1959 Kentucky gubernatorial election

1959 Kentucky gubernatorial election

November 3, 1959

Nominee Bert Combs John M. Robsion Jr. Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 516,549 336,456 Percentage 60.56% 39.44%

Combs:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90% Robsion:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%

Governor before election Happy Chandler Democratic Elected Governor Bert Combs Democratic

The 1959 Kentucky gubernatorial election was held on November 3, 1959, to elect the governor of Kentucky. Democratic nominee Bert T. Combs, a former judge of the Kentucky Court of Appeals, defeated Republican nominee John M. Robsion Jr. by a large margin. Combs received 516,549 votes to Robsion's 336,456, winning 60.6% of the vote.

The election followed a bitter Democratic primary between Combs and Lieutenant Governor Harry Lee Waterfield, the candidate supported by incumbent governor A. B. "Happy" Chandler. The primary was shaped by the rivalry between the Chandler faction and the faction associated with former governor and senator Earle C. Clements. Historian James C. Klotter and Craig Thompson Friend described the contest as Combs against Waterfield, Clements against Chandler, and eastern Kentucky against western Kentucky.

Background

Democratic factionalism dominated Kentucky politics in the years before the election. Chandler, who had returned to the governorship in 1955, backed Lieutenant Governor Harry Lee Waterfield as his preferred successor. The anti-Chandler forces were initially divided between Combs, who had lost the 1955 Democratic gubernatorial primary to Chandler, and former Louisville mayor Wilson W. Wyatt. According to Klotter and Friend, former governor and senator Earle Clements brokered a January 1959 meeting at the Standiford Airport Motel in Louisville, where Wyatt agreed to withdraw from the gubernatorial contest and instead run for lieutenant governor on a ticket with Combs.

Contemporary commentary similarly treated Wyatt's withdrawal as a turning point. The Glasgow Daily Times wrote in January that Wyatt's decision had ended a three-way race and turned the Democratic primary into a direct contest between Combs and Waterfield. The paper argued that Waterfield retained the support of the Chandler administration, state employees, assessment money, and state projects, while the Combs–Wyatt combination had support from anti-Chandler Democrats, major newspapers, mountain voters, and the large-city vote.

Democratic primary

Candidates

Four candidates sought the Democratic nomination for governor. The main candidates were Combs and Waterfield. The other candidates were Jesse N. R. Cecil of Louisville and James L. Delk of Frankfort.

Combs was a former Kentucky Court of Appeals judge from Prestonsburg. He had been appointed to the court in 1951 by Governor Lawrence Wetherby and resigned in 1955 to run for governor. Waterfield was a newspaper publisher from Clinton and had served as lieutenant governor since 1955. He had previously served twice as speaker of the Kentucky House of Representatives, in 1944 and 1946, and had lost the 1947 Democratic gubernatorial primary to Earle C. Clements.

Campaign

The Democratic primary was widely regarded as the central contest of the election year. The Courier-Journal reported two days before the primary that the Combs–Waterfield fight had captured the most attention among the statewide contests.

Combs and Wyatt emphasized a state employee merit system, attacks on political patronage, and criticism of the Chandler administration. Pro-Combs advertisements and columns argued that a civil-service merit system would protect state employees from political firing and would free them from the assessments and insecurity associated with gubernatorial patronage. The Glasgow advertisement stated that Combs had promised to introduce merit-system legislation in the 1960 General Assembly and portrayed Waterfield as opposed to such a system.

The Combs–Wyatt campaign also attacked the administration on roads, veterans' affairs, higher education, and the state fair. In April, Combs and Wyatt campaigned in Shelbyville and Greenville, promising expanded tobacco research, increased dairy and livestock production, and a state fair independent of political management. Combs charged that Waterfield had used his position on the Disabled Ex-Servicemen's Board for political advantage and criticized Charles Blackburn, a Chandler associate, as part of a patronage system. In Elizabethtown shortly before the primary, Combs said young voters supported his ticket because they wanted an end to political interference in higher education. He also accused the Chandler administration of announcing road contracts without available funds and of erecting "Road Under Construction" signs for political effect.

Waterfield campaigned on proposals for eastern Kentucky. In a televised speech reported by the Associated Press, he proposed lower freight rates on coal, a $60 million highway system linking eastern Kentucky to the rest of the state, and a regional flood-control compact with other states to be presented to Congress.

Chandler actively campaigned for Waterfield. In April, he urged voters not to support Wyatt for lieutenant governor, while saying that several candidates in that race were acceptable. The same report said it was Chandler's sixth speech in support of Waterfield. Klotter and Friend wrote that Combs turned the campaign against Chandler, while Chandler countered by calling Combs a "Bertie of Paradise" and a "Clements parrot".

The final days of the campaign were marked by uncertainty about turnout. The Lexington Herald reported that observers considered turnout a key factor, with a high vote thought to favor Combs and a low vote thought to favor Waterfield because of the organization of the sitting administration. In Trigg County, The Cadiz Record reported that local interest was considerable but that heavy turnout was not expected because the county was agricultural and farmers were busy with the planting season.

Results

Combs defeated Waterfield by 33,001 votes. Official returns gave Combs 292,462 votes to Waterfield's 259,461. Cecil received 4,303 votes and Delk received 3,474. The Democratic primary drew 559,700 votes, described by contemporary reports as a record turnout for a Kentucky Democratic gubernatorial primary. Klotter and Friend also give the Combs–Waterfield result as 292,462 to 259,461.

Results by county:

  Combs

•   40–50%
•   50–60%
•   60–70%
•   70–80%

  Waterfield

•   40–50%
•   50–60%
•   60–70%
•   70–80%

Democratic primary results

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Bert Combs	292,462	52.25
	Democratic	Harry Lee Waterfield	259,461	46.36
	Democratic	Jesse N. R. Cecil	4,303	0.77
	Democratic	James L. Delk	3,474	0.62
Total votes			559,700	100.00

Waterfield conceded after early returns showed Combs with a clear lead. Local returns reflected regional variation. In Dawson Springs, Waterfield carried the city by 46 votes, but Combs carried Hopkins County overall, 3,341 to 2,089. In Laurel County, Combs defeated Waterfield 1,490 to 1,252 in the Democratic primary.

Republican primary

The Republican gubernatorial candidates were John M. Robsion Jr. of Louisville, Granville Thomas of Evarts, and Thurman J. Hamlin of London. Robsion, a former U.S. representative, was widely viewed as the leading Republican candidate. The Lexington Herald reported shortly before the primary that Republican leaders and courthouse organization support appeared to make him the likely nominee.

Republican primary results

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	John M. Robsion Jr.	63,130	86.31
	Republican	Thurman Jerome Hamlin	6,019	8.23
	Republican	Granville Thomas	3,991	5.46
Total votes			73,140	100.00

General election

The general election pitted Combs and Wyatt against Robsion and Pleaz Mobley. In late October, both parties predicted heavy turnout in parts of eastern Kentucky. The Hazard Herald reported that local Democratic and Republican chairmen in Perry County both expected a high vote, citing the gubernatorial contest, local races, and statewide ballot questions, including a veterans' bonus financed by a sales tax and a constitutional amendment concerning sheriffs' succession.

Republicans hoped to benefit from Democratic divisions after the bitter primary. A late October Associated Press report stated that Robsion's supporters predicted he would win by 30,000 votes and claimed he could carry the Second, Third, and Eighth congressional districts. Republican chairman Russell Jones argued that Robsion would attract Democrats dissatisfied with the Chandler administration. Democratic campaign chairman John Watts, by contrast, dismissed the possibility of a Democratic revolt and predicted that Combs would carry every district except the Eighth.

Results

Combs defeated Robsion by 180,093 votes. He received 516,549 votes, or 60.6%, while Robsion received 336,456 votes, or 39.4%. Klotter and Friend describe Robsion as a weak Republican candidate and give the same general election vote total.

1959 Kentucky gubernatorial election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Bert T. Combs	516,549	60.56	+2.54
	Republican	John M. Robsion Jr.	336,456	39.44	−2.00
Total votes			853,005	100.0	N/A
	Democratic hold

Aftermath

Combs was sworn in as governor on December 8, 1959. Soon after taking office, Combs announced that he would revoke the state employee merit system that Chandler had created by executive order after Waterfield's defeat. Combs said he would ask the next General Assembly to enact a "sound, comprehensive" merit system that could not be set aside by a governor, while retaining what he considered the good parts of Chandler's system.