Jerry Lundergan

Gerald G. "Jerry" Lundergan is an American businessman, politician and member of the Democratic Party from the Commonwealth of Kentucky. He served in the Kentucky House of Representatives from 1980 to 1985 and 1987 to 1989 and has served as Chairman of the Kentucky Democratic Party on two separate occasions. He is the father of Alison Lundergan Grimes, the Secretary of State of Kentucky.

Early life

Lundergran is from Maysville, Kentucky. He is the oldest of five children.^[1] His father sold chicken and pork chops at state fairs.^[2] His father died at age 45, when he was 18 years old. His mother took a job as a clerk for the sheriff, while Jerry and his siblings continued to sell food.^[1]

Lundergan graduated from the University of Kentucky and then worked as a staffer to U.S. Representative John B. Breckinridge. Lundergan and his brother turned their food business into Lundy's, a catering company, in 1977.^[2]

Career

Lundergan challenged Steve Beshear, a member of the Kentucky House of Representatives, in the Democratic Party primary election in 1975. With about 2,700 votes cast in the election, Beshear defeated Lundergan by 202 votes.^[2] Lundergan ran against Beshear again in 1977. With over 4,100 total votes, Beshear defeated Lundergan by 412.^[2] In 1979, Beshear ran for Attorney General of Kentucky and Lundergan won his seat unopposed.^[2][3] Lundergan became friends with fellow freshman legislator Greg Stumbo.^[2] He was easily re-elected in 1981 and ran for Kentucky Auditor of Public Accounts in 1983 after Democratic incumbent James B. Graham ran for Kentucky Superintendent of Public Instruction. Lundergan lost the primary election to Mary Ann Tobin by 143,836 votes (38.94%) to 77,419 (20.96%).^[4] Tobin went on to win the general election.

Lundergan ran for re-election to the State House in 1984, state legislative elections having been moved from odd-numbered years to even-numbered years. During the Democratic primary campaign, which the Lexington Herald-Leader described as "bitter",^[5] Lundergan's main opponent, attorney and first-time candidate Shirley Allen Cunningham, accused his campaign of voter intimidation and possibly violating the civil rights of some black voters.^[6] Lundergan lost the primary election to Cunningham by 27 votes out of 2,941 cast.^[7] He went on to lose the general election to Republican Margaret J. Stewart.^[8]

Lundergan made a comeback in 1986, winning the Democratic primary against Eleanor H. Leonard^[9] and then unseating Stewart in the general election by 4,617 votes (54.7%) to 3,823 (45.3%).^[10]

Lundergan supported Wallace Wilkinson's campaign for Governor of Kentucky in the 1987 election.^[3] Lundergan briefly served as Chairman of the Kentucky Democratic Party during Wilkinson's administration.^[2] Ten weeks into his service, Lundergan was found to have accepted a no-bid contract worth $153,998 to cater a state event. At Wilkinson's request, he stepped down as party chair on August 22, 1988.^[11][12] In his 1988 re-election bid, Lundergan was challenged by Cunningham again in the Democratic primary but this time he easily defeated him, by 2,826 votes (62.37%) to 1,630 (35.97%).^[13] In the general election, Lundergan initially faced no Republican opposition but after news of his being charged with ethics violations, he was challenged by two write-in opponents, Steve Carson and Jerry Kuykendall.^[14] Carson and Kuykendall split the anti-Lundergan and he narrowly triumphed,^[15] by 3,636 votes (44.31%) to Carson's 3,008 (36.66%) and Kuykendall's 1,420 (17.30%).^[16]

On December 12, 1989, Lundergan was convicted of a felony charge of improperly using his political influence, but acquitted of theft.^[17] The prosecution asked that he be given jail time, to send a message about ethical violations, but the jury recommended the maximum fine of $1,000. He resigned his seat in the State House the next day.^[1] The conviction was later thrown out by an appeals court, which determined that Lundergan should have been charged with a misdemeanor rather than a felony.^[1][2] In the resulting special election for his seat, Cunningham ran as an Independent candidate and split the Democratic vote with Democratic nominee Rick L. Thomas, allowing Republican Tony Curtsinger to win the seat with 1,430 votes (38.95%) to Cunningham's 1,326 (36.12%) and Thomas' 657 (17.90%).^[18]

Curtsinger went on to lose the regularly-scheduled election to Democrat Ruth Ann Palumbo, who has held the seat ever since. Lundergan has made numerous attempts to regain his old seat, challenging Palumbo in the Democratic primary in 1994,^[19] 1996,^[20] 1998^[21] and 2000,^[22] each time losing by at least 10 points.

After the Democrats suffered defeats in the 2003 state elections, Stumbo, the highest ranking Kentucky Democrat as state Attorney General, asked Lundergan to again chair the state party.^[2] Kentucky Democrats elected Lundergan their party chair in January 2005.^[23]

Lundergan served as the state chair for Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign.^[2]

Personal life

Lundergan and his wife, Charlotte, met in high school.^[1] They have five daughters. One of their daughters, Alison Lundergan Grimes, is the Secretary of State of Kentucky, and was the Democratic Party's nominee for the United States Senate seat held by Mitch McConnell in the 2014 election.^[2]

Lundergan resides in Lexington, Kentucky. He is a devout Catholic; he attends mass every day.^[2]

References