Mississippi gubernatorial election, 2011

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Main article: Mississippi state executive official elections, 2011

The Mississippi gubernatorial election of 2011 was held on Tuesday, November 8, 2011, following a primary on August 2, 2011. A primary election is an election in which registered voters select a candidate that they believe should be a political party's candidate for elected office to run in the general election.

In Mississippi, primaries are open, meaning any registered voter may vote in the primary of their choice. State law says: "No person shall vote or attempt to vote in the primary election of one (1) party when he or she has voted on the same date in the primary election of another party."

For information about which offices are nominated via primary election, see this article.

Republican Phil Bryant, the state's lieutenant governor at the time, defeated Democrat Hattiesburg mayor Johnny DuPree to win the general election.

Term limits prevented incumbent Governor Haley Barbour (R) from running for a third term, and there was a large field of candidates jockeying for his seat. Both Republicans and Democrats had multiple candidates enter the primary elections. One independent candidate and two Reform Party candidates initially qualified for the general election, though all three third-party candidates were removed from the ballot in early September 2011. Independent candidate William D. Oatis withdrew from the race citing a lack of money to support his campaign, while the Mississippi State Board of Election Commission disqualified Reform Party hopefuls Bobby Kearan and Shawn O'Hara. Despite an announcement on the Reform Party National Committee's website that Kearan was their official candidate, the Mississippi State Board of Elections granted formal recognition to the O'Hara campaign. O'Hara had filed to run for both governor and state treasurer in the 2011 elections, but Mississippi Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann, citing a Mississippi law that stipulated candidates who file for multiple offices can only run in the race for which they filed most recently, kicked O'Hara off the gubernatorial ballot.

Race background

Republican Phil Bryant, lieutenant governor to term-limited Gov. Haley Barbour, made his candidacy official on January 3, 2011. Bryant was immediately given front-runner status in the race to succeed Barbour. Bryant hoped Barbour's popularity would rub off on him during his campaign, combined with Mississippi's record of Republican preference at the voting booth. Two new political faces, Hudson Holliday, a retired major general for the U.S. Coast Guard, and businessman Dave Dennis, sought the GOP nomination with Bryant. Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann and State Treasurer Tate Reeves, were considered potential contenders for the open governor's seat, but ultimately declined to run.

Democrats in race included businessman Bill Luckett and Mayor Johnny DuPree of Hattiesburg. Overall, at the gubernatorial level, Mississippi's Democratic bench looked thin.

Bryant and DuPree won their respective parties' nominations in the August primary and advanced to the November 8 general election, where Bryant triumphed with 61 percent of the vote.

General election

Results

Governor of Mississippi, 2011
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Phil Bryant	61%	544,851
	Democratic	Johnny DuPree	39%	348,617
Total Votes				893,468
Election results via Mississippi Secretary of State

Candidates

• Phil Bryant
• Johnny DuPree

Former candidates

• Reform Party Bobby Kearan
• Reform Party Shawn O'Hara
• Independent William D. Oatis

Primary election

Results

Runoff

Governor - Democratic primary runoff results
Party		Candidate	Vote Percentage
	Democratic Party	aJohnny DuPree	55%
	Democratic Party	Bill Luckett, Jr.	45%
Total Votes			323,284

Republican primary

Gubernatorial Republican Primary election
Party		Candidate	Vote Percentage
	Republican Party	aPhil Bryant	59.5%
	Republican Party	Dave Dennis	25.7%
	Republican Party	Ron Williams	8.8%
	Republican Party	Hudson Holliday	4.7%
	Republican Party	James Broadwater	1.2%
Total Votes			289,788

Democratic primary

Gubernatorial Democratic Primary election
Party		Candidate	Vote Percentage
	Democratic Party	aJohnny DuPree	43.5%
	Democratic Party	aBill Luckett, Jr.	39.2%
	Democratic Party	William Bond Compton, Jr.	9.8%
	Democratic Party	Guy Dale Shaw	7.3%
Total Votes			412,530

Candidates

• William Bond Compton, Jr., a high school teacher and previous gubernatorial candidate
• Johnny DuPree, a realtor and the Mayor of Hattiesburg
• Bill Luckett, Jr., an attorney, real estate developer and business owner in Clarksdale
• Guy Dale Shaw, a former tax assessor
• James Broadwater, running as a tea party candidate
• Phil Bryant, lieutenant governor
• Dave Dennis, the owner of a contracting business on Mississippi's Gulf Coast
• Hudson Holliday, a retired two-star General and small business owner
• Ron Williams

Race tracking

2011 Race Rankings for Governor of Mississippi
Race Tracker		Race Rating
The Cook Political Report		Likely Republican
Governing Politics		Safe Republican
Larry J. Sabato's Crystal Ball		Solid Republican
The Rothenberg Political Report		Republican Favored
Overall Call		Likely Republican

Polls

Public Policy Polling conducted a telephone survey of 817 Mississippi voters, asking them which candidate they would vote for in a number of pair-ups. The following tables present their findings, which made it clear that the Republican Party, regardless of which candidate went to the general election, was very likely to win.

The margin of error for all surveys is +/- 3.4 percent.

Date of Poll	Pollster	Bryant (R)	DuPree (D)	Undecided	Number polled
Mar 24-27	Public Policy Polling	56%	25%	19%	817

Date of Poll	Pollster	Bryant (R)	Luckett (D)	Undecided	Number polled
Mar 24-27	Public Policy Polling	53%	27%	20%	817

Date of Poll	Pollster	Dennis (R)	DuPree (D)	Undecided	Number polled
Mar 24-27	Public Policy Polling	41%	28%	31%	817

Date of Poll	Pollster	Dennis (R)	Luckett (D)	Undecided	Number polled
Mar 24-27	Public Policy Polling	43%	25%	32%	817

Date of Poll	Pollster	Holliday (R)	DuPree (D)	Undecided	Number polled
Mar 24-27	Public Policy Polling	37%	28%	35%	817

Date of Poll	Pollster	Holliday (R)	Luckett (D)	Undecided	Number polled
Mar 24-27	Public Policy Polling	38%	28%	34%	817

Key dates

Deadline	Event
Mar. 1	Declaration of candidacy
June 18	Absentee voting begins for the primary election
July 2	Voter registration (in person) for the primary
July 3	Voter registration (postmark on a mailed application) for the primary
Aug. 2	Primary election
Aug. 23	Runoff primary election, if required
Sept. 2	Certification of results for primary
Sept. 24	Absentee voting begins for the general election
Oct. 8	Voter registration (in person) for the general election
Oct. 9	Voter registration (postmark on a mailed application) for the general election
Nov. 8	General election
Nov. 29	Runoff general election, if required
Dec. 8	Certification of results for general election

See also

• Gubernatorial elections, 2011
• Governor of Mississippi
• Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi
• Mississippi

External links

• Mississippi Voter Information Center
• The Green Papers

Campaign sites:

• Johnny DePree for Governor of Mississippi
• Lucket for Mississippi
• James Broadwater for Governor
• Phil Bryant
• Dave Dennis for Governor
• Hudson Holliday 4 Governor
• Bobby Kearan's official campaign website