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County Results O'Bannon: 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% ContentsGoldsmith: 40–50% 50–60% 60–70% | ||||||||||||||||||||
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The 1996 Indiana gubernatorial Election was held on November 5, 1996, alongside the election of both houses of the Indiana General Assembly. Incumbent Governor Evan Bayh, a Democrat, was ineligible to run for a third consecutive term due to term limits set in place by the Indiana Constitution. He was succeeded by Lt. Governor Frank O'Bannon, who won election over Republican Stephen Goldsmith with 52% of the vote.
The Indiana General Assembly is the state legislature, or legislative branch, of the state of Indiana. It is a bicameral legislature that consists of a lower house, the Indiana House of Representatives, and an upper house, the Indiana Senate. The General Assembly meets annually at the Indiana Statehouse in Indianapolis.
Birch Evans Bayh III is an American lawyer, lobbyist, and politician of the Democratic Party who served as the junior United States Senator from Indiana from 1999 to 2011 and the 46th Governor of Indiana from 1989 to 1997.
The Democratic Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. Tracing its heritage back to Thomas Jefferson and James Madison's Democratic-Republican Party, the modern-day Democratic Party was founded around 1828 by supporters of Andrew Jackson, making it the world's oldest active political party.
Candidates
O'Bannon was unchallenged in his party's primary, winning the Democratic nomination unanimously. He chose South Bend Mayor Joe Kernan to be his running mate.
Candidates
Stephen "Steve" Goldsmith is an American politician and writer who was the 46th mayor of Indianapolis. He also served as the Deputy Mayor of New York City for Operations, stepping down effective August 4, 2011. He is currently the Daniel Paul Professor of Government, Director of Innovations in Government Program, and Director of Data-Smart City Solutions at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
Declined
James Danforth Quayle is an American politician and lawyer who served as the 44th vice president of the United States from 1989 to 1993. Quayle was also a U.S. representative from 1977 to 1981 and was a U.S. senator from 1981 to 1989 for the state of Indiana.
With Governor Evan Bayh unable to seek another term in office, Indiana Republicans felt confident in their ability to take the Governor's Mansion in the general election. Of the three candidates for the nomination, the front-runner by far was Indianapolis Mayor Stephen Goldsmith. Goldsmith was by far the favorite for the nomination throughout the race, in some polls leading by as much as 20 points. [1] The race was particularly heated: Indiana Republican Party Chairman Michael McDaniel, hoping to avoid alienating any voters, declined to endorse a candidate, instead hanging a Swiss flag in his office to symbolize his neutrality. [1] Goldsmith easily won the primary and soon after chose Witwer as his running mate.
The flag of Switzerland displays a white cross in the centre of a square red field. The white cross is known as the Swiss cross. Its arms are equilateral, and their ratio of length to width is 7:6. The size of the cross in relation to the field was set in 2017 as 5:8.
Candidates
The Libertarian Party nominated Steve Dillon as their second candidate to contest the Indiana governorship.
The only Great Lakes state to have a Democratic Governor going into the 1996 elections, Indiana became the center of the Republican Party's attention in that year's gubernatorial elections. A traditionally Republican state, Goldsmith and his party were considered to have the edge in the election. That changed, however, when questions about Goldsmith's performance as Mayor of Indianapolis surfaced, specifically regarding an August 27 brawl in the city involving several drunken policemen. Goldsmith's campaign was further hurt when it was revealed that several comments made about O'Bannon's record as part of the Indiana state government had been statistically incorrect. The effect of these gaffes was to erase the double digit lead Goldsmith had enjoyed throughout the summer, leaving him narrowly trailing O'Bannon. [2] O'Bannon, meanwhile, was able to take credit for a thriving economy and a recent tax surplus that had occurred during Bayh's administration. The Democrat centered his campaign on his record in the Indiana State Senate, simultaneously attacking Goldsmith for controversial decisions made during his tenure as Mayor of Indianapolis. By running what was later described as a "steady" campaign, O'Bannon was able to refute many of the charges Goldsmith brought against him while keeping the pressure on. Even so, the race remained tight down to election night, and Goldsmith reportedly settled in on November 5 expecting to be elected. [3]
O'Bannon won the election narrowly, carrying 52% of the vote to Goldsmith's 47%.
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Frank O'Bannon | 1,087,128 | 51.52 | |
Republican | Stephen Goldsmith | 986,982 | 46.78 | |
Libertarian | Steve Dillon | 35,805 | 1.70 |
Frank Lewis O'Bannon was an American politician who served as the 47th Governor of Indiana from 1997 until his death in 2003.
Julia May Carson, born Julia May Porter, was a member of the United States House of Representatives for Indiana's 7th congressional district from 1997 until her death in 2007. Carson was the first woman and first African American to represent the 7th District. She was also the second African American woman elected to Congress from Indiana, after Katie Hall.
Barton "Bart" R. Peterson is an American lawyer and politician who served as mayor of the U.S city of Indianapolis, Indiana. He is a past president of the National League of Cities. A Democrat first elected in 1999, he was defeated in 2007 in a bid for a third term in what was widely viewed as a huge upset.
The Democratic Party of Indiana is the affiliate of the U.S. Democratic Party in the U.S. state of Indiana.
The Indiana gubernatorial election of 2008 was held on November 4, 2008. Incumbent Republican nominee Mitch Daniels was challenged by Democratic nominee Jill Long Thompson and Libertarian nominee Andy Horning. Daniels easily won reelection, defeating Long Thompson by over 17 points.
W. Wayne Townsend was an American politician from the U.S. state of Indiana. A Democrat, he was his party's gubernatorial nominee in 1984. Townsend was defeated by the incumbent Republican Governor Robert D. Orr in a year in which Indiana joined forty-eight other states in reelecting the Reagan-Bush ticket.
Indiana's 7th congressional district special election of 2008 took place March 11, 2008 to fill the seat in the United States House of Representatives left vacant by the death of 7th district representative Julia Carson (D) on December 15, 2007. The election determined who would fill the vacancy for the rest of the 110th United States Congress. Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels set the date for the special election. Both political parties had previously agreed to this date. Democrat André Carson won the election with an 18.17% voter turnout.
The 2004 Indiana gubernatorial election took place on November 2, 2004, to elect the Governor of Indiana.
The 2000 Indiana gubernatorial election was held on November 7, 2000. Incumbent Governor Frank O'Bannon, a Democrat, was re-elected over Republican David M. McIntosh with 57% of the vote. Libertarian Andrew Horning also ran and received 2% of the vote. O'Bannon's victory was the fourth consecutive election in which a Democrat was elected Governor of Indiana, the longest winning streak for that party in the state since the Civil War. As of 2019, this is the most recent election in which a Democrat was elected Governor of Indiana.
United States gubernatorial elections were held in 12 states and two territories. Of the eight Democratic and four Republican seats contested, only that of North Carolina changed party hands, giving the Republicans a net gain of one governorship. These elections coincided with the presidential election on November 6, 2012.
John Richard Gregg is an American businessman, attorney, author, and politician from Indiana. He was a state representative in the Indiana House of Representatives from 1986 to 2003, serving as Majority Leader from 1990 to 1994, Minority Leader for a term, and as the 85th and longest-serving Democratic Speaker of the Indiana House from 1996 to 2003.
The 2012 Indiana gubernatorial election took place on November 6, 2012. Incumbent governor Mitch Daniels was term-limited and unable to seek a third term. The Republican candidate, Congressman Mike Pence; the Democratic candidate, former Speaker of the Indiana House of Representatives John R. Gregg; and the Libertarian candidate, youth mentor, small business owner and reality TV personality, Rupert Boneham, were all unopposed in their respective primaries or conventions and contested the general election.
Joseph Hadden Hogsett is an American attorney, prosecutor, and politician who is the 49th mayor of Indianapolis. Hogsett served as the Secretary of State of Indiana from 1989 to 1994 and as the Chairman of the Indiana Democratic Party from 2003 to 2004. He was the Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate in 1992, for Indiana's 2nd congressional district in 1994 and for Attorney General of Indiana in 2004. He most recently served as the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana from 2010 to 2014. On November 3, 2015, he won the race for Mayor of Indianapolis in the 2015 election.
United States gubernatorial elections were held on November 8, 2016 in 12 states and two territories. The last regular gubernatorial elections for nine of the 12 states took place in 2012. The last gubernatorial elections for New Hampshire, Oregon, and Vermont took place in 2014, as Oregon held a special election due to the resignation of governor John Kitzhaber, while the governors of New Hampshire and Vermont both serve two-year terms. The 2016 gubernatorial elections took place concurrently with several other federal, state, and local elections, including the presidential election, Senate, and House elections.
The 2016 United States Senate election in Indiana was held on November 8, 2016, to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the State of Indiana, concurrently with the 2016 U.S. presidential election, as well as other elections to the United States Senate in other states and elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections.
The 1992 Indiana gubernatorial Election was held on November 3, 1992. Incumbent Governor Evan Bayh, a Democrat, won reelection over his Republican challenger, Linley E. Pearson with 62% of the vote. He was the first Democratic governor of Indiana to win reelection since governors became eligible for election to consecutive terms in office in 1972.
The 1988 Indiana gubernatorial Election was held on November 8, 1988 in all 92 counties in the state of Indiana. Incumbent Governor Robert D. Orr, a Republican, was ineligible to run for a third consecutive term due to term limits set forth in the Indiana Constitution. In the general election, the Republican nominee, Lieutenant Governor John Mutz, was defeated by Democrat Indiana Secretary of State Evan Bayh by a margin of six percentage points. Bayh was the first Democrat to be elected Governor of Indiana since Roger D. Branigin's victory during the 1964 Democratic landslides twenty-four years previously.
The 2016 Indiana gubernatorial election was held on November 8, 2016, to elect the Governor and Lieutenant Governor of Indiana, concurrently with the 2016 U.S. presidential election as well as elections to the United States Senate and elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections. The primaries were held on May 3, 2016. Republican Lieutenant Governor Eric Holcomb won the race with 51.4% of the vote.