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The Political Graveyard: A Database of American History
Kentucky: Governors

Governors of Kentucky, 1792-2019 (May be incomplete!)
Isaac Shelby 1792-96 James Garrard 1796-1804 Christopher Greenup 1804-08 Charles Scott 1808-12 Isaac Shelby 1812-16 George Madison 1816 Gabriel Slaughter 1816-20 John Adair 1820-24 Joseph Desha 1824-28 Thomas Metcalfe 1828-32 John Breathitt 1832-34 James T. Morehead 1834-36 James Clark 1836-39 Charles A. Wickliffe 1839-40 Robert P. Letcher 1840-44 William Owsley 1844-48 John J. Crittenden 1848-50 John Larue Helm 1850-51 Lazarus W. Powell 1851-55 Charles S. Morehead 1855-59 Beriah Magoffin 1859-62 James Fisher Robinson 1862-63 Thomas E. Bramlette 1863-67 John Larue Helm 1867 John W. Stevenson 1867-71 Preston Hopkins Leslie 1871-75 James B. McCreary 1875-79 Luke P. Blackburn 1879-83 J. Proctor Knott 1883-87 Simon Buckner 1887-91 John Y. Brown 1891-95 William O. Bradley 1895-99 William S. Taylor 1899-1900 William J. Goebel 1900 J. C. W. Beckham 1900-07 Augustus E. Willson 1907-11 James B. McCreary 1911-15 Augustus O. Stanley 1915-19 James D. Black 1919 Edwin P. Morrow 1919-23 William J. Fields 1923-27 Flem D. Sampson 1927-31 Ruby Laffoon 1931-35 Albert B. Chandler 1935-39 Keen Johnson 1939-43 Simeon Willis 1943-47 Earle C. Clements 1948-50 Lawrence W. Wetherby 1950-55 Albert B. Chandler 1955-59 Bert T. Combs 1959-63 Edward T. Breathitt 1963-67 Louie B. Nunn 1967-71 Wendell H. Ford 1971-74 Julian M. Carroll 1974-79 John Y. Brown, Jr. 1979-83 Martha Layne Collins 1983-87 Wallace G. Wilkinson 1987-91 Brereton C. Jones 1991-95 Paul E. Patton 1995-2003 Ernie Fletcher 2003-07 Steve Beshear 2007-15 Matt Bevin 2015-19 Andy Beshear 2019-

Events and Candidates (may be incomplete!)

  • 1816 Oct 14: George Madison, died in office.
  • 1828: William T. Barry, defeated.
  • 1832: Richard A. Buckner, defeated.
  • 1834 Feb 21: John Breathitt, died in office.
  • 1839 Sep 27: James Clark, died in office.
  • 1840: Richard French (Dem), defeated.
  • 1855: Beverly L. Clarke (Dem), defeated.
  • 1867 Sep 8: John Larue Helm, died in office.
  • 1871: John Marshall Harlan (Rep), defeated.
  • 1879: Walter Evans (Rep), defeated.
  • 1883: Thomas Zantzinger Morrow (Rep), defeated.
  • 1887: William O. Bradley (Rep), defeated.
  • 1895: William O. Bradley (Rep), elected.
  • 1900 Feb 3: William J. Goebel, died in office.
  • 1907: Augustus E. Willson (Rep), elected.
  • 1911: Edward C. O'Rear (Rep), defeated.
  • 1915 Nov 2: Augustus O. Stanley (Dem), elected; Edwin P. Morrow (Rep), defeated; L. L. Pickett (Prohibition), defeated; Charles Dobbs (Socialist), defeated; Fred J. Drexler (Progressive), defeated.
  • 1919 Nov 4: Edwin P. Morrow (Rep), elected; James D. Black (Dem), defeated; George D. Becker (Socialist), defeated.
  • 1923 Aug 4: J. Campbell Cantrill (Dem), nominated, but died before the election; Alben W. Barkley (Dem), defeated in primary.
  • 1923 Nov 6: William J. Fields (Dem), elected; Charles I. Dawson (Rep), defeated; William S. Demuth (Farmer-Labor), defeated; Martin A. Brinkman (Socialist), defeated.
  • 1927 Aug 6: J. C. W. Beckham (Dem), nominated; Robert T. Crowe (Dem), defeated in primary.
  • 1927 Aug 6: Flem D. Sampson (Rep), nominated; Robert H. Lucas (Rep), defeated in primary.
  • 1927 Nov 8: Flem D. Sampson (Rep), elected; J. C. W. Beckham (Dem), defeated.
  • 1931: William B. Ardery (Dem), defeated for nomination.
  • 1931 Nov 3: Ruby Laffoon (Dem), elected; William B. Harrison (Rep), defeated; John J. Thobe (Socialist), defeated; Herman Horning (Socialist Labor), defeated.
  • 1935: Elam Huddleston (Dem), defeated in primary; Frederick A. Wallis (Dem), defeated in primary; Thomas S. Rhea (Dem), defeated in primary; Bailey P. Wootton (Dem), defeated in primary.
  • 1935: King Swope, defeated.
  • 1939: John Sherman Cooper, defeated for nomination; L. O. Smith, defeated for nomination; G. Tom Hawkins, defeated for nomination; Charles D. Arnett (Dem), defeated for nomination.
  • 1939: John Y. Brown, Sr. (Dem), defeated in primary; Ulysses G. Foster (Dem), defeated in primary.
  • 1939: King Swope, defeated.
  • 1943: Ben Kilgore (Dem), defeated in primary; Rodes K. Myers (Dem), defeated in primary.
  • 1943: J. Lyter Donaldson (Dem), defeated.
  • 1947: Harry Lee Waterfield, defeated for nomination; R. E. Lee Murphy, defeated for nomination; Jesse W. Knox, defeated for nomination.
  • 1947: John F. Williams (Rep), defeated in primary.
  • 1947: Eldon S. Dummit (Rep), defeated.
  • 1951: Howell W. Vincent, defeated for nomination.
  • 1951: Jesse R. N. Cecil (Dem), defeated in primary.
  • 1951: W. Howes Meade (Rep), defeated in primary.
  • 1951: Eugene Siler, defeated.
  • 1955: Bert T. Combs, defeated for nomination; James L. Clay (Rep), defeated for nomination.
  • 1955: Jesse R. N. Cecil (Dem), defeated in primary.
  • 1955 Nov 8: Albert B. Chandler (Dem), elected; Edwin R. Denney (Rep), defeated; Robert H. Garrison (Prohibition), defeated; Jesse K. Lewis (Free Citizens), defeated.
  • 1959: Harry Lee Waterfield (Dem), defeated for nomination.
  • 1959: Jesse R. N. Cecil (Dem), defeated in primary; James L. Delk (Dem), defeated in primary.
  • 1959: John M. Robsion, Jr. (Rep), defeated.
  • 1971 May 15: Bert T. Combs, defeated for nomination.
  • 1975 May 27: Julian M. Carroll (Dem), nominated; Todd Hollenbach (Dem), defeated in primary; Mary Louise Foust (Dem), defeated in primary; Robert McCreary Johnson (Dem), defeated in primary.
  • 1975 May 27: Robert E. Gable (Rep), nominated; Elmer Begley, Jr. (Rep), defeated in primary; Tommy Klein (Rep), defeated in primary; Granville Thomas (Rep), defeated in primary.
  • 1975 Nov 4: Julian M. Carroll (Dem), elected; Robert E. Gable (Rep), defeated.
  • 1979 May 29: John Y. Brown, Jr. (Dem), nominated; Harvey I. Sloane (Dem), defeated in primary; W. Terry McBrayer (Dem), defeated in primary; Carroll Hubbard, Jr. (Dem), defeated in primary; Thelma L. Stovall (Dem), defeated in primary; Lyle L. Willis (Dem), defeated in primary; George Atkins (Dem), defeated in primary; Doris Shuja Binion (Dem), defeated in primary; John J. Weikel (Dem), defeated in primary.
  • 1979 May 29: Louie B. Nunn (Rep), nominated; Ray B. White (Rep), defeated in primary; Elmer Begley, Jr. (Rep), defeated in primary; Thurman J. Hamlin (Rep), defeated in primary.
  • 1979 Nov 6: John Y. Brown, Jr. (Dem), elected; Louie B. Nunn (Rep), defeated.
  • 1983: Harvey I. Sloane (Dem), defeated in primary.
  • 1983 May 24: Jim Bunning (Rep), nominated; Lester H. Burns, Jr. (Rep), defeated in primary; Donald Cecil Wiggins, Jr. (Rep), defeated in primary; Elizabeth Wickham (Rep), defeated in primary; Thurman J. Hamlin (Rep), defeated in primary; Ben Auxier, Jr. (Rep), defeated in primary.
  • 1983 Nov 8: Martha Layne Collins (Dem), elected; Jim Bunning (Rep), defeated; Nicholas D. McCubbin (Citizens United), defeated.
  • 1987 May 26: Wallace G. Wilkinson (Dem), nominated; John Y. Brown, Jr. (Dem), defeated in primary; Steve Beshear (Dem), defeated in primary; Grady Stumbo (Dem), defeated in primary; Julian M. Carroll (Dem), defeated in primary; Stanley Luttrell (Dem), defeated in primary; Dinwiddie Lampton, Jr. (Dem), defeated in primary; Anne Moore (Dem), defeated in primary.
  • 1987 May 26: John Harper (Rep), nominated; Joseph E. Johnson III (Rep), defeated in primary; Leonard W. Beasley (Rep), defeated in primary; Thurman J. Hamlin (Rep), defeated in primary.
  • 1987 Nov 3: Wallace G. Wilkinson (Dem), elected; John Harper (Rep), defeated.
  • 1991: Scotty Baesler (Dem), defeated in primary.
  • 1991 May 28: Gatewood Galbraith (Dem), defeated in primary.
  • 1995 May 23: Gatewood Galbraith (Dem), defeated in primary.
  • 1995 May 23: Tommy Klein (Rep), defeated in primary.
  • 1995 Nov 7: Gatewood Galbraith (Ind), defeated.
  • 1999 Nov 2: Gatewood Galbraith (Reform), defeated.
  • 2003: Ben Chandler (Dem), defeated.
  • 2007: Steve Beshear (Dem), elected.
  • 2007 May 22: Gatewood Galbraith (Dem), defeated in primary.
  • 2011 Nov 8: Gatewood Galbraith (Ind), defeated.
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