1978 United States Senate election in South Carolina

none March 2026 September 2017 1978 United States Senate election in South Carolina South Carolina presidential no 1972 United States Senate election in South Carolina 1972 1984 United States Senate election in South Carolina 1984 November 7, 1978 125x136px Strom Thurmond.jpg Strom Thurmond Republican Party (United States) 351,733 55.56% No image.svg Charles D. Ravenel Democratic Party (United States) 281,119 44.40% 1978 United States Senate election in South Carolina results map by county.svg 220px County resultsThurmond: #e27f7f 50–60% #d75d5d 60–70% #d72f30 70–80%Ravenel: #7996e2 50–60% U.S. Senator Strom Thurmond Republican Party (United States) Strom Thurmond Republican Party (United States) The 1978 South Carolina United States Senate election was held on November 7, 1978, to select the U.S. senator from the state of South Carolina. Popular incumbent Republican Senator Strom Thurmond defeated Democratic challenger Charles D. Ravenel. Democratic primary The South Carolina Democratic Party held their primary for governor on June 13, 1978. Charles D. Ravenel, an unsuccessful candidate in the 1974 gubernatorial contest, originally planned to run for governor again in 1978, but was convinced by Vice President Walter Mondale in 1977 to run for senator. He garnered over 50% of the vote in the primary and avoided a runoff election. Democratic Primary Democratic Party (United States) Charles D. Ravenel 205,348 55.95% Democratic Party (United States) John Bolt Culbertson 69,184 18.85% Democratic Party (United States) Tom Triplett 50,957 13.88% Democratic Party (United States) Tom McElveen 41,557 11.32% 367,046 100.00% Republican primary Senator Strom Thurmond faced no opposition from South Carolina Republicans and avoided a primary election. General election campaign section March 2019 Thurmond generally ignored Ravenel on the campaign and refused to debate him. When they did cross paths, Thurmond criticized Ravenel for never having held a political office. Ravenel did not help his cause by his actions in the 1974 gubernatorial race when he refused to endorse the Democratic nominee after he had been disqualified. This irritated many Democrats and they also accused him of being nothing more than a liberal New Yorker. Age was beginning to become an issue with Thurmond, so to combat perceptions of old age, Thurmond often appeared with his children on the campaign trail. While 1978 was generally a Democratic year, Thurmond was able to pull off a commanding victory over Ravenel. Thurmond, having first been elected on a segregationist platform in the 1950s, had somewhat moderated his racial views in the 1970s, having hired African American staffers, championed grants to black colleges and businesses, voted in favor of extending the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and established scholarships for black students at four South Carolina colleges with religious affiliations. That garnered him the endorsement of 10 of South Carolina's 11 African American mayors. In addition, Isaac W. Williams, the Field Director of the state's NAACP chapter, did not outright endorse him, but considered what Thurmond would do for the Black community in 1978 more important than his actions in the 1940s and 1950s, saying that "if voters just try to punish a politician for the sins of the past, what does it profit him to improve?" thus also managing to increase his African American support.Thurmond's Black Hope en-US Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1978/03/17/thurmonds-black-hope/49fe22d8-a223-4e9a-aa07-7d8b452fe395/ 2021-05-06 0190-8286 General election results 1978 South Carolina U.S. Senate Election http://clerk.house.gov/member_info/electionInfo/1978election.pdf Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 7, 1978 Clerk of the United States House of Representatives Clerk of the United States House of Representatives U.S. Government Printing Office 1979 Republican Party (United States) Strom Thurmond (incumbent) 351,733 55.56% -7.73% Democratic Party (United States) Charles D. Ravenel 281,119 44.40% +7.71% 257 0.04% N/A 633,109 100.00% 70,614 11.15% -15.45% 633,109 57.7% -7.5% |- | Republican Party (United States) | colspan=5 |Republican hold |- See also 1978 United States Senate elections 1978 South Carolina gubernatorial election List of United States senators from South Carolina References Bass Jack Jack Bass Marilyn W. Thompson Marilyn W. Thompson Ol' Strom: An Unauthorized Biography of Strom Thurmond 1998 Longstreet 290–292 State Election Commission Report of the South Carolina State Election Commission 1979 State Election Commission Columbia, SC 54 Challenging a Southern Legend http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,916420-1,00.html https://web.archive.org/web/20121022195537/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,916420-1,00.html dead October 22, 2012 Time October 16, 1978 February 9, 2008 South Carolina 1978 Category:1978 South Carolina elections Category:Strom Thurmond