Louisiana gubernatorial election, 1991

Louisiana gubernatorial election, 1991

November 16, 1991

Nominee Edwin Edwards David Duke Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 1,057,031 671,009 Percentage 61.2% 38.8%

Parish Results

Governor before election Buddy Roemer Republican Elected Governor Edwin Edwards Democratic

The Louisiana gubernatorial election of 1991 resulted in the election of Edwin Edwards to his fourth non-consecutive term as governor of Louisiana. The election received national and international attention due to the unexpectedly strong showing of David Duke, a former Grand Wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, who had ties to other white supremacist and neo-Nazi groups.

Background

In 1991 all elections in Louisiana—with the exception of U.S. presidential elections—followed a variation of the open primary system called the jungle primary. Candidates of any and all parties are listed on one ballot; voters need not limit themselves to the candidates of one party. Unless one candidate takes 50% or more of the vote in the first round, a run-off election is then held between the top two candidates, who may in fact be members of the same party. In this election, the first round of voting was held on October 19, 1991, and the runoff was held on November 16.

In 1990, Duke mounted a campaign for the U.S. Senate, losing to incumbent Democrat J. Bennett Johnston. Leading Republicans repudiated Duke's candidacy, citing his history as a white supremacist.

Abortive candidacies

Public Service Commissioner Kathleen Blanco, a Democrat, announced her candidacy in May 1991. Edwards was not impressed by her entry. It was the first time in 40 years a woman had seriously run for Governor but Edwards surmised she would not get out of single digits. Blanco, who came from Acadiana, could have complicated Edwards' bid for a fourth term but after 100 days she suddenly withdrew and ran for Public Service Commissioner again.

Meanwhile, Governor Roemer was facing a potential opponent for the Republican support who could have denied him major party support he needed to stave off Holloway and Duke. Another prominent party-switcher, Secretary of State Fox McKeithen who withdrew from a 1990 U.S. Senate bid actively explored a gubernatorial bid. His father, former Governor John McKeithen would prove to be a strong asset had he run, but in the end McKeithen figured that his time had come and gone and ran for reelection as Secretary of State.

First primary

After the withdrawal of Blanco & McKeithen the field of candidates began to solidify. Then late in March, incumbent Governor Buddy Roemer set off a firestorm by making a late-term party switch that dismayed as many Republican politicians and activists as it did Democrats. One irate Republican was the state party chairman, William "Billy" Nungesser of New Orleans. Failing to get the Louisiana Republicans' endorsement convention canceled, Roemer boldly announced he would skip the event. The convention, as expected, endorsed U.S. Representative Clyde C. Holloway, the favored candidate of the pro-life forces in the state, with whom Roemer was at odds at the time.

The first round primary gubernatorial contest included Roemer, Edwin Edwards, State Representative David Duke, and Eighth District Congressman Holloway who all ran in Louisiana's open primary. Roemer was wounded by his mistakes as governor, while Edwards and Duke each had a passionate core group of supporters. Roemer shockingly placed third in the primary. One of the contributing factors to Roemer's defeat was a last-minute advertising barrage by Marine Shale owner Jack Kent. Marine Shale had been targeted by the Roemer administration as a polluter. Kent spent $500,000 of his own money in the closing days of the campaign to purchase anti-Roemer commercials.

Faced with the alternative of David Duke, many Louisianans who were otherwise critical of Edwards now looked favorably on him as an alternative. This included Buddy Roemer, who had run on an "Anyone but Edwards" platform. He ended up endorsing Edwards rather than Duke, who was the putative Republican candidate. As Roemer left the governorship he said a key factor in his defeat for a second term was his alienation of special interests.

Runoff Campaign

The runoff campaign was widely seen as one of the dirtiest and most negative campaigns in recent history. Edwards and his supporters seized on Duke's record as a white supremacist; Duke responded by claiming to be a born-again Christian who had renounced racism and anti-Semitism after his conversion.

Nearly the entire Republican leadership rejected Duke's candidacy. In a news conference, President George H. W. Bush condemned Duke as unfit for public office:

"When someone has a long record, an ugly record, of racism and bigotry, that record simply cannot be erased by the glib rhetoric of a political campaign. So I believe David Duke is an insincere charlatan. I believe he's attempting to hoodwink the voters of Louisiana. I believe he should be rejected for what he is and what he stands for."

Debate

The runoff debate, held on November 6, 1991, received significant attention when reporter Norman Robinson questioned Duke. Robinson, who is African-American, told Duke that he was "scared" at the prospect of him winning the election because of his history of "diabolical, evil, vile" racist and anti-Semitic comments, some of which he read to Duke. He then pressed Duke for an apology. When Duke protested that Robinson was not being fair to him, Robinson replied that he didn't think Duke was being honest. Jason Berry of the Los Angeles Times called it "startling TV" and the "catalyst" for the "overwhelming" turnout of black voters that helped former Governor Edwin Edwards defeat Duke.

Results

Parishes won by Gubernatorial Candidates in the October 19, 1991 Election.

  Edwin Edwards (26)

  David Duke (31)

  Buddy Roemer (7)

Parishes won by Gubernatorial Candidates in the November 16, 1991 Runoff.

  Edwin Edwards (45)

  David Duke (19)

First voting round, October 19

Candidate	Party affiliation	Votes received	Percent
Edwin Edwards	Democrat	523,096	33.76%
David Duke	Republican	491,342	31.71%
Buddy Roemer	Republican	410,690	26.51%
Clyde C. Holloway	Republican	82,683	5.34%
Sam S. Jones	Democrat	11,847	0.76%
Ed Karst	None/Other	9,663	0.62%
Fred Dent	Democrat	7,385	0.48%
Anne Thompson	Republican	4,118	0.27%
Jim Crowley	Democrat	4,000	0.26%
Albert Powell	Democrat	2,053	0.13%
Ronnie Johnson	None/Other	1,372	0.09%
Cousin Ken Lewis	Democrat	1,006	0.06%

Runoff, November 16

Louisiana gubernatorial election runoff, 1991
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Edwin Edwards	1,057,031	61.2
	Republican	David Duke	671,009	38.8
Majority			386,022	22.4
Voter turnout			%
	Democratic gain from Republican

Preceded by 1987 gubernatorial election

Louisiana gubernatorial elections

Succeeded by 1995 gubernatorial election

Sources

• First gubernatorial debate
• Second gubernatorial debate
• Third gubernatorial debate

Louisiana Secretary of State Elections Division. Official Election Results Database

• Statewide primary results, October 19, 1991
• Primary results by parish: Governor, October 19, 1991
• Statewide runoff results, November 16, 1991
• Runoff results by parish: Governor, November 16, 1991