2015 Louisiana gubernatorial election

The 2015 Louisiana gubernatorial election was held on November 21, 2015, to elect the governor of Louisiana. Incumbent Republican governor Bobby Jindal was not eligible to run for re-election to a third term because of term limits established by the Louisiana Constitution.

Under Louisiana's jungle primary system, all candidates appeared on the same ballot, regardless of party and voters may vote for any candidate regardless of their party affiliation. As no candidate received a majority of the vote during the primary election on October 24, 2015, a runoff election was held on November 21, 2015, between the top two candidates in the primary. Louisiana is the only state that has a jungle primary system (California and Washington have a similar "top two primary" system).

The runoff election featured Democrat John Bel Edwards, Minority Leader of the Louisiana House of Representatives, and Republican U.S. senator David Vitter, as they were the top two vote getters in the primary. Lieutenant Governor Jay Dardenne and Public Service Commissioner Scott Angelle, both Republicans, were eliminated in the jungle primary.

In the November 21, 2015 runoff, Edwards defeated Vitter by a count of 56.11% to 43.89% and was sworn in on January 11, 2016. This was the only statewide victory in 2015 for Democrats in Louisiana, and was the first time Democrats won a statewide election in the state since Mary Landrieu won her third term in the U.S. Senate in 2008. Edwards' victory also came one year after national wins for the Republican Party in congressional and state elections, including Landrieu’s failed 2014 re-election bid. This was the first election since 1968 that a Democratic candidate for governor won during a Democratic presidency. The election was one of the most expensive in state history, with over $50 million spent by the candidates and outside groups.