[1] Mississippi Secretary of State Dick Molpus won the Democratic primary, defeating business consultant and 1991 independent candidate Shawn O'Hara.

[4] By the 1990s, Mississippi's politics were trending in an increasingly conservative direction and the interest in reform initiated by Winter's administration was fading.

[5] Fordice's position was bolstered by the improving economic and fiscal situation of the state in the 1990s, and early polls indicated that he had a large lead.

At a joint appearance before business conference in April, Fordice brought his wife on stage to defend their marriage and accused Molpus of taking "thinly-veiled cheap shot" against their relationship.

"[16] Molpus responded by referring to his 1989 speech, "I apologized to the family, the mother and father and sisters of those three young men who lost their life in Mississippi.

"[16] In October Molpus' campaign ran a television advertisement featuring his wife criticizing Fordice's education policies.

"[17] Several days later, Fordice approached Molpus after a televised appearance and told him, "This 61-year-old man will take you to the woodshed and I'll whip your ass".

[18] Molpus hoped to leverage the incident to his advantage by appealing to more women voters,[6] presenting himself as a gentleman acting in defense of his wife's honor.

[20] His campaign manager suggested that white voters wanted to "punish" him for his 1989 comments on the Mississippi Burning murders.

[21] Molpus' supporters accused Fordice of prevailing due to the use of racist dog whistles, a charge which the governor's backers disputed.