2019 United States attorney general elections

2019 United States attorney general elections

← 2018 November 5, 2019
November 16, 2019 (Louisiana)
2020 →

3 attorney general offices
3 states[a]
  Majority party Minority party
 
Party Republican Democratic
Seats before 20 23
Seats after 22 21
Seat change Increase 2 Decrease 2
Popular vote 2,167,410[1] 1,390,786
Percentage 60.91% 39.09%
Seats up 1 2
Seats won 3 0

2019 Kentucky Attorney General election2019 Louisiana Attorney General election2019 Mississippi Attorney General election
     Republican gain      Republican hold
     No election

The 2019 United States attorney general elections were held primarily on November 5, 2019, in 3 states. The previous attorney general elections for this group of states took place in 2015. One state attorney general ran for reelection and won, while Democrat Jim Hood of Mississippi and Andy Beshear of Kentucky did not run for re-election to run for governor.[2]

The elections took place concurrently with the 2019 House of Representatives elections, the 2019 gubernatorial elections, and numerous state and local elections.

Republicans won every seat in this election, with a net gain of two.[3]

Election predictions

Several sites and individuals published predictions of competitive seats. These predictions looked at factors such as the strength of the incumbent (if the incumbent is running for re-election), the strength of the candidates, and the partisan leanings of the state (reflected in part by the state's Cook Partisan Voting Index rating). The predictions assigned ratings to each seat, with the rating indicating the predicted advantage that a party has in winning that seat.

Most election predictors use:

  • "tossup": no advantage
  • "tilt" (used by some predictors): advantage that is not quite as strong as "lean"
  • "lean": slight advantage
  • "likely": significant, but surmountable, advantage
  • "safe": near-certain chance of victory
State PVI[4] Incumbent[5] Last

race

Cook
October 25,
2019
[6]
Result
Kentucky R+15 Andy Beshear
(retiring)
50.01% D Lean R (flip) Cameron
(57.75%)
Louisiana R+11 Jeff Landry 56.30% R None Landry
(66.21%)
Mississippi R+9 Jim Hood
(retiring)
55.29% D Likely R (flip) Fitch
(58.08%)

Statistics

Race summary

State Attorney
General
Party First
elected
Result Candidates
Kentucky Andy Beshear Democratic 2015 Incumbent retired.
New attorney general elected.
Republican gain.
Louisiana Jeff Landry Republican 2015 Incumbent re-elected.
  • Green tickY Jeff Landry (Republican) 66.2%
  • Ike Jackson (Democratic) 33.8%
Mississippi Jim Hood Democratic 2003 Incumbent retired.
New attorney general elected.
Republican gain.

Kentucky

2019 Kentucky Attorney General election

← 2015 November 5, 2019 2023 →
 
Nominee Daniel Cameron Greg Stumbo
Party Republican Democratic
Popular vote 822,932 602,004
Percentage 57.7% 42.3%

County results
Cameron:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%
Stumbo:      50–60%

Attorney General before election

Andy Beshear
Democratic

Elected Attorney General

Daniel Cameron
Republican

The 2019 Kentucky Attorney General election was conducted on November 5. Primary elections occurred on May 21, 2019.[7] The general election was held on November 5, 2019. Incumbent Democratic Attorney General Andy Beshear declined to seek reelection to a second term to successfully run for Governor. Republican Daniel Cameron won with 57.8% of the vote.[8] He became the first Republican elected attorney general of Kentucky since Eldon S. Dummit in 1944,[9] and the state's first black attorney general.[10]

Republican primary

Republican primary results
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Daniel Cameron 132,580 55.4%
Republican Wil Schroder 106,950 44.6%
Total votes 239,530 100.0%

Democratic primary

Greg Stumbo, former Attorney General of Kentucky and former Speaker of the Kentucky House of Representatives, won the Democratic nomination unopposed, so no primary was held.

General election

Kentucky Attorney General election, 2019[11]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Republican Daniel Cameron 823,346 57.75% +7.86%
Democratic Greg Stumbo 602,272 42.25% −7.86%
Total votes 1,425,618 100.00% N/A
Republican gain from Democratic

Louisiana

2019 Louisiana Attorney General election

← 2015 October 12, 2019[12] 2023 →
 
Nominee Jeff Landry Ike Jackson
Party Republican Democratic
Popular vote 855,338 436,531
Percentage 66.2% 33.8%

Parish results
Landry:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%      90–100%
Jackson:      50–60%      70–80%

Attorney General before election

Jeff Landry
Republican

Elected Attorney General

Jeff Landry
Republican

The 2019 Louisiana Attorney General election took place on October 12, 2019 to elect the Attorney General of the state of Louisiana, with a runoff election, held on November 16, 2019. Incumbent Republican Attorney General Jeff Landry ran for a second term against Democrat Ike Jackson. Landy and Jackson were the only candidates to declare.

Under Louisiana's jungle primary system, all candidates appeared on the same ballot, regardless of party, and voters could vote for any candidate, regardless of their party affiliation.[13]

General election

Louisiana Attorney General election, 2019[14]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Republican Jeff Landry (incumbent) 855,338 66.21% N/A
Democratic Ike Jackson 436,531 33.79% N/A
Total votes 1,291,869 100.00% N/A
Republican hold

Mississippi

2019 Mississippi Attorney General election

← 2015 November 5, 2019 2023 →
 
Nominee Lynn Fitch Jennifer Riley Collins
Party Republican Democratic
Popular vote 496,131 358,112
Percentage 58.08% 41.92%

County results
Fitch:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%
Collins:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%

Attorney General before election

Jim Hood
Democratic

Elected Attorney General

Lynn Fitch
Republican

The 2019 Mississippi Attorney General election was held on November 5, 2019, to elect the Attorney General of Mississippi. Incumbent Jim Hood declined to seek re-election to a fifth term, instead running unsuccessfully for Governor.[15] State Treasurer Lynn Fitch won the Republican nomination in a primary runoff against Andy Taggart, and she defeated Democratic nominee Jennifer Riley Collins in the general election. Fitch became the first Republican to hold the office since 1878, as well as the first woman to ever be elected to the position in state history.[16] It also marked the first time in over a century where no members of the Democratic Party held statewide office.

Republican primary

Republican primary results [17]
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Lynn Fitch 163,733 44.2
Republican Andy Taggart 105,689 28.6
Republican Mark Baker 100,598 27.2
Total votes 370,020 100.0

Runoff

Republican runoff results[18]
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Lynn Fitch 168,278 52.1
Republican Andy Taggart 154,807 47.9
Total votes 323,085 100.0

Democratic primary

Democratic primary results [19]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Jennifer Riley Collins 253,042 100.0
Total votes 253,042 100.0

General election

Mississippi Attorney General election, 2019 [20]
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Lynn Fitch 488,726 58.1
Democratic Jennifer Riley Collins 351,983 41.9
Total votes 840,709 100.0
Republican gain from Democratic

Notes

  1. ^ Seat tallies and popular vote do not include states that do not elect attorneys general or territorial attorneys general.

References

  1. ^ "U.S. Attorney General Elections Popular Vote Tracker". Twitter. April 1, 2021. Retrieved April 1, 2021.
  2. ^ "Attorney General elections, 2019". Ballotpedia. Archived from the original on 2018-11-11. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
  3. ^ O'Connor, Cozen (November 16, 2019). "Post-2019 AG Election Political Landscape Map". The State AG Report. Archived from the original on 2020-09-25. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
  4. ^ "2016 State PVI Changes – Decision Desk HQ". decisiondeskhq.com. December 15, 2017. Archived from the original on June 13, 2018. Retrieved December 11, 2018.
  5. ^ Parentheses around an incumbent's name indicates that the incumbent is not running for re-election.
  6. ^ "Handicapping the 2019 and 2020 Attorney General Elections". The Cook Political Report. Archived from the original on 2022-02-16. Retrieved March 29, 2021.
  7. ^ "Election calendar" (PDF). elect.ky.gov. 2019.
  8. ^ Wiegel, David (May 23, 2019). "Democrats look past 2020". Washington Post. Retrieved July 31, 2019.
  9. ^ "President Trump endorses Daniel Cameron in Kentucky attorney general race". WKYT-TV. July 29, 2019. Retrieved July 31, 2019.
  10. ^ Crain, Brennan (July 31, 2019). "Trump endorses Cameron for attorney general". WCLU. Archived from the original on August 1, 2019. Retrieved August 1, 2019.
  11. ^ "2019 General Election" (PDF). Kentucky State Board of Elections. Retrieved December 7, 2019.
  12. ^ Attorney General
  13. ^ "Louisiana Attorney General election, 2019". Ballotpedia. Retrieved 2020-12-11.
  14. ^ "Unofficial Results". Louisiana Secretary of State. Retrieved October 12, 2019.
  15. ^ Pender, Geoff (October 3, 2018). "AG Jim Hood running for governor to help 'least among us'". Clarion Ledger. Retrieved July 23, 2019.
  16. ^ Jimmie Gates (November 5, 2019). "Lynn Fitch elected Mississippi's first female attorney general". The Clarion-Ledger. Retrieved November 8, 2019.
  17. ^ "2019 REPUBLICAN PRIMARY". Mississippi Secretary of State. Archived from the original on August 18, 2019. Retrieved August 22, 2019.
  18. ^ "2019 REPUBLICAN PRIMARY RUNOFF". Mississippi Secretary of State. Archived from the original on September 30, 2019. Retrieved September 30, 2019.
  19. ^ "2019 DEMOCRATIC PRIMARY". Mississippi Secretary of State. Archived from the original on August 18, 2019. Retrieved August 22, 2019.
  20. ^ "Mississippi General Election Results 2019". ClarionLedger.com. 2019-11-05. Retrieved 2019-11-06.[permanent dead link]