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 County results
Thurmond: 50-59% 60-69% 70-79% Morrah: 50-59% | |||||||||||||||||
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| Elections in South Carolina |
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The 1966 South Carolina United States Senate election was held on November 8, 1966 to select the U.S. Senator from the state of South Carolina simultaneously with the special election to fill out the remainder of Olin D. Johnston's term.
Incumbent Senator Strom Thurmond, who had switched parties from Democratic to Republican in 1964, easily defeated state senator Bradley Morrah in the general election. This was the first time South Carolina popularly elected a Republican senator, and the first time since 1877 that a Republican won this seat.
The two Democrats who could have defeated Thurmond competed against each other in the special election to serve the remaining two years of Olin D. Johnston's six-year term. As a result, little-known state senator Bradley Morrah of Greenville won the South Carolina Democratic Party primary election on June 14 against John Bolt Culbertson to become the nominee in the general election.
| Democratic primary | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Votes | % |
| Bradley Morrah | 167,401 | 55.9% |
| John Bolt Culbertson | 131,870 | 44.1% |
Senator Strom Thurmond faced no opposition from South Carolina Republicans and avoided a primary election.
Morrah faced an uphill struggle against Senator Thurmond because the Democratic resources were primarily poured into the special election to help Fritz Hollings and in the gubernatorial contest for Robert Evander McNair. Furthermore, Thurmond refused to debate Morrah and Thurmond boasted of the endorsements he received from Southern Democratic Senators Richard Russell, Jr., John C. Stennis, and Herman Talmadge. Morrah was easily dispatched by Thurmond in the general election and he also lost re-election to his state senate seat. He would never again hold public office, which was a routine occurrence for Thurmond's opponents.
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Strom Thurmond (incumbent) | 271,297 | 62.19% | N/A | |
| Democratic | Bradley Morrah | 164,955 | 37.81% | -62.16% | |
| Majority | 106,342 | 24.38% | -75.56% | ||
| Turnout | 436,252 | 49.1% | -6.3% | ||
| Republican hold | |||||
