James H. "Jim" Brown - Gubernatorial Aspirations, 1987

Gubernatorial Aspirations, 1987

Brown did not seek a third term as secretary of state in 1987. Instead, he entered a crowded field for governor, including three-term incumbent Edwin Edwards. Buddy Roemer, U.S. representative from [[Louisiana's 4th congressional district, emerged as the frontrunner. Brown and Roemer had both been constitutional convention delegates some dozen years earlier. Also in the race was Republican U.S. Representative Bob Livingston from Louisiana's 1st congressional district, which includes the New Orleans suburbs. Livingston was only the third member of his party ever to be elected to the U.S. House from Louisiana since Reconstruction. Another candidate was the French-speaking Third District Congressman, then a Democrat, but later a Republican, Billy Tauzin of Lafourche Parish. Former Democratic Congressman and District Attorney Speedy O. Long of La Salle Parish, in Brown's former senatorial district, made a second quixotic gubernatorial bid that year.

Roemer led the primary balloting (33 percent) but lacked a majority and was hence forced into a potential general election with Edwards (28 percent). Brown finished in fifth place with 138,324 votes (9 percent). Edwards withdrew from a second race and left Roemer in effect the governor-elect. It was noted that Roemer could not consolidate majority support because of Edwards' withdrawal. Some believe his "minority" governorship set the stage for a one-term administration. Roemer was eliminated from the 1991 general election by Edwards and former Ku Klux Klan figure David Duke.

In debate in 1987, Brown had been asked if there were any circumstances in which he could support Edwards in the general election. He demurred a straight answer to the "hypothetical" question. Roemer, however, said flatly that he would not support Edwards in a second race regardless of Edwards' opponent. This was somewhat ironic in that Roemer's father, Charles E. Roemer, II, had been Edwards' first commissioner of administration. The senior Roemer, however, had been convicted of bribery in 1980 and later served a prison sentence. Some think Roemer's answer to the question about possibly supporting Edwards gave him the needed momentum to overcome Livingston, Tauzin, and Brown. Ironically, though in 1991, Roemer did endorse Edwards over the unendorsed Republican candidate, David Duke.