William J. Guste - Last Campaign, 1987

Last Campaign, 1987

In the first ever nonpartisan blanket primary on November 1, 1975, Guste won a second term as attorney general, having easily defeated intraparty rival, State Representative Risley C. Triche, a colorful figure from Napoleonville, the seat of Assumption Parish in south Louisiana, 672,065 (63 percent) to 398,088 (37 percent).

Though he had considered running for governor in 1987, he instead waged his last race for attorney general by a closer vote than what he had become accustomed. He had two opponents in the nonpartisan blanket primary, both Democrats, Orleans Parish District Attorney Harry A. Connick, Sr., (the father of the popular entertainer Harry Connick, Jr.,) and Manuel A. "Manny" Fernandez, a state senator from nearby Chalmette in St. Bernard Parish. Guste led the October 1987 balloting with 655,979 votes (47 percent), and Connick trailed with 440,865 ballots (31 percent). Fernandez drew a significant 309,065 votes (22 percent). In the November 1987 general election (usually called a "runoff" in Louisiana), with a much lower turnout, Guste prevailed over Connick, 516,658 (54 percent) to 440,984 (46 percent). It was a striking statistical quirk that Connick received just under 441,000 ballots in both the primary and the general election. The Guste-Connick contest pleased many in New Orleans because the city could offer to the rest of the state two of its most famous and successful men.

Guste, who was nearing 70 at the time, did not seek a sixth term in the 1991 primary. He was succeeded by fellow Democrat Richard Phillip Ieyoub of Lake Charles, the seat of Calcasieu Parish. Ieyoub defeated Republican Ben Bagert, a state senator from New Orleans, in the general election by a 69-31 percent margin.