On Tuesday, the Democratic Party runoff for governor will be the first in 24 years.
The runoff will be between Hattiesburg Mayor Johnny DuPree and Clarksdale businessman Bill Luckett. In the first primary, DuPree received 171,333 or 43 percent, Luckett received 155,195 or 39 percent, William Compton 39,182 or 10 percent, and Guy Shaw 29,526 or 7 percent. This is with 1872 of 1873 precincts reporting.
The year was 1987 when the last Democratic runoff for governor took place. It featured then-State Auditor Ray Mabus and Glendora businessman Mike Sturdivant. In the first primary, there were eight Democrats. Mabus led the field with 304,559 votes, Sturdivant had 131,180 and former Gov. Bill Waller was third with 105,056. In the Republican primary, there were only two candidates. The nominee was Tupelo businessman Jack Reed.
Sturdivant had previously ran in 1983 and came in third in a primary that featured then-Attorney General Bill Allain, the eventual winner, and former Lt. Gov. Evelyn Gandy.
Mabus was coming off four years as a successful state auditor who had previously served on Gov. William Winter’s “Boys of Spring” team, which in 1982 helped pass the Education Reform Act. While Mabus was auditor, “Operation Pretense,” an FBI undercover investigation of county government corruption, took place. That led to the arrest and indictments of several county officials. Soon after Operation Pretense was made public, Mabus announced his bid for governor. His campaign slogan was “Mississippi will never be last again.” Mabus was a 38-year-old Harvard graduate from Ackerman who was in his first race for governor.
In the Democratic runoff, Mabus easily won with 65 percent of the vote. He then went on to win the general election over Reed with a little more than 53 percent of the vote.
Since 1987, the Democratic gubernatorial nominee has been decided in the first primary. In 1991, Mabus, the incumbent governor, defeated former 4th District Rep. Wayne Dowdy. Mabus garnered 368,679 votes to Dowdy’s 299,172. A lesser-known candidate got a little more than 58,000 votes. Mabus was defeated in the general election by Kirk Fordice of Vicksburg.
In 1995, then-Secretary of State Dick Molpus won the Democratic nomination in the first primary over a lesser- known opponent. Molpus was defeated by Fordice in the general election.
In 1999, then-Lt. Gov. Ronnie Musgrove defeated former Supreme Court Justice Jim Roberts and some lesser- known opponents in the first Democratic primary. Musgrove went on to defeat the Republican nominee, former 4th District Rep. Mike Parker. (Musgrove did not receive a majority in the general election. The election was sent to the House of Representatives, where Musgrove was elected when the Legislature met in January 2000.)
In 2003, Musgrove easily defeated lesser-known opponents in the first Democratic primary and was defeated in the general election by Haley Barbour of Yazoo City, who had served as chairman of the National Republican Committee in the early ’90s.
In 2007, Jackson lawyer John Arthur Eaves Jr. defeated lesser-known opponents in the first Democratic primary and went on to be defeated by Barbour in the general election.
If a voter voted in the Democratic primary on Aug. 2, the voter cannot vote in the Republican runoff on Aug. 23. Same goes if the voter voted in the Republican primary. The voter cannot vote in the Democratic runoff. If a voter did not vote at all in the Democratic or Republican primary on Aug. 2, the voter can vote in either runoff on August 23.
At one time in Mississippi, winning the Democratic primary was tantamount to election. When I asked former state Democratic Party Chairman Rickey L. Cole his take on the Aug. 23 gubernatorial runoff, he said, “Given the relative strength of the two parties in Mississippi right now, a Democratic primary for governor is about like two bantam roosters fighting each other all day for the privilege of fighting the owls all night.”
• Ken Strachan is the former mayor of North Carrollton and is serving as coroner of Carroll County.
