1989 Virginia gubernatorial election

1989 Virginia gubernatorial election

← 1985 November 7, 1989 1993 →
Turnout66.5% (voting eligible)[1]
 
Nominee Douglas Wilder Marshall Coleman
Party Democratic Republican
Popular vote 896,936 890,195
Percentage 50.1% 49.8%

Wilder:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%
Coleman:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%

Governor before election

Jerry Baliles
Democratic

Elected Governor

Douglas Wilder
Democratic

The 1989 Virginia gubernatorial election was held on November 7, 1989. Incumbent Democratic governor Jerry Baliles was unable to seek a second term due to term limits. Democratic nominee and Lieutenant Governor L. Douglas Wilder went against former attorney general of Virginia J. Marshall Coleman in one of the closest elections in Virginia history. Upon taking the oath of office in January 1990, Governor Wilder became the first African-American governor of Virginia, and the first African-American governor of any state since Reconstruction more than one hundred years earlier.

This remains the last election in which a party won the governorship for a third consecutive term.

  1. ^ Virginia Department of Elections (2016). "Registration/Turnout Statistics". The Commonwealth of Virginia. Archived from the original on August 16, 2016. Retrieved July 25, 2016.