1987 Mississippi gubernatorial election
The 1987 Mississippi gubernatorial election took place on November 3, 1987 to elect the governor of Mississippi.
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 County results Mabus: 50-60% 60-70% 70-80% 80-90% Reed: 50-60% 60-70% | |||||||||||||||||
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| Elections in Mississippi |
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This is the most recent Mississippi gubernatorial election in which the Democratic candidate received a majority of votes. In January 2000, Ronnie Musgrove was elected by the Mississippi House of Representatives after neither he nor Republican Mike Parker received a majority in the 1999 general election.
Democratic primary
No candidate received a majority in the Democratic primary, which featured 7 contenders, so a runoff was held between the top two candidates. The runoff election was won by State Auditor Ray Mabus, who defeated cotton farmer and businessman Mike Sturdivant.
Results
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Ray Mabus | 304,559 | 37.69 | |
| Democratic | Mike Sturdivant | 131,180 | 16.24 | |
| Democratic | Bill Waller | 105,056 | 13.00 | |
| Democratic | John Arthur Eaves | 98,517 | 12.19 | |
| Democratic | Maurice Dantin | 83,603 | 10.35 | |
| Democratic | Ed Pittman | 73,667 | 9.12 | |
| Democratic | Gilbert Fountain | 5,990 | 0.74 | |
| Total votes | 802,572 | 100.00 | ||
Runoff
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Ray Mabus | 428,883 | 64.31 | |
| Democratic | Mike Sturdivant | 238,039 | 35.69 | |
| Total votes | 666,922 | 100.00 | ||
Republican primary
Businessman and State Board of Education member Jack Reed won the Republican primary, defeating Doug Lemon.
Results
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Jack Reed | 14,798 | 78.48 | |
| Republican | Doug Lemon | 4,057 | 21.52 | |
| Total votes | 18,855 | 100.00 | ||
General election
Campaign
National Republicans considered Mississippi's 1987 gubernatorial contest a major target for them, and they devoted significant financial resources to Jack Reed's campaign.[4]
At 39 years of age, Ray Mabus defeated Tupelo businessman Reed in the 1987 gubernatorial election by 53% to 47%, becoming the youngest governor in the United States. He won "on a wave of black votes" (black voters made up about 30 percent of the state's registered voters)[5] and lost the white vote "by about 3 to 2" despite support from what a coalition one Democratic state chairman described as "poor whites" and yuppies.[6] Mabus, who ran on the slogan "Mississippi Will Never Be Last Again",[5] was billed as "the face of the New South", much like his counterpart in Arkansas at the time, Bill Clinton. Mabus was featured in a 1988 New York Times Magazine cover story titled "The Yuppies of Mississippi; How They Took Over the Statehouse".[7]
Results
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Ray Mabus | 385,689 | 53.44% | |
| Republican | Jack Reed | 336,006 | 46.56% | |
| Total votes | 721,695 | 100.00 | ||
| Democratic hold | ||||
References
- "MS Governor D Primary 1987". Our Campaigns. Retrieved December 2, 2016.
- "MS Governor D Primary Runoff 1987". Our Campaigns. Retrieved December 2, 2016.
- "MS Governor R Primary 1987". Our Campaigns. Retrieved December 2, 2016.
- "National Republican Party donates big to Reed". The Clarion-Ledger. August 29, 1987. p. 1.
- Applebome, Peter (September 16, 1991). "Mississippi Governor's Record at Issue". New York Times.
- E.J. Dionne, Jr. (November 5, 1987). "Voting Produces Strong Evidence of Importance of Race in Politics". New York Times.
- Boyer, Peter J. (February 28, 1988). "The Yuppies of Mississippi: How They Took Over the Statehouse". New York Times Magazine.
- "MS Governor 1987". Our Campaigns. Retrieved December 2, 2016.