Kentucky gubernatorial and lieutenant gubernatorial election, 2011

Main article: State executive official elections, 2011

---

The Kentucky gubernatorial and lieutenant gubernatorial election of 2011 was held on Tuesday, November 8, 2011, following a primary election on May 17, 2011. Polling hours on all election days are from 6:00 am to 6:00 pm, local time.

Incumbent Gov. Steve L. Beshear (D) first won election in 2007 and won re-election in 2011. His lieutenant governor, Daniel Mongiardo, ran for and lost the Democratic primary for the Class III U.S. Senate seat held by Republican Rand Paul. Beshear's running mate for 2011 was Jerry Abramson, a former Louisville mayor.

Beshear and Abramson defeated the Republican ticket of state Senate President David Williams and outgoing Agriculture Commissioner Richie Farmer. The independent ticket of trial attorney Gatewood Galbraith and Dea Riley placed third in the race.

Kentucky elects the governor and the lieutenant governor on a shared ticket with a single primary election for both offices.

Background

2011 State Executive Official Elections

Kentucky Gov./Lt. Gov. • SoS • AG Down Ballot Offices Louisiana Gov. • Lt. Gov • SoS • AG Down Ballot Offices Mississippi Gov. • Lt. Gov • SoS • AG Down Ballot Offices West Virginia Gov.

News • Calendar

Key dates

• Detailed dates and deadlines relevant to the election are listed at the Kentucky State Board of Elections.

• Voters may check their registration status, register for the first time, or request an absentee ballot at the Kentucky State Board of Election's Voter Registration Portal.

• Certified results for elections were legally due no later than June 6, 2011, for the primary and November 28, 2011, for general election results. These were the latest dates for the state canvassers.

• Administrative deadlines were at close of business (4:00) unless otherwise noted.

Deadline	Event
January 25, 2011	Declaration of candidacy for primary
April 18, 2011	Voter registration for primary
May 10, 2011	Deadline to request absentee ballots by mail
May 16, 2011	Deadline to request absentee ballots in person
May 17, 2011	Emergency absentee ballot request for primary
May 17, 2011	Primary election
May 27, 2011	Last day to request a recount and to challenge primary results
June 6, 2011	Certification of primary results
August 9, 2011	Declaration of candidacy for general election
October 11, 2011	Voter registration for general election
October 28, 2011	Write-in candidate announcement for general election
November 1, 2011	Deadline to request absentee ballot for general election by mail
November 7, 2011	Deadline to request absentee ballot for general election in person
November 8, 2011	Emergency absentee ballot request for general election
November 8, 2011	General election
November 15, 2011	Last day to challenge general election results
November 18, 2011	Last day to request a general election recount
November 28, 2011	Certification of general election results

Race background

Steve Beshear previously served in Kentucky's House of Representatives, as the Commonwealth's attorney general, and as the lieutenant governor, all prior to being elected to his first term as governor. Well-known throughout the state, he secured his first term with a 17-point plurality, ousting Republican incumbent Ernie Fletcher.

In his first term, Beshear was a relatively unpopular governor in a national political landscape where only a handful of governors could claim to have approval ratings nearing 50 percent. He saw his numbers rise from the beginning of his first term, with approval ratings taken in conjunction with preliminary polls on the 2011 gubernatorial election giving him favorable ratings in the upper 40s.

His only announced primary contender was perennial candidate Otis Hensley, Jr. In the 2007 Democratic primary for the governorship Hensley took 1.09 percent, compared to 41.02 percent for Beshear. By the time the deadline for candidates to file passed, Hensley's name was not on any official lists of gubernatorial hopefuls.

Across the aisle, state Senate President David L. Williams and businessman Phillip Moffet declared their candidacies. Beshear bested each by double-digit margins in hypothetical match-ups, with larger edges over Moffet. Hypothetical match-ups between Beshear and Moffett generated higher undecided totals than a Beshear-Williams contest. This trend reflected Moffet's lower name recognition and voter fatigue from a busy 2010 midterm election.

Beshear made his re-election run with a new running mate. Incumbent Lt. Gov. Daniel Mongiardo chose to pursue a U.S. Senate seat, making him unavailable when Beshear announced he would run again in July 2009. In Mongiardo's place, Jerry Abramson, Lousiville's mayor, joined the ticket.

Among GOP hopefuls, Representative Mike Harmon ran with Moffet and Williams ran with State Agriculture Commissioner Richie Farmer. Farmer's stint as a University of Kentucky Wildcat basketball player may have boosted his appeal and name recognition on the campaign trail.

An independent ticket featuring gubernatorial candidate Gatewood Galbraith and lieutenant gubernatorial candidate Dea Riley also ran during the 2011 race. Galbraith made his fifth gubernatorial run in 2011 and previously ran as a Democratic and Reform Party candidate.

Race tracking

2011 Race Rankings for Governor of Kentucky
Race Tracker		Race Rating
The Cook Political Report		Leans Democratic
Governing Politics		Toss-up
Larry J. Sabato's Crystal Ball		Likely Democratic
The Rothenberg Political Report		Toss-up/Tilting Democrat
Overall Call		Leans Democratic

November 8 general election

Results

Governor and Lt. Governor of Kentucky, 2011
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Steve Beshear and Jerry E. Abramson	55.7%	464,245
	Republican	David Williams and Richie Farmer	35.3%	294,034
	Independent	Gatewood Galbraith and Dea Riley	9%	74,860
Total Votes				833,139
Election results via Kentucky Secretary of State

Polls

On February 28 and March 1, 2010, Braun Research conducted a telephone survey of 804 Kentucky voters who were likely to vote in 2011. Respondents were asked "if the election for governor and lieutenant governor were held today, and your choices were the Democratic ticket of Steve Beshear and Herry Abramson or the Republican ticket of David Williams and Richie Farmer, who would you vote for?"

Date of Poll	Pollster	Beshear (D)	Williams (R)	Don't Know	Number polled
Feb 28 - Mar 1, 2010	Braun Research, Inc	48.4%	37.6%	12.6%	804

Eight months later, Mason-Dixon Polling conducted a similar survey, and though the Beshear/Abramson ticket lost a little bit of ground, they maintained a 15-point advantage over Williams/Farmer. In a later poll, conducted in June 2011, the incumbent and his running mate gained 6 points, with 7 percent of the polled voters clarifying their position in the eight months between polls.

Date of Poll	Pollster	Beshear (D)	Williams (R)	Galbraith (I)	Don't Know	Number polled
Oct 18 - 19, 2010	Mason-Dixon Polling	45%	30%	5%	20%	625
June 6 - 8, 2011	Braun Research, Inc	51%	29.6%	5.6%	13.8%	802
August 25 - 28, 2011	Public Policy Polling	55%	28%	10%	8%	600

May 17 primary election

Results

In the event that no candidate received more than 40 percent of the vote in the party's primary, a runoff would have been scheduled. Turnout was scant, perhaps even lighter than predicted, but in the Republican field, the only real primary, David Williams finished with an eight-point cushion to avoid that runoff.

Gubernatorial Republican Primary election
Party		Candidate	Vote Percentage
	Republican Party	aDavid Williams	48.22%
	Republican Party	Phil Moffett	37.98%
	Republican Party	Barbara Holsclaw	13.80%
Total Votes			142,108

Gubernatorial Democratic Primary election
Party		Candidate	Vote Percentage
	Democratic Party	aSteve Beshear	(uncontested)
	Democratic Party	Otis Hensley, Jr.	(left race)
Total Votes

Candidates

Democratic

• Steve Beshear, the incumbent governor, ran with Jerry E. Abramson, the former Mayor of Louisville.
• Otis "Bull Man" Hensley, Jr., a contractor for the state highway department, was running with Richard Robbins, his co-candidate in prior races. Hensley's name did not appear on the list of final candidates released on January 26, 2011.

Republican

• State Senator David Williams, ran with Agriculture Commissioner Richie Farmer.
• Jefferson County Clerk Barbara Holsclaw, ran with Bill Vermillion, Jr.
• Businessman Phil Moffett, ran with State Representative Mike Harmon for lieutenant governor, a ticket that aligned itself with tea party principles.

Independent

• Attorney and frequent candidate Gatewood Galbraith, ran with Dea Riley, a marketing professional.

Polls

Republican

Date of Poll	Pollster	Holsclaw/Vermillion	Moffett/Harmon	Williams/Farmer	Don't Know/Other	Number polled
April 8 - 13	Survey USA	12%	21%	47%	21%	507

Campaign finance

The Kentucky Registry of Election Finance administers laws regulating election financing and reporting. It is also the repository for all reports that candidates and committees are required to file.

Due dates for reports

Due dates for the 2011 primary season were as follows: 32-day pre- Primary Report, due April 15, 2011 15-day pre- Primary Report, due May 2, 2011 30-day post- Primary Report, due June 16, 2011 60-day post- Primary Report, due July 16, 2011

Due dates for the general season were as follows: 32-day pre- General Report, due October 7, 2011 15-day pre- General Report, due October 24, 2011 30-day post- General Report, due December 8, 2011 60-day post- General Report, due January 7, 2012

• Contributions include all fundraising and donations, loans, money rolled over from previous accounts, and all other income to the campaign.
• Reports are listed by the day the candidate filed, which may or may not be the due date.
• Amended reports are only put on a separate line if the amendment showed a changes in the total amounts; otherwise, there is simply a note to indicate that an amendment was filed.

Nominees

Beshear & Abramson

Steve Beshear and Jerry Abramson Campaign Finance Reports
Report		Date Filed	Beginning Balance	Total Contributions	(Expenditures)	Cash on Hand
30 Day Post-Primary		June 16, 2011	$3,239,082.90	$134,605.50	$(2,887,718.53)	$485,969.87
15 Day Pre-Primary		May 2, 2011	$3,322,565.04	$200,627.84	$(284,109.98)	$3,239,082.90
32 Day Pre-Primary		April 15, 2011	$2,640,682.94	$1,146,120.20	$(464,242.10)	$3,322,565.04

Williams & Farmer

David Williams and Richie Farmer Campaign Finance Reports
Report		Date Filed	Beginning Balance	Total Contributions	(Expenditures)	Cash on Hand
30 Day Post-Primary		June 16, 2011	$206,511.277	$92,787.00	$(209,935.02)	$89,363.25
15 Day Pre-Primary		May 6, 2011	$669,839.23	$76,934.00	$(540,261.96)	$206,511.27
32 Day Pre-Primary		April 15, 2011, amended May 16, 2011	$641,658.57	$446,943.01	$(418,762.35)	$669,839.23

Former candidates

Holsclaw & Vermillion

Barbara Holsclaw and William Vermillion Campaign Finance Reports
Report		Date Filed	Beginning Balance	Total Contributions	(Expenditures)	Cash on Hand
15 Day Pre-Primary		May 2, 2011	$15,289.44	$3,925.00	$(6,566.48)	$12,647.96
32 Day Pre-Primary		April 15, 2011, amended April 27, 2011	$0.00	$22,774.00	$(7,484.56)	$15,289.44

Moffett & Harmon

Phil Moffett and Mike Harmon Campaign Finance Reports
Report		Date Filed	Beginning Balance	Total Contributions	(Expenditures)	Cash on Hand
15 Day Pre-Primary		May 2, 2011	$11,361.17	$23,329.00	$(18,446.16)	$16,244.01
32 Day Pre-Primary		April 15, 2011, amended April 21, 2011	$8,737.45	$57,758.00	$(55,134.28)	$11,361.17

See also

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

External links

Suggest a link

• Kentucky State Board of Elections
• The Green Papers