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United States · Election results history · 1979
Election 1979 Results

Each election opens in its own mode: the forecast before the votes are counted, the live count while races are still too close to call, and the results once every race is decided.

1979 governor election results by state and county

Republican Dave Treen won Louisiana by under a point in 1979, the party's first governorship there since Reconstruction, while Democrats held Kentucky and Mississippi.

3 governor races were held in 1979. Democrats won 2 and Republicans 1.

The closest were Louisiana (R+0.7), Kentucky (D+19.0) and Mississippi (D+22.1). 1 governorship changed party: Louisiana to the Republicans.

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Early projection, based on early and incomplete polling: the likely matchups, each weighted by the betting markets' odds of both nominations, not a result. Each county is its 2024 presidential margin moved by its state's projected swing; set a national vote and every state, district and county moves by the same amount from our projection. Colours run in 100 steps from a safe Republican to a safe Democratic margin. Boundaries: US Census Bureau.

About the 1979 governor elections

Kentucky, Louisiana and Mississippi held governor elections in 1979, late in Jimmy Carter's presidency, during an energy crisis and high inflation. Louisiana provided the headline. Republican David C. Treen defeated Democrat Louis Lambert by 0.7 points to become the state's first Republican governor since Reconstruction. Treen had already been the first Republican elected to Congress from Louisiana in the 20th century. In Kentucky, Democrat John Y. Brown Jr., a businessman known for building Kentucky Fried Chicken, beat former Republican Governor Louie B. Nunn by about 19 points. In Mississippi, Democrat William Winter defeated Republican Gil Carmichael by about 22 points. Winter went on to push through a major education reform law, and was widely regarded as a progressive on race for his time and place.

Every race

StateDemocratVotesRepublicanVotesOthersMargin
Kentucky John Y. Brown Jr.558,088 (59.5%) Louie B. Nunn380,085 (40.5%) D+19.0
Louisiana flip Louis Lambert681,134 (49.7%) David Treen690,691 (50.3%) R+0.7
Louisiana: Decided in the December runoff.
Mississippi William Winter413,620 (61.1%) Gil Carmichael263,702 (38.9%) D+22.1

Margin: the Democrat's share of all votes minus the Republican's. Margins are Democrat minus Republican, of all votes. Certified results, from the states' own archives, the MIT Election Data and Science Lab, Heideman (2026) and Algara & Amlani (2021). By county: "As they were" draws each county as it stood on election day; "Today's" shares the old votes among today's counties by area. County boundaries: Newberry Library, Atlas of Historical County Boundaries (CC BY-NC-SA 2.5). How these results were checked.

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