Louisiana gubernatorial election, 1983

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The Louisiana gubernatorial election of 1983 resulted in the election of Edwin Edwards as governor of Louisiana, defeating incumbent David Treen.

[edit] Background

Elections in Louisiana—with the exception of U.S. presidential elections—follow a variation of the open primary system called the jungle primary. Candidates of any and all parties are listed on one ballot; voters need not limit themselves to the candidates of one party. Unless one candidate takes more than 50% of the vote in the first round, a run-off election is then held between the top two candidates, who may in fact be members of the same party.[2] In this election, the first round of voting was held on October 22, 1983. Since Edwards won more than 50% of the votes on the first round, no runoff was needed.

[edit] Results

First voting round, October 22

Candidate	Party affiliation	Votes received	Percentage of votes cast
Edwin Edwards	Democrat	1,006,561	62.3%
David Treen	Republican	588,508	36.42
Robert M. Ross	Republican	7,625	0.47%
Ken "Cousin Ken" Lewis	Democrat	4,128
Charley Moore	No Party	2,391
Floyd W. Smith, Jr.	Democrat	2,314
Michele A. Smith	No Party	2,299
Joseph Thomas Robino, Jr.	No Party	1,048
Michael J. Musmeci, Sr.	Democrat	1,031

Preceded by 1979 gubernatorial election

Louisiana gubernatorial elections

Succeeded by 1987 gubernatorial election

[edit] Sources

State of Louisiana. Primary and General Election Returns, 1983.