1966 United States Senate election in Mississippi

← 1960

1972 →


Nominee	James Eastland	Prentiss Walker	Clifton R. Whitley
Party	Democratic	Republican	Mississippi Freedom Democratic
Popular vote	258,248	105,150	30,502
Percentage	65.56%	26.70%	7.74%

County results
Eastland: 40-50% 50-60% 60-70% 70-80% 80-90%
Walker: 40-50% 50-60% 60-70%

U.S. senator before election

James Eastland
Democratic

Elected U.S. Senator

James Eastland
Democratic

Federal government

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The 1966 United States Senate election in Mississippi was held on November 8, 1966.

Incumbent

Reconstruction and was also the first such competitive Senate candidate.^[1]

Democratic primary

Candidates

James Eastland, incumbent Senator
Charles P. Mosby, candidate for Mississippi's 5th congressional district in 1964
Clifton Whitley, reverend and black civil rights leader

Results

1966 Democratic U.S. Senate primary^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	James Eastland (incumbent)	240,171	83.08%
	Democratic	Clifton R. Whitley	34,323	11.87%
	Democratic	Charles Mosby	14,591	5.05%
Total votes			289,085	100.00%

Republican primary

Candidates

Prentiss Walker, U.S. Representative from Mississippi's 4th congressional district

Results

Walker was unopposed for the Republican nomination.

Independents and third parties

Mississippi Freedom Democratic

Clifton Whitley, reverend and civil rights leader

Reverend Clifton Whitley also ran for the

sore-loser law was invoked against Whitley, who had also run in the Democratic primary against Eastland. He only won his case one week before the election, thereby preventing to enter any serious campaign or fundraising.^[5]

General election

Campaign

Eastland cast the

Black Power and raised the bloody shirt of Reconstruction against the candidacy of Walker.^[3] He was supported by segregationists Thomas Pickens Brady, George Wallace and Leander Perez.^[5]

Walker, who voted against the

AFL–CIO.^[5]

Results

Most of the White voters stayed with Eastland, and Walker ironically won African-Americans in southwestern Mississippi who wanted to cast a protest vote against Eastland.[1]

Years later, Wirt Yerger, the chairman of the Mississippi Republican Party in the 1960s, said that Walker's decision to relinquish his House seat after one term for the vagaries of a Senate race against Eastland was "very devastating" to the growth of the GOP in Mississippi.^[7]

General election results^[8]^[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	James Eastland (incumbent)	258,248	65.56%
	Republican	Prentiss Walker	105,150	26.69%
	Independent	Clifton R. Whitley	30,502	7.74%
Majority			153,098	38.87%
Turnout			393,900
	Democratic hold

References

^
ISSN 0040-781X
. Retrieved January 6, 2018.

^ "MS US Senate - D Primary". OurCampaigns. Retrieved August 16, 2019.
^
ISBN 9780807878057
.

^ "Whitley, Clifton". crdl.usg.edu. Retrieved January 6, 2018.
^
ISBN 9781496806154
.

^ Danielson, Chris. "Right Turn? The Republican Party and African-American Politics in Post-1965 Mississippi". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
^ The Journal of Mississippi History. Mississippi Department of Archives and History. 1985. p. 256.
^ "Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 8, 1966" (PDF). Clerk.house.gov. Retrieved August 16, 2015.
^ "MS US Senate Race". www.ourcampaigns.com. Retrieved August 16, 2018.

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Democratic primary

Candidates

Results

Republican primary

Candidates

Results

Independents and third parties

Mississippi Freedom Democratic

General election

Campaign

Results

See also

References