Taddy Aycock - Running For Governor, 1971

Running For Governor, 1971

Aycock presumably could have had a fourth term as lieutenant governor for the asking, but he entered the 1971 Democratic primary for governor. The field was so crowded that the lieutenant governor never made it into the top tier of candidates, headed by then U.S. Representative Edwin Washington Edwards of Crowley, State Senator J. Bennett Johnston, Jr., of Shreveport, then former U.S. Representative Gillis William Long of Alexandria, and former Governor Jimmie Davis, then of Baton Rouge. Aycock, the most conservative candidate in the field, finished in sixth place with 88,465 votes. Davis and Aycock, who had been the winning intraparty ticket in 1960, were opposing each other in 1971. As it turned out, neither was a serious factor in the race.

In 1971, the runoff featured the newer, more moderate candidates, Edwards and Johnston. Edwards narrowly won the second primary and then went on to defeat Republican David Treen, then of Jefferson Parish, in the general election held on February 1, 1972.

Eleven candidates, ten Democratic and one Republican, entered the race to succeed Aycock, including two bankers, outgoing State Representative P.J. Mills of Shreveport and State Senator Jamar Adcock of Monroe, and two candidates from Webster Parish, state Representative Parey P. Branton and businessman Edward Kennon, later a member of the Louisiana Public Service Commission. The eventual Democratic nominee, Jimmy Fitzmorris, a former member of the New Orleans City Council, easily defeated the Republican choice, Treen's running-mate, former state Representative Morley A. Hudson of Shreveport.