2003 United States gubernatorial elections

For related races, see 2003 United States elections.

2003 United States gubernatorial elections

October 7, 2003 (CA), November 6, 2003 (KY and MS), October 4, 2003 and November 15, 2003 (LA)
4 governorships (including a recall election in California)
Majority party Minority party   Leader Bill Owens Gary Locke Party Republican Democratic Leader's seat Colorado Washington Last election 29 governorships (26 states) 27 governorships (24 states) Seats before 29 (26 states) 27 (24 states) Seats after 31 (28 states) 25 (22 states) Seat change 2 2 Popular vote 1,743,172 (not including California) 1,628,304 Percentage 51.70% 48.30% (not including California)
Map of the Results      Republican gain      Democratic gain      No election

The 2003 United States gubernatorial elections were held in four states. Kentucky and Mississippi held their general elections on November 4. Louisiana held the first round of its jungle primary on October 4 and the runoff on November 15. In addition, California held a recall election on October 7.

• California recall election, 2003
• Kentucky gubernatorial election, 2003
• Louisiana gubernatorial election, 2003
• Mississippi gubernatorial election, 2003

The Republican Party had a net gain of two seats in 2003, picking up an open seat in Kentucky, removing a Democratic governor in California, and defeating a Democratic governor in Mississippi, while losing an open seat to the Democrats in Louisiana. The election cycle was unusual because every seat up for election changed hands. This was the last time a party made net gains in this cycle of governor elections until 2019.

Election results

A bolded state name indicates an article specific to that state's election.

State	Incumbent	Party	Status	Opposing candidates
California	Gray Davis	Democratic	Recalled, 55.4%-44.6%	Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) 48.58% Cruz Bustamante (D) 31.47% Tom McClintock (R) 13.41% Peter Camejo (G) 2.8% Full List
Kentucky	Paul Patton	Democratic	Term-limited, Republican victory	Ernie Fletcher (R) 55% Ben Chandler (D) 45%
Louisiana	Mike Foster	Republican	Term-limited, Democratic victory	Bobby Jindal (R) 33% (48% in runoff) Kathleen Blanco (D) 18% (52% in runoff) Richard Ieyoub (D) 16% Buddy Leach (D) 14% Randy Ewing (D) 9% Hunt Downer (R) 6%
Mississippi	Ronnie Musgrove	Democratic	Defeated, 45.81%	Haley Barbour (R) 52.59% John Cripps (Const.) 0.71% Shawn O'Hara (Ref.) 0.46% Sherman Dillon (G) 0.44%

External links

• Mississippi Certified Election Results
• California Election Results CA Secretary of State Site