Remember, that was a three-way race with Berry against two Democrats. He won, but didn't get a majority.
True, but most pundits predicted Berry wouldn’t win under almost any plausible scenario (or at the very least, even if he made it to a runoff, he would lose to whichever Dem he faced). Gary Johnson won in a similar manner in ‘94 against Bruce King & Roberto Mondragon for Governor, where he received just under 50% of the vote.
Incidentally, have you decided on a candidate on the GOP side for Governor ?