Ernie Fletcher - 2003 Gubernatorial Election

2003 Gubernatorial Election

In 2002, Fletcher was encouraged by Senator Mitch McConnell, the leader of Kentucky's Republican Party, to run for governor and formed an exploratory committee the same year. On December 2, 2002, he announced that he would run on a ticket with McConnell aide Hunter Bates. Early in 2003, a Republican college student named Curtis Shain challenged Bates' candidacy on grounds that he did not meet the residency requirements set forth for the lieutenant governor in the state constitution. Under the constitution, candidates for both governor and lieutenant governor must be citizens of the state for at least six years prior to the election. From August 1995 to February 2002, Bates and his wife rented an apartment in Alexandria, Virginia while Bates was working for a law firm in Washington, D. C., and later, as McConnell's chief of staff. Bob Heleringer, running mate of Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Nunn, joined the suit as a plaintiff. In March 2003, an Oldham County, Kentucky, judge ruled that Bates had not established residency in Kentucky, citing the fact that from 1995 to 2002, he held a Virginia driver's license, paid Virginia income taxes, and "regularly" slept in his apartment in Virginia. Bates did not appeal the ruling because by allowing the judge to declare a vacancy on the ballot, Fletcher was able to name a replacement running mate, an option that would not have been afforded him had Bates withdrawn.

Fletcher chose Steve Pence, United States Attorney for the Western District of Kentucky, as his new running mate. Heleringer continued his legal challenge, first claiming that Bates' ineligibility should have invalidated the entire Fletcher/Bates ticket and then that Fletcher should not have been allowed to name a replacement for an unqualified candidate. The Kentucky Supreme Court rejected that argument on May 7, 2003, though the justices' reasons for doing so varied and the final opinion conceded that "his is a close case on the law, and Heleringer has presented legal issues worthy of this court's time and attention". The state Board of Elections instructed all county clerks to count absentee ballots cast for Fletcher and Bates as votes for Fletcher and Pence.

In the Republican primary, Fletcher received 53 percent of the vote, besting Nunn, Jefferson County judge/executive Rebecca Jackson, and state senator Virgil Moore. In the Democratic primary, Attorney General Ben Chandler defeated Speaker of the House Jody Richards. Chandler, the grandson of former governor A. B. "Happy" Chandler, was hurt in the closing days of the campaign when a third challenger, businessman Bruce Lunsford dropped out of the race and endorsed Richards. Chandler won the Democratic primary by just 3.7 percentage points and was forced to reorganize his campaign. Consequently, Fletcher entered the general election as the favorite.

Due to the funding from the Republican Governors Association, Fletcher held a two-to-one fundraising advantage over Chandler. A sex-for-favors scandal that ensnared sitting Democratic governor Paul Patton, as well as a predicted $710 million shortfall in the upcoming budget, damaged the entire Democratic slate of candidates' chances for election. Fletcher capitalized on these issues, promising to "clean up the mess" in Frankfort, and won the election by a vote of 596,284 to 487,159. In all, Republicans captured four of the seven statewide constitutional offices in 2003; Trey Grayson was elected Secretary of State and Richie Farmer was elected Commissioner of Agriculture. Fletcher resigned his seat in the House on December 8, 2003 and assumed the governorship the following day. Fletcher's victory made him the first Republican elected governor of Kentucky since 1971, and his margin of victory was the largest ever for a Republican in a Kentucky gubernatorial election.