The 2003 Kentucky gubernatorial election was held to elect the Governor of Kentucky on November 4, 2003. Republican candidate Ernie Fletcher defeated Democrat Ben Chandler and became the first Republican governor of Kentucky in 36 years.
*Running mate: Charlie Owen, Louisville entrepreneur; former head of the Kentucky Crime Commission, 1969–1973; candidate in 1998 U.S. Senate race in Kentucky who received 29% of the vote in the primary.
*Running mate: Tony Miller, Jefferson County Circuit Court Clerk, 1988-present.
*Running mate: Richard Robbins
*Running mate: Barbara Edelman, litigation lawyer; former Assistant Kentucky Attorney General, 1977–1979; former Assistant U.S. Attorney for Eastern District of Kentucky
Democratic primary.
Campaign.
Incumbent Democratic Governor Paul E. Patton was term limited from seeking a third term of office and was facing investigations after admitting to an affair. This led to the other Democratic candidates distancing themselves from him. State Attorney General Ben Chandler won the primary narrowly defeating the Speaker of the Kentucky House of Representatives Jody Richards, whose running mate was Tony Miller. He had led in the polls for several months before the primary.
Earlier businessman Bruce Lunsford had dropped out of the primary after Chandler launched adverts talking of abuse at nursing homes run by Lunsford's company. Lunsford had spent 8 million dollars of his own money during the primary campaign and after his withdrawal backed Richards against Chandler and said he would vote against Chandler in the general election if he won the primary.
Results.
! scope="col" colspan="2" style="width: 130px"|Party
! scope="col" style="width: 17em"|Candidate
! scope="col" style="width: 5em"|Votes
! scope="col" style="width: 3.5em"|%
! scope="col" style="width: 3.5em"| ;templatestyles src="Template:Tooltip/styles.css" / ;±%
! colspan="3" style="text-align:right;" | Total votes
References.
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