1963 Mississippi gubernatorial election

none January 2025 September 2023 1963 Mississippi gubernatorial election presidential Mississippi Flag of Mississippi (1894-1996).svg 1959 Mississippi gubernatorial election 1959 1967 Mississippi gubernatorial election 1967 no November 5, 1963 File:Inauguration, Johnson, 1964 (12209667594) (cropped).jpg 150x150px Paul B. Johnson Jr. Democratic Party (United States) 225,456 61.94% File:Rubel L. Phillips (cropped).jpg Rubel Phillips Republican Party (United States) 138,515 38.06% 1963 Mississippi gubernatorial election results map by county.svg 170px County results Johnson: #7996e2 50–60% #6674de 60–70% #584cde 70–80% #3933e5 80–90%Phillips: #e27f7f 50–60% #d75d5d 60–70% Governor Ross Barnett Democratic Party (United States) Paul B. Johnson Jr. Democratic Party (United States) The 1963 Mississippi gubernatorial election took place on November 5, 1963, in order to elect the Governor of Mississippi. Incumbent Democrat Ross Barnett was term-limited, and could not run for reelection to a second term. Democratic primary No candidate received a majority in the Democratic primary, which featured 4 contenders, so a runoff was held between the top two candidates. The runoff election was won by Lieutenant Governor Paul B. Johnson Jr., the son of former governor Paul B. Johnson Sr., who defeated former governor James P. Coleman. As was common at the time, the Democratic primary had higher turnout than the general election, as it was a given the Democrat would win in the era of the Solid South. Results thumb|center|170px|Primary results by county:Johnson: #dee8fb 30–40% #b4c7ec 40–50% #8da9e2 50–60% #678cd7 60–70%Coleman: #f0e6be 30–40% #d7c477 40–50% #c0a32f 50–60% #907300 70–80%Sullivan: #d6efdc 30–40% #a3d5af 40–50% #73bc84 50–60% #3fa457 60–70% Mississippi Democratic gubernatorial primary, 1963http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=382449 MS Governor D Primary 1963 Our Campaigns December 5, 2016 Democratic Party (United States) Paul B. Johnson Jr. 182,540 38.48 Democratic Party (United States) James P. Coleman 156,296 32.95 Democratic Party (United States) Charles L. Sullivan 132,321 27.89 Democratic Party (United States) Robert F. Mason 3,257 0.69 474,414 100.00 Runoff thumb|center|170px|Runoff results by county:Johnson: #7996e2 50–60% #6674de 60–70% #584cde 70–80%Coleman: #d3bc5f 50–60% #c8ab37 60–70% #a0892c 70–80% Mississippi Democratic gubernatorial primary runoff, 1963http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=377574 MS Governor D Primary Runoff 1963 Our Campaigns December 5, 2016 Democratic Party (United States) Paul B. Johnson Jr. 261,493 57.29 Democratic Party (United States) James P. Coleman 194,958 42.71 456,451 100.00 General election Campaign For the first time since 1947 and only the third time since 1877, the Republicans put up a candidate for governor. Rubel Phillips, a former Democratic public service commissioner, switched parties to challenge Johnson. Both candidates used country musicians in their campaigns. Phillips declared himself a "redneck", and the Republicans sang to the tune of "Reuben, Reuben", the refrain, "Rubel, Rubel, we're all rebels,/Fighting for our native land,/Against the Kennedy carpetbaggers,/Bobby, Jack, and all the clan." The Democrats used a song composed by Houston Davis of Jackson: "Rubel, Rubel, little Rubel, Poor misguided Democrat, when it comes to the final test, The GOP will leave you flat. ..."Jackson Clarion-Ledger, October 24, 1963 Phillips said he spent $500,000 on the first gubernatorial campaign."Challenging the Status Quo", p. 202 Democrats claimed that the New York City investment banker Nelson Trimble Levings, who owned a plantation in Mississippi and had opposed Senator Bilbo in the 1946 Democratic primary, was dispatching Rockefeller cash to Phillips, a point the GOP denied.Jackson Clarion-Ledger, November 4, 1963 Johnson carried the backing of the Mississippi Municipal Association, which consisted of most of the state's Democratic mayors. That endorsement prompted Phillips to cancel a scheduled appearance before the group.Greenville Delta Democrat-Times, September 12, 1963; Biloxi-Gulfport Daily Herald, September 4, 11, 1963; The New York Times, October 26, 1963 Johnson refused to debate Phillips and expressed irritation over the fact that he even had to face a Republican challenger. Carroll Gartin, the former lieutenant governor seeking to regain the position on Johnson's ticket, declared Phillips' candidacy "a great disservice" to the state because "everyone had a chance to run as a Democrat."Hattiesburg American, October 9, 1963 The Jackson Daily News similarly declared it a "nuisance" to hold a general election after two all-encompassing Democratic primaries.Jackson Daily News, October 16, 1963 In Water Valley in Yalobusha County in northern Mississippi, Phillips challenged Johnson's proposal to change election laws, suggesting that his rival would create "a dictatorship ... so Republicans and Independents cannot run for office."The New York Times, October 26, 1963 Unlike in neighboring Louisiana, which in 1975 abolished one of the three elections in the cycle, the Mississippi legislature never revised the state's election law. Some had argued that such a change might hamper efforts to recruit northern industries into the South.Jackson Clarion-Ledger, October 28, 1967; The New York Times, April 12 and May 10 14, 1964 The gubernatorial contest was a prelude to the 1964 national election in Mississippi. Paul Johnson at first, in an appearance in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, endorsed "free electors" for 1964, a move strongly opposed by Republicans. Irwin Lee Potter of Arlington, Virginia, chairman of the GOP's "Operation Dixie" said, "The South has been that route before. It didn't work, can't work."Memphis Commercial Appeal, October 6, 1963 Ultimately, Governor Paul Johnson endorsed Goldwater over Lyndon B. Johnson, but he was critical of the Republican Party in making the selection. Bidwell Adam called Goldwater "a true Republican where the dollar is involved" but not really "a conservative as to the social revolutions being forced by judicial edicts and bayonets at the hands of ruthless dictatorships."Jackson Clarion-Ledger, October 28, 1963 Goldwater's position on the Tennessee Valley Authority, which serves northeastern Mississippi, prompted Phillips to distance himself from the senator on that issue.The New York Times, November 5, 1963 Formerly known as "the young firebrand from the Gulf Coast," Adam was elected lieutenant governor in 1927 at the age of thirty-three. Wirt Yerger recalled him in later years as "an old-line, redneck Democrat who literally hated Republicans or the thought of any Republican in public office."Challenging the Status Quo, p. 255 Still Adam endorsed Goldwater in 1964 and Nixon in 1972. Bidwell Adam declared that Paul Johnson "towers like the giants of the forest above the man (Phillips) who is grazing in the pastures of filth." He predicted voters would give Phillips "the brass ring of political ingratitude that he so richly deserves" and claimed that Phillips would be "buried in a political boneyard of forgotten men."Jackson Clarion-Ledger, October 31, 1963 Phillips later recalled that he and Adam "buried the hatchet and became warm friends" after that campaign when they worked together on the same side in a lawsuit."Challenging the Status Quo," p. 255 The campaign featured an exchange between GOP chairman Yerger and Senator James Eastland, who missed nearly thirty roll call votes while in Mississippi to campaign for Paul Johnson. In 1966, Wirt Yerger resigned as GOP chairman and considered challenging Eastland until U.S. Representative Prentiss Walker of Mize entered the race. Years later, Yerger said that Walker's decision to relinquish his House seat after one term for the vagaries of a Senate race was "very devastating" to the growth of the Mississippi GOP."Challenging the Status Quo", p. 256 In Parchman in Sunflower County, Phillips declared the Mississippi State Penitentiary "a disgrace" and called for a constitutional board "free of politics to exercise responsible leadership" at the institution then known for brutal practices. Phillips recounted the case of inmate Kimble Berry, serving time for manslaughter who was granted leave in 1961 by acting Governor Johnson but showed up in a Cadillac in Massachusetts claiming that he had been authorized to recover burglary loot.Memphis Commercial Appeal, October 24, 1963; Meridian Star, October 11, 1963 Results Mississippi gubernatorial election, 1963 Lawson William H. No Small Thing: The 1963 Mississippi Freedom Vote University Press of Mississippi 2018 140 https://books.google.com/books?id=xbZTDwAAQBAJ 9781496816382 Democratic Party (United States) Paul B. Johnson Jr. 225,456 61.94 Republican Party (United States) Rubel Phillips 138,515 38.06 363,971 100.00 Democratic Party (United States) References 30em Works cited Hathorn Billy Burton Challenging the Status Quo: Rubel Lex Phillips and the Mississippi Republican Party (1963–1967) The Journal of Mississippi History XLVII 4 240–265 November 1985 1963 gubernatorial Mississippi Category:November 1963 in the United States