1974 Georgia gubernatorial election

Last updated

1974 Georgia gubernatorial election
Flag of the State of Georgia (1956-2001).svg
  1970 November 5, 1974 1978  
  George Busbee (cropped).jpg Ronnie Thompson 4.jpg
Nominee George Busbee Ronnie Thompson
Party Democratic Republican
Popular vote646,777289,113
Percentage69.1%30.9%

1974 Georgia gubernatorial election results map by county.svg
County results
Busbee:     50–60%     60–70%     70–80%     80–90%     >90%
Thompson:     50–60%

Governor before election

Jimmy Carter
Democratic

Elected Governor

George Busbee
Democratic

The 1974 Georgia gubernatorial election was held on November 5, 1974. Under Georgia's constitution at the time, incumbent Democratic governor Jimmy Carter was ineligible to serve a second consecutive term. He was elected President of the United States in the 1976 presidential election. George Busbee was elected as the 77th Governor of Georgia.

Contents

Democratic nomination

Candidates

Nominee

Eliminated in runoff

Eliminated in primary

Democratic primary election results

Democratic primary results [1]
PartyCandidateVotes%
Democratic Lester Maddox 310,38436.32
Democratic George Busbee 177,97720.83
Democratic Bert Lance 147,02617.20
Democratic David H. Gambrell 66,0007.72
Democratic George T. Smith 43,1965.05
Democratic Harry C. Jackson 42,1214.93
Democratic Robert A. Rowan 31,6963.71
Democratic Ronnie Thompson 23,9332.80
Democratic B. J. Parker4,6500.54
Democratic Bud Herrin3,4190.40
Democratic Thomas J. Irwin2,2240.26
Democratic Jennings Thompson1,9870.23

Democratic runoff results

Democratic runoff results [2]
PartyCandidateVotes%
Democratic George Busbee 551,10659.86
Democratic Lester Maddox 369,60840.14

Republican nomination

Candidates

Nominee

Eliminated in runoff

  • Harold Dye, army veteran

Eliminated in primary

Republican primary election results

Republican primary results [3]
PartyCandidateVotes%
Republican Ronnie Thompson 19,69141.00
Republican Harold Dye10,91222.72
Republican George Lankford8,61817.95
Republican Harry Geisinger 6,07812.66
Republican Bill Coolidge2,7235.67

Republican runoff results

Republican runoff results [4]
PartyCandidateVotes%
Republican Ronnie Thompson 22,21150.62
Republican Harold Dye21,66949.38

General election results

In a year marred for the Republicans by Richard Nixon's resignation just three months earlier, alongside the continued domination of Georgia by the Democratic Party and Thompson's dividing of the GOP (a move which inspired many prominent figures in the Georgia party to refrain from openly supporting him), Busbee was elected in a landslide. Douglas and Clayton County were the only two counties where Thompson won the most votes. [5] Two years later, a revision of the Georgia Constitution was done that included a rule to allow a Governor to be elected to a second consecutive term. Subsequently, Busbee ran for Governor again four years later. Zell Miller was elected as lieutenant governor, serving for 16 years. As of 2022, this is the last time that Clayton County voted for the Republican candidate for governor.

Georgia gubernatorial election, 1974 [6]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Democratic George Busbee 646,777 69.07%
Republican Ronnie Thompson289,11330.87%
Democratic hold Swing

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lester Maddox</span> American politician from Georgia (1915–2003)

Lester Garfield Maddox Sr. was an American politician who served as the 75th governor of Georgia from 1967 to 1971. A populist Southern Democrat, Maddox came to prominence as a staunch segregationist when he refused to serve black customers in his Atlanta restaurant, the Pickrick, in violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. As he was ineligible to run for a second consecutive gubernatorial term, he sought and won election as lieutenant governor, serving alongside his successor as governor, Jimmy Carter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Busbee</span> American politician (1927-2004)

George Dekle Busbee Sr., was an American politician who served as the 77th governor of Georgia from 1975 to 1983.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Herman Talmadge</span> American politician (1913–2002)

Herman Eugene Talmadge was an American politician who served as governor of Georgia in 1947 and from 1948 to 1955 and as a U.S. senator from Georgia from 1957 to 1981. A Democrat, Talmadge served during a time of political transition, both in Georgia and nationally. He began his career as a staunch segregationist known for his opposition to civil rights, including supporting legislation that would have closed public schools to prevent desegregation. By the later stages of his career, following the enactment of the Voting Rights Act, which gave substance to the Fifteenth Amendment enacted nearly one hundred years before, and increased African American voter participation, Talmadge, like many other Southern politicians of that period, had modified his views on race. His life eventually encapsulated the emergence of his native Georgia from entrenched white supremacy into a multiracial political culture where many white voters regularly elect Black and other non-white candidates to the U.S. Congress and Georgia General Assembly.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1972 United States Senate elections</span>

The 1972 United States Senate elections were held on November 7, with the 33 seats of Class 2 contested in regular elections. They coincided with the landslide re-election of Republican President Richard Nixon. Despite Nixon's landslide victory, Democrats increased their majority by two seats. The Democrats picked up open seats in Kentucky and South Dakota, and defeated four incumbent senators: Gordon Allott of Colorado, J. Caleb Boggs of Delaware, Jack Miller of Iowa, and Margaret Chase Smith of Maine. The Republicans picked up open seats in New Mexico, North Carolina, and Oklahoma, and defeated one incumbent, William B. Spong Jr. of Virginia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Nigh</span> American Lieutenant Governor and Governor of Oklahoma

George Patterson Nigh is an American politician and civic leader from the U.S. state of Oklahoma. Nigh served as the 17th and the 22nd governor of Oklahoma and as the eighth and tenth lieutenant governor of Oklahoma. He was the first Oklahoma governor to be re-elected and the first to win all 77 counties in the state. Additionally, short term vacancies in the governor's office twice resulted in Nigh assuming gubernatorial duties while serving as lieutenant governor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Georgia Republican Party</span> Georgia affiliate of the Republican Party

The Georgia Republican Party (GAGOP) is the affiliate of the Republican Party in the U.S. state of Georgia and one of the two major political parties. It is currently the dominant party in the state and is chaired by Joshua McKoon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1970 Georgia gubernatorial election</span>

The 1970 Georgia gubernatorial election was held on November 3, 1970. It was marked by the election as Governor of Georgia of the relatively little-known former state senator Jimmy Carter after a hard battle in the Democratic primary. This election is famous because Carter, who was often regarded as one of the New South Governors, later ran for president in 1976 on his gubernatorial record and won. As of 2024, this was the last time Fulton County was carried by the Republican candidate in a gubernatorial election, the only time it failed to back Carter, and the last time a Democrat in any race won without carrying it. It is also the last time that Clarke County voted for the Republican candidate for governor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Garland T. Byrd</span> American politician (1924–1997)

Garland Turk Byrd was United States Democratic politician from Georgia, who served as the fourth Lieutenant Governor of Georgia from 1959 to 1963, and as Senator from the 17th District in 1963-4.

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

The 1966 Georgia gubernatorial election was held on November 8, 1966. After an election that exposed divisions within the Georgia Democratic Party, segregationist Democrat Lester Maddox was elected Governor of Georgia. The voting also brought future President Jimmy Carter to statewide prominence for the first time. The election was the closest in Georgia gubernatorial history; Republican candidate Bo Callaway won a plurality of the popular vote, but lost the contingent election in the Georgia General Assembly to Maddox. It was also the first time since 1916 that the Republican Party contested a gubernatorial election. If Callaway had won the contingent election or a majority of the popular vote, he would have become the only Republican governor of Georgia in the 20th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1990 Georgia gubernatorial election</span>

The 1990 Georgia gubernatorial election was held on November 6, 1990. Lieutenant Governor Zell Miller ran for governor after incumbent Joe Frank Harris was term-limited, defeating Andrew Young, Roy Barnes, and Lester Maddox for the Democratic nomination, and defeated Johnny Isakson, a member of the Georgia House of Representatives. As of 2022, this is the last time that Dade, Walker, Whitfield, Murray, Gilmer, Fannin, Floyd, Gordon, Pickens, Dawson, Forsyth, Hall, Barrow, Jackson, Madison, White, Walton, Paulding, Carroll, Coweta, Troup, Spalding, Pike, Harris, Glynn, Camden, Bryan, and Effingham counties voted for the Democratic candidate for governor.

Electoral history of Lester Maddox, 75th Governor of Georgia (1967–1971), seventh Lieutenant Governor of Georgia (1971–1975) and 1976 American Independent Party presidential nominee

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1998 Georgia gubernatorial election</span>

The 1998 Georgia gubernatorial election was held on November 3, 1998. Incumbent Democratic governor Zell Miller was unable to seek re-election due to term limits, therefore creating an open seat. To replace him, State Representative Roy Barnes won the Democratic Party's nomination after a close and highly contested primary election, while businessman Guy Millner, who had run for governor and the United States Senate in the previous four years, won the nomination of the Republican Party.

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

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

Buckner Franklin "Buck" Melton Sr. was an American politician and lawyer who served as the mayor of Macon, Georgia, from 1975 until 1979.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1956 United States Senate election in Georgia</span>

The 1956 United States Senate election in Georgia took place on November 6, 1956. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Walter F. George did not run for re-election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2018 Georgia state elections</span>

A general election was held in the U.S. state of Georgia on November 6, 2018. All of Georgia's executive officers were up for election as well as all of Georgia's fourteen seats in the United States House of Representatives. Neither U.S. Senate seat was up for election in 2018. The Republican Party won every statewide office in 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1972 United States Senate elections in Georgia</span>

The 1972 United States Senate election in Georgia took place on November 7, 1972, as one of that year's United States Senate elections. It was held concurrently with the 1972 presidential election. This seat had opened up following the death of Richard B. Russell in 1971. Shortly thereafter, Governor of Georgia Jimmy Carter appointed David H. Gambrell to fill Russell's vacant seat. The Democratic Party nominee was Sam Nunn, a conservative Democrat and member of the Georgia House of Representatives, and the Republican Party nominated Fletcher Thompson, the Representative from the Atlanta-area 5th congressional district of Georgia. In the primary, Nunn emerged victorious from a crowded field of Democratic candidates, including Gambrell and former Georgia Governor Ernest Vandiver. Despite President Richard Nixon defeating George McGovern in Georgia in the presidential election on the same day, Nunn defeated Thompson in both the special election 52% to 47% and general election 54% to 46%, both of which appeared on the same ballot.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1946 Georgia gubernatorial election</span>

The 1946 Georgia gubernatorial election took place on November 5, 1946, in order to elect the governor of Georgia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ronnie Thompson (politician)</span> American musician and politician (1934–2020)

Ronald John "Ronnie" Thompson Sr., also known by "Machine Gun Ronnie" Thompson, was an American gospel singer, politician, musician, and mental health caseworker. During the 1960s, Thompson became a household name across Georgia and parts of the American South for his live gospel music television shows. He also recorded and released his own contemporary Christian and country music albums and singles. In 1967, Thompson was elected Mayor of Macon, Georgia, becoming the city's first Republican mayor in its history. He became known for his unorthodox, often controversial, views and colorful, charismatic personality during his tenure as mayor, which spanned two terms from 1967 to 1975.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1998 Georgia lieutenant gubernatorial election</span>

The 1998 Georgia lieutenant gubernatorial election was held on November 3, 1998, to elect the lieutenant governor of Georgia, concurrently with the 1998 gubernatorial election, as well as elections to the United States Senate and elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections. Georgia is one of 21 states that elects its lieutenant governor separately from its governor.

References

  1. "Our Campaigns - GA Governor - D Primary Race - Aug 13, 1974". Our Campaigns.
  2. "Our Campaigns - GA Governor - D Runoff Race - Sep 03, 1974". Our Campaigns.
  3. "Our%20Campaigns%20-%20GA%20Governor%20-%20R%20Primary%20Race%20-%20Aug%2013,%201974". Our Campaigns.
  4. "Our Campaigns - GA Governor - R Runoff Race - Sep 03, 1974". Our Campaigns.
  5. 1974 Gubernatorial General Election Results - Georgia
  6. "1974 Gubernatorial General Election Results - Georgia".