1970 Arkansas gubernatorial election

Last updated

1970 Arkansas gubernatorial election
Flag of Arkansas (1924-2011).svg
  1968 November 3, 1970 1972  
  Dale Bumpers AR.jpg Winthrop Rockefeller 1967 (cropped).jpg No image.svg
Nominee Dale Bumpers Winthrop Rockefeller Walter L. Carruth
Party Democratic Republican American
Popular vote375,648197,41836,132
Percentage61.66%32.41%5.93%

1970 Arkansas gubernatorial election results map by county.svg
County results
Bumpers:      40–50%     50–60%     60–70%     70–80%
Rockefeller:      40–50%

Governor before election

Winthrop Rockefeller
Republican

Elected Governor

Dale Bumpers
Democratic

The 1970 Arkansas gubernatorial election was held on November 3, 1970.

Contents

Incumbent Republican Governor Winthrop Rockefeller ran for a third term but was defeated by Democratic nominee Dale Bumpers who won 61.66% of the vote. As of 2022, this was the last time Lee County voted for the Republican candidate.

Primary elections

Primary elections were held on August 25, 1970, with the Democratic runoff held on September 8, 1970.

Democratic primary

Candidates

Results

Democratic primary results [6] [7]
PartyCandidateVotes%
Democratic Orval Faubus 156,578 36.36
Democratic Dale Bumpers 86,156 20.01
Democratic Joe Purcell 81,56618.94
Democratic Hayes C. McClerkin 45,01110.45
Democratic Bill Wells32,5437.56
Democratic Robert C. Compton19,3364.49
Democratic James M. Malone6,7181.56
Democratic William S. Cheek2,7250.63
Total votes430,633 100.00
Democratic primary run-off results [6] [7]
PartyCandidateVotes%
Democratic Dale Bumpers 259,780 58.71
Democratic Orval Faubus 182,73241.29
Total votes442,512 100.00

Republican primary

Candidates

Results

Republican primary results [6] [7]
PartyCandidateVotes%
Republican Winthrop Rockefeller (incumbent) 58,197 96.79
Republican R. J. Hampton8291.38
Republican James MacKrell6811.13
Republican Les Gibbs4230.70
Total votes60,130 100.00

General election

Candidates

Results overview

1970 Arkansas gubernatorial election [11] [12]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Democratic Dale Bumpers 375,648 61.66% +14.09%
Republican Winthrop Rockefeller (incumbent)197,41832.41%-20.02%
American Walter L. Carruth36,1325.93%
Majority178,23029.25%
Turnout 609,198100.00%
Democratic gain from Republican Swing

Results by county

County results [13]
County Dale Bumpers

Democratic Party

Winthrop Rockefeller

Republican Party

Walter L. Carruth

American Party

Total votes
#%#%#%
Arkansas 482463.95%205827.28%6618.76%7543
Ashley 495566.07%210428.05%4415.88%7500
Baxter 411953.89%341144.63%1131.48%7643
Benton 847155.98%613440.53%5283.49%15133
Boone 487367.94%215029.98%1492.08%7172
Bradley 296463.95%131728.41%3547.64%4635
Calhoun 150164.70%62226.81%1978.49%2320
Carroll 297662.46%170035.68%891.87%4765
Chicot 247548.15%245547.76%2104.09%5140
Clark 479567.83%193627.39%3384.78%7069
Clay 404869.34%161527.66%1753.00%5838
Cleburne 325075.69%77017.93%2746.38%4294
Cleveland 186470.50%46117.44%31912.07%2644
Columbia 499265.68%239731.54%2122.79%7601
Conway 432666.48%194129.83%2403.69%6507
Craighead 1057070.69%386725.86%5153.44%14952
Crawford 516967.19%187224.33%6528.48%7693
Crittenden 564454.73%427941.49%3903.78%10313
Cross 347167.49%141427.49%2585.02%5143
Dallas 224061.27%109429.92%3228.81%3656
Desha 328357.69%218038.31%2284.01%5691
Drew 308565.55%134428.56%2775.89%4706
Faulkner 797471.51%274124.58%4363.91%11151
Franklin 377677.50%70014.37%3968.13%4872
Fulton 206271.65%75626.27%602.08%2878
Garland 1044255.63%626133.35%206911.02%18772
Grant 274574.63%48013.05%45312.32%3678
Greene 578173.34%189424.03%2082.64%7883
Hempstead 416163.03%215632.66%2854.32%6602
Hot Spring 532167.04%179222.58%82410.38%7937
Howard 304472.03%107725.49%1052.48%4226
Independence 573571.74%193524.21%3244.05%7994
Izard 233977.07%60820.03%882.90%3035
Jackson 448466.87%180626.93%4166.20%6706
Jefferson 1291449.48%1063940.76%25469.76%26099
Johnson 418170.64%143724.28%3015.09%5919
Lafayette 183755.52%125337.87%2196.62%3309
Lawrence 425573.53%121120.93%3215.55%5787
Lee 256144.29%272447.11%4978.60%5782
Lincoln 236660.81%126132.41%2646.78%3891
Little River 193461.57%110335.12%1043.31%3141
Logan 478271.84%159423.95%2804.21%6656
Lonoke 539567.93%181722.88%7309.19%7942
Madison 261061.76%151435.83%1022.41%4226
Marion 187759.68%122839.05%401.27%3145
Miller 559360.06%309933.28%6216.67%9313
Mississippi 865556.87%624741.05%3162.08%15218
Monroe 222745.34%202141.14%66413.52%4912
Montgomery 168370.54%51721.67%1867.80%2386
Nevada 251866.99%107128.49%1704.52%3759
Newton 161155.53%119741.26%933.21%2901
Ouachita 667561.01%370533.86%5615.13%10941
Perry 151565.05%70130.10%1134.85%2329
Phillips 402038.92%485146.97%145714.11%10328
Pike 220273.57%59619.91%1956.52%2993
Poinsett 552872.87%182824.10%2303.03%7586
Polk 278863.01%122827.75%4099.24%4425
Pope 640569.00%252327.18%3553.82%9283
Prairie 247174.07%62718.79%2387.13%3336
Pulaski 4309753.43%3232640.08%52356.49%80658
Randolph 303972.50%100323.93%1503.58%4192
Saline 796168.75%242920.98%118910.27%11579
Scott 258876.01%70220.62%1153.38%3405
Searcy 204271.78%67223.62%1314.60%2845
Sebastian 1618762.78%827132.08%13245.14%25782
Sevier 255873.59%71420.54%2045.87%3476
Sharp 209862.68%105631.55%1935.77%3347
St. Francis 422247.04%376741.97%98711.00%8976
Stone 208470.67%73424.89%1314.44%2949
Union 962863.22%483931.77%7635.01%15230
Van Buren 265168.43%98325.37%2406.20%3874
Washington 1164754.81%893342.04%6683.14%21248
White 939974.62%255720.30%6395.07%12595
Woodruff 229060.63%112029.65%3679.72%3777
Yell 379576.42%99320.00%1783.58%4966
Totals37564861.66%19741832.41%361325.93%609198

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Orval Faubus</span> Governor of Arkansas from 1955 to 1967

Orval Eugene Faubus was an American politician who served as the 36th Governor of Arkansas from 1955 to 1967, as a member of the Democratic Party. In 1957, he refused to comply with a decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in the 1954 case Brown v. Board of Education, and ordered the Arkansas National Guard to prevent black students from attending Little Rock Central High School. This event became known as the Little Rock Crisis. He was elected to six two-year terms as governor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Winthrop Rockefeller</span> 37th governor of Arkansas from 1967 to 1971

Winthrop Rockefeller was an American politician and philanthropist. Rockefeller was the fourth son and fifth child of American financier John D. Rockefeller Jr. and Abby Aldrich Rockefeller. He is one of the grandchildren of Standard Oil co-founder John D. Rockefeller. As an entrepreneur in Arkansas, he financed many local projects, including a number of new medical clinics in poorer areas, before being elected state governor in 1966, as the first Republican governor of Arkansas since Reconstruction. Despite accusations of lacking insight into the concerns of low-income voters, Rockefeller was re-elected in 1968, and went on to complete the integration of Arkansas schools.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dale Bumpers</span> American politician (1925–2016)

Dale Leon Bumpers was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 38th Governor of Arkansas (1971–1975) and in the United States Senate (1975–1999). He was a member of the Democratic Party. He was counsel at the Washington office of law firm Arent Fox LLP, where his clients included Riceland Foods and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joe Purcell</span> 13th Lieutenant Governor of Arkansas

Joe Edward Purcell was an American politician and attorney who served as Acting Governor of Arkansas for six days in 1979. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 45th Attorney General of Arkansas from 1967 to 1971 and the 13th Lieutenant Governor of Arkansas from 1975 to 1981.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dale Alford</span> American politician

Thomas Dale Alford Sr. was an American ophthalmologist and politician from the U.S. state of Arkansas who served as a conservative Democrat in the United States House of Representatives from Little Rock from 1959 to 1963.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brooks Hays</span> American politician

Lawrence Brooks Hays was an American lawyer and politician who served eight terms as a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from the State of Arkansas from 1943 to 1959. He was also a president of the Southern Baptist Convention.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1978 Arkansas gubernatorial election</span>

The 1978 Arkansas gubernatorial election, held on November 7, was the first time that future President Bill Clinton was elected Governor of Arkansas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1966 Arkansas gubernatorial election</span>

The 1966 Arkansas gubernatorial election was held on November 8, 1966. Winthrop Rockefeller was elected governor of Arkansas, becoming the first Republican to be elected to the office since Reconstruction in 1872.

James Ray Caldwell, known as Jim R. Caldwell, is a retired Church of Christ minister in Tulsa, Oklahoma, who was a Republican member of the Arkansas State Senate from 1969 to 1978, the first member of his party to sit in the legislative upper chamber in the 20th century. His first two years as a senator corresponded with the second two-year term of Winthrop Rockefeller, the first Republican governor of Arkansas since Reconstruction. Caldwell was closely allied with Rockefeller during the 1969-1970 legislative sessions.

William Leach Spicer was a businessman from Fort Smith, Arkansas, who from 1962 to 1964 was the embattled state chairman of the Arkansas Republican Party.

Sterling Robertson Cockrill Jr. was an American politician, civic leader and artist in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Marion Harland Crank was an American Democratic politician from Foreman in Little River County in the U.S. state of Arkansas. He served in the Arkansas House of Representatives from 1951 to 1968. He was the Speaker of the Arkansas House of Representatives from 1963 to 1964 and his party's gubernatorial nominee in 1968, but he was narrowly defeated by the incumbent Republican Winthrop Rockefeller.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1958 Arkansas gubernatorial election</span>

The 1958 Arkansas gubernatorial election was held on November 4, 1958.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1924 United States presidential election in Arkansas</span> Election in Arkansas

The 1924 United States presidential election in Arkansas was held on November 4, 1924, as part of the 1924 United States presidential election. State voters chose nine electors, or representatives to the Electoral College, who voted for President and Vice-President.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1974 Arkansas gubernatorial election</span>

The 1974 Arkansas gubernatorial election was held on November 5, 1974.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1972 Arkansas gubernatorial election</span>

The 1972 Arkansas gubernatorial election was held on November 7, 1972.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1964 Arkansas gubernatorial election</span>

The 1964 Arkansas gubernatorial election was held on November 3, 1964.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1962 Arkansas gubernatorial election</span>

The 1962 Arkansas gubernatorial election was held on November 6, 1962.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1960 Arkansas gubernatorial election</span>

The 1960 Arkansas gubernatorial election was held on November 8, 1960.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1954 Arkansas gubernatorial election</span>

The 1954 Arkansas gubernatorial election was held on November 2, 1954.

References

  1. 1 2 "Defeat of Faubus a Sharp Break With Political Past in Arkansas". New York Times. New York, NY. September 10, 1970. Retrieved May 21, 2020.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "Faubus is leader in Arkansas vote". New York Times. New York, NY. August 26, 1970. Retrieved May 21, 2020.
  3. "Classroom to be Named for Law Grad". University of Arkansas. May 12, 2004. Retrieved May 21, 2020.
  4. "James Miller Malone, Jr., September 30, 1926 - April 27, 2014". Boyd Funeral Home. Lonoke, AR. Retrieved May 21, 2020.
  5. Urwin 1991, p. 176.
  6. 1 2 3 Congressional Quarterly 1998, p. 100.
  7. 1 2 3 America Votes 9, p. 37.
  8. Urwin 1991, p. 178.
  9. "Negro to Seek Nomination For Governor in Arkansas". New York Times. New York, NY. June 17, 1970. Retrieved May 21, 2020.
  10. Urwin 1991, p. 177.
  11. Congressional Quarterly 1998, p. 42.
  12. America Votes 9, p. 32.
  13. America Votes 9, pp. 34–35.

Bibliography