Kentucky gubernatorial election, 2003

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Kentucky gubernatorial election, 2003
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←  1999 November 4, 2003 2007  →

  Ernie Fletcher.jpg A.B. Chandler.jpg
Nominee Ernie Fletcher Ben Chandler
Party Republican Democratic
Running mate Steve Pence Charlie Owen
Popular vote596,284 487,159
Percentage55.04% 44.96%

2003 Kentucky Gubernatorial Election Counties.png

Governor before election

Paul E. Patton
Democratic

Elected Governor

Ernie Fletcher
Republican

The Kentucky gubernatorial election, 2003 was held to elect the Governor of Kentucky on November 4, 2003. Republican candidate Ernie Fletcher defeated Democrat Ben Chandler and became the first Republican governor of Kentucky in 32 years. [1]

Governor of Kentucky head of state and of government of the U.S. commonwealth of Kentucky

The Governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky is the head of the executive branch of government in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Fifty-seven men and one woman have served as Governor of Kentucky. The governor's term is four years in length; since 1992, incumbents have been able to seek re-election once before becoming ineligible for four years. Throughout the state's history, four men have served two non-consecutive terms as governor, and two others have served two consecutive terms. Kentucky is one of only five U.S. states that hold gubernatorial elections in odd-numbered years. The current governor is Matt Bevin, who was first elected in 2015.

Republican Party (United States) Major political party in the United States

The Republican Party, also referred to as the GOP, is one of the two major political parties in the United States; the other is its historic rival, the Democratic Party.

Ernie Fletcher Kentucky politician

Ernest Lee Fletcher is an American physician and politician. In 1998, he was elected to the first of three consecutive terms in the United States House of Representatives; he resigned in 2003 after being elected the 60th governor of Kentucky and served until 2007. Prior to his entry into politics, Fletcher was a family practice physician and a Baptist lay minister. He is the second physician to be elected Governor of Kentucky; the first was Luke P. Blackburn in 1879. He is a member of the Republican Party.

Contents

Democratic primary

Campaign

Incumbent Democratic Governor Paul E. Patton was term limited from seeking a third term of office and was facing investigations after admitting to an affair. This led to the other Democratic candidates distancing themselves from him. [2] State Attorney General Ben Chandler won the primary narrowly defeating the Speaker of the Kentucky House of Representatives Jody Richards, whose running mate was Tony Miller. He had led in the polls for several months before the primary. [3]

The incumbent is the current holder of an office. This term is usually used in reference to elections, in which races can often be defined as being between an incumbent and non-incumbent(s). For example, in the Hungarian presidential election, 2017, János Áder was the incumbent, because he had been the president in the term before the term for which the election sought to determine the president. A race without an incumbent is referred to as an open seat.

Paul E. Patton American politician

Paul Edward Patton is an American politician who was the 59th governor of Kentucky, serving from 1995 to 2003. Because of a 1992 amendment to the Kentucky Constitution, he was the first governor eligible to succeed himself in office since James Garrard in 1800. Since 2013, he has been the chancellor of the University of Pikeville in Pikeville, Kentucky after serving as its president from 2010 to 2013. He also served as chairman of the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education from 2009 to 2011.

Term limits in the United States

Term limits in the United States apply to many offices at both the federal and state level, and date back to the American Revolution.

Earlier businessman Bruce Lunsford had dropped out of the primary after Chandler launched adverts talking of abuse at nursing homes run by Lunsford's company. [2] Lunsford had spent 8 million dollars of his own money during the primary campaign and after his withdrawal backed Richards against Chandler and said he would vote against Chandler in the general election if he won the primary. [3]

Bruce Lunsford American racehorse owner and breeder

William Bruce Lunsford is an American attorney, businessman and politician from Kentucky. He has served various roles in the Kentucky Democratic Party, including party treasurer, Deputy Development Secretary, and Head of Commerce. Lunsford was the Democratic nominee for Kentucky's United States Senate seat in 2008, unsuccessfully challenging incumbent Mitch McConnell.

Advertising form of communication for marketing, typically paid for

Advertising is a marketing communication that employs an openly sponsored, non-personal message to promote or sell a product, service or idea. Sponsors of advertising are typically businesses wishing to promote their products or services. Advertising is differentiated from public relations in that an advertiser pays for and has control over the message. It differs from personal selling in that the message is non-personal, i.e., not directed to a particular individual. Advertising is communicated through various mass media, including traditional media such as newspapers, magazines, television, radio, outdoor advertising or direct mail; and new media such as search results, blogs, social media, websites or text messages. The actual presentation of the message in a medium is referred to as an advertisement, or "ad" or advert for short.

Results

Democratic primary results [4]
PartyCandidateVotes%
Democratic Ben Chandler 143,15050.20
Democratic Jody Richards 132,627 46.51
Democratic Otis Hensley 9,372 3.29
Total votes285,149100

Republican primary

Campaign

Physician and former Air Force pilot Ernie Fletcher won the Republican primary easily. Earlier Fletcher had to replace his running mate for lieutenant governor, Hunter Bates, as he did not meet the residency requirements. [2] Fletcher was backed by U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell and led in most polls before the primary. [3]

Physician professional who practices medicine

A physician, medical practitioner, medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a professional who practises medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining, or restoring health through the study, diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of disease, injury, and other physical and mental impairments. Physicians may focus their practice on certain disease categories, types of patients, and methods of treatment—known as specialities—or they may assume responsibility for the provision of continuing and comprehensive medical care to individuals, families, and communities—known as general practice. Medical practice properly requires both a detailed knowledge of the academic disciplines, such as anatomy and physiology, underlying diseases and their treatment—the science of medicine—and also a decent competence in its applied practice—the art or craft of medicine.

United States Air Force Air and space warfare branch of the United States Armed Forces

The United States Air Force (USAF) is the aerial and space warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the five branches of the United States Armed Forces, and one of the seven American uniformed services. Initially formed as a part of the United States Army on 1 August 1907, the USAF was established as a separate branch of the U.S. Armed Forces on 18 September 1947 with the passing of the National Security Act of 1947. It is the youngest branch of the U.S. Armed Forces, and the fourth in order of precedence. The USAF is the largest and most technologically advanced air force in the world. The Air Force articulates its core missions as air and space superiority, global integrated intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, rapid global mobility, global strike, and command and control.

A running mate is a person running together with another person on a joint ticket during an election. The term is most often used in reference to the person in the subordinate position but can also properly be used when referring to both candidates, such as by saying Joko Widodo and Jusuf Kalla, and Uhuru Kenyatta and William Ruto, were running mates in relation to the presidential elections held in Indonesia in 2014 and Kenya in 2013 respectively.

Results

Republican primary results [4]
PartyCandidateVotes%
Republican Ernie Fletcher 90,91257.31
Republican Rebecca Jackson 44,084 27.79
Republican Steve Nunn 21,267 13.41
Republican Virgil Moore 2,365 1.49
Total votes158,628100

General election

Campaign

Fletcher tried to link Chandler with the scandals that incumbent governor Patton's administration had been racked with. However Chandler attempted to distance himself from the governor, calling for him to resign and describing himself as a maverick. [5]

The term administration, as used in the context of government, differs according to jurisdiction.

Chandler meanwhile attacked President George Bush for his handling of the economy and linked Fletcher with his policies. [5] Nevertheless, Fletcher was assisted late in the campaign by President Bush, who made five visits to Kentucky to support him. [1] Fletcher led in the polls throughout the campaign and towards the end pulled out a lead of 7 to 9 percent over Chandler. [6]

George W. Bush 43rd president of the United States

George Walker Bush is an American politician and businessman who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. He had previously served as the 46th governor of Texas from 1995 to 2000.

Just before the election the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed lawsuits for some residents of largely Democratic districts in West Louisville to try to get an injunction to stop Republicans from putting challengers in their precincts. Kentucky law allowed challengers to be stationed in precincts to question whether voters were eligible but the ACLU claimed they were targeting black voters and could intimidate people. [7] However a judge refused to issue the injunction and allowed the challengers to go ahead. [8]

Exit polls showed that Fletcher got a quarter of Democrats to support him as well as a majority of independents. Male voters backed Fletcher over Chandler by 59% to 41%, while women split almost equally. [9] They also showed that 18% of voters used their votes to express opposition to the incumbent governor Paul Patton. [10]

Results

2003 gubernatorial election, Kentucky [11]
PartyCandidateVotes%±
Republican Ernie Fletcher 596,284 55.04% +32.84%
Democratic Ben Chandler 487,159 44.96% -15.74%
Majority 109,125 10.07% -28.43%
Total votes 1,083,443
Republican gain from Democratic Swing
Turnout 40.2% [12] +19.8%

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References

  1. 1 2 "N.Ky. key to victory for Fletcher". The Cincinnati Enquirer . 2003-11-05. Retrieved 2008-05-18.
  2. 1 2 3 "Fletcher, Chandler Win Nominations for Kentucky Governor". Fox News Channel . 2003-05-20. Retrieved 2008-05-18.
  3. 1 2 3 "Washington Wrap". CBS News . 2003-05-20. Retrieved 2008-05-18.
  4. 1 2 "Kentucky State Board of Elections Welcome to the State Board of Elections". Elect.ky.gov. Archived from the original on November 11, 2010. Retrieved 2012-08-18.
  5. 1 2 "Kentucky Gubernatorial Race Is Test for Bush on Economy". CNN. 2003-08-14. Retrieved 2008-05-18.
  6. ↑ "Kentucky Gubernatorial Election". RealClearPolitics . Retrieved 2008-05-18.
  7. ↑ "Lawsuits filed ahead of Kentucky's gubernatorial election". CNN. 2003-11-05. Archived from the original on 2007-12-10. Retrieved 2008-05-18.
  8. ↑ "Judge refuses to ban Republicans' poll challengers from black neighborhoods". Associated Press. 2003-11-04. Retrieved 2008-05-18.
  9. ↑ "Kentucky Governor: FOX News Exit Poll". Fox News Channel . 2003-11-10. Retrieved 2008-05-18.
  10. ↑ "Survey data help explain GOP victories in Kentucky, Mississippi". CNN. 2003-11-10. Archived from the original on 2004-01-03. Retrieved 2008-05-18.
  11. ↑ "Kentucky State Board of Elections Welcome to the State Board of Elections". Elect.ky.gov. Archived from the original on July 21, 2011. Retrieved 2012-08-18.
  12. ↑ http://elect.ky.gov/SiteCollectionDocuments/Election%20Statistics/turnout/2001-2005/03gen.pdf
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