Mississippi gubernatorial election, 1999

Mississippi gubernatorial election, 1999

November 4, 1999

Nominee Ronnie Musgrove Michael Parker Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 379,033 370,691 Percentage 49.62 48.52

County results

Governor before election Kirk Fordice Republican Elected Governor Ronnie Musgrove Democratic

The 1999 Mississippi gubernatorial election took place on November 4, 1999, in order to elect the Governor of Mississippi. Incumbent Republican Kirk Fordice was term-limited, and could not seek a third term. This election was the most recent in which a Democrat was elected Governor of Mississippi.

Democratic primary

Lieutenant Governor Ronnie Musgrove won the Democratic primary, defeating former Commissioner of Public Safety Jim Roberts and 5 other candidates.

Results

Mississippi Democratic gubernatorial primary, 1999^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Ronnie Musgrove	309,519	56.74
	Democratic	Jim Roberts	142,617	26.14
	Democratic	Richard Barrett	32,383	5.94
	Democratic	Katie Perrone	16,476	3.02
	Democratic	Charles Bell	13,159	2.41
	Democratic	Carrie Harris	11,645	2.14
	Democratic	James W. "Bootie" Hunt	11,572	2.12
Total votes			537,371	100.00

Republican primary

Former U.S. Representative Michael Parker won the Republican primary, defeating former Lieutenant Governor Eddie Briggs and 4 other candidates.

Results

Mississippi Republican gubernatorial primary, 1999^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Mike Parker	77,674	50.72
	Republican	Eddie Briggs	42,763	27.92
	Republican	Charlie Williams	17,176	11.22
	Republican	Dan Gibson	11,348	7.41
	Republican	George "Wagon Wheel" Blair	2,453	1.60
	Republican	Shawn O'Hara	1,728	1.13
Total votes			153,142	100.00

Results

Parker had almost 9,000 fewer votes than Musgrove. However, due to the presence of two minor candidates, Musgrove came up a few thousand votes short of a majority. Under an 1890 law, the first tiebreaker was whoever won the most state electoral votes (based on state House of Representatives districts). Each candidate won 61 of the 122 state electoral votes. The election was thus decided by the Mississippi House of Representatives, where the Democrats had a supermajority at the time. However, Parker refused to concede, and the House elected Musgrove 86-36 along partisan lines.^[3]

Mississippi gubernatorial election, 1999^[4][5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Ronnie Musgrove	379,033	49.62
	Republican	Michael Parker	370,691	48.52
	Reform	Jerry Ladner	8,208	1.07
	Independent	Helen Perkins	6,005	0.79
Total votes			763,667	100.00
	Democratic gain from Republican

References

1. "MS Governor D Primary 1999". Our Campaigns. Retrieved December 2, 2016.
2. "MS Governor R Primary 1999". Our Campaigns. Retrieved December 2, 2016.
3. http://nationaljournal.com/pubs/almanac/2002/people/ms/msgv.htm
4. "MS Governor 1999". Our Campaigns. Retrieved December 2, 2016.
5. "1999 Gubernatorial General Election Results - Mississippi". David Leip's Atlas of U.S. Presidential Elections. Retrieved December 2, 2016.