Robert Elledy Gable (born February 20, 1934) is an American businessman from Frankfort, who was the

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

gubernatorial A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political_regions, political region, ranking under the Head of State, head of state and in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of ...

nominee A candidate, or nominee, is the prospective recipient of an award or honor, or a person seeking or being considered for some kind of position; for example: * to be elected to an office — in this case a candidate selection procedure occurs. * t ...

in 1975. Gable lost to the incumbent Democratic Governor

Julian Carroll Julian Morton Carroll (born April 16, 1931) is an American lawyer and politician from the state of Kentucky. A Democrat, he served as the 54th Governor of Kentucky from 1974 to 1979, succeeding Wendell H. Ford, who resigned to accept a seat ...

. Carroll received 470,159 votes (62.8 percent) to Gable's 277,998 (37.2 percent). In 1995, Gable again sought the governor's office but lost by a large margin in the Republican primary. With Shirley W. Palmer-Ball, his 1975 running mate reprising that role, Gable lost the primary with 17,054 votes (14.5 percent) to

Larry Forgy Lawrence Eugene Forgy (August 4, 1939 – January 13, 2022) was an American Republican politician and gubernatorial candidate from Lexington, Kentucky. Forgy served as the Budget Director for Governor Louie Nunn from 1967 to 1971. Career Forg ...

and Tom Handy's 97,099 votes (82.4 percent). Forgy, as the Republican nominee, was then defeated in the

general election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

by Democrat

Paul E. Patton Paul Edward Patton (born May 26, 1937) is an American politician who served as the 59th governor of Kentucky from 1995 to 2003. Because of a 1992 amendment to the Kentucky Constitution, he was the first governor eligible to run for a second ter ...

. Gable formerly resided in Stearns in

McCreary County McCreary County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kentucky. Its county seat is Whitley City. The county is named for James B. McCreary, a Confederate war soldier and two-time Governor of Kentucky (1875–1879, 1911–1915). During his se ...

in south Kentucky. Gable is the great-grandson of Justus S. Stearns, founder and owner of Stearns Coal and Lumber Company. He, along with his wife, Emily T. Gable, and family, moved in 1968 to serve as Parks Commissioner in the administration of Governor

Louie Nunn Louie Broady Nunn (March 8, 1924 – January 29, 2004) was an American politician who served as the 52nd governor of Kentucky. Elected in 1967, he was the only Republican to hold the office between the end of Simeon Willis's term in 1947 and t ...

. He was a chairman of the

Kentucky Republican Party The Republican Party of Kentucky is the affiliate of the Republican Party in Kentucky and follows its nationally established platform. The party's headquarters is in Frankfort, Kentucky. The party gained relevance around the 1940s. Since this ...

.
Emily Gable
', Obituaries, Courier-Journal In 2008, Gable was an at-large elector for the McCain/

Palin The surname Palin is a name of British origin, either English or Welsh. Possible derivations include an anglicization of the Welsh patronymic ''ap Heilyn'' ("son of Heilyn") or a reference to the English placenames Poling, West Sussex or Sea Pallin ...

ticket, which won a majority in Kentucky.

References

1934 births Living people Businesspeople from Kentucky Businesspeople from New York City Kentucky Republicans People from McCreary County, Kentucky Politicians from Frankfort, Kentucky Politicians from New York City Stanford University alumni 2008 United States presidential electors 20th-century American businesspeople {{Kentucky-politician-stub