United States Senate special election in South Carolina, 1956

The 1956 South Carolina United States Senate special election was held on November 6, 1956 to select the U.S. Senator from the state of South Carolina simultaneously with the regular senate election. The election resulted from the resignation of Senator Strom Thurmond on April 4, 1956, who was keeping a campaign pledge he had made in the 1954 election. Thurmond was unopposed in his bid to complete the remaining four years of the term.

Democratic Primary

Senator Strom Thurmond faced no opposition from South Carolina Democrats and avoided a primary election. There was a possibility that Governor George Bell Timmerman, Jr. might enter the race, but Thurmond was held in such high regard by the voters that there would have been no chance of defeating Thurmond. With no challenge to the remainder of the term, Thurmond did not conduct a campaign and rejoined his old law firm in Aiken until he returned to the Senate after the general election.

Election results

Election box candidate with party link
party = Democratic Party (United States)
candidate = Strom Thurmond
votes = 245,371
percentage = 100.0
change = +36.9 Election box majority
votes = 245,371
percentage = 100.0
change = +73.7Election box turnout
votes = 245,371
percentage = 32.2
change = +5.9
colspan=5 |Democratic hold
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frame|300px|none|1956 South Carolina U.S. Senate special election map, by percentile by county.

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 I. Columbia, SC: 1957, pp. 8-9.
*cite book | last = Bass | first = Jack | coauthors=Marilyn W. Thompson | title = Ol' Strom: An Unauthorized Biography of Strom Thurmond | year = 1998 | publisher = Longstreet | pages = p. 155

ee also

*List of United States Senators from South Carolina
*United States Senate elections, 1956
*United States Senate election in South Carolina, 1956