Kentucky gubernatorial election, 2003

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The 2003 Kentucky gubernatorial election took place on 4 November 2003 for the post of Governor of Kentucky. Republican candidate Ernie Fletcher defeated Democrat Ben Chandler and became the first Republican governor of Kentucky in 32 years.^[1]

Contents 1 Democratic primary 2 Republican primary 3 Campaign 4 Election results 5 References

[edit] Democratic primary

Incumbent Democratic governor Paul Patton was term limited from seeking a third term of office and was facing investigations after admitting to an affair. This led to the other Democratic candidates distancing themselves from him.^[2] State Attorney General Ben Chandler won the primary narrowly defeating the Speaker of the Kentucky House of Representatives Jody Richards. He had led in the polls for several months before the primary.^[3]

Earlier businessman Bruce Lunsford had dropped out of the primary after Chandler launched adverts talking of abuse at nursing homes run by Lunsford's comapny.^[2] Lunsford had spent 8 million dollars of his own money during the primary campaign and after his withdrawal backed Richards against Chandler and said he would vote against Chandler in the general election if he won the primary.^[3]

Candidate	# of votes	% of votes
Ben Chandler	143,150	50.2
Jody Richards	132,627	46.5
Otis Hensley	9,372	3.3

Source: 2003 Gubernatorial Democratic Primary Election Results - Kentucky

[edit] Republican primary

Physician and former Air Force pilot Ernie Fletcher won the Republican primary easily. Earlier Fletcher had to replace his running mate for Lieutenant Governor, Hunter Bates, as he did not meet the residency requirements.^[2] Fletcher was backed by US Senator Mitch McConnell and led in most polls before the primary.^[3]

Candidate	# of votes	% of votes
Ernie Fletcher	90,912	57.4
Rebecca Moore	44,084	27.8
Steve Nunn	21,167	13.4
Virgil Moore	2,365	1.5

Source: 2003 Gubernatorial Republican Primary Election Results - Kentucky

[edit] Campaign

Fletcher tried to link Chandler with the scandals that incumbent governor Patton's administration had been racked with. However Chandler attempted to distance himself from the governor, calling for him to resign and describing himself as a maverick.^[4]

Chandler meanwhile attacked President George Bush for his handling of the economy and linked Fletcher with his policies.^[4] Nethertheless Fletcher was assisted late in the campaign by President Bush, who made five visits to Kentucky to support him.^[1] Fletcher led in the polls throughout the campaign and towards the end pulled out a lead of 7 to 9 percent over Chandler.^[5]

Just before the election the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed lawsuits for some residents of largely Democratic districts in West Louisville to try and get an injunction to stop Republicans from putting challengers in their precincts. Kentucky law allowed challengers to be stationed in precincts to question whether voters were eligable but the ACLU claimed they were targeting black voters and could intimidate people.^[6] However a judge refused to issue the injunction and allowed the challengers to go ahead.^[7]

Exit polls showed that Fletcher got a quarter of Democrats to support him as well as a majority of independents. Male votes backed Fletcher by 59% to 41% for Chandler while women split almost equally.^[8] They also showed that 18% of voters used their vote to express opposition to the incumbent governor Paul Patton.^[9]

[edit] Election results

2003 gubernatorial election, Kentucky[11]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Ernie Fletcher	596,284	55.0	+32.8
	Democratic	Ben Chandler	487,159	45.0	-15.7
Majority			109,125	10.0
Turnout			1,083,443	40.0	+17.7
	Republican gain from Democratic		Swing

[edit] References