1958 Georgia gubernatorial election explained

Election Name:1958 Georgia Democratic gubernatorial primary
Country:Georgia (U.S. state)
Type:presidential
Ongoing:no
Previous Election:1954 Georgia gubernatorial election
Previous Year:1954
Next Election:1962 Georgia gubernatorial election
Next Year:1962
Election Date:September 10, 1958
Flag Year:1956
Image1:File:Ernest Vandiver (1962).jpg
Nominee1:Ernest Vandiver
Party1:Democratic Party (United States)
Popular Vote1:499,477
Percentage1:80.51%
Electoral Vote1:400
Nominee2:William Bodenhamer
Party2:Democratic Party (United States)
Popular Vote2:87,830
Percentage2:14.16%
Electoral Vote2:10
Image3:3x4.svg
Nominee3:Lee Roy Abernathy
Party3:Democratic Party (United States)
Popular Vote3:33,099
Percentage3:5.34%
Electoral Vote3:0
Map Size:210px
Governor
Before Election:Marvin Griffin
Before Party:Democratic Party (United States)
After Election:Ernest Vandiver
After Party:Democratic Party (United States)
Votes For Election:410 county unit votes
Needed Votes:206 unit

The 1958 Georgia gubernatorial election was held on November 4, 1958.

Lieutenant Governor Ernest Vandiver won the Democratic primary on September 10 with 80.51% of the vote and 400 out of 410 county unit votes. At this time, Georgia was a one-party state, and the Democratic nomination was tantamount to victory. Vandiver won the November general election without an opponent.

Democratic primary

County unit system

From 1917 until 1962, the Democratic Party in the U.S. state of Georgia used a voting system called the county unit system to determine victors in statewide primary elections.[1]

The system was ostensibly designed to function similarly to the Electoral College, but in practice the large ratio of unit votes for small, rural counties to unit votes for more populous urban areas provided outsized political influence to the smaller counties.[2] [3]

Under the county unit system, the 159 counties in Georgia were divided by population into three categories. The largest eight counties were classified as "Urban", the next-largest 30 counties were classified as "Town", and the remaining 121 counties were classified as "Rural". Urban counties were given 6 unit votes, Town counties were given 4 unit votes, and Rural counties were given 2 unit votes, for a total of 410 available unit votes. Each county's unit votes were awarded on a winner-take-all basis.

Candidates were required to obtain a majority of unit votes (not necessarily a majority of the popular vote), or 206 total unit votes, to win the election. If no candidate received a majority in the initial primary, a runoff election was held between the top two candidates to determine a winner.[4]

Candidates

Campaign

Bodenhamer ran a "biblical segregationist" campaign[6] aligned with incumbent Governor Marvin Griffin, whom Vandiver had alienated during their term together.[7] He opened his campaign by showing pictures of Vandiver between two Negro politicians and said, "Birds of a feather flock together."[7] He accused Vandiver of being "the candidate of the NAACP."[5] Vandiver responded by promising that "no, not one" black would be admitted to Georgia's white schools.[5]

Lee Roy Abernathy, a gospel singer from Canton who frequently appeared on Atlanta television, also ran on a platform promising to diminish the powers of the governor and make monthly television reports to the people of Georgia.[7]

Results

In the decisive county unit count, Vandiver won 400 out of 410 votes, with Bodenhamer winning the remaining ten.[8] This was the last primary election held under the county unit rule, which was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of the United States in Gray v. Sanders.

Notes and References

  1. Web site: County Unit System . Georgia County Clerks Association . 8 June 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20080531162547/http://www.georgiacca.com/unit.cfm . 31 May 2008 . dead .
  2. Web site: Eugene Talmadge . The Jim Crow Encyclopedia . The African American Experience . 12 August 2013 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150123030046/http://testaae.greenwood.com/doc_print.aspx?fileID=GR4181&chapterID=GR4181-6373&path=encyclopedias%2Fgreenwood . 23 January 2015 . dead .
  3. Web site: County Unit System, eh? . 6 October 2011 . Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies . 8 June 2020.
  4. Web site: County Unit System . Buchanan . Scott . 13 June 2017 . New Georgia Encyclopedia . 8 June 2020.
  5. The Georgia Baptist Convention and Desegregation, 1945–80. The Georgia Historical Quarterly. 83. 4. 697. Winter 1999.
  6. The Georgia Baptist Convention and Desegregation, 1945–80. The Georgia Historical Quarterly. 83. 4. 697. Winter 1999.
  7. News: Tucker. William. Sparks Fly Anew In Georgia Campaign. The Madera Tribune. 6. 8 Sep 1958. 1 May 2021.
  8. Book: Compiled by Mrs. Mary Givens Bryan, Director . 1958 . Georgia's Official Register, 1957-1958 . Atlanta, GA . State of Georgia, Department of Archives and History . 728 .