Misplaced Pages

1986 United States Senate election in Louisiana

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.

1986 United States Senate election in Louisiana

← 1980 September 27, 1986 (general election)
November 4, 1986 (runoff)
1992 →
 
Nominee John Breaux Henson Moore Samuel B. Nunez Jr.
Party Democratic Republican Democratic
General election 447,328
37.36%
529,433
44.22%
73,505
6.14%
Runoff 723,586
52.82%
646,311
47.18%
Eliminated

First round results by parishRunoff results by parishBreaux:      30–40%      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%
Moore:      30–40%      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      80–90%
Nunez:      40–50%
Jumonville:      50–60%

U.S. senator before election

Russell B. Long
Democratic

Elected U.S. Senator

John Breaux
Democratic

Elections in Louisiana
Federal government
Presidential elections
Presidential primaries
Democratic
2000
2004
2008
2012
2016
2020
2024
Republican
2004
2008
2012
2016
2020
2024
U.S. Senate elections
U.S. House of Representatives elections
State government
General elections
Gubernatorial elections
Lieutenant gubernatorial elections
Attorney General elections
Treasurer elections
State Senate elections
House of Representatives elections
Ballot measures
2004
Amendment 1
Baton Rouge
Mayoral elections
New Orleans
Mayoral elections
City Council elections
Shreveport
Mayoral elections
Government

The 1986 United States Senate election in Louisiana was held on November 4, 1986. Democratic nominee John Breaux defeated Republican nominee Henson Moore with 52.82% of the vote.

Campaign

U.S. Senator Russell B. Long declined to seek another term in the 1986 election. Republican candidate Moore placed first ahead of Democratic candidate Breaux in the primary.

President Ronald Reagan and Vice President George H.W. Bush campaigned in the state two and four times respectively.

Two weeks before the election Judge Dickinson R. Debevoise unsealed an internal memo between Kris Wolfe, the regional director for the Republican National Committee, and Lanny Griffith, the RNC's regional director in the south. The memo was about their usage of Ballot Integrity Groups to "eliminate at least 60-80,000 folks from the rolls" as "this could keep the black vote down considerably". The purge targeted precincts that gave Reagan less than 20% of the vote and removed 34,000 black voters from the rolls in Louisiana.

Moore denied involvement with the scheme, but one of his campaign staffers was mentioned in the memo. Breaux accused the Republicans of conducting a Watergate coverup and voter registration rolls increased by 38,054 before the election. Breaux defeated Moore in the election.

Breaux received 89% of the black vote.

Primary election

Primary elections were held on September 27, 1986.

Candidates

Results

1986 United States Senate primary election in Louisiana
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Henson Moore 529,433 44.22
Democratic John Breaux 447,328 37.36
Democratic Samuel B. Nunez Jr. 73,505 6.14
Democratic J. E. Jumonville Jr. 53,394 4.46
Democratic Sherman A. Bernard 52,479 4.38
Democratic Eli Williams 7,286 0.61
Democratic Robert H. Briggs 6,953 0.58
Independent Frank J. McTopy 6,746 0.56
Democratic Fred Collins 5,341 0.45
Democratic John H. Myers 4,084 0.34
Democratic Ken Lewis 3,415 0.29
Independent Vincent Giardina 2,640 0.22
Republican Robert M. Ross 2,493 0.21
Independent Nels J'Anthony 2,144 0.18
Total votes 1,197,241 100.00

General election

Candidates

  • John Breaux, Democratic
  • Henson Moore, Republican

Results

1986 United States Senate election in Louisiana
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Democratic John Breaux 723,586 52.82%
Republican Henson Moore 646,311 47.18%
Majority 77,275
Turnout 1,369,897
Democratic hold Swing

See also

References

  1. Moreland, Steed & Baker 1991, p. 74-75.
  2. ^ Moreland, Steed & Baker 1991, p. 75.
  3. "G.O.P. Memo Tells of Black Vote Cut". The New York Times. October 25, 1986. Archived from the original on July 23, 2023.
  4. Moreland, Steed & Baker 1991, p. 75-76.
  5. Black & Black 1992, p. 356.
  6. ^ "Results for Election Date: 9/27/1986". Voterportal.sos.la.gov. Retrieved November 18, 2018.
  7. "Results for Election Date: 11/4/1986". Voterportal.sos.la.gov. Retrieved November 18, 2018.

Works cited

Select elections in Louisiana
General
State Senate
State House
Governor
U.S. President
U.S. Senate
Class 2
Class 3
U.S. House
See also: Political party strength in Louisiana
(1985 ←)   1986 United States elections   (→ 1987)
U.S. Senate
U.S.
House
Governors
State
legislatures
Attorneys
General
Mayors
Categories: