Louisiana gubernatorial election, 1987

Louisiana gubernatorial election, 1987

October 24, 1987

Nominee Buddy Roemer Edwin Edwards Party Democratic Democratic Popular vote 516,128 434,802 Percentage 33.15% 27.93%   Nominee Bob Livingston Billy Tauzin Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 287,770 154,444 Percentage 18.49% 9.92%   Nominee James H. "Jim" Brown Party Democratic Popular vote 138,824 Percentage 8.92%

200px Results by Parish. Red denotes parishes won by Buddy Roemer, blue denotes parishes won by Edwin Edwards, green 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.

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

File: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

Candidate	Party affiliation	Votes received	Percent
Buddy Roemer	Democrat	516,078	33.15%
Edwin Edwards	Democrat	437,801	27.93%
Robert "Bob" Livingston	Republican	287,780	18.49%
Billy Tauzin	Democrat	154,079	9.92%
James H. "Jim" Brown	Democrat	138,223	8.92%
Speedy O. Long	Democrat	18,738	1.20%
Earl J. Amedee	Democrat	3,767	0.24%
Ken "Cousin Ken" Lewis	Democrat	2,264	0.15%

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.