 | |||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
 County results Thurmond: 90-100% | |||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
The1956 South Carolina United States Senate special election was held on November 6, 1956, to select theU.S. Senator from the state ofSouth Carolina simultaneously with theregular Senate election. The election resulted from the resignation of Senator Strom Thurmond on April 4, 1956, who was keeping a campaign pledge he had made in the1954 election. Thurmond was unopposed in his bid to complete the remaining four years of the term. Thurmond would remain as Senator for nearly fifty years until he retired in 2003.
SenatorStrom Thurmond faced no opposition fromSouth Carolina Democrats and avoided aprimary election. There was a possibility thatGovernorGeorge Bell Timmerman Jr. might enter the race, but Thurmond was held in such high regard by the voters that there would have been no chance of defeating him. With no challenge to the remainder of the term, Thurmond did not conduct a campaign and rejoined his old law firm inAiken until he returned to the Senate after the special election.
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Strom Thurmond | 245,371 | 100.00% | +36.9 | |
| Majority | 245,371 | 100.00% | +73.7 | ||
| Turnout | 245,371 | 32.2 | +5.9 | ||
| Democratichold | |||||
