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 County results Thurmond: 50-60% 60-70% 70-80% 80-90% McLeod: 50-60% 60-70% 70-80% | |||||||||||||||||
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The1946 South Carolina gubernatorial election was held on November 5, 1946 to select thegovernor of the state ofSouth Carolina.Strom Thurmond won the contestedDemocratic primary and ran unopposed in the general election becoming the103rd governor of South Carolina.
TheSouth Carolina Democratic Party held theirprimary for governor in the summer of 1946 and ten candidates entered the contest. The race featured GovernorRansome Judson Williams, who became governor in 1945 upon the resignation ofOlin D. Johnston, but it mainly became a contest betweenStrom Thurmond and James McLeod. Strom Thurmond was a World War II veteran and advocated a progressive platform whereas, James McLeod, aphysician fromFlorence County, had the support of the "Barnwell Ring" and sought to maintain the status quo.Race was not an issue in the campaign and Strom Thurmond emerged victorious with the support of the returningveterans of World War II who wanted to reformSouth Carolina.
| Democratic Primary | ||
|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Votes | % |
| Strom Thurmond | 96,691 | 33.4 |
| James C. McLeod | 83,464 | 28.9 |
| Ransome Judson Williams | 35,813 | 12.4 |
| John C. Taylor | 22,447 | 7.8 |
| Dell O'Neal | 16,574 | 5.7 |
| John D. Long | 16,503 | 5.7 |
| Carl B. Epps | 5,189 | 1.8 |
| Marcus A. Stone | 4,353 | 1.5 |
| A.L. Wood | 3,040 | 1.0 |
| Archie J. Beattie | 2,889 | 1.0 |
| Roger W. Scott | 2,251 | 0.8 |
| Democratic Primary Runoff | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| Strom Thurmond | 144,420 | 57.0 | +23.6 |
| James C. McLeod | 109,169 | 43.0 | +14.1 |
The general election was held on November 5, 1946 and Strom Thurmond was elected the nextgovernor of South Carolinawithout opposition on account of South Carolina's effective status as aone-party state. Being anon-presidential election and with few contested races,turnout was much lower than in the Democratic primary election.
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Strom Thurmond | 26,520 | 100.0 | 0.0 | |
| Majority | 26,520 | 100.0 | 0.0 | ||
| Turnout | 26,520 | ||||
| Democratichold | |||||
| Preceded by 1942 | South Carolina gubernatorial elections | Succeeded by 1950 |
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