Incumbent Democratic governor Edwin Edwards had planned to run for re-election to a second consecutive and fifth overall term in office, but he announced in June 1994, shortly after marrying his second wife Candy Picou, that he would be retiring from politics at the end of his term.

In this election, the first round of voting was held on October 21, 1995, with Republican state senator Mike Foster and Democratic U.S. representative Cleo Fields finishing first and second with 26.1% and 19%, respectively.

These were State Representative Robert Adley, U.S. representative Cleo Fields, State Senator Mike Foster, U.S. representative William J. Jefferson, State Treasurer Mary Landrieu, former governor Buddy Roemer, Lieutenant Governor Melinda Schwegmann and former governor Dave Treen.

On September 8, Foster decided to switch his party affiliation at the time of qualifying from Democratic to Republican, this decision may have been noted as a gamechanger towards the outcome of the jungle primary.

The makeup of the field led some analysts to dub this the "twins election", as each major candidate had a rival who appealed to a similar constituency or voter base.