | 46 | 37.70 | |
John Cripps | Constitution Party | 6,317 | 0.71 | |||
Shawn O'Hara | Reform Party | 4,070 | 0.46 | |||
Sherman Lee Dillon | Green Party | 3,909 | 0.44 | |||
Total | 894,487 | 100.00 | 122 | 100.00 | ||
Source: Mississippi Secretary of State |
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.
Haley Reeves Barbour is an American attorney, politician, and lobbyist who served as the 63rd governor of Mississippi from 2004 to 2012. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as chairman of the Republican National Committee from 1993 to 1997.
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