Louisiana gubernatorial election, 1987

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Louisiana gubernatorial election, 1987
Flag of Louisiana (1912-2006).svg
  1983 October 24, 1987 1991  

  Buddy Roemer Congress.jpg Edwin Edwards.jpg
Candidate Buddy Roemer Edwin Edwards
Party Democratic Democratic
Popular vote516,128434,802
Percentage33.1%27.9%

  BobLivingston.jpg Billy tauzin.jpg
Candidate Bob Livingston Billy Tauzin
Party Republican Democratic
Popular vote287,770154,444
Percentage18.5%9.9%

  No image.svg
Candidate Jim Brown
Party Democratic
Popular vote138,824
Percentage8.9%

Louisiana gubernatorial election, 1987.svg
Results by Parish. Blue denotes parishes won by Buddy Roemer, green denotes parishes won by Edwin Edwards, red denotes parishes won by Bob Livingston and orange denotes parishes won by Billy Tauzin

Governor before election

Edwin Edwards
Democratic

Elected Governor

Buddy Roemer
Democratic

The Louisiana gubernatorial election of 1987 resulted in the election of Buddy Roemer as governor of Louisiana.

Buddy Roemer American politician

Charles Elson "Buddy" Roemer III is an American politician, investor, and banker who served as the 52nd Governor of Louisiana from 1988 to 1992, and as a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1981 to 1988.

Contents

Background

Elections in Louisiana, with the exception of presidential elections, follow a variation of the open primary system called the jungle primary. Candidates of all parties are listed on one ballot; voters need not limit themselves to the candidates of one party. Unless one candidate takes more than 50% of the vote in the first round, a run-off election is then held between the top two candidates, who are sometimes members of the same party. In this election, the first round of voting was held on October 24, 1987. In second place, Edwin Edwards was entitled to face Roemer in the runoff, but he withdrew from the race after the first round of voting. Buddy Roemer, elected as a Democrat, switched his party affiliation to Republican during his term as governor.

Results

Parishes won by Gubernatorial Candidates in the October 24, 1987 Election.
Buddy Roemer (37)
Edwin Edwards (20)
Billy Tauzin (4)
Bob Livingston (3) LAGovElection Oct87.png
Parishes won by Gubernatorial Candidates in the October 24, 1987 Election.
  Buddy Roemer (37)
  Edwin Edwards (20)
  Billy Tauzin (4)
  Bob Livingston (3)

First voting round, October 24

1987 Louisiana gubernatorial election
PartyCandidateVotes%
Democratic Buddy Roemer 516,07833.15
Democratic Edwin Edwards (inc.)437,80127.93
Republican Robert "Bob" Livingston 287,78018.49
Democratic Billy Tauzin 154,0799.92
Democratic James H. "Jim" Brown 138,2238.92
Democratic Speedy O. Long 18,7381.20
Democratic Earl J. Amedee3,7670.24
Democratic Ken "Cousin Ken" Lewis2,2640.15
Total1,558,730100
Democratic hold

Runoff did not occur due to Edwards withdrawing

Preceded by
1983 gubernatorial election
Louisiana gubernatorial elections Succeeded by
1991 gubernatorial election

Sources

State of Louisiana. Primary and General Election Returns, 1987.


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