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1978 United States Senate election in Mississippi

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Nominee Thad Cochran Maurice Dantin Charles Evers Party Republican Democratic Independent Popular vote 267,302 187,541 133,646 Percentage 45.29% 31.77% 22.64%

County results Congressional district resultsCochran:      30–40%      40–50%      50–60%      60–70% Dantin:      30–40%      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80% Evers:      30–40%      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%

U.S. senator before election James Eastland Democratic Elected U.S. Senator Thad Cochran Republican

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v t e

The 1978 United States Senate election in Mississippi was held on November 7, 1978. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator James Eastland decided to retire.

Republican Thad Cochran won the open seat, becoming the first Republican to win a U.S. Senate election in Mississippi since the end of Reconstruction in 1881. It was also the first time since 1877 that a Republican won this Senate seat.

Democratic primary

Candidates

• Maurice Dantin, former District Attorney
• Cliff Finch, Governor of Mississippi
• Robert L. Robinson
• Charles L. Sullivan, Lieutenant Governor of Mississippi
• Richard C. Tedford
• Bill Waller, former Governor of Mississippi
• Helen M. Williams

Results

Runoff results

Republican primary

Candidates

• Thad Cochran, U.S. Representative from Jackson
• Charles W. Pickering, Chairman of the Mississippi Republican Party

Results

General election

Candidates

• Thad Cochran, U.S. Representative from Jackson (Republican)
• Maurice Dantin, former District Attorney (Democratic)
• Charles Evers, Mayor of Fayette (independent)
• Henry Jay Kirksey, civil rights activist and candidate for governor in 1975 (independent)

Campaign

Evers was the first African American elected since the Reconstruction era to be mayor in any Mississippi city, in 1969. He ran as an independent, and as a result his campaign divided the Democrats and allowed Cochran to win the Senate seat with a 45 percent plurality. This made Cochran the first Republican in a century to win a statewide election (other than a presidential election) in Mississippi. Eastland resigned on December 27, 1978 to give Cochran a seniority advantage over new incoming senators.

Results

See also

• 1978 United States Senate elections

References

1. Moreland, Steed & Baker 1991, p. 96.
2. ^ "Primary Elections In Eight States Dominated By California Tax Vote". The Ledger. The New York Times. June 6, 1978. Archived from the original on July 17, 2012. Retrieved June 18, 2015 – via Google News.
3. "MS US Senate - D Primary". Our Campaigns. Retrieved July 20, 2018.
4. "MS US Senate - D Runoff Primary". Our Campaigns. Retrieved July 20, 2018.
5. "MS US Senate - R Primary". Our Campaigns. Retrieved July 20, 2018.
6. Manning-Miller, Don. "Henry J. Kirksey (1915 — 2005)". Veterans of the Civil Rights Movement. Archived from the original on October 4, 2006. Retrieved April 2, 2022.
7. Black, Earl; Merle Black (2003). The Rise of Southern Republicans. Harvard University Press. p. 118. ISBN 978-0-674-01248-6.
8. "Results of Elections Across the Nation". The Blade. November 7, 1978. Retrieved April 18, 2010.
9. "Eastland Quits Early To Aid His Successor". The Blade. Associated Press. December 27, 1978. Retrieved April 19, 2010.
10. "Our Campaigns - MS US Senate Race - Nov 07, 1978".
11. Clerk of the United States House of Representatives (1979). "Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 7, 1978" (PDF). U.S. Government Printing Office.

Works cited

• Moreland, Laurence; Steed, Robert; Baker, Tod, eds. (1991). The 1988 Presidential Election in the South: Continuity Amidst Change in Southern Party Politics. Praeger Publishers. ISBN 0275931455.

• 1978 United States Senate elections
• United States Senate elections in Mississippi
• 1978 Mississippi elections