Louisiana gubernatorial election, 1959-60
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The Louisiana gubernatorial election of 1959–60 was held in two rounds on December 5, 1959, and January 9, 1960. After an election which featured some of the most racially charged campaign rhetoric in Louisiana political history, Jimmie Davis was elected to his second nonconsecutive term as governor after defeating the Republican candidate in the general election.
Like most Southern states between the Reconstruction Era and the Civil Rights Movement, Louisiana's Republican Party was virtually nonexistent in terms of electoral support. This meant that the two Democratic Party primaries held on these dates were the real contest over who would be governor. In this election, however, a Republican ran, the first since Harrison Bagwell of Baton Rouge in 1952, who had polled 4 percent of the vote against the Democrat Robert F. Kennon.
Democrats
Republicans
At the beginning of the campaign, incumbent governor Earl Kemp Long announced his intention to run, despite being constitutionally barred from succeeding himself. After the Supreme Court insisted that he would have to resign several months before the election in order to legally run, Long withdrew and instead opted to run for Lieutenant-Governor on the Jimmy Noe ticket. The campaign got off to a slow start, with Davis running a bland campaign calling for "peace and harmony." Morrison campaigned on a platform of economic progress and development, while Noe and Dodd used promises of increased social programs to compete for traditional Long supporters.
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