United States Senate election in South Carolina, 1968

The 1968 South Carolina United States Senate election was held on November 5, 1968 to select the U.S. Senator from the state of South Carolina. Incumbent Democratic Senator Fritz Hollings easily defeated Republican state senator Marshall Parker in a rematch of the election two years earlier.

Democratic Primary

Fritz Hollings, the incumbent Senator, faced no opposition from South Carolina Democrats and avoided a primary election.

Republican Primary

Marshall Parker, the state senator from Oconee County in the Upstate, was persuaded by South Carolina Republicans to enter the race and he did not face a primary challenge.

General election campaign

After a close election loss to Fritz Hollings in 1966, the Republicans felt that Parker might have a chance at defeating Hollings by riding Nixon's coattails in the general election. However, the Republicans did not provide Parker with the financial resources to compete and he subsequently lost by a bigger margin to Hollings than two years prior.

Election results

Election box candidate with party link
party = Democratic Party (United States)
candidate = Fritz Hollings
votes = 404,060
percentage = 61.9
change = -10.6 Election box candidate with party link
party = Republican Party (United States)
candidate = Marshall Parker
votes = 248,780
percentage = 38.1
change = -10.6 Election box candidate
party = "No party"
candidate = Write-Ins
votes = 15
percentage = 0.0
change = 0.0Election box majority
votes = 155,280
percentage = 23.8
change = +21.2Election box turnout
votes = 652,855
percentage = 76.5
change = +27.4
colspan=5 |Democratic hold
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frame|300px|none|1968 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, 1968

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: 1969, p. 19.
*cite book | last = Kalk | first = Bruce H. | title = The Origins of the Southern Strategy: Two-Party Competition in South | year = 2001 | publisher = Lexington Books | pages = p. 86