United States Senate election in South Carolina, 1966

The 1966 South Carolina United States Senate election was held on November 8, 1966 to select the U.S. Senator from the state of South Carolina simultaneously with the special election to fill out the remainder of Olin D. Johnston's term. Incumbent Senator Strom Thurmond, who had switched parties from Democratic to Republican in 1964, easily defeated state senator Bradley Morrah in the general election.

Democratic Primary

The two Democrats who could have defeated Thurmond competed against each other in the special election to serve the remaining two years of Olin D. Johnston's six year term. As a result, little known state senator Bradley Morrah of Greenville won the South Carolina Democratic Party primary election on June 14 against John Bolt Culbertson to become the nominee in the general election.

Republican Primary

Senator Strom Thurmond faced no opposition from South Carolina Republicans and avoided a primary election.

General election campaign

Morrah faced an uphill struggle against Senator Thurmond because the Democratic resources were primarily poured into the special election to help Fritz Hollings and in the gubernatorial contest for Robert Evander McNair. Furthermore, Thurmond refused to debate Morrah and Thurmond boasted of the endorsements he received from Southern Democratic Senators Richard Russell, Jr., John C. Stennis, and Herman Talmadge. Morrah was easily dispatched by Thurmond in the general election and he also lost re-election to his state senate seat. He would never again hold public office, which was a routine occurrence for Thurmond's opponents.

Election results

Election box candidate with party link
party = Republican Party (United States)
candidate = Strom Thurmond
votes = 271,297
percentage = 62.2
change = +62.2 Election box candidate with party link
party = Democratic Party (United States)
candidate = Bradley Morrah
votes = 164,955
percentage = 37.8
change = -62.2 Election box majority
votes = 106,342
percentage = 24.4
change = -75.6Election box turnout
votes = 436,252
percentage = 49.1
change = -6.3
colspan=5 |Republican hold
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frame|300px|none|1966 South Carolina U.S. Senate election map, by percentile by county.

ee also

*List of United States Senators from South Carolina
*United States Senate elections, 1966
*United States Senate special election in South Carolina, 1966
*South Carolina gubernatorial election, 1966

References

*"Supplemental Report of the Secretary of State to the General Assembly of South Carolina." "Reports and Resolutions of South Carolina to the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina". Volume II. Columbia, SC: 1967, pp. 16, 41.
*cite book | last = Bass | first = Jack | coauthors=Marilyn W. Thompson | title = Ol' Strom: An Unauthorized Biography of Strom Thurmond | year = 1998 | publisher = Longstreet | pages = pp. 222-223