1958 Georgia gubernatorial election

none January 2025 September 2023 1958 Georgia Democratic gubernatorial primary Georgia (U.S. state) presidential no 1954 Georgia gubernatorial election 1954 1962 Georgia gubernatorial election 1962 September 10, 1958 1956 File:Ernest Vandiver (1962).jpg 150x150px Ernest Vandiver Democratic Party (United States) 499,477 80.51% 400 File:William Bodenhamer.png William Bodenhamer Democratic Party (United States) 87,830 14.16% 10 3x4.svg Lee Roy Abernathy Democratic Party (United States) 33,099 5.34% 0 210px Vandiver: #7996e2 50–60% #6674de 60–70% #584cde 70–80% #3933e5 80–90% #0d0596 >90%Bodenhamer: #d3bc5f 50–60% Governor Marvin Griffin Democratic Party (United States) Ernest Vandiver Democratic Party (United States) 200px Popular vote by county 210px County unit vote 410 county unit votes 206 unit The 1958 Georgia gubernatorial election was held on November 4, 1958. Lieutenant Governor Ernest Vandiver won the Democratic primary on September 10 with 80.51% of the vote and 400 out of 410 county unit votes. At this time, Georgia was a one-party state, and the Democratic nomination was tantamount to victory. Vandiver won 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 Lee Roy Abernathy, Southern gospel singer William T. Bodenhamer, Baptist preacher and state legislator from Ty Ty Ernest Vandiver, Lieutenant Governor of GeorgiaThe Georgia Baptist Convention and Desegregation, 1945–80 The Georgia Historical Quarterly 83 4 697 Winter 1999 Campaign Bodenhamer ran a "biblical segregationist" campaignThe Georgia Baptist Convention and Desegregation, 1945–80 The Georgia Historical Quarterly 83 4 697 Winter 1999 aligned with incumbent Governor Marvin Griffin, whom Vandiver had alienated during their term together.Tucker William Sparks Fly Anew In Georgia Campaign The Madera Tribune 6 8 Sep 1958 https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=MT19580908.2.68 1 May 2021 He opened his campaign by showing pictures of Vandiver between two Negro politicians and said, "Birds of a feather flock together." He accused Vandiver of being "the candidate of the NAACP." Vandiver responded by promising that "no, not one" black would be admitted to Georgia's white schools. Lee Roy Abernathy, a gospel singer from Canton who frequently appeared on Atlanta television, also ran on a platform promising to diminish the powers of the governor and make monthly television reports to the people of Georgia. Results Popular vote County unit vote Ernest Vandiver 499477 400 William T. Bodenhamer 87830 10 Lee Roy Abernathy 33099 Write-in 3 http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=383045 Our Campaigns - GA Governor - D Primary Race - Sep 10, 1958 In the decisive county unit count, Vandiver won 400 out of 410 votes, with Bodenhamer winning the remaining ten.Compiled by Mrs. Mary Givens Bryan, Director 1958 Georgia's Official Register, 1957-1958 http://statregister.galileo.usg.edu/statregister/view?docId=statregister/stat1957/stat1957-0732.xml Atlanta, GA State of Georgia, Department of Archives and History 728 This was the last primary election held under the county unit rule, which was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of the United States in Gray v. Sanders. General election results 1958 Georgia gubernatorial electionhttp://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=174218 Our Campaigns - GA Governor Race - Nov 04, 1958http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-598 New Georgia Encyclopedia: Ernest Vandiver Jr. (1918-2005) 2013-01-07 2013-02-01 https://web.archive.org/web/20130201040355/http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Article.jsp?id=h-598 dead Democratic Party (United States) Ernest Vandiver 168,414 100.00% Legacy Georgia writer Flannery O'Connor wrote about the election in a letter describing the choice of candidates as "the present lieutenant governor whose only visible merit is good looks, 2) a hillbilly singer, Leroy the Boy Abernathy and 3) a rabid preacher, who claims to be backed by the Bible".O'Connor Flannery The Habit of Being: Letters of Flannery O'Connor 293-294 References 1958 Gubernatorial Georgia Category:November 1958 in the United States Category:Single-candidate gubernatorial elections in Georgia Category:September 1958 in the United States