Incumbent Democrat Bill Waller was term-limited, and could not run for reelection to a second term.

The runoff election was won by former state representative Cliff Finch, who defeated Lieutenant Governor William Winter.

This campaign tactic proved popular as Finch was elected over Republican nominee Gil Carmichael and the African American independent candidate Henry Kirksey.

Carmichael did, however, draw 45 percent of the vote, an exceptionally high figure for a statewide Republican candidate at that time.

Historian David Sansing described Mississippi's 1975 gubernatorial election as "one of the most unusual in the state's history".