1972 Louisiana gubernatorial election

1972 Louisiana gubernatorial election

February 1, 1972

Nominee Edwin Edwards David Treen Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 641,146 480,424 Percentage 57.2% 42.8%

Results by Parish Edwards:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90% Treen:      50-60%      60-70%

Governor before election John McKeithen Democratic Elected Governor Edwin Edwards Democratic

The 1972 Louisiana gubernatorial election was held on February 1, 1972. Edwin Edwards defeated Republican candidate David Treen to become Governor of Louisiana.

Party primaries were held on November 6, 1971 and a run-off was held for the Democratic nomination on December 18, 1971. These were the last closed primaries for Governor of Louisiana before the state adopted its current primary election system.

Democratic primary

Candidates

• Taddy Aycock, Lieutenant Governor
• Samuel Bell Sr.
• Harold Lee Bethune II
• David L. Chandler
• Huey P. Coleman
• Jimmie Davis, former Governor from 1944 to 1948 and 1960 to 1964
• Edwin Edwards, U.S. Representative from Baton Rouge
• J. Bennett Johnston, State Representative from Shreveport
• Gillis Long, former U.S. Representative from Alexandria
• Speedy Long, U.S. Representative from LaSalle Parish
• Warren J. "Puggy" Moity
• James Moore
• Frank T. Salter Jr.
• John G. Schwegman
• Jimmy Strain, pediatrician and State Representative from Shreveport
• Addison Roswell Thompson, perennial candidate and white supremacist

Campaign

Early in the campaign, conventional wisdom of many political analysts predicted that the race's top candidates would be Gillis Long, Jimmie Davis, and C.C. "Taddy" Aycock. However, the two candidates to make the runoff, Edwin Edwards and J. Bennett Johnston, were relative newcomers to the Louisiana political scene.

Cousins Gillis and Speedy Long both ran in a rematch of their 1964 primary race for Congress when Speedy defeated Gillis.

Results

1971 Democratic gubernatorial primary

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Edwin Edwards	276,397	23.54%
	Democratic	J. Bennett Johnston	208,830	17.79%
	Democratic	Gillis William Long	164,276	13.99%
	Democratic	Jimmie H. Davis	138,756	11.82%
	Democratic	John G. Schwegmann	92,072	7.84%
	Democratic	Taddy Aycock	88,465	7.54%
	Democratic	Samuel Bell Sr.	72,486	6.17%
	Democratic	Speedy Long	61,359	5.23%
	Democratic	Frank T. Salter Jr.	32,203	2.74%
	Democratic	James Moore	9,408	0.80%
	Democratic	Warren J. "Puggy" Moity	8,965	0.76%
	Democratic	David L. Chandler	7,244	0.62%
	Democratic	Huey P. Coleman	4,833	0.41%
	Democratic	Harold Lee Bethune II	3,032	0.26%
	Democratic	Wilford L. Thompson Sr.	2,535	0.21%
	Democratic	Addison Roswell Thompson	1,924	0.16%
	Democratic	Jimmy Strain	1,258	0.11%
Total votes			1,182,043	100.00%

Run-off

1971 Democratic gubernatorial run-off

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Edwin Edwards	584,262	50.19%	26.65
	Democratic	J. Bennett Johnston	579,774	49.81%	32.02
Total votes			1,164,036	100.00%

Republican primary

Candidates

• Robert Max Ross
• Dave Treen, perennial candidate for U.S. Representative from Metairie

Results

1971 Republican gubernatorial primary

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Dave Treen	9,732	92.06%
	Republican	Robert Max Ross	839	7.94%
Total votes			10,571	100.00%

General election

Results

1971 Louisiana gubernatorial election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Democratic	Edwin Edwards	641,146	57.2%	42.8
	Republican	Dave Treen	480,424	42.8%	N/A
Total votes			1,121,570	100.00%

Preceded by 1967 gubernatorial election

Louisiana gubernatorial elections

Succeeded by 1975 gubernatorial election

Sources

Louisiana Secretary of State. Primary Election Returns, 1971