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 County results Thurmond: 50-60% 60-70% 70-80% Morrah: 50-60% | |||||||||||||||||
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The1966 South Carolina United States Senate election was held on November 8, 1966 to select theU.S. Senator from the state ofSouth Carolina simultaneously with thespecial election to fill out the remainder ofOlin D. Johnston's term.
Incumbent SenatorStrom Thurmond, who had switched parties fromDemocratic toRepublican in 1964, easily defeatedstate senatorBradley 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 thespecial election to serve the remaining two years ofOlin D. Johnston's six-year term. As a result, little-knownstate senator Bradley Morrah ofGreenville won theSouth Carolina Democratic Partyprimary election on June 14 againstJohn Bolt Culbertson to become the nominee in the general election.
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Bradley Morrah | 167,401 | 55.94% | |
| Democratic | John Bolt Culbertson | 131,870 | 44.06% | |
| Total votes | 299,271 | 100.00% | ||
SenatorStrom Thurmond faced no opposition fromSouth Carolina Republicans and avoided aprimary election.
Morrah faced an uphill struggle against Senator Thurmond because the Democratic resources were primarily poured into the special election to helpFritz Hollings and in thegubernatorial contest forRobert Evander McNair. Furthermore, Thurmond refused to debate Morrah and Thurmond boasted of the endorsements he received from Southern Democratic SenatorsRichard Russell, Jr.,John C. Stennis, andHerman 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% | |
| Total votes | 436,252 | 100.00% | |||
| Majority | 106,342 | 24.38% | −75.56% | ||
| Turnout | 436,252 | 49.1% | −6.3% | ||
| Republicanhold | |||||
