| Election Name: | 1972 Louisiana gubernatorial election |
| Country: | Louisiana |
| Type: | presidential |
| Ongoing: | No |
| Previous Election: | 1968 Louisiana gubernatorial election |
| Previous Year: | 1968 |
| Next Election: | 1975 Louisiana gubernatorial election |
| Next Year: | 1975 |
| Election Date: | February 1, 1972 |
| Flag Year: | 1912 |
| Nominee1: | Edwin Edwards |
| Party1: | Democratic Party (United States) |
| Popular Vote1: | 641,146 |
| Percentage1: | 57.2% |
| Nominee2: | David Treen |
| Party2: | Republican Party (United States) |
| Popular Vote2: | 480,424 |
| Percentage2: | 42.8% |
| Map Size: | 300px |
| Governor | |
| Before Election: | John McKeithen |
| Before Party: | Democratic Party (United States) |
| After Election: | Edwin Edwards |
| After Party: | Democratic Party (United States) |
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.
This was also the last gubernatorial election not to take place in an off-year, as all elections starting from 1975 would take place 1 year before a presidential election.
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.[1] However, the two candidates to make the runoff, Edwin Edwards and J. Bennett Johnston, were relative newcomers to the Louisiana political scene, despite Edwards' Congressional tenure.[2]
Cousins Gillis and Speedy Long both ran in a rematch of their 1964 primary race for Congress when Speedy unseated Gillis. Ironically, Gillis reclaimed that House seat the next year when Speedy retired after Edwards and the Louisiana Legislature redistricted him into the same district as longtime incumbent Otto Passman.
Louisiana Secretary of State. Primary Election Returns, 1971