United States Senate election in South Carolina, 1972

The 1972 South Carolina United States Senate election was held on November 7, 1972 to select the U.S. Senator from the state of South Carolina. Popular incumbent Republican Senator Strom Thurmond easily defeated Democratic challenger Eugene N. Zeigler.

Democratic Primary

The South Carolina Democratic Party held their primary for governor on August 29, 1972. Eugene N. Zeigler, a state senator from Florence, defeated John Bolt Culbertson to become the Democratic 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

The general election campaign was a lackluster affair as Thurmond was heavily favored to win re-election and he outspent Zeigler by a margin of four to one. However, Thurmond's re-election was almost derailed when his hometown newspaper, the "Edgefield Advertiser", ran the headline "SEN. THURMOND IS UNPRINCIPLED WITH COLORED OFFSPRING WHILE PARADING AS A DEVOUT SEGREGATIONIST" on the October 11 front page. The Thurmond campaign fiercely denied that he had sired a black child and claimed that it was a dirty trick being played by the Zeigler campaign. While the allegation ultimately proved true, at the time it served to galvanize voters for Thurmond.

Election results

Election box candidate with party link
party = Republican Party (United States)
candidate = Strom Thurmond
votes = 428,145
percentage = 63.5
change = +1.3 Election box candidate with party link
party = Democratic Party (United States)
candidate = Eugene N. Zeigler
votes = 246,182
percentage = 36.5
change = -1.3 Election box majority
votes = 181,963
percentage = 27.0
change = +2.6Election box turnout
votes = 674,327
percentage = 65.2
change = +16.1
colspan=5 |Republican hold
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frame|300px|none|1972 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, 1972

References

*cite book | last = Bass | first = Jack | coauthors=Marilyn W. Thompson | title = Strom: The Complicated Personal and Political Life of Strom Thurmond | year = 2005 | publisher = PublicAffairs | pages = pp. 267-270
*cite book | last = State Election Commission | title = Report of the South Carolina State Election Commission | year = 1973 | publisher = State Election Commission | location = Columbia, SC | pages = p. 572