1991 Louisiana lieutenant gubernatorial election

←  1987 October 19, 1991 (first round) November 16, 1991 (runoff) 1995  →

Candidate Melinda Schwegmann Paul Hardy Thomas Clausen Party Democratic Republican Democratic First round 624,371 42.86% 620,199 42.57% 115,921 7.96% Runoff 1,009,026 59.27% 693,412 40.73% Eliminated

Lieutenant Governor before election Paul Hardy Republican Elected Lieutenant Governor Melinda Schwegmann Democratic

The 1991 Louisiana lieutenant gubernatorial election was held on November 16, 1991, in order to elect the lieutenant governor of Louisiana. Democratic candidate Melinda Schwegmann defeated incumbent Republican lieutenant governor Paul Hardy in the Runoff election, thereby becoming the first woman to have been elected lieutenant governor of the U.S. state of Louisiana.

Contents

• Background
• Primary election
• Results
• Runoff election
• Results 2
• References

Background

Elections in Louisiana—with the exception of U.S. presidential elections—follow a variation of the open primary system called the jungle primary or the nonpartisan blanket primary. Candidates of any and all parties are listed on one ballot; voters need not limit themselves to the candidates of one party. Unless one candidate takes more than 50% of the vote in the first round, a run-off election is then held between the top two candidates, who may in fact be members of the same party. Texas uses this same format for its special elections. In this election, the first round of voting was held on October 19, 1991. The runoff was held on November 16, 1991. ^[1]

Primary election

On election day, October 19, 1991, incumbent Democratic candidate Melinda Schwegmann and incumbent Republican lieutenant governor Paul Hardy received the most votes and thus advanced to a runoff election on November 16. ^[2]

Runoff election

On election day, November 16, 1991, Democratic candidate Melinda Schwegmann defeated incumbent Republican lieutenant governor Paul Hardy by a margin of 315,614 votes, thereby gaining Democratic control over the office of lieutenant governor. Schwegmann was sworn in as the 49th Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana on January 3, 1992. ^[3]

References