The 1972 Campaign
Hunt sought a second term in 1972. He told voters that he had never missed a PSC meeting during his eight years on the panel and had handled more than two thousand cases. He ran into serious opposition from Edward Kennon, the man who had placed third in the Democratic primary for lieutenant governor in 1971. In a first primary in August, Hunt trailed Kennon, 106,212 (40.8 percent) to 122,573 (47.1 percent). Another 31,692 votes (12.2 percent) were cast for a Long kinsman, "Huey P. Long" (1929–2004), then of Pineville in Rapides Parish Hunt won only ten of the then thirty-three parishes in the district, including his home bases of Lincoln and Ouachita. Hunt accused Kennon of having recruited Long into the race to split Hunt's pro-Long backing. Kennon led in twenty-three parishes in the sprawling district, which then stretched as far south as West Baton Rouge Parish. He won 58 percent in his native Webster Parish and also procured pluralities in Natchitoches, La Salle, De Soto, Avoyelles, St. Landry, and the Long traditional stronghold of Winn, which Hunt had also lost despite his family connections in 1966 to Garrett. Hunt's strongest parishes were Caddo, Bossier, Lincoln, Ouachita, and Jackson.
In the September 30 party runoff, Kennon easily defeated Hunt, 125,877 votes (58 percent) to 90,833 (42 percent), having procured twenty-nine parishes to Hunt's four. Hunt lost his native Lincoln Parish in the runoff by 176 votes and held his home base, Ouachita Parish, by a single vote, 15,502 to 15,501, presumably his own. Kennon was unopposed in the November 7 general election because, as in 1966, no Republican candidate qualified for the ballot. Kennon was a nephew of a former Louisiana governor, Robert F. Kennon, who served from 1952 to 1956. Three Louisiana governors, Long, McKeithen, and James Houston "Jimmie" Davis all served on the PSC prior to having been elected to the state's top political position. A fourth, Kathleen Babineaux Blanco, served on the PSC prior to having become lieutenant governor.
Read more about this topic: John S. Hunt, III
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