1950 Georgia gubernatorial election

none January 2025 September 2023 1950 Georgia Democratic gubernatorial primary Georgia (U.S. state) presidential no 1948 Georgia gubernatorial special election 1948 (special) 1954 Georgia gubernatorial election 1954 June 28, 1950 1920 HermanTalmadge.jpg Herman Talmadge Democratic Party (United States) 287,637 49.33% 295 Lt. Gov. M.E. Thompson Edit.jpg Melvin E. Thompson Democratic Party (United States) 279,137 47.88% 115 File:1950 Georgia gubernatorial Democratic primary election results map by county.svg 250px County resultsTalmadge: #a5b0ff 40–50% #7996e2 50–60% #6674de 60–70% #584cde 70–80% #3933e5 80–90% #0d056c >90%Tie: #cdafdcff 40–50%Thompson: #e9ddaf 40–50% #d3bc5f 50–60% #c8ab37 60–70% Governor Herman Talmadge Democratic Party (United States) Herman Talmadge Democratic Party (United States) 410 county unit votes 206 unit The 1950 Georgia gubernatorial election was held on November 7, 1950. Incumbent governor Herman Talmadge won the Democratic primary over Melvin Thompson on June 28 with 49.33% of the vote and 295 out of 410 county unit votes. The primary was a rematch of the 1948 special election. This would be the last gubernatorial rematch in the state until 2022. At this time, Georgia was a one-party state, and the Democratic nomination was tantamount to victory. Talmadge was re-elected in 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.http://www.georgiacca.com/unit.cfm 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 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.http://testaae.greenwood.com/doc_print.aspx?fileID=GR4181&chapterID=GR4181-6373&path=encyclopedias/greenwood 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 http://rbrl.blogspot.com/2011/10/county-unit-system-eh.html County Unit System, eh? 6 October 2011 Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies 8 June 2020 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.http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/government-politics/county-unit-system County Unit System Buchanan Scott 13 June 2017 New Georgia Encyclopedia 8 June 2020 Candidates Pat Avery C. O. Baker J. W. Jenkins Herman Talmadge, incumbent governor since 1948 Melvin Thompson, former governor (1947–48) Results Popular vote County unit vote Herman Talmadge 287637 295 Melvin Thompson 279137 115 C. O. Baker 10250 Pat Avery 3050 J. W. Jenkins 2963 https://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=498737 Our Campaigns - GA Governor -D Primary www.ourcampaigns.com General election Results 1950 Georgia gubernatorial electionhttps://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=174217 Our Campaigns - GA Governor Race - Nov 07, 1950 www.ourcampaigns.com Democratic Party (United States) Herman Talmadge (incumbent) 230,771 98.44% 0.87 Independent (United States) Morgan Blake 3,325 1.42% N/A N/A Write-ins 334 0.14% 0.13 227,446 97.02 234,430 Democratic Party (United States) References 1950 Category:1950 Georgia (U.S. state) elections Georgia Category:November 1950 in the United States Category:June 1950 in the United States