2011 United States gubernatorial elections

The 2011 United States gubernatorial elections were held in four states in October and November 2011, with regularly scheduled elections in Kentucky, Mississippi and Louisiana and a special election in West Virginia. None of these 4 governorships changed party hands, with Democratic incumbents Steve Beshear and Earl Ray Tomblin winning in Kentucky and West Virginia, respectively and Republicans reelecting Bobby Jindal in Louisiana and holding the open seat in Mississippi.

2011 United States gubernatorial elections

October 4 and 22 and November 8, 2011

4 governorships
(including a special election in West Virginia)
  Majority party Minority party
 
Leader Bob McDonnell Martin O'Malley
Party Republican Democratic
Leader's seat Virginia Maryland
Last election 32 governorships (29 states) 24 governorships (20 states)
Seats before 32 (29 states) 24 (20 states)
Seats after 32 (29 states) 24 (20 states)
Seat change
Popular vote 1,653,223 1,144,030
Percentage 54.2%[1] 37.5%

2011 Kentucky gubernatorial election2011 Louisiana gubernatorial election2011 Mississippi gubernatorial election2011 West Virginia gubernatorial special election
Map of the Results
     Democratic hold
     Republican hold
     No election

Predictions

Source Safe Democratic Likely Democratic Leans Democratic Tossup Leans Republican Likely Republican Safe Republican
Consensus among
all predictions
Louisiana
Mississippi
The Cook
Political Report
as of September 15, 2011
(updates)
Kentucky
West Virginia
FiveThirtyEight.com
Governing
as of July 25, 2011
(updates)
Kentucky
West Virginia
RealClearPolitics
The Rothenberg Political Report
as of August 12, 2011
(updates)
Kentucky
West Virginia
Larry Sabato's
Crystal Ball
as of August 24, 2011
(updates)
Kentucky
West Virginia

Summary of contests

State Incumbent Party Status Major candidates
Kentucky Steve Beshear Democrat Re-elected Steve Beshear (D), 55.65%
David Williams (R), 35.29%
Gatewood Galbraith (I), 8.97%
Louisiana Bobby Jindal Republican Re-elected Bobby Jindal (R), 65.82%
Tara Hollis (D), 17.87%
Mississippi Haley Barbour Republican Incumbent term-limited
Republican hold
Phil Bryant (R), 61.07%
Johnny DuPree (D), 38.93%
West Virginia (special election) Earl Ray Tomblin (Acting) Democrat Elected to serve remainder of term Earl Ray Tomblin (D), 49.47%
Bill Maloney (R), 47.14%

Close races

States where the margin of victory was under 5%:

  1. West Virginia, 2.4%

Blue denotes states won by Democrats.

Term-limited Republican incumbent

Haley Barbour (Mississippi)

Incumbent Governor Haley Barbour was term-limited in 2011.

The Republican candidates included author, small business owner, and Baptist minister James Broadwater; Lt. Governor Phil Bryant; former New Orleans Federal Reserve Board Chairman Dave Dennis; and Pearl River County District Supervisor Hudson Holliday.[2] Bryant won the Republican nomination by a wide margin.[3]

Prominent state businessman Bill Luckett[4] and Hattiesburg Mayor Johnny DuPree were two declared Democratic candidates.[5] Dupree defeated Luckett in the Primary runoff to win the Democratic nomination.[6]

Bryant ended up defeating Dupree in the general election.

The Lieutenant Governor was elected separately.

Democratic incumbents who sought re-election or election

Steve Beshear (Kentucky)

On July 19, 2009, Steve Beshear announced his intention to run for re-election in 2011 and that then-Louisville mayor Jerry Abramson would be his running mate.[7] On January 6, 2011, Beshear and Abramson officially filed their candidacy.[8]

Businessman Phil Moffett, Jefferson County Clerk Bobbie Holsclaw, and State Senate president David L. Williams were the declared Republican candidates.[9] Agriculture commissioner Richie Farmer[10] Secretary of State Trey Grayson,[11] and Businessman Bill Johnson,[12] were also speculated candidates, but all declined. However, Farmer would run as Williams' running mate.[9] The Williams-Farmer ticket won the primary on May 17.[13]

In the general election, Beshear won, defeating Williams and independent candidate Gatewood Galbraith.

Earl Ray Tomblin (West Virginia)

The Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia ruled on January 18, 2011 that the state must hold a special gubernatorial election in 2011[14] to fill the vacancy resulting from Joe Manchin's election to the United States Senate. State Senate President Earl Ray Tomblin ascended to the office of Acting Governor in 2010; he is eligible to seek election for the remainder of Manchin's term and has stated that he will do so.[15]

Other Democratic candidates included state House Speaker Rick Thompson, Acting President of the West Virginia Senate Jeffrey V. Kessler, state Secretary of State Natalie Tennant, and state Treasurer John Perdue.[14] Tomlin overcame intra-party opposition in the May 14 primary and thus advanced to the general election.[16]

The Declared Republican candidates include former Secretary of State Betty Ireland, state Senate Minority Whip Clark Barnes,[14][17] and Putnam County Prosecutor Mark Sorsaia.[18] U.S. Representative Shelley Moore Capito and businessman John Raese have both stated that they will not run.[19] Businessman Bill Maloney won the Republican primary in an upset and faced Tomblin in the general election.[16]

In the general election, Tomblin defeated Maloney.

Republican incumbent who sought re-election

Bobby Jindal (Louisiana)

In 2008 Bobby Jindal stated that it was unlikely he would run for president in 2012 and that his primary electoral goal in the future would be on re-election in 2011.[20] On August 15, 2010, he confirmed his intention to run for re-election.[21]

Candidates who opposed Jindal included Attorney Cary Deaton (D), Teachers Tara Hollis (D) and Trey Roberts (D), victim advocacy activist Androniki "Niki Bird" Papazoglakis (D), Former Vice Chairman of the Libertarian Party of Louisiana Scott Lewis, ex-Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals David Blanchard (I), Computer Engineer Lenny Bollingham (I), Accountant Ron Ceasar (I), and Retired Volunteer Fire Chief Bob Lang (I).[22]

The election was then held on October 22 with all the candidates competing in a nonpartisan blanket primary.[23] Jindal was elected to a second term, receiving an outright majority of the vote (thus a runoff election that would have occurred on November 19 became unnecessary).

See also

  • Opinion polling for the 2011 United States gubernatorial elections

References

  1. http://uselectionatlas.org/RESULTS/national.php?year=2011&off=5&f=0
  2. http://www.thegreenpapers.com/G11/MS
  3. http://www.clarionledger.com/misc/election/electionresults.html
  4. http://www.luckettforgovernor.com
  5. http://www.politics1.com/ms.htm
  6. http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/files/elections/2011/by_county/MS_Governor_0823.html?SITE=AP&SECTION=POLITICS
  7. Gerth, Joseph (2009-07-19). "Abramson to be Beshear's running mate in 2011". The Courier-Journal. Archived from the original on 2013-01-02. Retrieved 2009-07-20.
  8. McVeigh, Tony (January 6, 2011). "Beshear, Abramson File Candidacy Papers". WFPL. Archived from the original on January 11, 2011. Retrieved January 6, 2011.
  9. Brammer, Jack (2010-09-02). "David Williams and Richie Farmer form slate to seek state's top offices". Lexington Herald-Leader. Retrieved 2010-09-02.
  10. Alford, Roger (2009-10-28). "Farmer mulls run for governor". Lexington Herald-Leader. Retrieved 2009-10-28.
  11. http://pageonekentucky.com/2008/06/09/grayson-for-governor-more-hints-coming-out/
  12. http://www.dcpoliticalreport.com/KY.htm
  13. http://results.enr.clarityelections.com/KY/29019/45205/en/summary.html
  14. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on January 31, 2011. Retrieved January 20, 2011.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  15. Dickerson, Chris (January 7, 2011). "W.Va. governor race begins". The Charleston Gazette. Retrieved January 20, 2011.
  16. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on May 17, 2011. Retrieved May 30, 2011.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  17. http://www.thegreenpapers.com/G11/WV
  18. http://www.dcpoliticalreport.com/WV.htm#Gov
  19. McVey, John (January 20, 2011). "Capito is pleased with special election decision". The Journal. Retrieved January 20, 2011.
  20. Ben Smith. "Jindal says no". Politico.com. Retrieved 2008-12-10.
  21. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2010-08-30. Retrieved 2010-08-16.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  22. http://www.politics1.com/la.htm
  23. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on November 27, 2008. Retrieved February 6, 2009.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
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