1991 United States gubernatorial elections

← 1990

October 19, November 5 and 16, 1991

1992 →

4 governorships
3 states; 1 territory

	Majority party	Minority party

Party	Democratic	Republican
Seats before	28^[a]	20^[b]
Seats after	28	20
Seat change
Seats up	2	1
Seats won	2	1

Democratic gain Democratic hold
Republican gain

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
Find sources: "1991 United States gubernatorial elections" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (February 2024) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

United States gubernatorial elections were held on November 5, 1991, in three states and one territory. Prior to the elections, Democrats held two seats and Republicans held one. The national balance of power did not change as a result of the elections, but the balance of power shifted in two states.

Election results

In Kentucky, the incumbent governor, Wallace Wilkinson, was term limited. Lieutenant Governor Brereton C. Jones was the candidate for the Democrats and ran against Representative Larry J. Hopkins.^[1]

State	Incumbent	Party	First elected	Result	Candidates
Kentucky	Wallace Wilkinson	Democratic	1987	Incumbent term-limited. New governor elected. Democratic hold.	Y Brereton C. Jones (Democratic) 64.7% Larry J. Hopkins (Republican) 35.3%
Louisiana	Buddy Roemer	Republican	1987^[b]	Incumbent eliminated in primary. New governor elected. Democratic gain.	Y Edwin Edwards (Democratic) 61.2% David Duke (Republican) 38.8%
Mississippi	Ray Mabus	Democratic	1987	Incumbent lost re-election. New governor elected. Republican gain.	Y Kirk Fordice (Republican) 50.8% Ray Mabus (Democratic) 47.6% Shawn O'Hara (Independent) 1.6%

Closest races

States where the margin of victory was under 5%:

Mississippi, 3.2%

Notes

^ Howard Dean (D) succeeded Vermont Governor Richard A. Snelling (R) who died in office in August 1991.
^ ^a ^b Louisiana Governor Buddy Roemer was elected as a Democrat in 1987, but switched to the Republican Party in March 1991.

References

^ Ayres, Jr., B. Drummond (November 2, 1991). "Kentucky Race for Governor Leaves Voters Yawning". The New York Times. Retrieved February 18, 2024.

U.S. Senate		Pennsylvania (special)
U.S. House	Arizona ( 2nd sp ) Illinois ( 15th sp ) Massachusetts ( 1st sp ) Pennsylvania ( 2nd sp ) Texas (3rd sp) Virginia ( 7th sp )
Governors	Kentucky Louisiana Mississippi
State legislatures	New Jersey Assembly Senate Virginia House of Delegates Senate
Mayors	Baltimore, MD Boston MA Burlington, VT Chicago, IL Columbus, OH Durham, NC Evansville, IN Fort Wayne, IN Hartford, CT Houston, TX Indianapolis, IN Las Vegas, NV Manchester, NH Philadelphia, PA San Francisco, CA South Bend, IN Springfield, MA Tucson, AZ West Palm Beach, FL Worcester, MA
States	Arizona California Florida Illinois Indiana Kentucky Louisiana Maryland Massachusetts Mississippi Nevada North Carolina Ohio Pennsylvania Texas Virginia

v t e United States gubernatorial elections
List of current governors
1800 1801 1802 1803 1804 1805 1806 1807 1808 1809 1810 1811 1812 1813 1814 1815 1816 1817 1818 1819 1820 1821 1822 1823 1824 1825 1826 1827 1828 1829 1830 1831 1832 1833 1834 1835 1836 1837 1838 1839 1840 1841 1842 1843 1844 1845 1846 1847 1848 1849 1850 1851 1852 1853 1854 1855 1856 1857 1858 1859 1860 1861 1862 1863 1864 1865 1866 1867 1868 1869 1870 1871 1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027
House elections Senate elections Presidential elections

This American elections-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.