The 1991 Louisiana gubernatorial election was held in the US state on October 19 and November 16, 1991. Republican incumbent Buddy Roemer ran for re-election to a second term, but he was eliminated in the first round, finishing behind Democratic former governor Edwin Edwards and Republican state representative David Duke. The election received national and international attention for Duke's prior tenure as leader of the Ku Klux Klan and other ties to white supremacist and neo-Nazi groups.
Background
Election procedure
In 1991, Louisiana elections (except for U.S. presidential elections) were conducted under a variation of the open primary system called the "jungle primary," in which candidates of all parties were listed on one ballot. Unless one candidate received a majority in the first round, a run-off election would be held between the top two candidates, who may 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.
1987 election
U.S. representative Buddy Roemer was elected governor of Louisiana in 1987 as a member of the Democratic Party. He defeated Democratic incumbent Edwin Edwards. Roemer received a plurality of the vote over Edwards in the first round, and Edwards withdrew from the race prior to the run-off election. Roemer initially trailed the field in polling, but he ran a fiery anti-Edwards campaign on a populist reform platform and received strategic support from many Republicans and conservatives who considered him a stronger alternative to Edwards than Republican challenger Bob Livingston.
David Duke 1990 campaign
In the 1990 election for United States Senate, former Ku Klux Klan (KKK) leader David Duke ran an unexpectedly strong campaign, despite repudiation by leaders of the national Republican Party, who endorsed Democratic incumbent J. Bennett Johnston. Leading Republicans repudiated Duke's candidacy, citing his history as a white supremacist, and Republican candidate Ben Bagert withdrew in favor of Johnston after polls showed that his candidacy would lead to a run-off, putting Duke on the November general election ballot and harming the national Republican campaign in the 1990 elections.
On October 6, 1990, Bennett received a majority of the vote in the first round, avoiding a run-off with Duke.
Primary election
Candidates
- Jim Crowley (Democratic)
- Fred Dent (Democratic)
- David Duke, state representative from Metairie and 1990 candidate for U.S. Senate (Republican)
- Edwin Edwards, former governor of Louisiana (Democratic)
- Clyde C. Holloway, U.S. representative from Forest Hill (Republican)
- Ronnie Johnson (Independent)
- Sam S. Jones (Democratic)
- Ed Karst (Independent)
- Cousin Ken Lewis (Democratic)
- Albert Powell (Democratic)
- Buddy Roemer, incumbent governor of Louisiana since 1988 (Republican) (switched from Democratic in March 1991)
- Anne Thompson (Republican)
Withdrew
- Kathleen Blanco, member of the Louisiana Public Service Commission (Democratic) (ran for re-election)
Declined
- W. Fox McKeithen, Louisiana secretary of state and son of John McKeithen (Republican) (ran for re-election)
Campaign
In March 1991, Roemer switched to the Republican Party just months before the state elections, at the apparent urging of White House chief of staff John H. Sununu. Roemer's late-term party switch dismayed both Democratic and Republican politicians and activists, scrambling the field for the 1991 gubernatorial election. Seeking the unified support of his new party, Roemer attempted to get the Louisiana Republican Party to cancel its scheduled convention to endorse a candidate for governor. When he failed, he skipped the event entirely. As expected, the convention endorsed U.S. representative Clyde C. Holloway, who had the support of anti-abortion activists.
In May 1991, Kathleen Blanco announced her candidacy, making her the first woman in forty years to launch a serious campaign for governor. Because Blanco was from Acadiana, her candidacy was expected to complicate Edward Edwards's bid for a fourth term. However, she withdrew from the race after 100 days to run for re-election. Blanco would later be elected governor in her own right in 2003.
With Blanco out and secretary of state W. Fox McKeithen declining to campaign, the field settled on Duke, Edwards, Holloway, and Roemer. Roemer was wounded by mistakes during his term as governor, while Edwards and Duke each had a passionate base of support. Roemer was also hurt by a last-minute advertising barrage by Jack Kent, the owner of Marine Shale. Marine Shale had been targeted by Roemer for environmental pollution, and Kent spent $500,000 (approximately $1,182,000 in 2025) of his own money in the closing days of the campaign to purchase anti-Roemer commercials.
James Meredith, the first black student accepted to the University of Mississippi, campaigned in support of David Duke.
Runoff election
Candidates
- David Duke, state representative and 1990 candidate for U.S. Senate (Republican)
- Edwin Edwards, former governor of Louisiana (Democratic)
Campaign
Faced with a choice between Duke and Edwards, many Louisianans who had otherwise been critical of Edwards now looked favorably on him as an alternative. This included incumbent governor Roemer, who had run on an "Anyone but Edwards" platform in 1987. Roemer ultimately endorsed Edwards over Duke, the putative Republican candidate in the race.
The resulting 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 antisemitism after his conversion.
As they had in 1990, nearly all national Republican Party leaders rejected Duke's candidacy. In a news conference, President George H. W. Bush condemned Duke as unfit for public office, stating:
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.
Humorous unofficial bumper stickers were created to support Edwards over Duke, despite Edwards's negative reputation for corruption. One bumper sticker read, "Vote for the Lizard, not the Wizard", and another read, "Vote For The Crook: It's Important."
Debate
One debate was held between the candidates, on November 6. During the debate, Norman Robinson, an African American journalist, told Duke that he was "scared" at the prospect of Duke becoming governor because of his history of "diabolical, evil, vile" comments, some of which he read to Duke, and he pressed Duke for an apology. When Duke protested that Robinson was not being fair to him, Robinson replied that he did not think Duke was being honest. The exchange received national media attention, and Jason Berry of the Los Angeles Times later called it "startling TV" and the "catalyst" for overwhelming turnout among African American voters in the run-off.
Analysis
Edwards's landslide victory was attributed to the almost-unanimous support he received from African American voters, who also turned out at a rate of 80 percent. He also won 75 percent of voters who had voted for Roemer in the first round, 63 percent of female voters, 59 percent of male voters, and 66 percent of voters with annual incomes above $75,000. By contrast, Duke received support primarily from lower and lower-middle income white households, including 56 percent of white voters with family incomes under $15,000, 63 percent of those with incomes between $15,000 and $29,999, and 60 percent of those with incomes between $30,000 and $49,999.