1987 United States gubernatorial elections

← 1986

October 24 and November 3, 1987

1988 →

4 governorships
3 states; 1 territory

	Majority party	Minority party

Party	Democratic	Republican
Seats before	26	24
Seats after	26	24
Seat change
Seats up	3	0
Seats won	3	0

Democratic hold

United States gubernatorial elections were held on November 3, 1987, in three states and one territory. Democrats, for the last time as of 2024, retained all three seats up for election; although three new people were elected governor. This is also the last time Louisiana, Kentucky and Mississippi all elected Democrat governors.

Election results

A bolded state name features an article about the specific election.

State	Incumbent	Party	First elected	Result	Candidates
Kentucky	Martha Layne Collins	Democratic	1983	Incumbent term-limited. New governor elected. Democratic hold.	Y Wallace Wilkinson (Democratic) 64.5% John Harper (Republican) 34.9%
Louisiana	Edwin Edwards	Democratic	1972 1979 (term-limited) 1983	Incumbent lost re-election and withdrew from advanced runoff. New governor elected. Democratic hold.	Y Buddy Roemer (Democratic) 33.2% Edwin Edwards (Democratic) 27.9% Bob Livingston (Republican) 18.5% Billy Tauzin (Democratic) 9.9% Jim Brown (Democratic) 8.9% Speedy Long (Democratic) 1.2%
Mississippi	William Allain	Democratic	1983	Incumbent term-limited. New governor elected. Democratic hold.	Y Ray Mabus (Democratic) 53.4% Jack Reed (Republican) 46.6%

(1986 ←) 1987 United States elections (→ 1988)

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