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Attorney General elections, 2015

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Along with the position of governor, the only top state executive position that exists in all 50 states is the attorney general. Of the 50 seats, 43 of those are elected positions with the other seven appointed at the state level. In 2015, three attorneys general seats were up for election:

Party breakdown

There were 26 Republican attorneys general and 24 Democratic attorneys general heading into the 2015 election. Of the 43 total elected attorney general seats, the Republicans held 24, while the Democrats held 19.

Though the nationwide partisan balance of attorneys general favored Republicans, only one of the three attorney general positions up for election in 2015, the Louisiana Attorney General seat held by Buddy Caldwell, was under GOP control. The other two seats were held by Democratic attorneys general: Jack Conway (Kentucky) and Jim Hood (Mississippi).


Partisan Breakdown: Attorneys General
Party As of November 2015 After the 2015 Election
     Democratic Party 24 24
     Republican Party 26 26
Total 50 50

Election information

Attorney General Election Information, 2015
State Incumbent Incumbent Party Incumbent Running? 2015 Winner Partisan switch?
Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway.jpg
Jack Conway		 Democratic Party Democratic No[1] Andy Beshear No
Louisiana Attorney General Buddy Caldwell.jpg
Buddy Caldwell		 Republican Party Republican Yes[2] Pending No
Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood.jpg
Jim Hood		 Democratic Party Democratic Yes[3] Jim Hood No

Kentucky

See also: Kentucky Attorney General election, 2015

Incumbent

Democratic Party Jack Conway
Note: Conway was ineligible to run for re-election due to term limits and was running in the 2015 race for governor.[4]

General election

Democratic Party Andy Beshear[5] Green check mark transparent.png
Republican Party Whitney Westerfield[6]

Lost in the primary

Republican Party Michael T. Hogan

Election results

Primary election

Democratic

Democratic candidate Andy Beshear was unopposed in the May primary.

Republican

Whitney Westerfield defeated Michael T. Hogan for the Republican nomination.

Kentucky Attorney General Republican Primary, 2015
Candidate Vote % Votes
Green check mark transparent.pngWhitney Westerfield 53.4% 96,581
Michael T. Hogan 46.6% 84,364
Total Votes 180,945
Election results via Kentucky State Board of Elections.

General election

Democrat Andy Beshear defeated Republican opponent, Whitney Westerfield, by 0.2 percentage points. Beshear was one of two Democrats to win statewide office in the 2015 Kentucky state executive official elections.[7]

Attorney General, 2015
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Republican Whitney Westerfield 49.9% 477,735
     Democrat Green check mark transparent.pngAndy Beshear 50.1% 479,929
Total Votes 957,664
Election results via Kentucky Secretary of State

Margin of victory

Margin of victory analysis (top four offices), 2003-2011
Office 2011 margin of victory (%) Party of winning candidate, 2011 2007 margin of victory (%) Party of winning candidate, 2007 2003 margin of victory (%) Party of winning candidate, 2003
Kenucky Governor/Lieutenant Governor 20.4 Democratic Party 17.4 Democratic Party 10 Republican Party
Kentucky Attorney General 10.1 Democratic Party 21 Democratic Party 0.6 Democratic Party
Kentucky Secretary of State 21.3 Democratic Party 14.2 Republican Party 5 Republican Party

Louisiana

See also: Louisiana Attorney General election, 2015

General election candidates

Republican Party Buddy Caldwell - Incumbent[8]
Republican Party Jeff Landry[9] Green check mark transparent.png

Defeated in primary

Democratic Party Geraldine "Geri" Broussard Baloney[10]
Democratic Party Ike Jackson[11][12]
Republican Party Marty Maley[13]

Declined to run

Republican Party John Neely Kennedy - Ran for re-election as state treasurer[14][15]

Election results

Primary election

Note: The primary election for Louisiana was scheduled for October 24, 2015. Results for contested primaries will be available in this space.

General election

Note: A runoff election took place on November 21, 2015, because no candidate received 50 percent of the vote during the primary. Results for contested races will be available in this space.

Margin of victory

Margin of victory analysis (top four offices), 2003-2011
Office 2011 margin of victory (%) Party of winning candidate, 2011 2007 margin of victory (%) Party of winning candidate, 2007 2003 margin of victory (%) Party of winning candidate, 2003
Louisiana Governor 47.9 Republican Party 36.4 Republican Party 3.9 Democratic Party
Louisiana Lieutenant Governor 6.5 Republican Party 26.3 Democratic Party 33.1 Democratic Party
Louisiana Attorney General - Republican Party 33.2 Democratic Party 7.1 Democratic Party
Louisiana Secretary of State 0.9 Republican Party 32.1 Republican Party 49.9 Republican Party

Note: A "-" indicates a race where only one candidate contested the seat.

Mississippi

See also: Mississippi Attorney General election, 2015

General election

Democratic Party Jim Hood Incumbent Approveda[16][3]
Republican Party Mike Hurst[3]


Election results

Primary election

No primary was scheduled for either major party as only one candidate filed for the office from each party.[17]

General election

Mississippi Attorney General, 2015
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Democratic Green check mark transparent.pngJim Hood Incumbent 55.4% 400,110
     Republican Mike Hurst 44.6% 322,648
Total Votes 722,758
Election results via Mississippi Secretary of State

Margin of victory

Margin of victory analysis (top four offices), 2003-2011
Office 2011 margin of victory (%) Party of winning candidate, 2011 2007 margin of victory (%) Party of winning candidate, 2007 2003 margin of victory (%) Party of winning candidate, 2003
Mississippi Governor 22 Republican Party 15.8 Republican Party 6.7 Republican Party
Mississippi Lieutenant Governor 60.7 Republican Party 17.1 Republican Party 23.9 Republican Party
Mississippi Attorney General - Democratic Party 19.7 Democratic Party 35.5 Democratic Party
Mississippi Secretary of State 22.1 Republican Party 16.5 Republican Party 47.6 Democratic Party

Note: A "-" indicates a race where only one candidate contested the seat.

Recent news

This section links to a Google news search for the term "Attorney + General + election + 2015"

2015 Attorney General Elections News Feed

See also

External links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Lexington Herald-Leader, "Jack Conway announces bid for governor, with state Rep. Sannie Overly as running mate," May 6, 2014
  2. ↑ WBRZ, "Former congressman gets in attorney general's race," February 24, 2014
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Mississippi Secretary of State, "2015 Candidate Qualifying List," accessed March 4, 2015 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "candlist" defined multiple times with different content
  4. ↑ Lexington Herald-Leader, "Jack Conway announces bid for governor, with state Rep. Sannie Overly as running mate," May 6, 2014
  5. ↑ Kentucky Secretary of State, "Information for Andy Beshear, Candidate for Attorney General," November 7, 2014
  6. ↑ Kentucky Secretary of State, "Information for Whitney H. Westerfield, Candidate for Attorney General," January 9, 2015
  7. ↑ Kentucky Secretary of State, "Attorney General," accessed Nov. 4, 2015
  8. ↑ WBRZ, "Former congressman gets in attorney general's race," February 24, 2014
  9. ↑ Landry for Louisiana, "Latest Info," February 24, 2014
  10. ↑ Louisiana Secretary of State, "Candidate Inquiry," accessed September 14, 2015
  11. ↑ Business Report, "‘LaPolitics': Race for attorney general not slowing," November 14, 2014
  12. ↑ LaPolitics, "ALFORD: Attorney General’s Race May Get Politically Crowded," March 23, 2015
  13. ↑ LaPolitics, "ALFORD: Left Letting the Right Prosecute Caldwell," October 6, 2014
  14. ↑ The Advocate, "Treasurer John Kennedy Looks at AG Race," December 10, 2014
  15. ↑ The Times-Picayune, "State Treasurer John Kennedy will seek reelection, not run for governor or attorney general," April 9, 2015
  16. ↑ The Clarion-Ledger, "AG Hood qualifies for re-election," February 20, 2015
  17. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named ap
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