The 1966 United States Senate election in Mississippi was held on November 8, 1966. Incumbent James Eastland, who first entered the Senate on 1941, was re-elected to a fifth term in office. He was challenged by U.S. Representative

Prentiss Walker Prentiss Lafayette Walker (August 23, 1917 – June 5, 1998) was an American farmer, businessman, and politician from Mississippi. A staunch segregationist, in 1964 he became the first Republican to be elected to the United States House of R ...

. Walker was the first Republican elected to Congress from Mississippi since

Reconstruction Reconstruction may refer to: Politics, history, and sociology *Reconstruction (law), the transfer of a company's (or several companies') business to a new company *'' Perestroika'' (Russian for "reconstruction"), a late 20th century Soviet Unio ...

and was also the first such competitive Senate candidate.

Democratic primary

Candidates

* James Eastland, incumbent Senator * Charles P. Mosby, candidate for

Mississippi's 5th congressional district Mississippi's 5th congressional district existed from 1855 to 2003. The state was granted a fifth representative by Congress following the 1850 census. From 1853 to 1855, the fifth representative was elected at-large instead of by district, favo ...

in 1964 * Clifton Whitley, reverend and black civil rights leader

Results

Republican primary

Candidates

, U.S. Representative from Mississippi's 4th congressional district

Results

Walker was unopposed for the Republican nomination.

Independents and third parties

Mississippi Freedom Democratic

* Clifton Whitley, reverend and civil rights leader Reverend Clifton Whitley also ran for the

Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party The Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party (MFDP), also referred to as the Freedom Democratic Party, was an American political party created in 1964 as a branch of the populist Freedom Democratic organization in the state of Mississippi during the ...

. A

sore-loser law In United States politics, a sore loser law is a law prohibiting the loser in a primary election from then running as an independent or representing another political party in the general election. Some states accomplish the same goal by having s ...

was invoked against Whitley, who had also run in the Democratic primary against Eastland. He only won his case one week before the election, thereby preventing to enter any serious campaign or fundraising.

General election

Campaign

Eastland cast the

civil rights movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional racial segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement throughout the Unite ...

with the tar of

Communism Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a ...

and Black Power and raised the bloody shirt of Reconstruction against the candidacy of Walker. He was supported by segregationists

Thomas Pickens Brady Thomas Pickens Brady (August 6, 1903 – January 31, 1973) was a Mississippi jurist and a segregationist leader during the Civil Rights Era, who lived in Brookhaven, Mississippi. He advocated a for segregation as a way of life and means to ensure p ...

, George Wallace and

Leander Perez Leander Henry Perez Sr. (July 16, 1891 – March 19, 1969) was the Democratic political boss of Plaquemines and St. Bernard parishes in southeastern Louisiana during the middle third of the 20th century. Officially, he served as a district ...

. Walker, who voted against the Civil Rights Act of 1964, ran on the right of Eastland and solely focused on the white vote, accusing him of not being hard enough in opposing integration and being friendly with President Johnson, accusations to which Eastland partisans opposed the fact Walker nominated a black constituent, Marvell Lang, to the

Air Force Academy An air force academy or air academy is a national institution that provides initial officer training, possibly including undergraduate level education, to air force officer cadets who are preparing to be commissioned officers in a national air for ...

. Walker proudly announced he went to a meeting of the Americans for the Preservation of the White Race, a Ku Klux Klan front, enabling Eastland to proudly announce he was opposed by both the Klan and the

AFL–CIO The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL–CIO) is the largest federation of unions in the United States. It is made up of 56 national and international unions, together representing more than 12 million ac ...

Results

Most of the White voters stayed with Eastland, and Walker ironically won African-Americans in southwestern Mississippi who wanted to cast a protest vote against Eastland. Years later, Wirt Yerger, the chairman of the

Mississippi Republican Party The Mississippi Republican Party is the Mississippi state affiliate of the United States Republican Party. The party chairman is Frank Bordeaux, and the party is based in Jackson, Mississippi. The original Republican Party of Mississippi was fo ...

in the 1960s, said that Walker's decision to relinquish his House seat after one term for the vagaries of a Senate race against Eastland was "very devastating" to the growth of the GOP in Mississippi.

References

{{US Third Party Election 1966

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

Democratic primary

Candidates

Results

Republican primary

Candidates

Results

Independents and third parties

Mississippi Freedom Democratic

General election

Campaign

Results

See also

References