United States gubernatorial elections were held in three states. In

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

and

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia to ...

, general elections took place on 2 November 1971. In

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

, their general election took place on 1 February 1972 after the party primaries on 6 November 1971 and a Democratic primary runoff on 18 December 1971. In Louisiana, this was the last gubernatorial election which didn't use the

nonpartisan blanket primary A nonpartisan blanket primary is a primary election in which all candidates for the same elected office run against each other at once, regardless of the political party. Partisan elections are, on the other hand, segregated by political party. ...

system. In Mississippi and Louisiana, there were no party changes (in both cases, from Democrat to Democrat). In Kentucky, there was a Democratic gain. In Kentucky,

Louie B. Nunn Louie Broady Nunn (March 8, 1924 – January 29, 2004) was an American politician who served as the 52nd governor of Kentucky. Elected in 1967, he was the only Republican to hold the office between the end of Simeon Willis's term in 1947 and ...

wasn't allowed to run for a second term under the term limits rule at the time, a rule that was changed in 1992. In Mississippi,

John Bell Williams John Bell Williams (December 4, 1918 – March 25, 1983) was an American Democratic Party (United States), Democratic politician who represented Mississippi in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1947 to 1968 and served as List of Governors o ...

was also barred from a second term under the term limits rule at the time, a rule that was changed in the mid-1980s. In Louisiana,

John McKeithen John Julian McKeithen (May 28, 1918 – June 4, 1999) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 49th governor of Louisiana from 1964 to 1972. Early life McKeithen was born in Grayson, Louisiana on May 28, 1918. His father was a ...

had been allowed a second term due to a new rule enacted that allowed governors two consecutive terms, and thus was allowed to run for a second term (see

Louisiana gubernatorial election, 1967 The 1968 Louisiana gubernatorial election was held on February 4, 1968. Incumbent Democratic Governor John McKeithen was re-elected to a second term in office. This was the first election in which the Governor was eligible for re-election to a s ...

). Thus, when the 1971 race rolled around, he too was term-limited.

Election results

A bolded state name features an article about the specific election.

References

November 1971 events in the United States {{US-election-stub