1966 Georgia gubernatorial election

none related races 1966 United States gubernatorial elections January 2025 September 2023 1966 Georgia gubernatorial election Georgia (U.S. state) presidential no 1962 Georgia gubernatorial election 1962 1970 Georgia gubernatorial election 1970 November 8, 1966 1956 Howard Callaway.png Bo Callaway Republican Party (United States) 66 453,665 46.53% Lester Maddox (3x4 crop).jpg Lester Maddox Democratic Party (United States) 182 450,626 46.22% Independent Ellis Gibbs Arnall, Governor of Georgia Edit.jpg Ellis Arnall(write-in) – 69,025 7.08% 1966 Georgia gubernatorial election results map by county.svg 350px County resultsMaddox: #a5b0ff 40–50% #7996e2 50–60% #6674de 60–70% #584cde 70–80% #3933e5 80–90%Callaway: #ffb2b2 40–50% #e27f7f 50–60% #d75d5d 60–70% #d72f30 70–80%Arnall: #e6e6e6 30–40% Governor Carl Sanders Democratic Party (United States) Lester Maddox Democratic Party (United States) The 1966 Georgia gubernatorial election was held in the U.S. state on November 8, 1966. After an election that exposed divisions within the Georgia Democratic Party (giving the Georgia Republican Party a shot at the Governor's Mansion for the first time in the twentieth century), segregationist Democrat Lester Maddox was elected Governor of Georgia. The voting also brought future President Jimmy Carter to statewide prominence for the first time. The election was the closest in Georgia gubernatorial history; Republican candidate Bo Callaway won a plurality of the popular vote, but lost the contingent election in the Georgia General Assembly to Maddox. It was also the first time since 1916 that the Republican Party contested a gubernatorial election. If Callaway had won the contingent election or a majority of the popular vote, he would have become the only Republican governor of Georgia in the 20th century. As of 2022, this is the last time that Dougherty, Macon, Randolph, Richmond, Stewart, and Talbot counties voted for the Republican candidate for governor, and the last time that Liberty County did not vote for the Democratic candidate. Democratic nomination Former Governor Ernest Vandiver was considered the favorite to return to his former job (although governors could not then succeed themselves, they could run again after leaving office), but he dropped out of the race because of health problems. That opened the door for former Governor Ellis Arnall, former Lieutenant Governor Garland T. Byrd, state Senator Jimmy Carter, and two segregationist businessmen, Lester Maddox and James H. Gray Sr., to run for the Democratic nomination.New Georgia Encyclopedia Gray, a Massachusetts native, publisher of the Albany Herald and founder of what is now Gray Television, was a former Georgia Democratic state chairman who defended segregation in his northern accent before the 1960 Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles. In the primary race, Maddox had often called upon Gray to leave the race, having said that his opponent was "going down like the Titanic". Gray remained in the race and finished fourth in the primary. He declared neutrality in the Maddox-Arnall runoff election, not openly supporting either candidate. However, one of Gray's associates, Roy V. Harris of Augusta, a member of the Georgia State Board of Regents, supported Maddox over Arnall. Gray supporters attempted to entice Maddox to leave the race with a $100,000 payment. Gray denied involvement in the scheme but would not, on Maddox's request, take a lie detector test.Billy Hathorn, "The Frustration of Opportunity: Georgia Republicans and the Election of 1966", Atlanta History: A Journal of Georgia and the South, Vol. XXXI (Winter 1987-1988), pp. 38-39 Candidates Nominee Lester Maddox, businessman Eliminated in runoff Ellis Arnall, former governor (1943–1947) and former attorney general of Georgia (1939–1943) Eliminated in primary Garland T. Byrd, former lieutenant governor of Georgia (1959–1963) Jimmy Carter, state senator (1963–1967) James H. Gray Sr., businessman and founder of Gray Television Hoke O'Kelley Withdrawn Ernest Vandiver, former governor (1959–1963) and former lieutenant governor of Georgia (1955–1959) Democratic primary election results thumb|Democratic primary results by county: #37c837 Arnall #c0f0c0 Arnall—20–30% #aae5aa Arnall—30–40% #87de87 Arnall—40–50% #5fd35f Arnall—50–60% #37c837 Arnall—60–70% #2ca02c Arnall—70–80% #6674de Maddox #dfeeff Maddox—20–30% #bdd3ff Maddox—30–40% #a5b0ff Maddox—40–50% #6674de Maddox—60–70% #ff9955 Carter #fee5d5 Carter—30–40% #ffccaa Carter—40–50% #FF2A7F Gray #FFDCEC Gray—20–30% #FFC5DA Gray—30–40% #FFAACC Gray—40–50% #FF80B2 Gray—50–60% #FF5599 Gray—60–70% #FF2A7F Gray—70–80% #DEB02A Byrd #F1C92A Byrd—50–60% thumb|Democratic primary runoff results by county: #6674de Maddox #7996e2 Maddox—50–60% #6674de Maddox—60–70% #584CDE Maddox—70–80% #3933E5 Maddox—80–90% #0D0596 Maddox—<90% #37c837 Arnall #5fd35f Arnall—50–60% #37c837 Arnall—60–70% #2ca02c Arnall—70–80% #217821 Arnall—80–90% The primary was held on September 13, 1966. Democratic primary results http://statregister.galileo.usg.edu/statregister/view?docId=statregister/stat1965/stat1965-1741.xml Georgia Official and Statistical Register, 1965–1966 – page 1738 Georgia Official and Statistical Register July 23, 2014 September 21, 2020 https://web.archive.org/web/20200921035037/http://statregister.galileo.usg.edu/statregister/view?docId=statregister/stat1965/stat1965-1741.xml dead Democratic Party (United States) Ellis Arnall 231,480 29.38 Democratic Party (United States) Lester Maddox 185,672 23.56 Democratic Party (United States) Jimmy Carter 164,562 20.89 Democratic Party (United States) James H. Gray 152,973 19.41 Democratic Party (United States) Garland T. Byrd 39,994 5.08 Democratic Party (United States) Hoke O'Kelley 13,271 1.7 Pursuant to Georgia law, as no candidate received a majority of votes in the primary, a runoff was held on September 27. Democratic primary runoff results http://statregister.galileo.usg.edu/statregister/view?docId=statregister/stat1965/stat1965-1782.xml Georgia Official and Statistical Register, 1965–1966 – page 1779 Georgia Official and Statistical Register July 23, 2014 March 3, 2016 https://web.archive.org/web/20160303205018/http://statregister.galileo.usg.edu/statregister/view?docId=statregister/stat1965/stat1965-1782.xml dead Democratic Party (United States) Lester Maddox 443,055 54.29 Democratic Party (United States) Ellis Arnall 373,004 45.71 Lieutenant governor State House Speaker George T. Smith was the Democratic nominee for Lieutenant Governor of Georgia, after he defeated incumbent Peter Zack Geer in the primary. He went on to win the general election."The Advocate" https://web.archive.org/web/20080705180414/http://www.law.uga.edu/news/advocate/spring2003/smith.pdf July 5, 2008 , University of Georgia School of Law Republican nomination The Republican nominee was U.S. Representative Bo Callaway. He was the first Republican Representative from Georgia since Reconstruction. No other Republicans sought down-ballot constitutional offices. State Senator Holden Eugene "Gene" Sanders of DeKalb County, a moderate Republican, sought to run for lieutenant governor, but Callaway said that Sanders did not follow the proper procedures. The Republican strategy was to shun all other statewide races for fear that a full ticket would unify the Democrats. The Atlanta Journal, which ultimately endorsed Callaway, claimed that key Republicans were a clique who hoped to build the party from the governor's office. The Athens Daily News depicted traditional Georgia Republican leaders as "would-be politicians [who viewed the party as] personal property and who made no real effort to expand into a broad-based and effective political organization".Atlanta History, p. 39 General election results Georgia gubernatorial election, 1966 http://statregister.galileo.usg.edu/statregister/view?docId=statregister/stat1965/stat1965-1741.xml Georgia Official and Statistical Register, 1965–1966 – page 1788 Georgia Official and Statistical Register July 23, 2014 September 21, 2020 https://web.archive.org/web/20200921035037/http://statregister.galileo.usg.edu/statregister/view?docId=statregister/stat1965/stat1965-1741.xml dead (Does not include vote count for Ellis Arnall.) Republican Party (United States) Bo Callaway 453,665 46.53% N/A Democratic Party (United States) Lester Maddox 450,626 46.22% 53.73 Write-in candidate Ellis Arnall (write-in) 69,025 7.08% N/A Some people were unhappy with both major nominees and took the "Go Bo" of Callaway's campaign, expanding it to "Go Bo, and take Lester with you". Under Georgia law at the time, the Georgia General Assembly would be required to hold a contingent election if no candidate received a majority of the popular vote. Persons opposed to the contingent election procedure filed an action in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia, contending that a contingent election would violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. The three-judge federal district court declared the Georgia contingent procedure unconstitutional and void on November 17, 1966, but less than a month later, on December 12, 1966, the United States Supreme Court reversed,Morris v. Fortson, 262 F. Supp. 93, 95 (N.D. Ga.), rev’d 385 U.S. 231 (1966) and the contingent election went forward. Maddox was elected on the first ballot despite losing the popular vote by 0.31%.Hopkins Sam 1967-01-11 Quickly Sworn In Behind Shut Doors 1 The Atlanta Constitution https://www.newspapers.com/clip/104243788/quickly-sworn-in-behind-shut-doors/ 2022-06-22 Newspapers.com Following this, Georgia law was changed in 1968 to also subject the governor’s office to the runoff election.Georgia’s unique runoff rule explained https://www.earlycountynews.com/articles/georgias-unique-runoff-rule-explained/ September 5, 2026 Early County News November 23, 2022 References 1966 Gubernatorial Georgia Category:November 1966 in the United States Category:Jimmy Carter Category:Contingent elections in the United States Category:September 1966 in the United States