Incumbent Democratic governor John C. Brown won re-election, defeating Republican candidate Alfred A. Freeman with 53.74% of the vote.

[1][2][3] In September 1872, Alfred A. Freeman was nominated as the Republican Party candidate for governor.

[4] He spent September and October of that year campaigning and debating the Democratic Party incumbent, former Confederate general John C. Brown.

At a debate in Lebanon, Governor Brown blamed the state's growing debt crisis on Republicans, specifically the Brownlow administration.

He opposed fixing the debt or funding public schools with tax increases.