1900 Louisiana gubernatorial election  The 1900 Louisiana gubernatorial election was held on April 17, 1900. Like most Southern states between Reconstruction and the civil rights era, Louisiana's Republican Party had virtually no electoral support. As Louisiana had not yet adopted party primaries, this meant that the Democratic Party convention nomination vote was the real contest over who would be governor. However, Donelson Caffery, Jr. ran a strong third party campaign. The election resulted in the election of Democrat William Wright Heard as governor of Louisiana. General Election, April 17