The 1962 Georgia gubernatorial election was held on November 6, 1962. Carl Sanders won the Democratic primary on September 12 with 58.07% of the vote, defeating former governor

Marvin Griffin Samuel Marvin Griffin, Sr. (September 4, 1907 – June 13, 1982) was an American politician from the U.S. state of Georgia. A lifelong Democrat, Griffin was a native of Bainbridge, Georgia and publisher of the ''Bainbridge Post-Searchlig ...

. At this time, Georgia was a one-party state, and the Democratic nomination was tantamount to victory. Sanders won the November general election without an opponent. This election was notable for a number of reasons. First, it was the last Georgia gubernatorial election to date where the Republican Party did not field a candidate. Second, the

primary election Primary elections or primaries are elections held to determine which candidates will run in an upcoming general election. In a partisan primary, a political party selects a candidate. Depending on the state and/or party, there may be an "open pr ...

was the first that took place under a winner-take-all system, as the previously used

County Unit System The county unit system was a voting system used by the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to determine a victor in statewide primary elections, as well as some Congressional elections, from 1917 until 1962. History Though the county unit ...

had been struck down by the

US Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all Federal tribunals in the United States, U.S. federal court cases, and over Stat ...

in '' Gray v. Sanders.'' Finally, upon election,

Carl Sanders Carl Edward Sanders Sr. (May 15, 1925 – November 16, 2014) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the 74th governor of Georgia from 1963 to 1967. Early life and education Carl Sanders was born on May 15, 1925, in Augusta, Georg ...

became the youngest governor of a state at the time (aged 37) and the first governor from an urban area since the 1920s. He beat former governor

in the Democratic primary.

Democratic primary

Candidates

, former governor of Georgia (1955–59) * Cecil L. Langham * Hoke O'Kelley, perennial candidate *

, state senator from Augusta and President pro tempore of the

Georgia Senate The Georgia State Senate is the upper house of the Georgia General Assembly, in the U.S. state of Georgia. The Georgia State Senate and the lower house of the General Assembly, the Georgia House of Representatives, comprise the bicameral leg ...

* Grace Wilkey Thomas, candidate for governor in 1954 and desegregationist

Results

General election results

References

{{1962 United States elections

1962 The year saw the Cuban Missile Crisis, which is often considered the closest the world came to a Nuclear warfare, nuclear confrontation during the Cold War. Events January * January 1 – Samoa, Western Samoa becomes independent from Ne ...

Gubernatorial A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the type of political region or polity, a ''governor'' ma ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

November 1962 in the United States Single-candidate elections September 1962 in the United States