Gubernatorial elections in the United States in 1995
The gubernatorial elections in the United States in 1995 took place on November 7, 1995. The states of Kentucky , Louisiana and Mississippi were elected . There were Republican victories in Louisiana and Mississippi , while in Kentucky the office remained in the hands of the Democratic Party .
In Louisiana, the successor to the no longer running Democrat Edwin Edwards was completely open. Several well-known candidates competed for the Jungle Primary , the joint area code of all parties. The Republican ex- Governor David C. Treen had considered running, but decided against it, as did the Democratic Congressman William J. Jefferson . The Democrats were candidates for Congressman Cleo Fields , Treasury Secretary Mary Landrieu , Lieutenant Governor Melinda Schwegmann and Robert Adley , a member of the House of Representatives from Louisiana . Mike Foster was also elected Democrat in this; but immediately before the primary he switched to the Republicans. For this, the former governor Buddy Roemer strove to take office. There were also nine other candidates with no real chance of success.
From the primary, the new Republican Foster emerged victorious with 26.1 percent of the vote; behind that, the race for second place was close. With a share of 19 percent, Cleo Fields was ahead of Mary Landrieu (18.4) and Buddy Roemer (17.8). Melinda Schwegmann (4.8) and Robert Adley (1.8) had no chance, and they landed behind Phil Preis (9 percent), who was running for Democrats. Fields' candidacy was controversial within the Democratic Party: Other candidates, most notably Mary Landrieu, expressed concerns that as an African American, he had no chance of winning the election. Fields rejected this criticism as "racist". Ultimately, however, he actually had to accept a significant defeat in the runoff election. Foster, who had the traditionally conservative Louisiana establishment behind him, won 63.5 percent of the vote.
In Mississippi, the Republican candidate also won. Kirk Fordice , elected four years earlier as the first member of his party since 1876, was able to run again and prevailed against the Democrat Dick Molpus , the Secretary of State of Mississippi, with 55.6 percent of the vote.
Once again, nothing changed in terms of the supremacy of the Democrats in Kentucky. Instead of Brereton Jones , who was not constitutionally re-running , the Democratic Party now set up the previous Lieutenant Governor Paul E. Patton ; his Republican contender was Larry Forgy. However, while Jones had won significantly four years earlier with 64.7 percent, there was now a neck-and-neck race. Patton won this with a share of 50.9 percent. 48.7 percent of the electorate voted for Forgy and 0.4 percent for the Democrat Gatewood Galbraith, who stood as an independent.
