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| Elections in South Carolina |
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The 1962 South Carolina gubernatorial election was held on November 6, 1962 to select the governor of the state of South Carolina. Donald S. Russell won the Democratic primary and ran unopposed in the general election becoming the 107th governor of South Carolina. It is the last uncontested South Carolina gubernatorial election.
The South Carolina Democratic Party held their primary for governor in the summer of 1962 and Donald S. Russell succeeded on his second attempt by easily defeating the current Lieutenant Governor and son of former governor Burnet R. Maybank. He garnered more than 50% of the vote and avoided a runoff, effectively becoming the next governor of South Carolina due to lack of opposition in the general election.
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Donald S. Russell | 199,619 | 60.8% | |
| Democratic | Burnet R. Maybank Jr. | 103,015 | 31.4% | |
| Democratic | A.W. Bethea | 17,251 | 5.3% | |
| Democratic | Dero Cook | 6,321 | 1.9% | |
| Democratic | Milton Dukes | 2,085 | 0.6% | |
The general election was held on November 6, 1962 and Donald S. Russell was elected the next governor of South Carolina without opposition. Turnout was much higher than the previous gubernatorial election because of a competitive senate race between Olin D. Johnston and W. D. Workman, Jr.
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Donald S. Russell | 253,704 | 100.0 | 0.0 | |
| No party | Write-Ins | 17 | 0.0 | 0.0 | |
| Majority | 253,687 | 100.0 | 0.0 | ||
| Turnout | 253,721 | 38.1 | +23.6 | ||
| Democratic hold | |||||
Burnet Rhett Maybank was a three-term US senator, the 99th governor of South Carolina, and mayor of Charleston, South Carolina. He was the first governor from Charleston since the American Civil War (1861-1865) and one of twenty people in United States history to have been elected mayor, governor, and United States senator. During his tenure in the Senate, Maybank was a powerful ally of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. His unexpected death on September 1, 1954, from a heart attack, led to Strom Thurmond being elected senator.
The 1922 South Carolina gubernatorial election was held on November 7, 1922, to select the governor of the state of South Carolina. Thomas Gordon McLeod won the Democratic primary and ran unopposed in the general election becoming the 95th governor of South Carolina.
The 1926 South Carolina gubernatorial election was held on November 2, 1926, to select the governor of the state of South Carolina. The South Carolina constitution was amended in 1926 to change the term of governor from two years to four years, but also prohibiting governors from consecutive terms. John Gardiner Richards, Jr. won the contested Democratic primary and ran unopposed in the general election becoming the 96th governor of South Carolina.
The 1930 South Carolina gubernatorial election was held on November 4, 1930, to select the governor of the state of South Carolina. Ibra Charles Blackwood won the contested Democratic primary and ran unopposed in the general election becoming the 97th governor of South Carolina.
The 1934 South Carolina gubernatorial election was held on November 6, 1934, to select the governor of the state of South Carolina. Olin D. Johnston won the contested Democratic primary and ran unopposed in the general election becoming the 98th governor of South Carolina.
The 1938 South Carolina gubernatorial election was held on November 8, 1938 to select the governor of the state of South Carolina. Burnet Rhett Maybank, Mayor of Charleston, South Carolina, won the contested Democratic primary and defeated Republican Joseph Augustis Tolbert in the general election becoming the 99th governor of South Carolina.
The 1942 South Carolina gubernatorial election was held on November 3, 1942, during World War II, to select the Governor of South Carolina. Olin D. Johnston won the Democratic primary and ran without opposition in the general election on account of South Carolina's effective status as a one-party state, winning a second non-consecutive term as Governor of South Carolina.
The 1946 South Carolina gubernatorial election was held on November 5, 1946 to select the governor of the state of South Carolina. Strom Thurmond won the contested Democratic primary and ran unopposed in the general election becoming the 103rd governor of South Carolina.
The 1950 South Carolina gubernatorial election was held on November 7, 1950, to select the governor of the state of South Carolina. James F. Byrnes won the Democratic primary and ran unopposed in the general election becoming the 104th governor of South Carolina.
The 1954 South Carolina gubernatorial election was held on November 2, 1954, to select the governor of the state of South Carolina. George Bell Timmerman won the Democratic primary and ran unopposed in the general election becoming the 105th governor of South Carolina.
The 1958 South Carolina gubernatorial election was held on November 4, 1958 to select the governor of the state of South Carolina. Ernest Hollings won the Democratic primary against rival Donald S. Russell and ran unopposed in the general election becoming the 106th governor.
The 1902 South Carolina gubernatorial election was held on November 4, 1902, to select the governor of the state of South Carolina. Duncan Clinch Heyward won the Democratic primary and ran unopposed in the general election to become the 88th governor of South Carolina.
The 1912 South Carolina gubernatorial election was held on November 5, 1912, to select the governor of the state of South Carolina. Governor Coleman Livingston Blease won the Democratic primary. As South Carolina was utterly dominated by the Democratic Party, he faced no significant opposition in the general election.
The 1918 South Carolina gubernatorial election was held on November 5, 1918, to select the governor of the state of South Carolina. Robert Archer Cooper emerged from the crowded Democratic primary and ran unopposed in the one-party state's general election to become the 93rd governor of South Carolina.
The 1954 South Carolina United States Senate election was held on November 2, 1954 to select the next U.S. senator from the state of South Carolina. Senator Burnet R. Maybank did not face a primary challenge in the summer and was therefore renominated as the Democratic Party's nominee for the election in the fall. However, his death on September 1 left the Democratic Party without a nominee and the executive committee decided to nominate state Senator Edgar A. Brown as their candidate for the election. Many South Carolinians were outraged by the party's decision to forgo a primary election and former Governor Strom Thurmond entered the race as a write-in candidate. He easily won the election and became the first U.S. senator to be elected by a write-in vote in an election where other candidates had ballot access. A Senate election where the victor won by a write-in campaign would not happen again until 2010.
The 1966 South Carolina United States Senate special election was held on November 8, 1966 to select the U.S. Senator from the state of South Carolina. The election resulted from the death of Senator Olin D. Johnston in 1965. Then Governor Donald S. Russell entered in a prearranged agreement with Lieutenant Governor Robert Evander McNair in which Russell would resign his post so that he could be appointed Senator. However, former Governor Fritz Hollings won the Democratic primary election and went on to beat Republican state senator Marshall Parker in the general election to win his right to fill the remaining two years of the unexpired term.
The 1938 United States House of Representatives elections in South Carolina were held on November 8, 1938, to select six Representatives for two-year terms from the state of South Carolina. The primary elections were held on August 30 and the runoff elections were held two weeks later on September 13. Three incumbents were re-elected, but two incumbents were defeated in the Democratic primary. The three open seats were retained by the Democrats and the composition of the state delegation thus remained solely Democratic.
The 1938 South Carolina United States Senate election was held on November 8, 1938, to select the U.S. Senator from the state of South Carolina. Incumbent Democratic Senator Ellison D. Smith defeated Governor Olin D. Johnston in the Democratic primary. The general election was contested, but a victory by Smith was never in doubt.
The 1942 South Carolina United States Senate election was held on November 3, 1942 to select the U.S. Senator from the state of South Carolina. Incumbent Senator Burnet R. Maybank defeated Eugene S. Blease in the Democratic primary and was unopposed in the general election to win a six-year term.
The 1948 South Carolina United States Senate election was held on November 2, 1948 to select the U.S. Senator from the state of South Carolina. Incumbent Senator Burnet R. Maybank won the Democratic primary and defeated Republican challenger J. Bates Gerald in the general election to win another six-year term.
| Preceded by 1958 | South Carolina gubernatorial elections | Succeeded by 1966 |
