These notes have not been updated since May 30, 2020, and are obsolete.

SPECIAL NOTE: Due to some computer problems, direct quotes are often indicated in italics, rather than quotation marks; sources and page numbers of these direct quotes are indicated in parentheses. All of the sources for these class notes are on-line here.

SOUTHERN POLITICS NOTES

WEEKS ONE-TWO
THE SOUTH IN A NATIONAL CONTEXT

Definition of South- eleven states of Civil War Confederacy. See the map of the states that seceding from the Union and that constituted the Confederacy. Also, view the map depicting the geographic extent of the cotton crop.

Historically, the South and Northeast have usually been on opposite sides of policy controversies and supported different political parties. Review the history of the American Political Party system, and the six eras of party competition. Notice how Democratic the South was before 1932. The 5th party system, from 1932 until 1968, saw the Democrats become the majority party and back liberal economic issues. In the 6th party system, Democrats nationally were liberal on a great range of issues, and the South was voting Republican in presidential elections.

POLITICAL PARTY ERAS

First- 1796-1828	Second- 1828-1860	Third- 1860-1896	Fourth- 1896-1932	Fifth- 1932-1968	Sixth- 1968-
Federalists	Whigs	Republicans	Republicans	Republicans	Republicans
National Power	Anti-Jackson coalition	Anti-slavery	Pro-business	Conservative	Conservative
Pro-business	Pro-business	Pro-business	North base	Pro-business	dealignment
Elitist	Nativist	North base	Majority pty.	High income	South base for pres.
Pro-Britain	New England base	Wins pres. elections
New England

Republicans	Democrats	Democrats	Democrats	Democrats	Democrats
States’ Rights	Agriculture	Agriculture	Agriculture	Liberal economics	Liberal
Agriculture	Catholics welcome	Anti-Radical Reconstructn	South base	New Deal coalition	dealignment
Less Elitist	Territorial expansion	South base		Workers and low income
Pro-France	South base	Controls Congress		Majority pty.
South base	Majority pty.
Majority Pty.

(Source of lecture notes on the history of the American party system: American Political Parties: Social Change and Political Response,, Everett C. Ladd Jr., 1970, W.W. Norton and Co; Transformations of the American Party System, 2nd edition, Everett C. Ladd and Charles D. Hadley, 1978. W.W. Norton and Co; Dynamics of the Party System, James L. Sundquist, 1973, Brookings Institution).

PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS IN THE SOUTH

The table below shows how the GOP has made gains in presidential elections in the South over the decades.

TABLE ON STATE DEFECTIONS FROM THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY IN PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS

1920				Tenn
1928		Fla	N.C.	Tenn	Tex	Vir
1948							Alab*		La*	Miss*	S.C.*
1952		Fla		Tenn	Tex	Vir
1956		Fla		Tenn	Tex	Vir			La
1960		Fla		Tenn		Vir	Alab*			Miss*
1964							Alab	Ga	La	Miss	S.C.
1968	Ark*	Fla	N.C.	Tenn		Vir	Alab*	Ga*	La*	Miss*	S.C.
1972	Ark	Fla	N.C.	Tenn	Tex	Vir	Alab	Ga	La	Miss	S.C.
1976						Vir
1980	Ark	Fla	N.C.	Tenn	Tex	Vir	Alab		La	Miss	S.C.
1984	Ark	Fla	N.C.	Tenn	Tex	Vir	Alab	Ga	La	Miss	S.C.
1988	Ark	Fla	N.C.	Tenn	Tex	Vir	Alab	Ga	La	Miss	S.C.
1992		Fla	N.C.		Tex	Vir	Alab			Miss	S.C.
1996			N.C.		Tex	Vir	Alab	Ga		Miss	S.C.
2000	Ark	Fla	N.C.	Tenn	Tex	Vir	Alab	Ga	La	Miss	S.C.
2004	Ark	Fla	N.C.	Tenn	Tex	Vir	Alab	Ga	La	Miss	S.C.
2008	Ark			Tenn	Tex		Alab	Ga	La	Miss	S.C.
2012	Ark		N.C.	Tenn	Tex		Alab	Ga	La	Miss	S.C.
2016	Ark	Fla	N.C.	Tenn	Tex		Alab	Ga	La	Miss	S.C.

Note: Cell entries reflect which states defected from the national Democratic party in the presidential elections listed in the first column. States not having asterisks voted Republican. The Solid Democratic South was maintained in all elections from 1880 through 1916, in 1924, and in 1932 through 1944, as every southern state voted Democratic.

Source: Shaffer, Pierce, and Kohnke (2000), and updated by the author.

* In 1948, these states voted for the Dixiecrat, States’ Rights Party.

* In 1960, an unpledged slate of electors carried Mississippi. Democrat Kennedy carried Alabama’s popular vote. All of Mississippi’s electors voted for Senator Harry Byrd of Virginia, as d 6 of Alabama’s 11 presidential electors.

* In 1968, these states voted for George C. Wallace’s American Independent Party.

Historical Evolution of Presidential Elections:

Solid Democratic South: 1880-1944. Due to Civil War, Reconstruction, agriculture and Populist, New Deal economics. All eleven states voted consistently Democratic with only two exceptions. In 1920 the nation after Woodrow Wilson and World War 1 returned to the normalcy of a GOP national majority, and Rim South Tennessee voted Republican. In 1928 when Democrats nominated a "wet", Catholic from big city, Al Smith, all Rim South states except Arkansas voted Republican for Hoover. South was so Democratic that in 1944 Mississippi was voting 94% for FDR, Alabama 81% for FDR.

Crumbling of Solid Democratic South: 1948-1968. FDR made Democrats a national party with northern Democratic congressmen having some black constituents. Also, New Deal Democratic coalition was ideologically a liberal one, which would pose a problem for the more conservative South. GOP made some gains in Rim South, Deep South remained Democratic or cast racial protest votes.
1948: Democratic civil rights platform, Dixiecrats protest, all Deep South states except Georgia back Dixiecrats, other southern states remain Democratic
1952: war hero, moderate conservative Eisenhower carries all Rim South states except Arkansas and North Carolina. Deep South returns to Democrats after Democrats choose Alabama Senator John Sparkman as VP, downplay race issues.
1956: repeat candidates, same vote pattern but Eisenhower also carries Louisiana, a Deep South state more racially moderate with a Catholic population.
1960: in close Kennedy-Nixon race, Rim South split evenly. Deep South voted Democratic, except for all of Mississippi electors and half of Alabama's who voted for conservative Democratic Senator Harry Byrd of Virginia (Miss had voted for an unpledged slate of electors).
1964: conservative GOP Goldwater had voted against 1964 Civil Rights Act, first time since Reconstruction that GOP carried all Deep South states. But Goldwater was so conservative that he lost all Rim South states to Democrat Lyndon Johnson. The all-white electorates of Mississippi and Alabama were voting 87% and 70% for a Republican. GOP made congressional gains also.
1968: in the Humphrey-Nixon-Wallace race, conservative former segregationist Alabama governor George Wallace carried Arkansas and all Deep South states except South Carolina. Moderate conservative Republican Nixon, with his "southern strategy," carried all Rim South states except Texas. Texas, home of Democratic president Lyndon Johnson, was only southern state to remain Democratic (41% for Humphrey, 40% for Nixon). Clearly, Democrats were in trouble in the South.

The New South: competitive but leaning Republican. 1972-present. United South affected by national forces, with no obvious difference between Deep and Rim South.
1972- moderate conservative Nixon carries entire South with 70% of vote against liberal Democrat McGovern. Nixon got 78% in Mississippi and 72% in Alabama, and helped elect Thad Cochran and Trent Lott as GOP Congressmen in 4th and 5th districts. First time a Republican wins the entire South.
1976- born-again southern Baptist moderate liberal Jimmy Carter carries entire South except Virginia for Democrats. But Carter won only about 40% of white vote, African-American vote won him each state he carried.
1980- conservative Republican Reagan wins every southern state except Democrat Carter's Georgia home during economic recession. Mississippi was close in each Carter election, victor won by 1%.
1984- popular Reagan wins every southern state. Gets 62% in Mississippi, 3% more than nationally.
1988- GOP Bush beats Dukakis in every southern state. Bush gets 60% in Mississippi, 7% above his national level.
1992 and 1996- with Clinton and Gore both being from South, Democrats are able to carry 4 southern states each time, but Republicans win 7. Both carry their home states of Arkansas and Tennessee in both elections. Louisiana went Democratic in both elections; Georgia in 1992, Florida in 1996. Bush got 50% of Mississippi's vote in 1992, highest in nation (only 38% nationally). Republican Dole still won Mississippi in 1996 with 50%, but Clinton rose from 41% to 44%.
2000- George W. Bush carried every southern state, though Florida's outcome was disputed.
2004- Bush was re-elected, carrying every southern state without dispute.
2008- Given the financial disaster in the nation, Obama was able to win three Rim South states of Florida, North Carolina, and Virginia, though McCain's conservatism won him the other eight southern states.
2012- Given Obama's incumbency, and the trending tossup features of Florida and Virginia, Obama was able to carry those two states, while Romney's conservatism won him the other nine southern states.
2016- Trump's attacks on political correctness and his eventual embrace of conservatism wins him every southern state except Virginia, which for the last three elections has been the most Democratic of the southern states.

PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS AT THE NATIONAL LEVEL (forces affecting Americans across the nation, not just in the South)

2 Models of explaining the outcomes of U.S. Presidential elections: 1) Long term (party identification) versus short term factors (issues and candidates); the University of Michigan social-psychological model of voting behavior; majority party usually wins unless short term factors significantly benefit minority party candidate. 2) Satisfaction versus dissatisfaction; satisfaction helps incumbent party's candidate, while dissatisfaction helps the challenger.

1948
Truman (D) - 50% - New Deal domestic issues(I), Democratic majority (P).
Dewey (R) - 45%- popular governor (C), dissatisfaction (I).
2 Independents: Strom Thurmond and Henry Wallace- 2% each- (divided Dems)

1952
Eisenhower (R) - 55% - war hero (C). (Checker's Speech-Nixon)
Stevenson (D) - 45% - Korea, Communism, corruption hurt (I) . Dissatisfaction

1956
Eisenhower (R) - 57% - personal popularity (C); peace and prosperity (I). Satisfaction
Stevenson (D) - 43% - Democrat (P).

1960
Kennedy - (D) - 50% - young, charismatic (C); time to move ahead (I); Democrat (P).
Nixon - (R) - 50% - popular VP (C); knowledgeable (C). (Debates hurt Nixon)

1964
Johnson (D) - 61% - Democrat (P); centrist (I); incumbent (C).
Goldwater (R) - 39% - too conservative (I); extreme, impulsive (C). (Convention divided)
Read about Barry Goldwater's conservatism.

1968
Nixon (R) - 44% - Vietnam, unrest, crime, inflation (I). Dissatisfaction
Humphrey (D) - 43% - Democrat (P). (Divided Chicago convention)
Wallace (I) - 13% -

1972
Nixon (R) - 61% - world leader, prosperity (I); popular (C). Satisfaction
McGovern (D) - 39% - extreme liberal (I). (V.P. resigns-shock treatment)
Read about George McGovern's life (click on the Full Obituary).

1976
Carter (D) - 51% - Democrat (P); stagnant economy, pardon (I). Dissatisfaction
Ford (R) - 49% - Conservatism helps (I). (Ford debate blunder-E. Europe)

1980
Reagan (R) - 51% - Iran, Afghanistan, inflation, recession (I). Dissatisfaction
Carter (D) - 41% - poor leadership (C). (Reagan debate win-"there you go again")
Anderson, John (Indep)- 7%-

1984
Reagan (R) - 59% - peace and prosperity (I), likeable person (C). Satisfaction
Mondale (D) - 41% - Democrat (P). (1^st woman VP-Ferraro)
Read a brief biography of Geraldine Ferraro.

1988
Bush (R) - 54% - peace and prosperity (I). Negative campaigning.
Dukakis (D) - 46% - too liberal (I); uninspiring (C). (Debate-anti-death penalty, "iceman")

1992
Clinton (D) - 43% - moderate "New Democrat" (I). Dissatisfaction
Bush (R) - 38% - recession hurts (I). ("It's the economy, stupid"; Bush aloof at debate)
Perot (Indep) - 19% -

1996
Clinton (D) - 50% - Good economy, domestic (I) Satisfaction
Dole (R) - 41% - Old, uncaring (C). (Reps. keep Congress)
Perot (I) - 9% -

2000
Bush (R) - 50% - personable (C), compassionate conservative (I)
Gore (D) - 50% - arrogant (C), Clinton scandal (I), too liberal (I)

2004
Bush (R) - 51% - Decisive terrorist fighter helps Bush (I)
Kerry (D) - 48% - Flip-flopping liberal charge hurts Kerry (I)

2008
Obama (D) - 53% - Charismatic, articulate speaker (C)
McCain (R) - 46% - Financial Crisis, recession hurts (I) Dissatisfaction

2012
Obama (D) - 51% - Middle class programs (I), empathy with voter (C)
Romney (R) - 47% - Rich guy (C), blasts 47% non-taxpayers (I)

2016
Trump (R)- 46%- outsider, dissatisfaction (I); trade protectionism (I)
Clinton, Hillary (D)- 48%- basket of deplorables (racists, sexists, Islamophobic comment shows elitism (C).

Note: R denotes Republican candidate, and D denotes Democrat.
I denotes issues, C is candidate, and P is party factor.
Numbers denote percentage of popular vote received.

THE MODERN SOUTH, A REPUBLICAN BASTION

The following tables show how dominant the Republican Party has become in today's South. The first three tables show how the 1994 midterm election (two years after Clinton was elected President) ushered in majority Republican control of the Southern U.S. House, Senate, and gubernatorial delegations (bold numbers in the last column of each table denote Republican majorities). After the 2012 elections, Republicans controlled well over two-thirds of U.S. House and Senate seats from the South, and all except one governorship.

Republican gains at the state level came later. The 1994 national GOP landslide gave the GOP control of only 3 of the 22 state legislative chambers from the South, and only in South Carolina were a majority of sub gubernatorial statewide executive offices won by Republicans. Not until Bush's reelection victory in 2004 did Republicans control half of state legislative chambers. By 2012 Republicans have become dominant at the state level as well, controlling all except one state legislative chamber (the Virginia senate is tied), and majorities in 8 of the 10 state sub gubernatorial executive office (Arkansas is tied, while North Carolina remains a majority Democratic).

Table 3-3

Number of Republican U.S. Senators Elected or Serving in the Election Years Listed

YEAR RIM SOUTH STATES DEEP SOUTH STATES

	Ark	Fla	N.C.	Tenn	Tex	Vir	Alab	Ga	La	Miss	S.C.	No. of GOP Senators in South
1970		1		2	1						1	5
1972		1	1	2	1	1					1	7
1974			1	2	1	1					1	6
1976			1	1	1	1					1	5
1978			1	1	1	1				1	1	6
1980		1	2	1	1	1	1	1		1	1	10
1982		1	2	1	1	2	1	1		1	1	11
1984		1	2		1	2	1	1		1	1	10
1986			1		1	2				1	1	6
1988		1	1		1	1				2	1	7
1990		1	1		1	1				2	1	7
1992		1	2		2+	1		1		2	1	10
1994		1	2	2	2	1	1++	1		2	1	13
1996	1	1	2	2	2	1	2	1		2	1	15
1998	1	1	1	2	2	1	2	1		2	1	14
2000	1		1	2	2	2	2	*		2	1	13
2002			1	2	2	2	2	1		2	1	13
2004		1	2	2	2	2	2	2	1	2	2	18
2006		1	2	2	2	1	2	2	1	2	2	17
2008		1	1	2	2	0	2	2	1	2	2	15
2010	1	1	1	2	2	0	2	2	1	2	2	16
2012	1	1	1	2	2	0	2	2	1	2	2	16
2014	2	1	2	2	2	0	2	2	2	2	2	19
2016	2	1	2	2	2	0	2	2	2	2	2	19
2018	2	2	2	2	2	0	1	2	2	2	2	19

+ Reflects a special election in 1993.

++ Reflects a party switch after the 1994 election.

* The GOP loss of a seat is because of a death and the appointment of a Democrat.

Note: Cell entries reflect the number of Republican U.S. Senators elected in each year, plus those Republican senators continuing their terms in their non-election years.

Source: Shaffer, Pierce, and Kohnke (2000), and updated by the author.

Table 3-4

Number of Republican U.S. House Members Elected in Each Election Year Listed

YEAR RIM SOUTH STATES DEEP SOUTH STATES

	Ark	Fla	N.C.	Tenn	Tex	Vir	Alab	Ga	La	Miss	S.C.	No. of GOP Reps. in South
1970	1	3	4	4	3	6	3	2	0	0	1	27
1972	1	4	4	5	4	7	3	1	1	2	2	34
1974	1	5	2	3	3	5	3	0	2	2	1	27
1976	1	5	2	3	2	6	3	0	2	2	1	27
1978	2	3	2	3	4	6	3	1	3	2	2	31
1980	2	4	4	3	5	9	3	1	2	2	4	39
1982	2	6	2	3	6	6	2	1	2	2	3	35
1984	1	7	5	3	10	6	2	2	2	2	3	43
1986	1	7	3	3	10	5	2	2	3	1	2	39
1988	1	10	3	3	8	5	2	1	4	1	2	40
1990	1	10	4	3	8	4	2	1	4	0	2	39
1992	2	13	4	3	9	4	3	4	3	0	3	48
1994	2	15	8	5	11	5	3	7	3	1	4	64
1996	2	15	6	5	13	5	5	8	5	3	4	71
1998	2	15	7	5	13	5	5	8	5	2	4	71
2000	1	15	7	5	13	8	5	8	5	2	4	73
2002	1	18	7	4	15	8	5	8	4	2	4	76
2004	1	18	7	4	21	8	5	7	5	2	4	82
2006	1	16	6	4	19	8	5	7	5	2	4	77
2008	1	15	5	4	20	5	4	7	6	1	4	72
2010	3	19	6	7	23	8	6	8	6	3	5	94
2012	4	17	9	7	24	8	6	9	5	3	6	98
2014	4	17	10	7	25	8	6	10	5	3	6	101
2016	4	16	10	7	25	7	6	10	5	3	6	99
2018	4	14	10	7	23	4	6	9	5	3	5	90

Note: Cell entries reflect the number of Republican U.S. House members elected in each year. Bold numbers reflect U.S. House delegations from that state controlled by Republicans (ties are excluded). In 2012 there were 138 congressional districts in the South (up from 131 the election before).

Source: Shaffer, Pierce, and Kohnke (2000), and updated by the author.

Table 3-5

Republican Governors Elected or Serving in the Election Years Listed

YEAR RIM SOUTH STATES DEEP SOUTH STATES

Ark

Fla

N.C.

Tenn

Tex

Vir

Alab

Miss

S.C.

No. of

GOP gover-

nors in South

1970

Rep

1972

Rep

1974

Rep

1976

Rep

1978

Rep

1980

Rep

1982

Rep

1984

Rep

1986

Rep

1988

Rep

1990

Rep

Rep*

Rep

1992

Rep

1994

Rep

1996

Rep

1998

Rep

2000

Rep

2002

Rep

2004

Rep

2006

Rep

2008

Rep

2010

Rep

2012

Rep

2014

Rep

2016

Rep

2018

Rep

Note: Cell entries reflect which states voted elected Republican gubernatorial candidates in November of the year listed in the first column, or states that had sitting Republican governors if the year was a non-election year for them.

Source: Shaffer, Pierce, and Kohnke (2000), and updated by the author.

* In Alabama, Democratic lieutenant governor Jim Folsom became governor in 1993 after Republican Hunt’s resignation.

* In Louisiana, Democratic governor Buddy Roemer switched parties late in his term.

Table 3-6

State Legislative Chambers Controlled by the Republicans

State

19-92

1994

1996

1998

2000

2002

2004

2006

2008

2010

2012

2014-2016

Rim South

Arkan.

House

Senate

House

Senate

Florida

Sen. tie

Senate

House

Senate

House

Senate

House

Senate

House

Senate

House

Senate

House

Senate

House

Senate

House

Senate

House

Senate

House

Senate

North Car.

House

Hse. tie

House

Senate

House

Senate

House

Senate

Tenn.

Senate

House

Senate

House

Senate

House

Senate

House

Senate

Texas

Senate

House

Senate

House

Senate

House

Senate

House

Senate

House

Senate

House

Senate

House

Senate

Vir.

Sen. tie

Senate

House

Senate

House

Senate

House

Senate

House

Senate

House

S. tie

House

Senate

Deep South

Alab

House

Senate

House

Senate

House

Senate

Georgia

Senate

House

Senate

House

Senate

House

Senate

House

Senate

House

Senate

House

Senate

La.

House

Senate

House

Senate

Miss.

Sen tie

House

Senate

House

Senate

S.C.

House

Senate

House

Senate

House

Senate

House

Senate

House

Senate

House

Senate

House

Senate

House

Senate

No. of Chambers GOP Controls

Note: Cell entries denote the legislative chambers controlled by the GOP, reflecting the outcomes of the election years listed at the top of the columns (in Virginia, cell entries reflect election outcomes in the previous year).

* The GOP held a brief 17-16 senate majority in Tennessee after 2 members switched parties in September 1995 (Ashford and Locker 1999: 215-216).

Source: Shaffer, Pierce, and Kohnke (2000), and updated by the author.

NOTE; Table 3-6 might not print out completely. Beginning in 2014, Republicans now held control of all 22 of the 11 southern states’ bicameral legislatures. In the 2019 elections, Virginia completely flipped, as Democrats gained control of both legislative chambers; so, the number of chambers controlled by the Republicans across the entire southern region is now 20.

Table 3-7

Sub-Gubernatorial Statewide Elected Offices Controlled by the Republicans

(% of statewide offices)

State	1992	1994	1996	1998	2000	2002	2004	2006	2008	2010	2012	2014+
Rim South
Arkansas	0%	17%	17%	17%	17%	17%	17%	0%	0%	50%	50%	100%
Florida	33%	50%	50%	50%	67%	100%	100%	67%	67%	100%	100%	100%
North Carolina	0%	0%	0%	0%	11%	11%	33%	33%	22%	22%	33%	33%+
Tennessee	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*	*
Texas	33%	17%	20%	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%
Virginia	0%	50%	50%	100%	100%	50%	50%	100%	100%	100%	100%	0%
Deep South
Alabama	0%	50%	67%	50%	50%	50%	50%	67%	67%	100%	100%	100%
Georgia	0%	43%	43%	29%	29%	29%	29%	57%	57%	100%	100%	100%
Louisiana	14%	14%	14%	14%	29%	29%	17%	17%	67%	83%	100%	100%
Mississippi	14%	14%	14%	14%	14%	29%	43%	57%	86%	86%	86%	86%
South Carolina	38%	75%	88%	63%	63%	75%	75%	88%	88%	100%	100%	100%
No. of States that GOP Has Majority Control	0	1	2	3	4	3	3	7	8	8	8	8

+ In 2016 the Republicans won 67% of sub-gubernatorial statewide offices in North Carolina, thereby giving them majority control of 9 states, an historic high. The percentages of all other states remained identical to those of 2014.

+In 2018, the only change from 2016 was Florida control of sub-gubernatorial seats went down to 75%.

Note: Cell entries denote the percentage of sub-gubernatorial statewide elected offices controlled by the GOP, reflecting the outcomes of the election years listed at the top of the columns (in Mississippi, Louisiana, and Virginia, cell entries reflect election outcomes in the previous year). Bold percentages reflect a majority of sub-gubernatorial state offices controlled by Republicans (ties are excluded).

Source: Shaffer, Pierce, and Kohnke (2000), and updated by the author.

* In Tennessee, no sub-gubernatorial state offices are elected statewide.

Table 15-1

Ideological Transformation of Democratic State Party Congressional Delegations

State and Year of Election	Liberal	Mod Liberal	Moderate	Mod Conser	Conser-vative	No. of Republicans
Miss, 1970	0	0	0	0	5	0
Miss, 2004	1*	0	1	0	0	2
Alab, 1970	0	0	1	1	3	3
Alab, 2004	0	1*	1	0	0	5
La, 1970	0	1	0	2	5	0
La, 2004	0	1*	0	0	0	5+
Ga, 1970	0	0	0	4	3	2+
Ga, 2004	2*	3 ^(2*)	0	0	0	7+
S.C., 1970	0	0	0	2	2	1+
S.C., 2004	1*	1	0	0	0	4
Ark, 1970	0	0	1	2	0	1
Ark, 2004	1	2	0	0	0	1
N.C., 1970	0	0	1	2	4	4
N.C., 2004	3 ^(1*)	2	1	0	0	7
Vir, 1970	0	0	0	0	4	6
Vir, 2004	2 ^(1*)	1	0	0	0	8
Tenn, 1970	0	0	4	1	0	4
Tenn, 2004	0	4 ^(1*)	1	0	0	4
Tex, 1970	1	1	8	7	3	3
Tex, 2004	5 ^(2*)	4	0	0	0	21+
Fla, 1970	0	3	0	2	4	3
Fla, 2004	5 ^(3*)	1	0	0	0	18+
11 southern states, 1970	1	5	15	23	33	27
11 southern states, 2004	20	20	4	0	0	82

Note: entries are for congress members elected in the years of 1970 and 2004.

* Indicates that member is an African American. For Georgia, 2 of the three moderate liberals are African American, one is white; both liberals are black. For North Carolina, one of the three liberals is African American. For Virginia, one of the two liberals is black. For Tennessee, one of the moderate liberals is black. For Texas, 2 of the five liberals is black. For Florida, three of the five liberals is black.

+ Omitted from the row is one newly elected Democrat in Georgia (both years), Louisiana, South Carolina, and Florida, and two newly elected Democrats from Texas (one of whom was black).

Sources: Barone, Ujifusa, and Matthews (1972); Koszczuk and Stern (2005); Nutting and Stern (2001: 267) for Cong. McKinney’s record.

Table 15-1a

Ideological Polarization of State Party Congressional Delegations (2015-16)

State and Party	Liberal	Mod Liberal	Moderate	Mod Conser	Conser-vative	No. of Congressmen
Miss, Dems	1*	0	0	0	0	1
Miss, Reps	0	0	0	0	3	3
Alab, Dems	1*	0	0	0	0	1
Alab, Reps	0	0	0	0	6	6
La, Dems	1*	0	0	0	0	1
La, Reps	0	0	0	0	5	5
Ga, Dems	4*	0	0	0	0	4
Ga, Reps	0	0	0	0	10	10
S.C., Dems	1*	0	0	0	0	1
S.C., Reps	0	0	0	0	6	6
Ark, Dems	0	0	0	0	0	0
Ark, Reps	0	0	0	0	4	4
N.C., Dems	3+	0	0	0	0	3
N.C., Reps	0	0	0	1-	9	10
Vir, Dem	3+	0	0	0	0	3
Vir, Reps	0	0	0	1-	7	8
Tenn, Dems	1+	1+	0	0	0	2
Tenn, Rep	0	0	0	0	7	7
Tex, Dem	10+	1+	0	0	0	11
Tex, Reps	0	0	0	0	25	25
Fla, Dems	9+	1+	0	0	0	10
Fla, Reps	0	0	1-	3-	13	17
11 southern states, Dems	34	3	0	0	0	37
11 southern states, Reps	0	0	1	5	95	101

Note: entries are for congress members serving in the years of 2015 and 2016. Congress members ideological scores use the liberal ADA and conservative ACU ratings for the two years; the ADA scores are subtracted from 100 so that both groups range from 0 for most liberal to 100 for most conservative. The 5 ideological categories listed at the top divide this 100-point scale into 5 equal categories (0 to 20 is liberal, 80 to 100 is conservative, for example).

* Indicates that all members in this party-ideological grouping are African American.

+ Democrats in 5 Rim South states have mixed heritages:
North Carolina has 2 black Democrats, 1 white Democratic professor.
Virginia has 1 black Democrat, 2 white Democrats.
Tennessee has 1 white liberal Jewish Democrat, and 1 white moderate liberal.
Texas has 4 black liberals, 3 Mexican liberals, and 3 white liberals; Texas also has 1 Mexican moderate liberal.
Florida has 3 black liberals, 3 Jewish liberals, and 3 white liberals; Florida also has 1 moderate liberal white, the daughter of former Governor Graham.

- Republicans in 3 Rim South states have less conservative voting records:
North Carolina has 1 moderate conservative Republican, a former Democrat whose father was a Democrat.
Virginia has 1 woman moderate conservative Republican.
Florida has 1 moderate Cuban Republican; Florida also has 2 moderate conservative Cubans, and 1 white moderate conservative Republican.

Note on Heritage by Ideology and Party:
Of 34 liberal Democrats, 18 are black, 3 are Mexican, 4 Jews, 9 whites.
Of 3 moderate liberal Democrats, 1 is Mexican, 2 are whites.
Of 1 moderate Republican, he is Cuban.
Of 5 moderate conservative Republicans, 1 is a woman, 2 are Cubans, 2 are whites.
Of 95 conservative Republicans, none are African American.

Sources: ACU website is http://conservative.org/; ADA website is https://adaction.org/

Table 15-2: Recent Ideological and Partisan Transformations of U.S. Senators

Dec-ade	Liberal	Moderate Liberal	Moderate	Moderate Conservative	Conservative
1970s		Bumpers (AR)	Hollings (SC) Morgan (NC) Sasser (TN)+ Bentsen (TX) Chiles (FL) Stone (FL)	Sparkman (A) Long (LA) Johnston (LA) Talmadge (G) Nunn (GA) Baker (TN)	Eastland (MS) Stennis (MS) Allen (AL) Thurmond (SC) McClellan (AR) Helms (NC) Byrd (VA) Scott (VA) Tower (TX)
1980s	Bum- pers (AR) San- ford (NC)+	Fowler (GA)+ Pryor (AR) Sasser (TN) Gore (TN) Graham (FL)+	Johnston (LA) Breaux (LA)* Nunn (GA) Hollings (SC) Bentsen (TX) Chiles (FL)	Stennis (MS) Heflin (AL)	Cochran (MS) Denton (AL) Thurmond (SC) Helms (NC) Trible (VA) Warner (VA) Gramm (TX)
1990s	Cleland (GA)* Pryor (AR) Bum-pers (AR) Sasser (TN)+ Graham (FL)	Breaux (LA) Hollings (SC) Robb (VA)	Heflin (AL) Johnston (LA)	Shelby (AL)+	Cochran (MS) Lott (MS) Coverdell (G) Thurmond (SC) Helms (NC) Faircloth (NC) Warner (VA) Thompson (TN) Gramm (TX) Hutchison (TX) Mack (FL)
2000s	Edwards (NC) Nelson (FL)	Landrieu (LA) Lincoln (AR) M. Pryor (AR)	Breaux (LA)	Miller (GA)	Cochran (MS) Lott (MS) Shelby (AL) Sessions (AL) Chambliss (G) Graham (SC) DeMint (SC) Dole (NC) Warner (VA) Allen (VA) Frist (TN) Alexander (TN) Hutchison (TX) Cornyn (TX) Martinez (FL)
2010s	Nelson (FL) M. Warner (VA) Kaine (VA)			Cochran (MS) Corker (TN)	Wicker (MS) Shelby (AL) Sessions (AL) Isakson (G) Perdue (G) Graham (SC) Scott (SC) Vitter (LA) Cassidy (LA) Burr (NC) Tillis (NC) Alexander (TN) Cornyn (TX) Cruz (TX) Rubio (FL) Boozman (AR) Cotton (AR)

Note: Republicans are in italics. Throughout this book, congress members and senators are divided into five ideological groupings based on their ADA and ACU/ACA scores. Both groups rate congress members from 0 to 100. We subtracted the ADA scores from 100, and then took the averages of the result and the ACU/ACA scores, and made the computations over the period of time noted above. The resulting 101-point scale is arbitrarily divided into five even groupings so that liberals score 0-20, moderates 40-60, conservatives 80-100, etc. The two senators selected from each state for each decade are generally those who served the longest during those decades, except as noted below. In the 2010s decade, the two senators chosen were those elected in 2014; scores used were ACU in 2015 and ADA in 2014, though previous years' scores were used for 5 senators who had non-typical scores in those years.

+ Fowler, Graham, Sanford, and Sasser were selected to represent these decades in order to study ideological change in Democratic senators over time. Shelby was included as a unique example of a party switcher in the face of resistance to ideological change.

* Breaux and Cleland were selected to represent these decades in order to study ideological change compared to their Democratic predecessors, Long and Nunn.

Sources: Almanac of American Politics series, and CQ’s Politics in America series. Also, see websites: http://www.adaction.org/votingrecords.htm and http://www.acuratings.org/.

Table 15-3

Republican Electoral Breakthroughs during Democratic Eras

	Governors	Senators
1961		Tex- Tower*
1964		S.C.- Thurmond*
1966	Ark- Rockefeller* Fla- Kirk*	Tenn- Baker*
1968		Fla- Gurney*
1969	Vir- Holton*
1970	Tenn- Dunn*	Tenn- Brock
1972	N.C.- Holshouser*	N.C.- Helms* Vir- Scott*
1973	Vir- Godwin
1974	S.C.- Edwards*
1976
1977	Vir- Dalton
1978	Tex- Clements* Tenn- Alexander	Miss- Cochran* Vir- Warner
1979	La- Treen*
1980	Ark- White	Alab- Denton* Ga- Mattingly* Fla- Hawkins N.C.- East
1982
1984	N.C.- Martin	Tex- Gramm
1986	Alab- Hunt* Tex- Clements
1988		Miss- Lott
1990
1991	Miss- Fordice*
1992
1994
1995	La- Foster
1996		Ark- Hutchinson*
1998	Ark- Huckabee
2000
2002	Ga- Perdue+
2004		La- Vitter+

Note: Thurmond’s 1964 entry indicates a party switch.

* Indicates first GOP victory in that state for that office.

+ Indicates election occurred after period of Democratic dominance ended.

Table 15-4

Causes of Republican Electoral Breakthroughs

Year-state-office-person	Divisive Dem. Primary?	Ideology of Dem. nominee	Comments
1961- Tex- Sen Tower	Yes	Very cons.	Liberal Dems voted Rep.
1964- S.C.- Sen Thurmond	No	--	Pty switch, nat’ Dem lib.
1966- Ark- Gov Rockefeller	Yes	Segregate	Liberal Dems voted Rep
1966- Fla- Gov Kirk	Yes	Liberal	Conser Dems voted Rep
1966- Tenn- Sen Baker	Yes	Gov/org.	Org. gov. beats lib. sen.
1968- Fla- Sen Gurney	Yes	Liberal	Dem nom. lib. gov.
1969- Vir- Gov Holton	Yes	Org.	Lib Dem lost primary
1970- Tenn- Gov Dunn	Yes	Liberal	Dem loser non-endorse.
1970- Tenn- Sen Brock	Yes	Liberal	Org cand. lost primary
1972- N.C.- Gov Holshouser	Yes	--	Dem upsets lieut. gov.
1972- N.C.- Sen Helms	Yes	Liberal	Cons Dem incum defeated
1972- Vir- Sen Scott	No	Mod inc.	Lib nat’l Dems help Rep.
1973- Vir- Gov Godwin	No	Lib Indep	Dem offer no candidate
1974- S.C.- Gov Edwards	Yes	nonreform	D prim lawsuit- no endorse
1977- Vir- Gov Dalton	Yes	Liberal	Dem atty gen prim upset
1978- Tex- Gov Clements	Yes	Liberal	D gov prim loser, backs R
1978- Tenn- Gov Alexander	Yes	Banker	Rep walks across state
1978- Miss- Sen Cochran	Yes	White	Black Indep splits Dems
1978- Vir- Sen Warner	No	Moderate	Rep org, $, actress wife
1979- La- Gov Treen	Yes	Liberal	Dem losers back Rep
1980- Ark- Gov White	No	Incumbent	Dissat. with incumb. job
1980- Alab- Sen Denton	Yes	--	Inc loses D prim to gov son
1980- Ga- Sen Mattingly	Yes	Talmadge	Some blacks vote Rep
1980- Fla- Sen Hawkins	Yes	Insur com	Inc Dem sen loses primary
1980- N.C.- Sen East	No	Mod inc	Cons Rep Helms camp $
1984- N.C.- Gov Martin	Yes	Liberal	Consumer beat Reagan D.
1984- Tex- Sen Gramm	Yes	Liberal	Rep pty switcher; mod con Dem no endorsement
1986- Alab- Gov Hunt	Yes	Liberal	Technicality unseat cons D
1986- Tex- Gov Clements	Yes	Governor	Gov raised tax, cons. go R
1988- Miss- Sen Lott	No	Moderate	Progressive GOP TV ads
1991- Miss- Gov Fordice	Yes	Governor	Dem challenger backs Rep
1995- La- Gov Foster	Yes	Lib black	Dem prim loser no endorse
1996- Ark- Sen Hutchinson	Yes	Alienator	Cons cand loses D prim
1998- Ark- Gov Huckabee	No	--	Dem gov legal conviction
2002- Ga- Gov Perdue	No	Anti-flag	Dem gov hurt by flag issue
2004- La- Sen Vitter	Yes	Moderate	Four Dems vs. one Rep.

Table 15-5

Recent Ideological Transformation of Democratic State Party Activists

State and Year	Very Liberal	Some-what Liberal	Moderate	Somewhat Conser-vative	Very Conser-vative	% of Republicans who are very conservative
Miss, 1991	13	21	35	25	6	37
Miss, 2001	15	35	24	19	7	54
Alab, 1991	10	20	32	30	8	38
Alab, 2001	16	37	28	13	6	52
La, 1991	8	20	39	26	7	41
La, 2001	13	28	36	17	6	51
Ga, 1991	8	25	33	27	7	38
Ga, 2001	7	32	38	19	4	61
S.C., 1991	9	31	32	22	6	43
S.C., 2001	23	36	24	12	5	61
Ark, 1991	7	24	33	28	8	40
Ark, 2001	12	32	31	20	5	68
N.C., 1991	10	30	37	21	2	42
N.C., 2001	18	39	31	9	3	53
Vir, 1991	12	36	37	13	2	25
Vir, 2001	33	32	28	5	2	55
Ten, 1991	8	22	44	21	5	32
Tenn, 2001	14	35	34	15	2	50
Tex, 1991	10	33	31	19	7	40
Tex, 2001	22	38	24	12	4	53
Fla, 1991	17	30	35	15	3	32
Fla, 2001	28	36	27	8	1	32
11 state average, 1991	10	27	35	22	6	38
11 state average, 2001	21	36	28	12	3	51

Note: Georgia Democrats in 2001 include only county chairs.

Source: Southern Grassroots Party Activists Project, funded by NSF Grant SES- 9009846, Charles D. Hadley and Lewis Bowman principal investigators, 1991 data. Southern Grassroots Party Activists Project, funded by NSF Grant SES- 9986501, John A. Clark and Charles Prysby principal investigators, 2001 data. See Hadley and Bowman (1995) and Clark and Prysby (2003).

Table 15-6

Political Titans who Dominated State Politics in Closing Decades of 20^th Century

Party	State and Years	Office and Person	Why powerful?
Dem	Miss- 1947-88	Sen John C. Stennis	Integrity, courtesy, stately, non-racist, senate power, served his state
Dem	Alab- 1962-86	Gov George C. Wallace	Commoner background, boxer, Folsom ally, segregationist, econ. progressive
Dem	La- 1971-95	Gov Edwin Edwards	Witty, charismatic, flamboyant, Cajun, progressive, biracial coalition
Dem	Ga- 1974-2004	Lieut Gov, Gov, Sen Zell Miller	Econ. liberal, pro-education, tough on crime, humble beginnings, personal camp
Dem	S.C.- 1946-64	Gov, Sen Strom Thurmond	Tillman coaching, war hero, FDR backer, progressive gov, write-in senator, conser.
Dem	Ark- 1978-92	Gov Clinton	Charisma, personal connection to people, attends all events, black churches
Dem	Ark- 1974-96	Gov, Sen David Pryor	Person-to-person camp., Arkansas 1^st, personable, folksy, empathy, “one of us”
Dem	Ark- 1970-98	Gov, Sen Dale Bumpers	Articulate, progressive, storyteller, western drawl, personal stories, passion
Dem	Fla- 1970-98	Sen, Gov Lawton Chiles	Man of people, walks across state, limits camp. donations, visits state much
Dem	Fla- 1978-2004	Gov, Sen Bob Graham	Everyday voter appeal, works 100 jobs, sincere, best politician in state

Tables 15-1 and 15-2 suggest one reason for Republican gains in Dixie- southern Democratic officeholders were becoming too liberal for many voters. Note how in 1970 the great majority of Southern Democratic House members were moderate conservative or conservative in their congressional voting records. By 2004, about 90% of southern Democrats voted either liberal or moderate liberal; there was nobody to the right of moderate. Southern Democrats in the Senate in the 1970s ranged from moderate to moderate conservative to conservative; only one was to the left of that, being a moderate liberal. By the decade of the 2000s, among the only 7 remaining southern Democrats, 2 were liberal, 3 were moderate liberal, 1 was moderate, and only 1 was a moderate conservative.

The southern Democratic party organization had also drifted leftward over the years. In 1991, the party split pretty evenly between liberals, moderates, and conservatives (37% liberal to 28% conservative). By 2001, 57% of Democratic organization members were liberal, 28% moderate, and only 15% conservative (table 15-5). The Republican party's problem was a lack of ideological diversity throughout this period, as it had so few liberals that the real split was between the somewhat conservative and very conservative wings. By 2001, 51% of Republicans were calling themselves very conservative.

Tables 15-3 and 15-4 show when Republicans scored breakthroughs in the U.S. Senate or governorships, and why they scored these victories. Often, it was because of an ideological split within the Democratic party, or because a liberal had won the Democratic nomination.

Table 15-6 shows how Democratic senators and governors were dominant in so many southern states in previous decades, and what made them so politically powerful.

Please note that all of the sources for these class notes are on-line here.

WEEK THREE- THE OLD SOUTH- RACIAL SEGREGATION AND WHITE SUPREMACY

MISSISSIPPI AS A PRIME EXAMPLE

Radical Reconstruction- in 1870 a biracial coalition of Republicans held the vast majority of seats in the state legislature. Both of the state's U.S. senators were African Americans- Blanche Bruce and Hiram Revels.
Whites instituted the Mississippi Plan in the 1875 state elections- destroying ballots, destroying Republican ballots, substituting Democratic ballots for Republican ballots for illiterate African American voters, and intimidating some blacks from voting (Krane and Shaffer 1992: 27-28).
1890 state convention writes a new state constitution to legally disfranchise blacks by requiring- a cumulative poll tax of two dollars per year payable two years before an election, a literacy or understanding test that required that voters either be able to read any section of the state constitution, or be able to understand it or give a reasonable interpretation of it. New constitution also required two-year state and one-year electoral district residency requirement, and voter registration four months before the election. Delegates concerned that these provisions would disfranchise many poor and illiterate whites were ensured that white registrars would enforce these provisions only against blacks (Key 1949: 537; Krane and Shaffer 1992: 31).
Lynchings- between the years 1882 and 1952, 534 blacks were lynched in Mississippi, more than in any other state (Krane and Shaffer 1992: 30; Loewen and Sallis 1974: 178). White supremacy so ruled the South that as late as 1964 only 7 percent of voting age African Americans in Mississippi were registered to vote.
Governors used racist rhetoric. Two governors in the first half of the 20th century were James Vardaman, known as the Great White Chief, and Theodore (The Man) Bilbo.
U.S. Supreme Court strikes down white primary. State legislature in 1947 passes law requiring that people voting in a party primary must be in accord with the principles of that party. The Democratic State Executive Committee of Mississippi quickly pronounced its party principles as- a belief in states’ rights, the poll tax, and opposition to any federal anti-lynching law and any Fair Employment Practice Committee. This new party rule was seldom enforced in the Magnolia state, only because other voting devices had already been so successful at preventing blacks from voting (Key, 1949: 639-642).
States’ Rights Party- Mississippi governor Fielding Wright runs as Vice Presidential candidate under Strom Thurmond. The Democratic state executive committee was one of only four states that listed the Dixiecrats as the official Democratic party nominees on the presidential ballot, helping the Dixiecrats to carry the state (Maisel, 1991: 1235, 1075).
State legislature in 1960 amended the state constitution to require that voters be of "good moral character" with local registrars making that determination, and in 1962 it passed a law requiring that local newspapers publish for two weeks the names of anyone who had applied for registration, thereby subjecting potential black voters to possible white retaliation.
Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party formed in 1964, sends 62 blacks and 4 whites to challenge regular Democrats at Democratic national convention.
Loyalist Democrats (loyal to national Democratic Party) unseats the regular Democrats at the 1968 and 1972 Democratic national convention.
In 1966 (after 1965 Voting Rights Act) state legislature splits up the old Delta congressional district into three majority white districts.
The 1966 legislature session also converted its own single-member districts into multi-member districts that were majority white districts. As such, from 1967 until 1975 only one African American (Robert Clark) was elected to the state legislature (52 senators and 122 house members).
Most white Mississippians as late as 1969 felt that many federal laws were unconstitutional, that most Supreme Court decisions were not in the best interests of the country, and that the federal government was so powerful that it was like living in a dictatorship.
All 3 state governors in the 1960s were segregationists- Ross Barnett, Paul Johnson, and John Bell Williams. Republican gubernatorial candidates were also racial conservatives.
Segregation was so effective in Mississippi that in 1892 only 6% of eligible blacks were registered to vote, compared to 57% of whites. As late as 1964, only 7 percent of blacks of voting age were registered to vote.
It was not until 1979, after fourteen years of lawsuits filed by Mississippi African-Americans and nine trips to the Supreme Court, that the legislature under pressure enacted a single-member district plan. The number of black lawmakers dramatically increased from 4 after the 1975 elections to 17 after the 1979 elections. The lengthy litigation was a product of a three-judge federal district court in southern Mississippi unsympathetic to civil rights claims, all appointees of Kennedy and Johnson who had had to receive the approval of the Senate Judiciary Committee chaired by Mississippian James Eastland (Parker, 1990; Coleman, 1993).
It was not until 2002 that the state of Mississippi settled the Ayers higher education lawsuit by African American plaintiffs, who charged that the public higher education system had violated the equal protection clause of the federal constitution. Prior to the 1960s, Ole Miss, USM, and Delta State were all white, and Mississippi State was all white male; MUW was all white female. African Americans were confined to Jackson State, Alcorn, and Valley. Even after desegregation, more funds and more desirable programs (such as PhD's) were provided to the historically white schools. The 2002 settlement provided $503 million to the historically black schools by the year 2022. Yet another aspect of the IHL system was that the 12-member College Board was all white through the 1960s. Governor's Fordice's nomination of 4 white, male, businessmen (and no blacks or women) to the Board in 1996 after his reelection prompted the Senate College and University Committee, now chaired by an African American, to reject all four nominees on a near party-line vote; Fordice's second slate (which was confirmed) included one women and one African American nominee.

DISCRIMINATORY VOTING DEVICES ACROSS THE REGION

The source of this section is the classic Southern Politics book by V.O. Key (Random House, 1949).

Poll Tax. All southern states had it. It was cumulative in Georgia, Alabama (for 24 years, from the age of 21 to 45), and Virginia. It had to be paid months before the election in South Carolina (6 months), Alabama (3 months), Virginia (6 months), Arkansas (10 months), and Texas (6 months). Arkansas required voters to show their poll tax receipt, and Texas permitted cities to levy an additional poll tax. Other states having poll taxes were Louisiana, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Florida.
Literacy Tests, Interpretation and Understanding tests, typically administered unequally and unfairly to blacks by white local registrars using their discretion. All Deep South states had them, plus Virginia and North Carolina. Unlimited discretion in application targeting blacks was employed in South Carolina, Alabama (must understand the duties of citizenship), and Louisiana (required computation of age in exact number of years, months, and days). South Carolina provided an exemption for those owning $300 of assessed property, which helped whites. In both Virginia and North Carolina, blacks were most discriminated against in rural areas with high black concentrations.
White Primaries. South Carolina Democratic Party required voters to back the social and educational separation of races. Arkansas required Democratic voters to support school segregation, legal prohibition of racial intermarriage, and the poll tax. White Democratic primaries were also used by the states of Georgia, Louisiana, Virginia, and Texas.
Good Character. Requiring a voter be of good character was evident in Alabama and Louisiana.
Long residency requirements. Alabama had a 2-year requirement. Found also in North Carolina.
Be Employed. Required in Alabama (for entire year of election).
Disqualification for crime conviction. South Carolina would include petty crimes. Mississippi crimes requiring disfranchisment include murder, rape, bribery, theft, arson, obtaining money or goods under false pretense, perjury, forgery, embezzlement, bigamy, armed robbery, extortion, felony bad check, felony shoplifting, larceny, receiving stolen property, robbery, timber larceny, unlawful taking of a motor vehicle, statutory rape, carjacking, or larceny under lease or rental agreement.
Grandfather Clause. Louisiana exempted those able to vote before 1867 and their sons and grandsons from literacy-understanding-interpretation tests (only whites qualified).
Violence. In 1874 Alabama state elections 4 were killed and 44 wounded by whites shooting firearms. In Louisiana in first half of 20th century, fear of violence discouraged blacks, particularly in rural areas from voting (one sheriff cracked a head with a pistol butt).
Gerrymandering tactics. Louisiana, after the 1965 Voting Rights Act, diluted black vote by creating large white majority multi-member districts; also, split black voters between majority white districts; also, over-concentration whereby the one black lawmaker in the 1971 legislature had a nineteen-sided house district with a 91 percent black population.
Dixiecrats recognized as official Democratic party candidate of a state by state Democratic executive committee. This forced President Truman in 1948 to be listed on the ballot as an Independent. This occurred in four Deep South states (Alabama, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Louisiana), all of which were won by Dixiecrat Strom Thurmond.

WEEK FOUR- THE SECOND RECONSTRUCTION: SOME PERSONAL ACCOUNTS

LIFE OF MEDGAR EVERS, CIVIL RIGHTS LEADER (YOU MAY WISH TO REVIEW MY EXCERPTS FROM MRS. EVERS BOOK, WHICH IS ON THE SOUTHERN POLITICS DIRECTORY). Book is titled: For Us, the Living (Banner Books) by Myrlie Evers, published by University Press of Mississippi, 1996.

Hard working African-Americans, all family members worked.

Racist events in childhood: father called Boy term; leave the sidewalk; older white boys stop playing; Bilbo racist speech; saw lynching as 12-year old; "buzzard's roost"; long walk to school; colored section on buses.

Army years: French viewed blacks as Americans. Attempt to register to vote met with visits and armed white men. Enjoys Chicago integration. Black refugees fleeing state. Medgar loved Mississippi life.

Education. Blacks could be teachers. Black schools were hand-me-downs. Mrs. Evers denied paid out-of-state schooling (black President part of system), both attend Alcorn University. Medgar was first black seeking Ole Miss entrance, denied because of out-of-county reference letters; Ole Miss then requires 5 character references from alumni. Clyde Kennard tries to integrate USM, is framed with a felony, prohibited from applying.

Insurance Job. Salesman in black-owned firm. Worked 13 hours a day in Delta. Observed black hopelessness, sharecropping system. Beatings in Delta as white supremacy tool. Medgar was angry young man, turned to Bible. Father dies in hospital basement with angry white mob outside.

Brown Supreme Court decision. White leaders called it Black Monday. Racist publication by same name seeking to protect southern white woman. African-Americans backed Brown decision despite intimidation.

Black family assaulted. Black male could not financially support family, under slavery wife and kids owned by white. Also, unable to protect women from the white rapists. If report rape, lose jobs, get beaten.

1950s NAACP Field Secretary Work. Economic reprisals. Some sleep in their middle bedrooms for protection. Sharecropper publicly challenged. Reverend Lee registers to vote, is shot dead. Death List. Names removed from petitions after paper publicizes names (Yazoo City economic intimidation, lost jobs). Smith shot dead in daylight, grand jury does nothing. 14-year-old Emmett Till killed. Evers investigating intimidation uses borrowed car with local license plates. Even popular murder victim Melton's accusers found not guilty. Lynching of Mack Charles Parker. Clyde Kennard framing after trying to enter USM.

1960s Civil Rights Protests. Historically black schools led the way, with students from Tougaloo protesting segregated library, Jackson State students protesting their arrest. JSU students boycott classes after their university president dissolves student government. High school students march after principals ordered them not to protest segregation. Lunch counter sit-ins. Evers leads boycott of white businesses backing White Citizens Councils. Jackson Daily News publicizes names of blacks petitioning for desegregated Jackson schools.

Evers Assassination. Evers appears on television explaining cause, rebutting mayor's outside agitators claims. Evers kids had to sit on house floor, move furniture away from window. 664 blacks arrested after protesting Jackson segregation. Medgar speech talking about dying to make a better life for his kids. President Kennedy views black protests and white violence, and supports 1964 Civil Rights Act. Evers is buried in Arlington National Cemetery. Accused killer Beckwith, member of White Citizens Council, proclaimed his support for segregation. Governor Ross Barnett shook his hand at the trial. White prosecutor told Mrs. Evers to permit court officials to call her Myrlie. Mrs. Evers writes that Mississippi has changed, because of blacks and non-Mississippians. She says that whites and blacks were both victims of the hate, fear, ignorance, and guilt of racism.

LECTURE ON CIVIL RIGHTS LEADER, DOUGLAS L. CONNER, BASED ON BOOK, A BLACK PHYSICIAN'S STORY: BRINGING HOPE IN MISSISSIPPI, by Douglas L. Conner, MD with John F. Marszalek. University Press of Mississippi, 1985.

Hard work in Depression era. 12-hour days, 6 days a week for father; child worked on farm, yard work. Child Conner read a lot, became successful at school.

Childhood segregation. Had to walk beyond neighborhood school to get to segregated school, wooden rather than brick school. Segregated balconies, basement hospital wards for blacks. Heard the N word, had to walk off pavement to let whites walk by. Only professional occupations for blacks were ministers and doctors. Only black doctor in Hattiesburg was role model, nice home, help people, inspired Conner.

Higher education. Conner attended Alcorn rather than all-white USM. Pro of all-black school was not having to worry about offending whites; negative was becoming complacent. Black role models were important to students, such as black physician. White schools had better facilities, faculty, more money. Negative of white schools is blacks may lose "the sense of racial togetherness that I gained at Alcorn...developing any group cohesiveness, any togetherness, during their college days... their sense of concern for other blacks... strong sense of obligation to the uplift of the black masses..." Blacks at white schools may become "'Oreo cookie' types: they are black on the outside, but their insides are white...develops a superior attitude toward less-privileged blacks. 'If you work as hard as I have, you'll make it up here too.'... developed a repugnance for less-privileged blacks...'Those trifling people, they ought to be ashamed of themselves for being poor and uneducated and downtrodden.'" Blacks should remember those who sacrificed before them, who made it possible for them to now be at historically white universities.

Army life. Working summers on Connecticut tobacco farm with Polish workers, and in Detroit auto assembly plant, whites and blacks worked well together without segregation/racism. Segregated army: black draftees, white doctors, white officers and commanders; races trained separately at Texas camp; white MPs brutality: "Many were Simon Legrees, similar to police officers I had seen all too often in the South. Some of them swung their billy clubs too quickly, and every once in a while a black skull suffered the consequences." Army medical training was integrated, Conner was in middle of his class; living quarters were segregated, and Washington D.C. was segregated southern town where he had to go to black district to see movie. In WW2, segregated troop train, segregated ship to Pacific, blacks in service units (quartermaster, engineer, port) "doing the hard, dirty work of war for the more glamorous and prestigious white combat units." Regarding atom bomb, "we wondered if it would have been dropped on the Japanese had they been a white nation like Germany or Italy." Okinawans liked blacks more than whites because they had never seen a black person and white Americans treated them condescendingly. Army important lessons of discipline, proper channels to get things done, patience to accept limitations on our power to control our lives, hope and pride at being able to compete successfully in an integrated situation; Colin Powell also found Army positives.

Medical hospitals. Studies at Howard University, liked nearly all-black teachers and students, instilled pride. Practiced at Freedmen's Hospital, which lacked modern equipment and had a black clientele mostly from the lowest SES class who couldn't pay for their care. Interned at the black hospital in St. Louis, primarily because he wanted to go South, and dreamed of "being a physician in a black community, healing hurts and making life better for a suffering people."

Starkville medical practice. White officials welcomed his 1951 visit, granted him hospital privileges. But, "I noticed how careful black leaders were to gain the prior approval of whites for everything they did...although all the white leaders I met were pleasant, there was an undercurrent of paternalism in their attitude toward me and the black sponsors who were introducing me." The segregated hospital had separate waiting rooms wings with whites having semiprivate rooms with baths while blacks having rooms with three or four beds and no private baths, but medical facilities were shared by both races. The only blacks were nurses’ aides, janitors, and kitchen help. Conner had many rural black patient who had gone to Columbus; city blacks "often support a white person simply because he or she is white... especially among the middle class, there is an attitude that if something is done by a white person it is done better... carry-overs from the days of slavery and later discrimination." Early years he worked 13 hours a day, 6 days a week; had to have a white doctor on call when he was on call at hospital, to see white patients; a white doctor who had integrated waiting list helped Conner build his practice. He is role model to black youth: those interested in medical careers given odd jobs in his office. Down-and-out youngsters remind him of himself: "I reach out to such a person and try to motivate him. I tell him that he is capable of better, that he has to break the crutch of using blackness as an excuse for standing still, doing nothing, and depending on charity."

Health issues. Mississippi Medical Association and AMA barred blacks from membership, so the black Mississippi Medical and Surgical Association and National Medical Association were formed; remains alive today, fear of integrated AMA shunting blacks aside, ignoring black issues such as need for more black doctors, and AMA cares more about doctor well-being rather than public health care improvements. Conner backed Medicare/Medicaid, but believes they caused inflation and fraud. Backs a patient fee causing sense of personal responsibility, treat all in same facilities. Three-fourths of patient visits are psychosomatic, so doctors need "a better grounding in liberal arts education" such as sociology, history, and philosophy; anyone treating blacks should study Afro-American history and culture." Conner opposed abortion after first twelve weeks, since human life is then present. Given widespread birth control information, no excuse for pregnancies "time after time after time. I do not believe in abortion on demand." Opposes smoking. Overweight is a major problem. Opposes marijuana legalization, but backs mandatory counseling instead of jail for possession. Opposes overdependence on over-the-counter and prescription drugs. For a long, healthy life, eat regular meals, sleep regularly, don't eat too much, get enough exercise, and don't worry too much.

Segregated Starkville in 1950s. Separate schools with superior white facilities. Blacks relegated to menial jobs: "One could see blacks sweeping and mopping, but rarely was a black seen in a business suit. There were no black bank tellers, no black government clerks, and certainly no black college professors." White restaurants closed to blacks except for back door; few black restaurants were sandwich shops. Movie theatre's black balcony called "buzzard's roost." No black salespersons at stores, and blacks discouraged from trying anything on at clothing stores. Most dental offices had segregated waiting rooms, and one dentist did extractions in the black waiting room by using a washbasin. A few black businessmen were permitted to vote, but they had to vote early so that few whites saw them at the polls. "The police had a reputation for arresting blacks with little cause and then treating them roughly, so most blacks did not want to do anything that might antagonize the authorities." MSU was segregationist, only blacks on campus were in menial jobs, blacks attending athletic events were segregated.

Politics. Member of integrated Loyalist Democrats challenging white regular Democrats. Conner couldn't be 1984 delegate to national Democratic convention because of party rules mandating equal race-sex divisions; lack of funding support also hurt convention representativeness. Backed Gil Carmichael as racial liberal, but GOP has become more conservative since then, and Democrats better. Conner invited to White House by Nixon and Carter. He liked Governor Winter, state officeholders backing Robert Clark, noted Stennis' transformation, but Barnett and Eastland never changed. Lost two state legislative bids, need for black majority districts, platform stressed improved education and other domestic programs, jobs, highways, a higher state income tax, and a state where "people of different ethnic backgrounds can work together in harmony and peace." Changes in Mississippi--no voting discrimination after 1972, Conner on Chamber of Commerce, MSU committees.

University. Conner adopted son Richard Holmes was first black to integrate MSU in summer 1965. No problem, except that night crowd of two hundred students joined by some nonstudents gathered on campus and marched to Conner's home, "shouting racial insults" but doing no property damage; gone when police arrived, and no further marches. After permanent fall entry, the "catcalls and insults" increased, usually hurled from a distance. Holmes was isolated; library tables and TV lounges quickly emptied when he sat down. But "these things were minor... most people bent over backwards to make his stay as pleasant as possible" given Ole Miss episode.

Schools. Integration effects: "a cutback in black principals and teachers... by attrition." Conner's wife quits over grade dispute involving white with important parents. Mid 1980s NAACP lawsuit over tracking: "the use of achievement tests resegregated children according to standardized score groupings. All-black and all-white classes began to appear." Regarding Starkville Academy: Some say it "fulfills a need for the class conscious--that it is snobbishness, not race that explains its existence." In Conner's opinion, "blatant racism was the reason for the establishment of the academy in Starkville. The argument at the time was not very subtle; 'The schools will be mixing now. Pretty soon black boys will be chasing after and marrying white girls.'... there were numerous parents who left their boys in public schools and sent their girls to the academy... snobbishness plays a role in explaining the existence of the academy... But I am convinced that race is the major reason. Without the coming of integration, there would not have been nor would there be an academy in Starkville today."

WEEK FIVE-
SOUTH CAROLINA- THE STROM THURMOND LEGACY

Strom Thurmond party switch starts GOP gains

Born in 1902. Served in U.S. Senate for 8 terms, 48 years (1954-2002). Filibustered for 24 hours and 18 minutes against the 1957 Civil Rights Act.

Incensed by the 1964 Civil Rights Act backed by Democratic President Lyndon Johnson, which outlawed racial discrimination in public accommodations and employment, Democratic U.S. Senator Strom Thurmond blasted the law as "the worst, most unreasonable and unconstitutional legislation that has ever been considered," which has been passed because of "Negro agitators, spurred on by communist enticements to promote racial strife" (Cohodas 1994: 351). Thurmond was further incensed in 1964 by Johnson's selection as his Vice Presidential running mate of Minnesota U.S. Senator Hubert H. Humphrey, who was a liberal leader of the Americans for Democratic Action, a group regarded by Thurmond as "Socialist" (Cohodas 1994: 359). Presented with a happy alternative of a national Republican party led by conservative presidential candidate Barry Goldwater, Thurmond switched to the GOP, blasting Democrats for allegedly forsaking the people and becoming the party of "minority groups, power-hungry union leaders, political bosses, and businessmen looking for government contracts and favors" (Cohodas 1994: 359). Thurmond proceeded to praise Goldwater, not for being sympathetic to segregationists, but for his conservative principles reflected in the Republican's support for "fiscal sanity," in his belief in "Constitutional government," and in his understanding of the "communist enemy" (Cohodas 1994: 362).

In retrospect, Thurmond's defection should not be viewed merely as a welcome Democratic Party loss of an embarrassing racist, but also as a signal of the growing appeal to successful white politicians in Dixie of the national Republican party's conservatism. Thurmond's comfort at personally meeting with his constituents dated back to his father's political work for Governor Ben Tillman, when the young Strom was coached by Tillman in such political skills as how to offer a good grip when shaking hands with people (Cohodas 1994: 29, 85, 452). Thurmond's combat service in the Army during World War 2 earned him medals for bravery and favorable publicity in South Carolina (Cohodas 1994: 82). An FDR supporter who was elected governor in 1946, Thurmond was hailed as a "progressive" (Cohodas 1994: 84, 90). As chief executive, he backed measures to protect workers' health, to establish kindergartens, and to improve educational facilities for blacks (Cohodas 1994: 97). Governor Thurmond also publicly condemned lynchings and urged that perpetrators be brought to justice, appointed the first woman to the South Carolina Industrial Commission, and approved the first African American appointment to the Hospital Advisory Council. This latter appointment was used against him in a 1950 campaign, when he unsuccessfully sought to unseat U.S. Senator Olin Johnston (Cohodas 1994: 99, 200, 212).

In 1954 Thurmond became the only person (at that time) ever elected to the U.S. senate in a write-in movement, as voters and Governor James Byrnes were incensed by the state Democratic Executive Committee's selection of a political boss to fill a senate vacancy, and their failure to call for a special primary to let the people decide (Cohodas 1994: 265). True to his 1954 campaign pledge, Thurmond resigned from the Senate in 1956 in order to let the people decide who should be Senator without any candidate enjoying the benefit of incumbency. He was promptly reelected in both 1956 and to a full term in 1960. At a time when Republicans were so scarce that analysts joked that their party could hold meetings in a phone booth, Thurmond's risky switch to the GOP in 1964 was hailed by the state press as showing his "courage and independence," and how unlike a "machine politician" he had always made a "direct appeal to the people" (Cohodas 1994: 360). Thurmond, using multi-page newspaper inserts touting his career and virtues, won reelection in 1966 as a Republican over Democratic state senator P. Bradley Morrah with a landslide 62% of the vote. His first senatorial campaign as a Republican, though, was marred by the race card being played, as a state GOP newsletter printed a picture of Democratic Governor McNair shaking hands with a black lawyer, and an independent group distributed brochures accusing national Democrats of promoting "Black Revolution" which had allegedly led to urban riots (Cohodas 1994: 385 quote, 384).

Republicans could gain some hope from the continued easy reelections of Senator Strom Thurmond, a product of his assiduous attention to constituency service and his quick recognition of political realities. In 1971 he beat Democratic Senator Hollings to the punch by appointing a black staff member, and also began to dispense scholarships to black students through his Strom Thurmond Foundation (Cohodas 1994: 412, 428). In Thurmond's reelection year of 1972 his Washington office was described as a "fountain of press releases announcing grants to communities around the state" (Cohodas 1994: 427). Indeed, he would even come back home to announce some grants himself or to attend dedication ceremonies. Thurmond also aggressively sought and obtained expressions of thanks from local officials, which were then put into his campaign ads (Cohodas 1994: 427).

Thurmond's relatively modest 56% vote margin over Pug Ravenel in 1978 also was a product of a campaign stressing his Washington experience and ability to secure federal projects that helped South Carolina, as well as his leadership posts on three important committees (Armed Services, Veterans Affairs, and Judiciary) (Cohodas 1994: 444-445). The 75-year-old Senator sought to neutralize the age issue by sliding down a fire pole at a fire station and by having his four young children campaign for him (Cohodas 1994: 446-447). (In 1968 at the age of 66 he had married his second wife, a 22-year-old former Miss S.C.) On the potentially explosive race issue, Thurmond was helped by the federal money he had channeled into black as well as white communities, as he even won the endorsement of the state's black mayors. National columnists covering the campaign reported encountering two African Americans who had personally benefited from Thurmond's constituency service, an example of which was the senator's diversion of an Air Force plane to transport a burn victim to a Cincinnati hospital (Cohodas 1994: 448-449). Nevertheless, the conservative Thurmond was also quite willing to use the L word, blasting his Harvard-educated opponent as a "big-spending liberal" bankrolled by northerners (Cohodas 1994: 447). In 1984 Thurmond won an easy two-to-one victory over a lesser-known opponent, a landslide duplicated in his 1990 reelection bid.

Governors and U.S. Senators and Their Parties in Modern South Carolina

	Democrats			Republicans
	Governors	Senators	Senators	Governors	Senators	Senators
1970	West*		Hollings		Thurmond
1972	West		Hollings		Thurmond*
1974			Hollings*	Edwards*	Thurmond
1976			Hollings	Edwards	Thurmond
1978	Riley*		Hollings		Thurmond*
1980	Riley		Hollings*		Thurmond
1982	Riley*		Hollings		Thurmond
1984	Riley		Hollings		Thurmond*
1986			Hollings*	Campbell*	Thurmond
1988			Hollings	Campbell	Thurmond
1990			Hollings	Campbell*	Thurmond*
1992			Hollings*	Campbell	Thurmond
1994			Hollings	Beasley*	Thurmond
1996			Hollings	Beasley	Thurmond*
1998	Hodges*		Hollings*		Thurmond
2000	Hodges		Hollings		Thurmond
2002			Hollings	Sanford*	Graham*
2004				Sanford	Graham	DeMint*
2006				Sanford*	Graham	DeMint
2008				Sanford	Graham*	DeMint
2010				Haley*	Graham	DeMint*
2012				Haley	Graham	DeMint
2014				Haley*	Graham*	Scott*
2016				McMaster+	Graham	Scott*
2018				McMaster*	Graham	Scott

Note: Cell entries indicate the governors and U.S. Senators elected in or serving during the years listed at the left.

* Indicates that the officeholder was elected in that year.

+ Lieutenant governor became governor after Haley is appointed by Trump as U.N. Ambassador.

Republican Rise and Eventual Dominance

The modern biracial Democratic Party did suffer one major defeat in addition to the defection of Thurmond during this period of their domination of most political offices. Harvard graduate and businessman Charles D. Pug Ravenel, who favored reform in ethics and campaign finance laws, backed public employee collective bargaining, and opposed the state death penalty law, had won the Democratic gubernatorial primary in 1974, but then been disqualified by the state supreme court for failing to meet a five-year state residency requirement (Moore 2006b: 776). Ravenel refused to support the primary runner-up and subsequent state party convention designee for governor, Congressman William Jennings Bryan Dorn. Ravenel was particularly bitter over alleged support of the supreme court lawsuit by the wife of Dorn, and over Dorn being backed by Old Guard state senators whom the reformer Ravenel had alienated. In the face of this intra-party split, Republicans narrowly elected as their first governor since Reconstruction, Charleston oral surgeon and first-term state senator James B. Edwards. After Ravenel was deposed, Edwards claimed to be a reformer and a candidate of change, though he was in fact so conservative that in the GOP primary he had blamed inflation on the federal food stamp program (Bass and DeVries 1977: 266-271). As governor, Edwards was most known for being tough on crime, signing a death penalty law, curbing welfare fraud, and establishing a state reserve fund (Bass and DeVries 1977: 264; Ruff 2006: 291; Website http://sciway.net/hist/governors/edwards.html).

This shift towards the GOP began in 1986, when Republicans won the governorship in their own right, without a bitterly divided Democratic party and without benefiting from a mere party switch. Republican Carroll Campbell, a congressman from urban Greenville since 1978 with a conservative voting record who had first gained notoriety by leading a public protest against court-ordered busing in 1970, proceeded to defend the state flying of the Confederate battle flag at the Capitol as part of our heritage (Lamis 1990: quote on 282, 281). Blasting Democratic tax increases and their good-ole-boy system in state government, Campbell promised reform in order to promote economic development, and also backed such consumer issues as lowering car insurance rates (Broach and Bandy 1999: 53). The narrow victory by Campbell can also be attributed to a strong vote margin in his congressional district, as well as the blandness of his Democratic opponent, Lieutenant Governor Mike Daniel (Moreland, Steed, and Baker 1991b: 122; Lamis 1990: 281). Democrats remained dominant in all other respects, however, sweeping all other statewide elective offices, easily reelecting Senator Hollings, and even picking up the old Campbell Congressional district to restore their two-thirds majority of the state U.S. house seats.

Carroll Campbell proved a popular governor, attracting a large BMW automobile plant to the state, making education a budget priority, and creating an executive budget proposal for state government that he would submit to the powerful state budget committee (Moore 2006c: 127). Campaigning for reelection in 1990, the Republican governor promised more state government reform, this time through stronger disclosure and ethics laws and increased executive control of state government. Lacking a strong challenger, Democrats nominated a controversial black state senator, Theo Mitchell. Mitchell was outspent nearly 5-to-1, was viewed as wooden and inarticulate on the campaign trail, and unwisely played the race card by accusing some African American supporters of his GOP opponent of selling out their race (Broach and Bandy 1999: quote on 58, 56-59). Not only did Campbell garner over two-thirds of the vote, but also Republicans defeated two incumbents and gained a party switcher in the contests for secretary of state, education superintendent, and agriculture commissioner. Republican Senator Thurmond coasted to his usual easy reelection with nearly a two-to-one victory over his virtually unfunded Democratic challenger (Duncan 1991: 1344). A reelected Campbell proceeded to consolidate 145 state agencies into a cabinet of 13 agencies, whose heads were appointed by the governor (Moore 2006c: 127).

The year 1994 saw not only a national GOP tsunami but also the Republican growing emergence as the governing party in South Carolina. Republicans nominated for governor David Beasley, a former Democratic speaker pro tem of the state house, who had switched to the GOP in 1991 after blasting the national Democratic Party for its liberal agenda and its drift towards socialism (Broach and Bandy, 1999: 63). South Carolina Democrats proceeded to reduce their own electoral chances by nominating after a closely-divided primary runoff two-term lieutenant governor and longtime former state representative Nick Theodore, who many viewed as a product of the Democratic good-ole-boy establishment taken on by Governor Campbell. Some business leaders backed Beasley as another reformer in the Campbell image, who would continue to attract economic development. Ideological issues were also prominent in the campaign, as Beasley called for lower taxes, reducing the size of government, and getting tough on crime and welfare spending, while Theodore stressed his pro-choice position on abortion (Broach and Bandy, 1999: 64-65). Narrowly retaining the governorship for the third successive election, Republicans also retained their three other statewide elective offices and picked up the offices of lieutenant governor, attorney general, and treasurer, leaving Democrats with only two statewide offices. Also historic, enough election victories and party switches gave the GOP control of the state house for the first time since Reconstruction (Broach and Bandy, 1999: 66-67). As governor, Beasley slashed business and property taxes, and enacted welfare reform that stressed a work requirement (Moore 2006d: 59).

Republicans returned to their winning ways as the 21st century began, capturing control of the state senate in 2000 to give the GOP control of both legislative chambers. African American lawmakers, being solidly Democratic, became the biggest losers, losing all except one or two minor committee chairmanships. Indeed, by 2003 all legislative institutional leadership positions were held by white males, even on the Democratic side (Menifield, Shaffer, and Brassell 2005: 169-170). In 2002 Republicans denied Governor Hodges a second term, as a conservative former Congressman, Mark Sanford, unseated him (Duncan and Nutting 1999: 1226). Hodges may have been hurt by his signing a legislative measure that followed an NAACP boycott of the state, which moved the Confederate flag from atop the statehouse dome to a Confederate soldiers monument. The Republican challenger also benefited from the increasing strength of the GOP in the state, reflected in exit polls showing more Republican than Democratic voters turning out to vote, and from Democratic overreliance on high-tech tactics over traditional campaign methods that may have diminished black turnout (Steed and Moreland 2007: 39-40 quote; Bullock and Rozell 2007b: 13). As governor, Republican Sanford attracted new automotive and aerospace industries to the state, and enacted a fiscally conservative program that eliminated a massive state deficit (Munson 2006). Sporting an outsider image, Sanford vetoed much of the 2004 state budget and was promptly overridden by the legislature. Sanford then brought pigs into the state house chambers to dramatize his critique of legislative pork barrel measures (Riddle 2006: 837).

Republicans not only reelected Sanford as governor in 2006 with 55% of the vote over long-time Democratic state senator Tommy Moore, but they also won seven of the eight other statewide elected executive offices. With a campaign war chest of $8 million, Governor Sanford was able to run months of positive television ads promoting his reelection, such as one in which average voters gave such reasons for backing his reelection as his leadership and his moral courage to make change (Thestate.com 2006). With a war chest of less than $3 million, the Democratic challenger was unable to run television ads until October 12, making it hard for him to raise his low name visibility among voters (Sheinin 2006). Though Moore blasted the incumbent as unable to work with the legislature because of his my way, no way or the highway leadership style, Sanford retorted that he was an agent of change who sought sustainable spending by holding spending down (Washington 2006).

Republicans were also showing their newfound political dominance by contesting more state legislative seats than was the formerly ruling Democratic party. Among the 124 state house seats up for election in 2006, for example, Democrats were able to run without Republican opponents in the general election in only 37 districts, while Republicans were able to run without Democratic opposition in 56 districts. It is impossible for a party to win elections if they neglect to even offer candidates, but this Democratic shortcoming is more understandable in light of the tendency of incumbents of both parties to seek legislative redistricting plans that protect incumbents, as well as the desire of African American lawmakers to create a greater number of black majority districts in order to elect more black legislators. Indeed, while African Americans lawmakers in 1980 constituted only 11% of the state house and zero percent of the state senate, by 2000 blacks comprised 21% of state representatives and 15% of state senators (Menifield, Shaffer, and Brassell 2005: 169). However, concentrating heavily Democratic African Americans into some districts results in the remaining districts being whiter and more Republican, which can contribute to rising GOP legislative electoral fortunes.

That Republicans had now become the ruling party of South Carolina was also shown by their capture of two open U.S. senate seats over two consecutive election years with respectable 55% margins of the two-party vote. In the 2002 race to fill the Thurmond seat, conservative Republican 4-term congressman Lindsey Graham got an early start in organizing and fundraising when two prominent Democrats declined to run (Kuzenski 2003: 47). The forty-seven-year-old conservative also benefited from his reputation for independence, reflected in his leadership of an abortive effort to depose House Speaker Gingrich and in his support for the Senator McCain campaign finance measure. Democrats went down to defeat with a 63-year-old former lawmaker, judge, and president of the College of Charleston, who was blasted by Graham as a liberal who opposed the death penalty (Hawkings and Nutting 2003: 906-907). Six years later Graham won a landslide reelection over a political unknown, a conservative Republican turned Democrat who had never run for public office before.

Two years later, in 2004 Republicans also picked up the senate seat being vacated by Hollings, as conservative 3-term congressman Jim DeMint beat state education superintendent Inez Tanenbaum. Republicans repeatedly blasted Tanenbaum as an ultra-liberal who had supported Al Gore and now John Kerry for president, and linked her with Ted Kennedy and Bill and Hillary Clinton (Moreland and Steed 2005: 123). DeMint also ran numerous ads with President Bush endorsing him, and criticized the Democratic opponent record as state education superintendent by pointing out the low rating of South Carolina on education indicators (Steed and Moreland 2007: 43). Most troubling for Democrats was that the 2004 senate voting patterns were similar to presidential voting patterns, as Democratic support was strong only among liberals, blacks, Democratic party identifiers, and those with modest incomes. This was not a good sign in a state that has voted Republican for president in every election beginning in 1980 (Moreland and Steed 2005: 125).

Indeed, the Republican strength in presidential elections can often be traced to the more liberal nature of Democratic presidential candidates. South Carolina Republicans aggressively played the liberal card in 1988, when Governor Campbell blasted Democratic presidential candidate Dukakis as a liberal who was a card-carrying member of the ACLU (Moreland, Steed, and Baker 1991b: 128). Recent GOP presidential candidates have also drawn support from South Carolina voters because of their conservative values, with Bush in 2000 receiving the most support from those caring the most about taxes and those wanting government to do less, and Bush in 2004 receiving overwhelming support from those viewing terrorism and moral issues as the most important issues in the election (Moreland and Steed 2002: 122; Moreland and Steed 2005: 121).

The 2010 elections (two years after Obama's presidential victory) were good for Republicans in South Carolina, as they elected a successor to their GOP governor, easily reelected one of their U.S. senators, and swept all sub gubernatorial statewide offices for the first time ever. Conservative state representative and Indian-American Nikki Haley narrowly defeated pragmatic state senator Vincent Sheheen for governor (http://www.thestate.com/2010/10/24/1525762/vision-integrity-record-make-sheheen.html#). Exit polls showed Republicans outnumbering Democrats by a 43% to 35% margin and conservative self-identifiers comprising 48% of voters, a clear advantage for Haley who won the support of over three-fourths of both groups (http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2010/results/polls/#val=SCG00p1). Republican senator Jim DeMint coasted to a landslide victory after Democrats nominated a political unknown who was indicted on an alleged "obscenity" charge (Anderson 2010). Republicans swept every statewide sub gubernatorial office, even the open contest for education superintendent. Republicans maintained their strong position in the 2012 elections, not only carrying the state for Romney but also exceeding the 60% margin of seats in both chambers of the state legislature for the first time.

The 2014 elections further illustrated how Republicans had become the new dominant party in South Carolina, as the party offered strong candidates and swept the governorship and both U.S. senate seats. Senator DeMint's early retirement prompted Governor Haley to appoint African American GOP conservative congressman Tim Scott in January 2013, setting up a special senate election the next year. Scott touted his faith and hard work in helping him while growing up poor in a single parent household. After serving for 12 years on Charleston's county council and then two years in the state house, Scott was elected to Congress in 2010 after beating Strom Thurmond and Carroll Campbell's sons in the GOP primary with Tea Party and Sarah Palin backing (Jackson 2014). Governor Haley's campaign boasted "56,000 new jobs and more than $13.2 billion in new investments" in the state, as well as endorsements from the state Chamber of Commerce and the National Federation of Independent Business (Gaskins 2014). Both Republican nominees as well as Senator Lindsey Graham (facing a regular election bid) benefitted from an Obama disapproval rate of 59% and a GOP advantage of 10 points among voters (44% were Republican versus 34% Democratic). Facing Scott, Haley, and Graham, Democrats offered (respectively) a 68-year-old African American Richland county councilwoman, a state legislator who had lost the same race four years earlier, and another state legislator. While all three Republicans won majorities even among Independents, freshman Scott's victory was especially impressive, as he won 67% of the Independents and a nearly unanimous 98% of Republicans (CNN exit polls).

Republican dominance was further illustrated in the 2016-17 period, as Senator Tim Scott won a landslide reelection, Governor Nikki Haley became President Trump's U.N. Ambassador, and lieutenant governor Henry McMaster succeeded to the governorship. Scott as senator had combined his conservative philosophy with concern over the injustice of racial profiling, recounting in an emotional floor speech the numerous times he had been targeted by the police (even on Capitol Hill), and offering ideas for better police training and more use of body cameras. Scott won 59% of Independents (in an exit poll) along with 95% of GOP voters, easily beating Democrat pastor and community activist Thomas Dixon. Especially disheartening for Democrats was that Republicans now outnumbered Democrats by 46-28% among voters (http://www.cnn.com/election/results/states/south-carolina#senate). The importance of having a farm team of non-gubernatorial statewide officials was shown in January 2017, as McMaster succeeded Haley as governor. Elected lieutenant governor in 2010, McMaster had been state attorney general for two terms before that, and had been state GOP chairman for nine years before running for office.

Republicans continued to dominate in 2018, reelecting McMaster as governor and sweeping all statewide offices for a third time. McMaster campaigned as the "Jobs governor" citing companies' promises "to add some 24,000 new jobs and invest $8 billion" in the state. With his "deep southern drawl," McMaster was viewed as a "likeable, sensible guy" who was "a true gentleman" who "offends nobody" (Barton 2018, all quotes). The Democratic state house member opposing him proceeded to be outspent by $4.4 million.

In 2020, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham is running for re-election. Originally thought to be an easy victory, a late April poll had Graham only slightly ahead of the first African American state Democratic party chair, Jaime Harrison, who had outraised the incumbent in the first three months of the year.

WEEK SIX-
GEORGIA- DEMOCRATIC HEGEMONY MELTDOWN

The following table shows historic dominance of Georgia by the Democrats. Democratic dominance was shattered right after the turn of the century.

Table 7-1

Governors and U.S. Senators and Their Parties in Modern Georgia

	Democrats			Republicans
	Governors	Senators	Senators	Governors	Senators	Senators
1970	Carter*	Russell	Talmadge
1971	Carter	Gambrell+	Talmadge
1972	Carter	Nunn*	Talmadge
1974	Busbee*	Nunn	Talmadge*
1976	Busbee	Nunn	Talmadge
1978	Busbee*	Nunn*	Talmadge
1980	Busbee	Nunn				Mattingly*
1982	Harris*	Nunn				Mattingly
1984	Harris	Nunn*				Mattingly
1986	Harris*	Nunn	Fowler*
1988	Harris	Nunn	Fowler
1990	Miller*	Nunn*	Fowler
1992	Miller	Nunn				Coverdell*
1994	Miller*	Nunn				Coverdell
1996	Miller	Cleland*				Coverdell
1998	Barnes*	Cleland				Coverdell*
2000	Barnes	Cleland	Miller+
2002			Miller	Perdue*	Chambliss*
2004				Perdue	Chambliss	Isakson*
2006				Perdue*	Chambliss	Isakson
2008				Perdue	Chambliss*	Isakson
2010				Deal*	Chambliss	Isakson*
2012				Deal	Chambliss	Isakson
2014				Deal*	Perdue*	Isakson
2016				Deal	Perdue	Isakson*
2018				Kemp*	Perdue	Isakson/Loeffler+

Note: Cell entries indicate the governors and U.S. Senators elected in or serving during the years listed at the left.

* Indicates that the officeholder was elected in that year.

+ David Gambrell was appointed in 1971 after Richard Russell’s death.

+ Zell Miller was appointed and then elected in 2000 after Coverdell’s death.

+ Kelly Loeffler was appointed after Isakson’s resignation in December 2019.

A Post-Second Reconstruction Biracial Ruling Democratic Party

In the face of the twin challenges of newly enfranchised African Americans and an emerging electoral threat from the Republican Party, Peach State Democrats showed an amazing ability to assemble an ideologically diverse, biracial coalition that won every gubernatorial election for the rest of the 20th century. The first governor of this Democratic dynasty in the post-segregation era was Naval Academy graduate and peanut farmer Jimmy Carter, a state senator who had run unsuccessfully for governor in 1966. Carter spent the next four years literally crisscrossing the state to make speeches to small groups and to shake hands in every crossroad store, not once but many times (Murphy and Gulliver 1971: 188). In the 1970 Democratic primary with former governor Carl Sanders, another racial moderate, Carter actively sought the support of those who had voted for Governor Lester Maddox and Independent presidential candidate George Wallace, blasting Sanders who as governor had once prevented the segregationist Wallace from speaking in Georgia at a state building. Carter also effectively painted himself as a common-man candidate compared to his wealthy country club corporate lawyer opponent, and swept the small towns and rural areas to gain the Democratic nomination (Lamis 1990: 98 quote; Murphy and Gulliver 1971: 186, 190). In the general election running against a Republican newscaster, Carter then won back most of the black vote, as he shook black as well as white hands, rare for a white southern politician at the time. As governor, Carter proclaimed that the time for racial discrimination is over, and proceeded to nominate the first African American to the state Pardons and Paroles Board (Murphy and Gulliver 1971: 196 quote, 195). In addition to black appointments, Governor Carter created a biracial commission, hung a Martin Luther King Jr. portrait in the state capitol, met weekly with the state AFL-CIO president, extensively reorganized state government, and required that banks bid for state funds (Bass and DeVries 1977: 145-146).

After the single Carter term, Democrats proceeded to elect three more governors, each to two successive 4-year terms, with Republicans offering only token opposition in the first four elections. In each case Democrats offered candidates with impressive resumes of political experience. Eighteen year state house veteran and eventual majority leader George Busbee was elected governor in 1974 and 1978, followed by another 18 year state house veteran and eventual House Appropriations Committee chair Joe Frank Harris, elected in 1982 and 1986, and ending with 4-term lieutenant governor Zell Miller, who was elected governor in 1990 and 1994. All built impressive ideologically inclusive, biracial coalitions.

In the 1974 Democratic runoff with Lester Maddox, Busbee assembled a winning coalition of urban residents, followers of former governor Sanders, and blacks angered by the Maddox attack on the memory of Martin Luther King (Bass and DeVries 1977: 147). A racial moderate who had proclaimed in his inaugural address that, The politics of race has gone with the wind, Busbee stressed unity and practiced a politics of consensus (Bass and DeVries 1977: 148). He promoted the interests of Atlanta and gained business support for his numerous economic development projects, while also working with labor to remove a waiting period for unemployment eligibility (Bass and DeVries 1977: 149). Busbee also established public kindergartens statewide (http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Home.jsp). Joe Frank Harris ran in 1982 as a conservative who opposed tax increases, preempting the Republican ideology and leaving his GOP opponent with the sole issue of Harris’ close ties to the powerful state house speaker, Tom Murphy. The Republican’s constant attacks on the Democratic power structure actually helped Harris by causing party officials to close ranks behind him (Lamis 1990: 104). As governor Harris, like his predecessor, pursued ideologically inclusive programs. He won business support with his no tax increase stance, his ambitious four-lane highway program, and his funding of the Georgia Dome sports arena which attracted the Super Bowl and the Olympics, while also dramatically increasing public elementary and secondary education funding (http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/nge/Home.jsp).

Democrats retained the governorship in 1990 with four-term Lieutenant Governor Zell Miller, a moderate liberal who beat Republican businessman Johnny Isakson, a 14-year state representative who had risen to the house minority leadership position. A country music fan from rural north Georgia, Miller hired political consultants James Carville and Paul Begala and waged an aggressive television campaign that portrayed himself as a political outsider who had stood up to powerful long-time house speaker Tom Murphy. Miller focused on economic issues that Democrats had been associated with since the New Deal instead of on divisive social issues, urging adoption of a lottery to better fund education innovations and calling for repeal of the regressive sales tax on food that hurt poor people (Binford, Baxter, Sturrock, 1999: 109-113).

Democrats breathed a sigh of relief that they were able to reelect Governor Zell Miller, though his mere 51% victory in 1994 was a disappointment. Miller as governor had amassed an impressive, ideologically inclusive record of accomplishment, enacting the lottery-based HOPE program providing full college scholarships for high school students with B averages, and being tough on crime by backing a tough DUI law, boot camps, and a 2 strikes and you’re out law (Binford, Baxter, Sturrock, 1999: 120). The Republican challenger was successful businessman Guy Millner, whose political inexperience was highlighted by his off-handed comment that he would avoid campaigning in small towns because the votes weren’t there, and whose wealth was constantly highlighted by the governor. The Republican did effectively tie Zell Miller to President Clinton, as his ads played the governor’s keynote address at the Democratic national convention praising Clinton as the only candidate who feels our pain (Binford, Baxter, Sturrock, 1999: 119). Miller may have also lost some voter support because of his effort to have the Confederate battle emblem removed from the state flag (an effort defeated in the legislature), and the cuts he made in state spending when faced with a national recession (Miller 2003: 47, 50-53). Republicans for the first time since Reconstruction also began to win sub gubernatorial executive offices, electing Linda Schrenko school superintendent and party switchers incumbent Mike Bowers and challenger John Oxendine as attorney general and insurance commissioner, respectively (Binford, Baxter, Sturrock, 1999: 120). The GOP also continued to make state legislative gains, though Democrats continued to hold over 60% of the seats in both chambers.

Zell Miller's book, A National Party No More: The Conscience of a Conservative Democrat, shows how this one conservative white male southerner disliked the "liberal" direction of the national Democratic Party, and may explain why other southern white conservatives began voting Republican.

1) Congressional Democrats seemed to care more about government unions than they did about national security (Homeland Security Department bill, which sought to move employees around to areas of greater need, thereby violating employee job protections).
2) Miller supported tax cuts as governor, saw it as growing the economy, pointed out that President Kennedy had cut taxes; he points out that 5% of Americans pay 56% of federal taxes, and that nearly 50% of Americans pay only 5% of federal taxes.
3) On abortion, Miller supports parental consent for minors' abortions, felt that abortion was only appropriate in the first trimester, opposed public funds being used for abortions, and opposed partial birth abortion.
4) He backed welfare reform. He stressed that families and churches taught values, hard work is important. His welfare reform program as governor stressed job training and education, required able-bodied with no children to work. He wants a cap on benefits to welfare recipients having additional children, require teen welfare mothers to live in parents' homes. Recipients must help in establishing paternity, and drug users lost benefits.
5) He supports gun rights, 2nd amendment. Wanted to allow pilots to carry a firearm in the cockpit. As governor, he did implement online background checks to people buying firearms; felons cannot buy guns.
6) He opposes "extreme environmentalists." He backed preserving natural areas in Georgia. He made fun of those wanting to protect northern Alaska against oil drilling, pointing out that few Americans could afford a trip to visit such an area, or even wanted to visit it.
7) Anti-crime. He supports two strikes and you're out for violent felonies, supports death penalty, believes that failed parents should be treated as accomplices of young criminals.
8) Anti-quotas. He charged that in the early Clinton administration "political correctness ran amok," and that in the desire to get a cabinet that "looked like America," merit was less important (p. 227). In the 1960s he had opposed the 1964 Civil Rights Act, because he had been "a political weakling, but not a racist," and admitted that this "whole sordid episode" has been "a source of shame I have never been able to escape" (p. 143).

Democrats also retained the governorship in 1998 after Zell Miller retired. Roy Barnes boasted significant state government experience as a state senator for sixteen years and a state representative for six years. Focusing on the popular economic issues of education and health care reform, Barnes also benefited from a party so united that the Democrat who came in second place conceded instead of insisting on a runoff (Binford, Baxter, Sturrock, 1999: 134; http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/). Democratic voters had also offered a truly balanced ticket, nominating three experienced African American candidates for other statewide offices, which boosted black turnout to historic levels (Bullock 2003: 62). Not only did Roy Barnes make his Republican opponent Guy Millner a three time loser in statewide races, but the once segregationist Peach State elected African Americans Thurbert Baker and Michael Thurmond as attorney general and secretary of labor, respectively, with significant white support (Binford, Baxter, Sturrock, 1999: 134; Bullock 2007: 64). Both had first been appointed to state government positions by Governor Miller, with Thurmond directing the state’s welfare-to-work effort and Baker appointed to complete the term of his predecessor as attorney general. Republicans took some consolation from the reelection of Senator Paul Coverdell, who benefited from his leadership position as Republican Conference Secretary, his tireless approach to campaigning, and his conservative positions on cutting taxes and fighting drugs (Duncan and Nutting 1999: 358).

Democrats enjoyed their last hurrah with the death of Senator Coverdell, the appointment by Democrat Barnes of Zell Miller to the seat, and the easy election of Miller in 2000 to the four years remaining in the term. The popular Miller was a godsend to Democrats, as he had left office with an over 80% approval rating and such major policy accomplishments as welfare reform, anti-crime measures, repeated tax cuts, and the HOPE scholarship program. Promising to continue his state government record of bipartisan cooperation, Miller had accepted his appointment to the senate by pledging to serve no single party, but rather seven-and-a-half million Georgians (Miller 2003: 8). His Republican opponent, former Senator Mack Mattingly, suffered from low name visibility despite being supported by George W. Bush and the widow of Coverdell (Bullock 2002: 71-72).

Democratic Meltdown Ushers in GOP Era

And then the Democratic meltdown occurred. Over the next two election cycles, Democrats went from controlling the governorship and both of the state’s U.S. senate seats to controlling none of these three critical statewide offices. By 2002, Senator Max Cleland had compiled an overall liberal roll call record in the Senate, receiving an average 83% liberal ADA rating and a mere 8% conservative ACU score over a four-year period. He had voted to include sexual orientation in a federal hate crime measure, voted for some gun restrictions, and had opposed a ban on partial birth abortion (Nutting and Stern 2001: 256-257). Needless to say, it was not too difficult for 4-term conservative congressman Saxby Chambliss, who chaired the House Intelligence Subcommittee on Terrorism and Homeland Security, to depict Cleland opposition to some provisions of the President Bush Homeland Security Department as being soft on national defense (Hawkings and Nutting 2003: quote on 271, 270). Weeks before the election, fellow Democratic senator Zell Miller had publicly warning his party that it was political suicide to take on the President over the issue of national security, as it would paint the most unattractive picture possible of Democrats undermining the president of the United States on terrorism (Miller 2003: 71). Miller blamed the liberal national Democratic party subservience to the federal employees’ unions for the senate Democratic caucus opposition to giving Bush the flexibility to move Homeland Security employees around. Republican Chambliss, depicting Cleland as too liberal for Georgia and benefiting from a massive GOP get-out-the-vote drive, went on to unseat the incumbent in 2002 with a respectable 53% of the vote (Bullock 2007: 61; Hawkings and Nutting 2003: 271).

The same year saw Republicans capture the governorship for the first time since Reconstruction. Governor Barnes had promoted such reforms as increased accountability in education, health care choice for patients, and holding insurance companies liable for denying care to people, but he became most famous for pushing the legislature to adopt without a public referendum a new state flag that greatly minimized the Confederate Emblem (http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org). State polls showed that less than 30% of whites liked the new flag and approved of how the governor and legislature had changed the flag, and that only about half of even Democrats approved of the new flag (Bason 2005: 14-15). Barnes was also hamstrung by teachers who believed that his accountability plan implied that they were largely incompetent and uncaring, and faced an opponent who organized an effective grassroots campaign that targeted swing counties that had split their votes four years earlier (Bullock 2007: 60). Needless to say, Barnes lost his reelection bid to Republican Sonny Perdue, a former Democrat who had served eleven years in the state senate. Georgia Democrats were further stunned by losing control of the Georgia state senate to the Republicans for the first time since Reconstruction. Senate Republicans proceeded to strip the Democratic lieutenant governor of his powers to make committee assignments and to control the scheduling of bills for senate consideration (Redmon 2006).

Republicans completed their sweep in 2004 by picking up the Zell Miller senate seat. Miller had served as unofficial spokesman for many conservative white southerners who feared that the national Democratic party had become too liberal for them. Priding himself for his bipartisan approach, Miller had cosponsored President Bush’s tax cut and worked with Republicans on the President’s Homeland Security bill. Blasting the national Democratic party relentless drift to the ideological left, Miller (2003) in his biography explained why Democrats were A National Party No More. Republicans were poised to capture his seat with conservative Congressman Johnny Isakson, who offered an impressive resume of 14 years in the state house, 4 in the state senate, 6 in the U.S. House, and 3 years as state education board chairman. Furthermore, Isakson billed himself as a compassionate conservative, was pro-choice in some respects, and had achieved a more moderate image by defeating two candidates in the Republican primary who were even more conservative than him (Koszczuk and Stern 2005: 280-281).

The Democratic opponent of Isakson was first-term congresswoman (and previously 9-year state court judge) Denise Majette, who had upset the controversial Cynthia McKinney in the Democratic primary two years earlier. The African American Majette boasted few accomplishments in her single congressional term other than a liberal voting record which was anathema to Georgia conservatives, and was swamped in the television advertisement war by her well-funded GOP opponent (Bullock 2005: 50 1st quote, 53 2nd quote). The Republican was also likely aided by a constitutional amendment on the ballot that outlawed gay marriage, which may have accounted for bringing more evangelical voters to the polls. Isakson, drawing about 80% of the white vote, went on to win the seat with an impressive 59% of the two-party vote. Republicans added insult to injury by gaining control of the state house for the first time since Reconstruction, giving their party control of both state legislative chambers, and easily carrying the state for President Bush. Particularly chilling for Democrats was the strong relationship that emerged between race and election results, as Republicans swept all state senate contests where blacks made up less than 30% of the electorate, though several Democratic incumbents were able to hang on in the state house (Bullock 2007: 62-63).

Republicans continued to flex their muscles in 2006 as they reelected Governor Sonny Perdue and their incumbent insurance commissioner and state school superintendent, and won the open contests for lieutenant governor and secretary of state. Democratic incumbents, including African Americans Baker and Thurmond, were victorious in the other three executive offices. The folksy, people-oriented Perdue was helped by a booming economy that produced a $580 million surplus and by his decisive leadership after Hurricane Katrina. His conservative first-term accomplishments had included passing a 24-hour waiting period for abortions, a state constitutional amendment banning gay marriage, diverting many Medicaid patients into managed care programs, enacting tort reform that limited monetary damages against doctors and hospitals, and cutting business taxes (Salzer 2006a; Salzer 2006b). Yet Perdue took a more progressive stance on some sensitive racial issues, as he personally escorted the casket of Coretta Scott King, the widow of Martin Luther King, into the state capitol where she became the first African American in state history to lie in honor (Associated Press 2006). He also angered Confederate heritage groups by accepting a Democratic legislative compromise that permitted a state flag referendum only between the two least controversial measures that did not include the 1956 flag with its large Confederate cross (Tharpe 2006). The Democrat Taylor spent much of the campaign attacking the governor for allegedly making money off of secret tax breaks and land deals, and the Democratic challenger promised a more activist government that would increase education funding and provide health insurance coverage for all children (Salzer 2006c). Perdue’s 58% popular vote victory over his challenger’s 38% ended up reflecting the 44-32% Republican-to-Democratic edge among exit poll voters and the 42-13% conservative-to-liberal advantage among voters, since Republicans and conservatives backed Perdue with 93% and 82% vote shares, respectively, and Democrats and liberals backed Taylor with 80% and 77% vote shares, respectively (http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2006/pages/results/states/GA/G/00/epolls.0.html; accessed December 20, 2006).

Republicans held their own in a bad year nationally for the party, 2008, narrowly carrying Georgia for McCain and reelecting Senator Chambliss after his mere 3% edge over Democratic former state legislator Jim Martin sent the election to a runoff. Echoing the charges of the Democratic challenger, the major state newspaper blasted Chambliss as a loyal defender of President Bush and his policies and as a champion of corporate interests (Atlanta Journal-Constitution 2008). In the first election, when the Obama candidacy brought slightly more Democrats (36% of exit poll voters) than Republicans (34%) to the polls, Martin won two-thirds of the 59% of exit poll voters who disapproved of Bush's performance as President as well as 57% of moderates (http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/results/polls/#GAS01p1). With the runoff election turning into a national war over a possible 60 Democratic seat, filibuster-proof margin in the Senate, big names like Bill Clinton, Al Gore, John McCain, Sarah Palin, and Mike Huckabee flocked to Georgia to campaign for their party’s hopefuls. Nevertheless, the absence of the presidential race on the ballot produced a sharp turnout drop, giving Republican Chambliss a comfortable runoff victory (Tharpe 2008).

Republicans had a very good year in 2010, reflecting the national GOP landslide, as they reelected one of their two U.S. senators, succeeded their first governor with a new Republican chief executive, picked up seats in the U.S. House and in both state legislative chambers, and swept all seven sub gubernatorial state offices for the first time. Republican Nathan Deal, who as congressman was viewed positively as a steady-at-the-wheel type of guy defeated Democratic former governor Roy Barnes, who had lost his gubernatorial reelection bid eight years before after alienating people with his hands-on, CEO, always-in-control style (Seward 2010). GOP Senator Isakson easily won reelection over state labor commissioner Michael Thurmond, as most voters as early as an August Rasmussen poll had viewed the Republican incumbent as being more in line with their own mainstream conservative values (http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/elections/election_2010/election_2010_senate_elections/georgia/election_2010_georgia_senate). Republicans also did well in 2012, carrying the state for Romney and making gains in each chamber of the state legislature so that they now outnumbered Democrats by 2-1 margins.

Republicans in 2014 retained their newfound dominance of state politics (established around ten years ago), reelecting GOP governor Nathan Deal and replacing a retiring senator with businessman David Perdue, though Democrats offered viable challengers that held the victors to only 54% of the two-party vote. Democrats offered a very viable senatorial candidate, Michelle Nunn, daughter of venerable former senator and defense hawk Sam Nunn, and CEO of the Bush-inspired Points of Light nonprofit, but Republican Perdue nationalized the election by pledging to "stop the failed policies of President Obama and Sen. Harry Reid" (Barrow 2014). Democrats also offered a spirited challenger for governor, President Carter's grandson and state senator Jason Carter, while GOP governor Deal (the party switching, former longtime congressman) touted the state's job growth as being "the sixth-fastest rate in the country," and highlighted his bipartisan legislative support for shielding education from budget cuts and for reducing the African American prison population thru criminal justice reform (lighter sentences for non-violent crimes, and drug court non-prison alternatives)(Jones 2014). Though both Republicans were benefited by the majority of voters who disapproved of President Obama's job performance and by the 2% edge that Republican party identifiers held over Democrats, a decisive factor was that both Republican nominees won 59% of Independents (CNN exit polls).

Georgia Republicans continued their winning streak in 2016, as Senator Isakson easily won reelection over businessman Jim Barksdale. Isakson successfully divorced himself from the divisive presidential campaign by running ads that focused on his senate work. Democrat Barksdale was not only a newcomer to state politics, but he also ran a low-key campaign until a month before the election (Associated Press, 2016).

Though Republicans in 2018 swept all statewide offices once again, the gubernatorial race was a partisan and ideological cliffhanger. Secretary of State Brian Kemp won the GOP nomination after an endorsement from President Trump, knocking off the three-term lieutenant governor. Kemp's controversial ads during the primary included him "wielding a shotgun that, he vowed, 'no one's taking away'", and sitting in a truck pledging to use it "just in case I need to round up criminal illegals and take them home myself" (Blinder and Martin 2018). Democrats nominated the bright and articulate state house minority leader, Stacey Abrams, an African American who was spearheading a major voter registration project. Kemp blasted the liberal Democrat as an "'extremist outsider' who would force Georgia toward socialism," while Abrams accused the conservative Republican Secretary of State of using his office to promote his gubernatorial hopes through voter suppression (Bluestein 2018). With 97% of each party's identifiers backing their party's candidate, the 5% point GOP edge over Democrats among exit poll voters was decisive for Kemp, though Abrams ran a strong race by attracting 54% of Independents, 62% of moderates, and even 25% of whites (CNN exit poll: https://www.cnn.com/election/2018/exit-polls).

The 2020 year should be quite interesting, as there are two Senate races. Republican Senator Isakson resigned last December, and Governor Kemp was so concerned at his narrow victory and Republican losses among suburban women that he appointed as Interim Senator a politically inexperienced businesswoman, Kelly Loeffler. Some life-long conservatives are angry, and she is being challenged in the Republican primary by conservative congressman Doug Collins, a vocal Trump supporter during the House Judiciary impeachment hearings. Senator Purdue’s re-election bid is another race that Democrats have a chance to win, as a May poll found him only slightly ahead of leading Democrat John Ossoff, a journalist who lost a close U.S. House race.

WEEK SEVEN- ALABAMA, THE GEORGE WALLACE LEGACY

For decades the state of Alabama was dominated by Democrat George Wallace, a segregationist who after the Voting Rights Act also attracted some African American support. After his departure from the political scene, the Republicans made dramatic political gains.

THE GEORGE WALLACE YEARS

George Wallace was born in 1919 in a shotgun house where the roof leaked incessantly, there was no electricity or running water, and the only toilet was a ramshackle privy in the backyard (Carter 2000: 21 quotes; Lesher 1994: 24). He arrived at the University of Alabama campus carrying a cardboard suitcase containing two shirts and a few changes of underwear and socks, and worked his way through college with a variety of part-time jobs, waiting tables at his boardinghouse in return for room and board (Carter 2000: 46 quotes; Lesher 1994: 37). He twice won the state boxing championship as a bantamweight, and married a working-class lady, Lurleen, whom he met when she was clerking at a dime-store (Carter 2000: 29, 52). He served in the Army Air Corps during World War 2 in the Pacific theater.

Wallace waged a frugal people-to-people campaign for the state legislature in 1946, in which he sometimes hitched rides or walked the four or five miles between communities and stopped at farmhouses and fields along the way as he met numerous constituents (Carter 2000: 74). Campaigning at church meetings and school plays, he would stress his interest in helping farmers, the elderly, and the schools, and greeting workers at cotton mill gates he would tell them of his interest in the working man (Lesher 1994: 66). As a state legislator, he was viewed as a dangerous liberal by many conservatives because of such actions as his service on the board of all-black Tuskegee University, and his successful advocacy of the creation of new trade schools and the provision of free college tuition for the widows and orphans of those killed and wounded World War 2 veterans, programs that benefited Alabamians of both races (Carter 2000: 76 quote; Lesher 1994: 81). A political ally of the populist, Governor Folsom, Wallace even served as his campaign manager in south Alabama during his second successful gubernatorial race in 1954 (Folsom had opposed segregationist voting restrictions)(Bass and DeVries 1977: 60-61). Elected a circuit judge in 1952, Wallace became known as the Fighting Little Judge for his efforts to oppose federal government attacks on racial segregation (a shift of emphasis from his previous foray into racial liberalism), and for his feisty rhetoric and his folksiness (Lesher 1994: 120 quotes, 96, 140).

Wallace ran an unsuccessful race for governor in 1958, as Attorney General John Patterson, who played the race theme so heavily that Wallace was actually viewed as the racial moderate and received some black support, defeated him. Patterson had succeeded in physically shutting down the state NAACP chapter for eight years for allegedly failing to register as an out-of-state corporation (Permaloff and Grafton 1995: 72, 207). Wallace, in his first gubernatorial bid (and only losing race), had moderated his pledge to close any school ordered to desegregate by claiming that he had never made a derogatory remark about one of God’s children, that he would treat all fairly, and that he would preserve segregation with dignity and respect (Permaloff and Grafton 1995: 70). From this defeat, Wallace drew the lesson that, I am not going to be out-segged again (Strong 1972: 451). True to his word, Wallace won the governorship in 1962 over more racially moderate candidates (including former governor Folsom) by denouncing an integrating, carpet-bagging, scalawagging, race-mixing federal judge and promising to defy federal school desegregation orders with a stand in the schoolhouse door (Lesher 1994: 156 quotes, 155, 160). In his inaugural address, Wallace promised a fight with federal tyranny as he would stand for, Segregation now- segregation tomorrow- segregation forever (Bass and DeVries 1977: 62).

As governor in the early to mid-1960s, Wallace is most known for his public opposition to racial integration. He stood in the schoolhouse doors to try to prevent the admission of the first two black students to the University of Alabama, forcing President Kennedy to federalize the state National Guard (Carter 2000: 150). Wallace also issued an executive order closing Tuskegee High School after it was ordered to desegregate, ordered that state government deposits in the bank of a racially progressive banker in that town be withdrawn, and backed the creation of private schools to avoid federal desegregation (Carter 2000: 170, 235; Permaloff and Grafton 1995:197, 198). Some political activists and observers credit his reactionary leadership with helping to create the climate that led to such human rights abuses as the bombing of a black church in Birmingham that killed four little girls, the jailing of Martin Luther King and the use of fire hoses on his supporters, and the killing of civil rights workers (Bass and DeVries, 1977: 62-63; Permaloff and Grafton 1995: 192). Somewhat ironically given the Wallace segregationist goals, such episodes as the police beatings of civil rights marchers in Selma, Alabama are credited with causing a backlash in northern states that led to such federal civil rights laws as the 1965 Voting Rights Act (Carter 2000: 262; Lesher 1994: 242, 348).

Wallace was so politically popular among voters (still overwhelmingly white) that constitutionally prohibited from running for reelection after one term, he ran his wife Lurleen in 1966 with the theme, Two Governors, One Cause (Bass and DeVries 1977: 64). After campaign speeches Lurleen would introduce George to speak as her number-one assistant in the next administration (Lesher 1994: 361 quote; Permaloff and Grafton 1995: 237). Wallace turned the political inexperience of his shy wife and her working class roots into a campaign plus, as he denounced the national media who had made fun of my wife… because she used to be a dime-store clerk and her daddy was a shipyard worker and reminded campaign crowds that the voters of Alabama were just as cultured and refined as those New York reporters and editors (Carter 2000: 283 quote, 273; Lesher 1994: 361). Lurleen Wallace went on to an easy first primary win over Attorney General Richmond Flowers, a racial liberal who had frequently denounced Klan violence and prosecuted those accused of murdering civil rights workers (Permaloff and Grafton 1995: 234, 238).

Lurleen had pledged to continue the fight against federally ordered school desegregation, but as governor she was most known for enacting an ambitious bond measure for highway construction (Permaloff and Grafton 1995: 245, 248). She died of cancer less than two years into her term, and Lieutenant Governor Albert Brewer finished out the term. With the business community in Birmingham promoting racial moderation, Brewer turned his focus to economic development issues (Bass and DeVries 1977: 64). He proceeded to convince the legislature to enact a progressive tax package that included raising the personal and corporate income taxes, in order to increase education spending and to enact a significant teacher pay raise (Permaloff and Grafton 1995: 286).

George Wallace himself narrowly regained the governorship in 1970 by stressing race in the runoff primary campaign against Governor Brewer (the first Georgia governor to seek black support). He warned voters that the black, bloc vote threatened to gain control of government, and a Wallace campaign advertisement urged voters to save the state from The Bloc Vote (Negroes and Their White Friends) and the Spotted Alliance (Lesher 1994: 448 1st quote; Bass and DeVries 1977: 65, other quotes). While these early Wallace elections were dominated by his playing the race card, his economic programs as governor were relatively progressive, not too surprising given his humble origins and his early alliance with Governor Big Jim Folsom. In his first term, Wallace greatly increase the number of the state trade schools and junior colleges, and increased funding for highways (Permaloff and Grafton 1995: 171, 179; Strong 1972: 452). In his second term, he helped to enact such pro-labor measures as improved workmen compensation and unemployment benefits, and sought to raise various business taxes (Bass and DeVries 1977: 65-66). Even on the issue of race, as early as 1971 Wallace claimed to support non-discrimination in public schools and public accommodations open to all, and he began greeting integrated school groups and signing photographs for them as they toured the capital (Carter 2000: 417). His 1971 inaugural address omitted the word segregation, pledging governmental action for the weak, the poor, and the humble as well as the powerful and asserting Alabama belongs to us all- black and white, young and old, rich and poor alike (Lesher 1994: 457).

By 1974 as African Americans were now voting in large numbers and as the GOP began to emerge as a credible alternative to voters (winning the 1972 presidential race in Alabama and controlling nearly half of the state U.S. House seats), Wallace had brought his public image on race into line with his economic orientation. Perhaps his brush with death in the assassination attempt (which left him in a wheel chair from spinal cord damage) during his 1972 bid for the Democratic presidential nomination which left him paralyzed, and his awareness that black ministers were praying for him also played some role. In any event, in 1973 Wallace crowned a black homecoming queen at the University of Alabama, and at a conference of black mayors proclaimed that, We’re all God’s children. All God’s children are equal (Bass and DeVries 1977: 68). The next year he visited the old church of Martin Luther King in Montgomery, where he appeared to seek forgiveness by claiming to be misunderstood, explaining that he had opposed school desegregation because of a commitment to states’ rights instead of any racist feelings (Carter 2000: 463). Winning the state AFL-CIO endorsement and renominated by Democrats with an estimated 25-30% of the black vote (Carter 2000: 456; Lesher 1994: 493; Bass and DeVries 1977: 68), Wallace went on to an easy reelection in 1974 (an amendment adopted in 1968 now permitted a governor to immediately run for re-election), holding the hapless GOP challenger to only 15% of the vote. In the late 1970s be became a "born again Christian" and admitted that "I was wrong" to support racial segregation.

Wallace returned to the governorship a last time in the recession year of 1982 by winning some black support and promising to attract new jobs to Alabama. Garnering about one-third of the black vote to narrowly win the Democratic runoff against a moderate, Wallace easily defeated a Republican in the general election by stressing economic issues that Democrats nationally had emphasized since the New Deal (he received 90% of the black vote in the general election). Wallace expressed concern for the unemployed and hungry and raised class issues by blasting the GOP as people who only have to worry about who will mow their beachfront lawns (Lamis 1990: 90 quotes; Lesher 1994: 497). He promised to protect working class blacks and whites from the special interests, and blasted the persistence of tax loopholes for the rich (Carter 2000: 464 1st quote, 465 2nd quote). In his last gubernatorial term, Wallace fulfilled his campaign pledge to appoint African Americans to all levels of state government, and he reportedly welcomed them into his office on numerous occasions (Carter 2000: 465).

After Wallace left office in 1986, he would often be found in a Capital restaurant, he would often suffer respiratory problems, and was reportedly in "constant pain." He had a symbolic position at Troy State University, and finally died in 1998.

Governors and U.S. Senators and Their Parties in Modern Alabama

	Democrats			Republicans
	Governors	Senators	Senators	Governors	Senators	Senators
1970	Wallace*	Sparkman	Allen
1972	Wallace	Sparkman*	Allen
1974	Wallace*	Sparkman	Allen*
1976	Wallace	Sparkman	Allen
1978	James*	Heflin*	Stewart+
1980	James	Heflin				Denton*
1982	Wallace*	Heflin				Denton
1984	Wallace	Heflin*				Denton
1986		Heflin	Shelby*	Hunt*
1988		Heflin	Shelby	Hunt
1990		Heflin*	Shelby	Hunt*
1992		Heflin	Shelby*	Hunt
1993	Folsom+	Heflin	Shelby
1994		Heflin		James*		Shelby+
1996				James	Sessions*	Shelby
1998	Siegelman*				Sessions	Shelby*
2000	Siegelman				Sessions	Shelby
2002				Riley*	Sessions*	Shelby
2004				Riley	Sessions	Shelby*
2006				Riley*	Sessions	Shelby
2008				Riley	Sessions*	Shelby
2010				Bentley*	Sessions	Shelby*
2012				Bentley	Sessions	Shelby
2014				Bentley*	Sessions*	Shelby
2016				Ivey+	Strange+	Shelby*
2018		Jones+		Ivey*		Shelby

Note: Cell entries indicate the governors and U.S. Senators elected in or serving during the years listed at the left.

* Indicates that the officeholder was elected in that year.

+ Stewart was elected in 1978 in a special election after Allen’s death.

+ Folsom became governor in 1993 after Hunt’s legal conviction.

+ Shelby switched parties after the 1994 elections.

+ Kay Ivey became governor after Bentley resigned in April 2017. Strange was appointed Senator after Sessions became U.S. Attorney General; in a December 2017 special election, he lost to Democrat Doug Jones.

REPUBLICANS MAKE BIG GAINS IN POST-WALLACE ERA

Republicans won the governorship in 1986 for the first time since Reconstruction, as Democrats were crippled by a vicious runoff campaign between liberal Lieutenant Governor Bill Baxley and Republican-turned-Democrat Attorney General Charlie Graddick. Graddick, a death penalty backer who boasted business and Republican support, outpolled his opponent in the runoff, but was replaced as the Democratic nominee by the state party executive committee, after being found in violation of party rules that specified that a Democratic candidate could not encourage those who had voted in the first Republican primary to cross-over and vote in the Democratic runoff primary. This gave the Democrats the public perception of being undemocratic, helping Republicans to elect as governor Guy Hunt, a longtime party activist who as a high school educated Amway salesman and Primitive Baptist preacher could connect with voters of modest means (Cotter and Gordon 1999: 224; Thomas and Stewart 1988: 138).

The year 1994 started innocently enough with a Democrat suddenly in the governor’s mansion, as lieutenant governor Jim Folsom Jr. had become governor the previous year after Hunt was convicted for misusing inaugural funds for personal expenses. Folsom narrowly won the Democratic primary against the party 1990 gubernatorial loser, Hubbert, who reportedly never endorsed Folsom by name and refused to utter the governor’s name (Permaloff and Grafton 1995: 312). Folsom touted his economic development accomplishments that included attracting a Mercedes-Benz auto plant, and attracted significant black support after dropping an appeal of a court ruling ordering the Confederate battle flag to be taken down from above the state capitol dome (Cotter and Gordon 1999: 232-233). His GOP general election opponent was former Democratic governor Fob James, who as governor had had to make painful budget cuts during the national recession (http://www.archives.state.al.us/govs_list/g_james.html). The Democrat-turned-Republican James skillfully played on such conservative issues as his support for school prayer and opposition to abortion and gambling, while projecting a down-home speaking style that was more redneck and proletarian than silk stocking (Cotter and Gordon 1999: 234). With a campaign theme of, An honest government for a change, James was helped in reclaiming the governorship for the GOP by allegations of the governor using a gambling magnate plane on a family vacation and claims that the Democratic campaign allegedly made personal use of taxpayer funded pork barrel appropriations (Cotter and Gordon 1999: 235).

In what turned out to be a double killing days after the election, Democrats lost a U.S. senate seat as well when Senator Richard Shelby, who had been a thorn in the hide of President Clinton by opposing the Clinton economic program in the Senate, switched to the GOP. His parting shot to the formerly dominant national Democrats: I thought there was room in the Democratic Party for a conservative Southern Democrat such as myself… But I can tell you there is not (Cotter and Gordon 1999: 237). Now a Republican, Shelby continued to breeze to reelection, winning 63% of the vote in 1998 and 68% in 2004. Indeed, Democrats had such difficulty in finding credible candidates to challenge him that in 1998 they nominated a retired ironworker and former county commissioner who had to mortgage his pickup truck just to pay the modest qualifying fee, while in the 2004 contest the challenger raised only $4,941 to $6.6 million for Shelby (Duncan and Nutting 1999: 5; Koszczuk and Stern 2005: 3, 1169).

Republicans in 1994 also made breakthroughs in less visible offices, ending a shutout in sub-gubernatorial statewide executive offices by winning half of them, and reaching the 30% mark of percentage of legislative seats in each chamber held by their party (Table 5-2). Republican Jeff Sessions, whose federal district nomination in 1986 had been derailed over allegations of his racially insensitive remarks, unseated a Democratic attorney general who had made a financial mess of his office (Cotter and Gordon 1999: 238 quote, 236). Perceived failures of performance by Democrats also led to GOP victories for auditor and agriculture commissioner, as one losing Democrat had been accused of making personal calls on state phones and the other had hired his two grandchildren for state jobs (Cotter and Gordon 1999: 238). Democratic troubles continued when one of the three victorious Democrats in sub-gubernatorial executive offices, Secretary of State Jim Bennett, decided to switch to the GOP.

Republicans continued their romp in 1996, winning the second U.S. senate seat with state attorney general Jeff Sessions after Heflin retired. The conservative Sessions, who backed smaller government, welfare reform, and school prayer, blasted his Democratic opponent, state senator Roger Bedford as a liberal who was allied with Bill Clinton and Ted Kennedy (Cotter and Gordon 1999: 241). The Republican also accused Bedford, who as state senator had opposed tort reform, of being a lapdog of the trial lawyers and of being dependent on labor union campaign donations (Duncan and Lawrence 1997: 6). Sessions also benefited by publicity given to the use of his state senate position by his opponent to get a water line run to a hunting lodge he used (Cotter and Gordon 1999: 241). In 2002 Sessions was easily reelected with 59% of the vote over Democratic state auditor, Susan Parker, who was outspent by over a 4-1 margin and who won only 40% of the vote (Hawkings and Nutting 2003: 5-6, 1149). Six years later Sessions increased his reelection margin to 63%, defeating state senator Vivian Figures, whose self-described racial heritage was African-West Indian-Cajun-Cherokee Indian (http://www.figures2008.com/bio), and who was the widow of the first African American president pro tempore of the Alabama senate (Michael Figures of the mid-1990s).

One consolation for Democrats in the closing days of the 20th century was Lieutenant Governor Don Siegelman unseating Governor Fob James in 1998. Siegelman soon faced setbacks, as voters rejected his lottery referendum, thanks to opposition from religious conservatives and because of general public distrust of politicians. He was also dogged by allegations of corruption regarding state contracts and programs (Cotter 2007: 85 quote, 84). With Alabama facing the worst budget deficit since the Great Depression and forced to cut education at all levels, Republicans regained the governorship in 2002 as conservative congressman Bob Riley unseated Siegelman (Associated Press 2005; Stanley 2003: 91). Riley skillfully exploited public cynicism over the corruption allegations by promising honest change as a new face in state government (Cotter 2007: 85).

As governor, Bob Riley proved to be an ideologically pragmatic chief executive, who benefited from an improving economy that produced an historic low 3% unemployment rate and from an image of organized and authoritative leadership in responding to the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina (Associated Press 2005; Montgomeryadvertiser.com 2006). Touting the creation of over 100,000 new jobs by expanding existing businesses as well as attracting new businesses to Alabama, Riley spent much of the 2006 campaign attending groundbreaking ceremonies for new businesses and being praised by mayors in the affected cities (Rawls 2006a; Reeves 2006). His ideological pragmatism was reflected in his unsuccessful effort in 2003 to close the budget gap and increase education funding by raising taxes on the rich and lowering income and property taxes for the poor, an exercise in leadership that won him a Profile in Courage award by nationally-respected Governing magazine (Gurwitt 2003). In 2006 Riley worked with Democratic legislators to raise the threshold for a family to pay state income taxes, producing a tax cut for the working poor, and was blasted by the conservative Cato Institute for failing to reign in a big-spending Legislature that appropriated money for such programs as public education (Rawls 2006b; quote in Rawls 2006c). Endorsed by all 18 of the state daily newspapers, Riley won reelection in 2006 with 57% of the vote to Democratic lieutenant governor and former two-term treasurer Lucy Baxley who got 42% (Rawls 2006d). Baxley had tried to paint herself as the working-class candidate, backing a $1 increase in the state minimum wage (Kizzire 2006a). Republicans in 2006 also won four of the six executive offices below governor, though Democrat and former governor Jim Folsom Jr. was elected Lieutenant Governor and pledged to work for various education projects (Kizzire 2006b).

As the 2010 national Republican tsunami swept over Alabama, the GOP retained the governorship, reelected one of its U.S. senators, won all except one U.S. house seats, seized control of both chambers of the state legislature for the first time since Reconstruction, and swept all six non-gubernatorial statewide offices for the first time. GOP state legislator Robert Bentley won the governorship over Democratic Agriculture Commissioner Ron Sparks after stressing job creation measures and ethics reform, while Sparks had concentrated on such gambling measures as a state lottery and electronic gaming to raise funds for education and Medicaid (Kitchen 2010). Four term U.S. senator Richard Shelby easily bested his Democratic opponent, attorney William Barnes. Republicans swept all six U.S. house districts that had voted for John McCain for president two years earlier, losing only in the black majority 7th district. State legislative Republicans benefited from the millions of dollars that Governor Riley had raised for them over the previous three years, plus a voter backlash against a legislative pay raise and a corruption probe involving some Democratic lawmakers (Rawls 2010). The 2012 elections reaffirmed Republican dominance in Alabama, as Romney won 61% of the state vote, and Republicans retained all six of their U.S. house seats, restricting Democrats to one majority black district held by an African American woman. Republican Roy Moore, famous for having defied a federal judge nearly a decade earlier by refusing to remove a Ten Commandments granite monument from his court lobby and then being removed from office by a state judicial panel, narrowly beat a Democrat for the State Supreme Court Chief Justiceship.

Republicans continued their monopoly over the governorship and both of the state's U.S. senate seats in 2014 by reelecting Governor Bentley and Senator Sessions. Bentley focused his campaign on the "60,000 new jobs" he had helped create, including "an Airbus assembly plant for Mobile", and he continued to fulfill his pledge of not accepting a paycheck until Alabama reached full employment (Rawls 2014). Bentley's Democratic challenger was a 72-year-old former congressman who sought to overcome a 10-1 spending disadvantage by pumping over a half million dollars into his own campaign. Benefitted by a national GOP tsunami, Bentley won a landslide reelection, and incumbent Republican Senator Jeff Sessions was reelected without any Democratic opponent. Two years later, 82-year-old Senator Shelby won an easy re-election victory over Democrat Ron Crumpton, a patients' rights advocate never elected to public office.

The year of 2017 was one of turmoil for the majority Republican Party. It began with Governor Bentley appointing Luther Strange, a two term GOP state attorney general, to the U.S. senate seat made vacant by President Trump's appointment of Jeff Sessions as Attorney General. Three months later in April, Bentley resigned as governor, accepting a plea bargain agreement and avoiding likely impeachment over a sex and campaign scandal. Two-term GOP lieutenant governor Kay Ivey (who had served two terms as state treasurer previously) promptly became governor, becoming the state's second woman governor. In September, an outspoken Christian conservative, Roy Moore, twice removed from the state supreme court for violating federal court orders regarding a 10 commandments monument in his courtroom and regarding denying a same sex marriage order, led incumbent Luther Strange in the first GOP primary for the special election. Backed by conservative insurgents Steve Bannon and Sarah Palin, Moore proceeded to beat Strange in the runoff by a 55-45% margin, despite the incumbent being backed by Senate Republican leaders and President Trump. Democrats nominated Doug Jones, a former U.S. Attorney most known for successfully prosecuting two Klansmen who in 1963 had bombed a Birmingham church killing four African American girls. Despite a liberal campaign website backing pro-choice and Planned Parenthood, health care, education, and equal pay for women, Jones was helped by a detailed Washington Post story that alleged that his GOP opponent forty years earlier had dated teenage girls and even groped a couple. Presidential daughter Ivanka promptly retorted that, "There's a special place in hell for people who prey on children," and days before the December general election senior Alabama Senator Shelby confessed that he had voted for a Republican write in instead of Moore. Despite late support from President Trump, Moore went down to a 1 1/2% defeat. With heavy African American turnout and 96% of African Americans backing Jones, with 51% of Independents and 74% of moderates supporting the Democrat, Jones won despite Republicans outnumbering Democrats 43% to 37% among exit poll voters (http://www.cnn.com/election/2017/results/alabama-senate).

In 2018 Republicans regained their dominance, reelecting Governor Kay Ivey by a landslide over Tuscaloosa mayor Walt Maddox, and retaining all six of the other statewide offices. Stressing the recovered economy that produced more jobs and how she had "steadied the ship of state" and restored trust in government, Ivey projected a "trademark drawl" and a "folksy no-nonsense demeanor", while also backing gun rights and opposing abortion (Chandler 2018). Opponent Maddox had backed a lottery for college scholarships and expanding Medicaid under Obamacare.

The 2020 election promises to be really interesting. Resigned Attorney General and former Senator Jeff Sessions wants his old seat back, but Trump keeps bashing him for recusing himself in the FBI investigation into alleged Russian collusion in the Trump campaign. Trump has even endorsed former Auburn football coach Tommy Tuberville in the GOP primary. Given Democrat Senator Jones’ liberal voting record (an 18 rating by conservative ACU in 2019) and his vote to remove Trump from office, at this point Republicans have a great chance to win back this seat.

WEEK EIGHT- MIDTERM EXAM, CURRENT EVENTS DISCUSSION

WEEK NINE- MISSISSIPPI, MODERN MATURE REPUBLICANISM

FIRST REPUBLICAN BREAKTHROUGHS

Democrats would receive an even greater shock with the election of Republican congressman Thad Cochran to the U.S. senate in 1978 to replace retiring senator Eastland. After the notorious segregationist Eastland apparently handpicked his successor, Democratic nominee Maurice Dantin, the African American Charles Evers, brother of slain civil rights leader Medgar Evers, ran as an independent (Nash and Taggart 2006: 80). Blasting the welfare system for creating dependency and complaining that Democrats took blacks for granted, Evers offered African American voters somebody that looks like you and talks like you and has suffered like you, brought in black heavyweight world champion boxer Muhammad Ali, and carried ten majority black counties (Nash and Taggart 2006: 82 quotes, 83). Cochran won a 45% popular vote plurality, which did include some black support, however. The personal popularity of Cochran might have won him a bare majority in a two-way race, as he had twice won reelection as congressman, capturing 71% and most recently 78% of the vote. Political observers described his evident braininess serving as a congressman, his personality as being engaging, articulate, and his style as being soft-spoken and even-handed (Barone, Ujifusa, and Matthews 1979: 475).

That the historic first of an election of a Republican in a statewide vote was not a fluke is further suggested by Cochran being easily reelected in 1984 (61% of vote) over popular former governor William Winter. While building a conservative roll call record in the senate, Cochran also backed programs that helped a poor state like Mississippi, such as food stamps, rural housing, and aid to black colleges. Most memorable was an advertisement he ran featuring an elderly woman who had trouble getting her Social Security check. And she looked to Thad, and Thad delivered, concluded the announcer (Krane and Shaffer 1992: 102). Voters came to the same conclusion, with one statewide poll showing that an overwhelming 96% of the comments that voters offered about the incumbent were favorable. His seniority, experience, and work for the state were decisive in his easy reelection (Krane and Shaffer 1992: 102).

Democrats were able to reelect John Stennis as senator in 1982, despite voter concern over his age of 81. Stennis responded with a modern television campaign that showed him working tirelessly at his desk at the crack of dawn while the nation sleeps, and that showed him climbing a scaffold to inspect a shipyard. Despite the clever campaign theme of GOP state executive director Haley Barbour, A Senator for the 80s and a spending advantage, the 45 years of senate service by Stennis gave him a far more visible name. Coupled with the small numbers of voters who identified with the Republican party and the sizable 17% of voters who mentioned his party as the main reason they voted for him, the courtly senator won a landslide 64% of the vote in his last campaign (Shaffer and Krane 1992: 99-101). Stennis was so respected by his fellow senators and by presidents that Congress named a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier after him. His Washington reputation for integrity mirrored his 1947 campaign pledge, an earthy promise that reflected his rural county background, a pledge to plow a straight furrow down to the end of my row. (Johnston 1993: 90). Reflecting his personal modesty, a belief in the importance of the average Mississippian, and a recognition that he merely served their interests, Stennis during his last campaign pointedly reminded his professional campaign consultants who kept telling him this is what we have to do to win that, We don’t have to win (see the website http://www.stennis.gov/about/about_show.htm?doc_id=693885 of the Stennis Center for Public Service).

The victory of Trent Lott in the 1988 senate race was a bit of a surprise to political observers, as the bright, articulate Republican with the slick, well-kept hair provided the most entertaining political theater during the campaign war (Lott 2005: 106). Seeking to represent the poorest state in the nation with the highest proportion of African Americans, Trent Lott was initially viewed by political observers as too conservative (typically receiving liberal ADA scores of absolute 0) and too partisan (serving as House GOP Minority Whip). Indeed, he represented the whitest and most Republican house district in the state (the Gulf Coast). Furthermore, he faced folksy populist Congressman Wayne Dowdy, a popular Democrat who combined a progressive record on public works and entitlement programs with a conservative record on national defense and moral issues. Outspending his Democratic rival by over $1 million, Lott hired a campaign consultant whose trade name was Dr. Feelgood, and proceeded to launch a series of visually appealing television ads that depicted the Republican leader as a supporter of such popular programs as Social Security, college student loans, environmental protection, and highway construction.

Entertaining and educating voters, Dowdy launched a television ad blasting Lott using as minority leader a chauffeur. The Lott camp responded with an ad featuring his chauffeur-guard George Awkward, an African American, who explained that he had been a Washington D.C. police veteran for 27 years and that, I’m nobody’s chauffeur. Got it? In a televised debate, Dowdy kept trying to depict Lott as being out-of-touch with the average Mississippian and exhorted voters to cut George. Reminding voters of the low attendance record of Dowdy on house roll call votes, Lott deadpanned: I’ve got a better idea. Let’s cut Wayne. At least George shows up for work and he makes less than you do (Shaffer 1991: 103). With Stennis and four other southern Democratic senators stumping for him, Dowdy was able to close the gap in the polls, but Lott still pulled out a 54% popular vote victory.

Governors and U.S. Senators and Their Parties in Modern Mississippi

	Democrats			Republicans
	Governors	Senators	Senators	Governors	Senators	Senators
1970	Williams	Stennis*	Eastland
1971	Waller*	Stennis	Eastland
1972	Waller	Stennis	Eastland*
1974	Waller	Stennis	Eastland
1975	Finch*	Stennis	Eastland
1976	Finch	Stennis*	Eastland
1978	Finch	Stennis				Cochran*
1979	Winter*	Stennis				Cochran
1980	Winter	Stennis				Cochran
1982	Winter	Stennis*				Cochran
1983	Allain*	Stennis				Cochran
1984	Allain	Stennis				Cochran*
1986	Allain	Stennis				Cochran
1987	Mabus*	Stennis				Cochran
1988	Mabus				Lott*	Cochran
1990	Mabus				Lott	Cochran*
1991				Fordice*	Lott	Cochran
1992				Fordice	Lott	Cochran
1994				Fordice	Lott*	Cochran
1995				Fordice*	Lott	Cochran
1996				Fordice	Lott	Cochran*
1998				Fordice	Lott	Cochran
1999	Musgrove*				Lott	Cochran
2000	Musgrove				Lott*	Cochran
2002	Musgrove				Lott	Cochran*
2003				Barbour*	Lott	Cochran
2004				Barbour	Lott	Cochran
2006				Barbour	Lott*	Cochran
2007				Barbour*	Lott	Cochran
2008				Barbour	Wicker*	Cochran*
2010				Barbour	Wicker	Cochran
2011				Bryant*	Wicker	Cochran
2012				Bryant	Wicker*	Cochran
2014				Bryant	Wicker	Cochran*
2015				Bryant*	Wicker	Cochran
2016				Bryant	Wicker	Cochran
2018				Bryant	Wicker	Hyde-Smith*

Note: Cell entries indicate the governors and U.S. Senators elected in or serving during the years listed at the left. In Mississippi, governors are elected in the odd-numbered year before a presidential election, so those years are included in this table.

* Indicates that the officeholder was elected in that year.

THE KIRK FORDICE YEARS

Facing a recession necessitating painful state budget cuts, the dominant Democratic party in state government proceeded to unravel. Harvard educated, Governor Ray (elected with a Mississippi will never be last again campaign slogan) Mabus was adamant about convincing the buckle of the Bible Belt to enact a lottery to pay for education improvements and to impose user fees that affected powerful interest groups. The state legislature balked and showed some willingness to enact a general tax increase to minimize the budget cuts, but Mabus opposed this alternative. The resulting stalemate between the Democratic governor and the Democratic-controlled legislature produced two years of painful budget cuts and no raises for teachers and state employees. Expecting the real contest to be within the Democratic party, some education supporters urged the pragmatic and flexible Wayne Dowdy to challenge the incumbent governor. And then the fun began!

Both Democratic titans stirred up their supporters when speaking at the Neshoba county fair, a giant house party attended by working class whites. Mabus in his white shirt and tie appeared a little out-of-place, and a section of the fairground roped off for his supporters merely illustrated how so many of his backers were yuppie types. Mocking the Mabus campaign slogan of four years ago, Dowdy pledged that if elected, Mississippi will never be lost again. Laughing at the arrogant and wealthy tree farmer’s claim of a humble background, Dowdy quipped, The ruler claims to be the only farmer in the governor’s race. I guess he was president of the Future Farmers of America chapter, up there at Harvard. Mabus for his part accused his fellow Democrat of saying that Mississippi could not compete with California and chided him: Be ashamed. Wayne, be ashamed. Dowdy the doubter. Wayne, you stayed in Washington too long. You’ve given up on Mississippi (Shaffer, Sturrock, Breaux, and Minor 1999: 253 both quotes). When the dust had cleared, Mabus was able to pull off a bare 51% majority victory in the primary, but instead of being gracious to his defeated opponent on election night he gloated, This victory shows that Mississippi doesn’t want to go backward (paraphrased).

Enter Republican Kirk Fordice, a blunt-speaking construction company owner who had been a Republican party activist since the Goldwater era. Some state Republican party operatives tried to anoint as their gubernatorial candidate Pete Johnson, a close relative to two Democratic governors who after election as auditor in 1987 had switched to the GOP, exciting the party with their first statewide officeholder since Reconstruction. Blasting Petey as a career politician, Fordice made his conservatism clear to Republican voters, opposing racial quotas and all tax increases, and upset Johnson in the Republican runoff primary. The Fordice primary victory is understandable in view of the less than 10% of Mississippi voters casting ballots in the Republican as opposed to Democratic primary. One poll showed that 37% of Republican activists described themselves as very conservative, 48% as somewhat conservative, and only 15% labeling themselves as liberal or moderate (Shaffer and Breaux 1995: 171).

In the general election campaign, as newspaper articles daily decried the painful state budget cuts, Fordice unleashed television ads depicting himself as merely a private citizen, just like you, and challenged voters to take Mississippi back from the political hacks (Shaffer, Sturrock, Breaux, and Minor 1999: 254-255). With polls showing voters increasingly disillusioned with the performance of the governor, the state legislature, and even with the overall quality of life in the state, Fordice stunned political observers with a narrow 51% popular vote victory to 48% for Mabus. Significantly outspent by the incumbent, the name visibility of Fordice was so low that on election night one veteran reporter on ETV turned to another and asked, Who is Kirk Fordice? The wave of voter dissatisfaction also claimed the three-term Democratic lieutenant governor (and president of the state senate) Brad Dye, who was replaced with state senator Eddie Briggs, another historic GOP first. As governor, the conservative Fordice is most known for establishing a rainy day fund from surplus revenue in good economic times to tide the state over in bad times, and for appointing far-sighted successful businessmen to the new state Gaming Commission who required that those seeking licenses to build casinos also promote tourism by building hotels, golf courses, and restaurants (Nash and Taggart 2006: 271, 272).

Mississippi reelected first GOP governor in the century largely because of a booming economy, and Democrats took heart from sweeping most other statewide races in 1995, even winning back the lieutenant governorship with state senator and education committee chairman, Ronnie Musgrove. Four years later, Musgrove, who had appointed a historic high number of African American state senate committee chairs, won back the governorship for the Democrats.

REPUBLICAN DOMINANCE ESTABLISHED

The textbook chapter on Mississippi fully discusses political development after the turn of the century. Read it thoroughly. Some important points to focus on, and why they occurred:

Republican Haley Barbour won as governor in 2003, after a Musgrove negative campaign.
Republicans keep governorship, reelecting Barbour and in 2011 electing Phil Bryant.
Liberal and partisan Democrats precipitate Amy Tuck party switch and George Dale defeat.
Republicans now offer quality candidates for statewide offices (page 103 of text).
Republican Roger Wicker replaces Trent Lott as Senator.
2010 national GOP landslide reduces Democrats to majority black Delta congressional district.
Republicans in 2011 gain control of both state legislative chambers (page 109 of text).
The 2013 state legislative session shows diversity and pragmatism on part of Republican lawmakers.

Democrats scored big in the last state elections of the century, winning back the governorship with pro-education Musgrove, who as lieutenant governor had appointed many blacks to chair important senate committees and had supported improved funding of public education. Democrats also retained the lieutenant governorship with centrist "country gal" Amy Tuck, and swept all other statewide races except auditor (though Republican auditor Phil Bryant, appointed to a vacancy in 1996, was hardly an unbending partisan, boasting a reputation of even-handed integrity.). Republicans now appeared to be the party in disarray, bitterly charging that their gubernatorial candidate, Democrat-turned-Republican congressman Mike Parker (of the now defunct 4^th district) of sitting on his lead and not spending all of his money. Parker's issueless ads had "focused on his hometown, his family, and his career," and he had spent "little time traveling around the state, meeting with groups of votes, and organizing supporters" (Nash and Taggart 2006: 275). Musgrove proceeded to deliver on his campaign pledge to raise elementary and secondary public school teachers' salaries to the southeast average over a six-year period without raising taxes. He also called a special legislative session to enact tort reform for doctors and the health care industry in general (Nash and Taggart 2006: 301). And then it all fell apart for the Democrats!

As the nation was shook by the terrorist attacks of 9-11, the ensuing recession plus the diversion of state revenue to the teacher pay raise produced three years of painful budget cuts in Mississippi higher education and other state programs. Even normally Democratic "liberal" professors were disillusioned with a Democratic chief executive who, unlike previous Democratic governors such as Ray Mabus, was taking money away from higher education to give to elementary and secondary education, while also opposing any tax increase. Meanwhile, with Mississippi losing a house seat after the census, Democratic party activists were pressuring "their" lieutenant governor to back a redistricting ?shoestring? plan that would seek to retain Democratic congressman Ronnie Shows over Republican Chip Pickering. The independent-minded Tuck, responding to concerns by city officials that some major cities would be lumped into the same district under the "Democratic" plan, rebuffed her party's leaders. Tuck also angered liberals by supporting tort reform, and after Shows' defeat by Pickering in the 2002 elections the pro-education but socially conservative Tuck switched her affiliation to the Republican Party (Goodman 2002).

The 2003 state elections constituted a new high point for the GOP, showing that it was now a very competitive party, not just in federal but also in state elections. Incumbent governor Musgrove was unseated by Republican Haley Barbour, a former chair of the Republican National Committee turned successful lobbyist, who outspent the incumbent by nearly a two-to-one margin and implemented an impressive "Seventy-Two-Hour-Program" of intensive neighborhood canvassing to get-out-the-vote for election day (Nash and Taggart 2006: 307 quote, 304, 306). In addition to angering higher education personnel and state employees with constant budget cuts and seemingly nonexistent raises, Musgrove had alienated many social conservatives by attempting to change (unsuccessfully) the state flag to remove its Confederate symbol. As Musgrove ads kept blasting his opponent as a "Washington lobbyist" without even mentioning his own name, the overweight Barbour with his Yazoo city southern drawl projected an image of sincerity and decency as he recounted Mississippi's problems and promised, "We can do better."

The 2003 elections also saw Amy Tuck reelected lieutenant governor, this time as a Republican, after Democrats nominated a liberal, African American state senator, Barbara Blackmon, who squandered a possible upset in the making. The outspoken Blackmon insinuated that the "pro-life" Tuck had had an abortion, prompting the lieutenant governor to sign an affidavit that she had never had an abortion and to proclaim that she was "pro-life in my private life and I am pro-life in my professional life" (Byrd 2003: 3B). Republicans also reelected Phil Bryant auditor and picked up the open treasurer's position with Tate Reeves, who outspent a well-qualified African American, Gary Anderson. Democrats received some consolation by winning the open attorney general's seat with Assistant Attorney General Jim Hood, and reelecting Secretary of State Eric Clark, Agriculture Commissioner Lester Spell, Jr., and Insurance Commissioner George Dale. Democrats suffered a loss of the agriculture commissioner's position in 2005, however, as Spell, a native of Republican stronghold Rankin county, switched parties. Democrats also retained control of both chambers of the state legislature, despite the continuation of the trend begun in 1979 of GOP gains in number of seats.

Republicans continued to make gains in 2007, as Barbour was easily reelected governor with 58% of the vote over social conservative John Arthur Eaves, who backed "voluntary, student-led school prayers" and promised to throw the "money changers" out of the state capital (Nossiter, 2007). In endorsing Barbour, the Clarion-Ledger pointed out that he had "done a good job of attracting new jobs as shown in his personal role in helping land the new Toyota plant" (the Clarion-Ledger, 2007: 4G). Barbour's decisive and confident leadership after Hurricane Katrina devastated the coast, when he publicly vowed that the coast would rebuild to be "better than ever," and his active fight for federal disaster funds won him the prestigious Governing magazine's award of Public Official of the Year. Even Mississippi's first African American congressman since Reconstruction, Mike Espy, ended up backing the Republican, as did other Democratic former officeholders, lieutenant governor Brad Dye and Governor Bill Waller (Rupp, 2007: 1A, 6A).

Republicans also won every other statewide office except for attorney general, though Democrats maintained control of both state legislative chambers. The GOP won every open contest for statewide office, as auditor Phil Bryant moved up to the lieutenant governorship, and well-qualified candidates won the offices of secretary of state, auditor, and insurance commissioner. Republicans also reelected incumbents for treasurer and the party switching agriculture commissioner, the latter after winning over a tough primary challenger. The only statewide Democrat victorious was the well-qualified incumbent attorney general, Jim Hood. The state Republican Party had aggressively backed their statewide candidates, contributing the following sums to party candidates: $450,000 for insurance commissioner, $287,500 for attorney general, $137,000 for auditor, $120,000 for secretary of state, $100,000 for agriculture commissioner, and $65,000 for lieutenant governor. The only Democrat successful in attracting such a large sum was Attorney General Jim Hood, who received $850,000 over the year from the Democratic Attorney General Association (see Mississippi secretary of state website). Democrats also shot themselves in the foot when the state party executive committee sought to deny incumbent Democratic insurance commissioner George Dale a place on the primary ballot, because he had endorsed Republican President Bush in 2004, forcing Dale to go to court to have his ballot position restored, but to then be knocked off in the Democratic primary election.

Democrats have responded to the rising GOP threat by attempting to revitalize their party with new state party chairs. The importance of African Americans to the party was recognized in 1987 by the Democrats' selection of the first black state party chairman in the nation, Vice Chair and former Stennis and Eastland aid, Ed Cole. Another African-American succeeded Cole in 1994, state senator Johnnie Walls. After continued organizational difficulties, Democrats then selected a string of white males to lead their state party- Musgrove friend and businessman Jon Levingston, outspoken liberal Rickey Cole, and in 2004 popular former congressman Wayne Dowdy. Dowdy displayed his usual folksy demeanor when crisscrossing the state during the 2004 presidential campaign by comparing party politics to an automobile transmission: "You put it in D to go forward and R to go in reverse" (Jones 2004: 1) Both parties chose new state party chairs in the presidential election year of 2008, when both of the state's U.S. senate seats were up due to Trent Lott's precipitous retirement.

Republicans continued to romp in the 2008 and 2010 federal elections, winning both U.S. senate seats and the presidential race in 2008, and knocking off two Democratic U.S. house incumbents two years later. Governor Barbour had appointed 1st district GOP Congressman Roger Wicker as the interim Senator after Lott's resignation, and Democrats promptly nominated former governor Ronnie Musgrove as their candidate for the November special election. Wicker proceeded to paint Musgrove as a "liberal," blasting him for accepting money from a national PAC that was "the largest gay rights group in the country," and accusing the Democrat of promising to support the "liberal Democratic leadership" in Washington (Pettus 2008). Both camps quickly turned negative with Musgrove claiming that Wicker had voted repeatedly to raise his own pay and that he had gone "to Washington promising change, but Washington politics changed him," while Wicker reminded voters that they had rejected Musgrove's gubernatorial reelection bid and had given "him his walking papers" (Todd 2008). With Republicans outnumbering Democrats by 6% in the exit polls, Wicker kept Lott's seat in the Republican ranks. Meanwhile, Republican Cochran won his usual landslide reelection, beating a former state legislator who had lost to Lott two years earlier, African American Erik Fleming.

In the 2008 elections, longtime chancery clerk and moderate Travis Childers briefly regained the 1st district house district for Democrats after a bitter GOP primary, only to be unseated two years later in the national GOP landslide, along with moderate Democrat Gene Taylor of the 4th house district. Victorious GOP state lawmakers Alan Nunnelee and Steven Palazzo in 2010 aided by state Republican leaders aggressively sought to tie the Blue Dog incumbents to liberal national Democrats, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and President Obama, a winning strategy given not only voter discontent with Washington but also Obama's failure to win more than 37% of the vote in these districts. Nunnelee blasted Childers for backing Obama's stimulus bill, arguing that "we don't like to borrow money from the government of China to be repaid by our grandchildren," while state GOP chairman Brad White accused the Democratic incumbent of playing "on the team of (House Speaker) Nancy Pelosi" (Berry, 2009). Palazzo argued that having been a Marine in the Persian Gulf War gave him "the courage to take on people like Pelosi and Obama," and blasted "the government takeover of health care" (Pettus 2010a, 1st quote; Pettus 2010b, 2nd quote). To add insult to injury, a party switch after the 2010 election gave Republicans a tie with Democrats in number of state senators for the first time since Reconstruction.

The 2011 state elections completed the meltdown of state Democrats, as the Republicans retained the governorship, 6 of the other 7 statewide elected officials, and seized control of both chambers of the state legislature for the first time since Reconstruction. Lieutenant governor Phil Bryant, a champion of "transparent government," who as former state auditor had aggressively recovered funds from "corrupt officials", and who had established a pro-business image even earlier by writing a capital gains tax cut act as a state legislator, defeated African American Democrat and respected Hattiesburg mayor Johnny DuPree (Mitchell 2011). Bryant touted his close work with popular Governor Barbour recruiting new jobs to the state and "being responsible with taxpayers' dollars by not spending money we don't have," while the state Republican Party sent out two mailings to its supporters, both touting Bryant's conservative values and one blasting DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz's visit to Mississippi in support of his opponent whose election was "so important to the liberal, national Democrats" (Harrison 2011, 1st quote; 2nd quote is in a mailing). Bryant's victory marked the first time since 1987 that one party won three or more gubernatorial elections in a row, only this time it was the Republican Party and not the once-dominant Democratic Party that held that distinction.

By 2011 Republican candidates for statewide office now boasted the impressive resumes of experience in public office that the previously dominant Democratic Party's candidates had once held. Victorious Agriculture Commissioner candidate Cindy Hyde-Smith, a stockyard owner and cattle farmer, boasted two terms as chair of the state senate agriculture committee, earning the Mississippi Farm Bureau's awards of Agriculture Legislator of the Year and also Ag Ambassador for her efforts to promote the state's catfish industry to other states (Salter 2011a). Another GOP woman for an open seat, Lynn Fitch, parlayed her executive directorship of the state Personnel Board, which has jurisdiction over 32,000 workers in 130 agencies, into the state Treasurer's position, boasting that she had cut her own budget but been able to do "more with less" (Nalley 2011). Thirty-six-year-old Tate Reeves, the two-term treasurer, boasting a fiscally conservative record and a reputation as a rising star in the state and national GOP, moved up to the lieutenant governorship's position without Democratic opposition (Salter 2011b). Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann, praised by the Clarion-Ledger for having "admirably served the public" by "ensuring that public lands are managed for the benefit of the public" was reelected without general election opposition (Clarion-Ledger 2011). Two other GOP officeholders reelected to their statewide offices were Auditor Stacey Pickering and Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney. The lone remaining Democratic statewide officer, Attorney General Jim Hood, won an easy reelection to a third term, however.

The 2011 election also saw Republicans gain control of both chambers of the state legislature for the first time since Reconstruction. Conservatives had been increasingly flexing their muscles, offering a conservative Democratic challenger to Billy McCoy's reelection as Speaker in 2007 who won 47 Republican and 13 Democratic votes to McCoy's narrow victory of 62 House Democrats, prompting McCoy to refuse to appoint any Republicans as committee chairs, an historic shutout of intra-chamber power for the historic minority party (Pettus 2011). Early in 2011 some conservatives created the website FireMcCoy.com, labeling the New Deal Democrat McCoy, who was pro-guns and pro-life, as "Mississippi's Nancy Pelosi," leader of a "band of liberal merry men" who were harmful "to the conservative cause in this state" and who should receive "their pink slips" (Salter 2011c). The Mississippi Tea Party also focused on "replacing Billy McCoy and his liberal House leadership with conservatives," endorsing ten house candidates (five of whom won), and providing them with candidate training, television and talk radio publicity, and targeted ads and a sign blitz in each district (Miss. Tea Party 2011).

The 2012 elections saw Republicans maintain their dominance of federal elections, easily retaining their U.S. senate seat, three of the four U.S. house seats, and carrying the state in the presidential election. Often facing Democrats who had so little campaign money that they weren't required to report it to the FEC, GOP congressional and senate incumbents won anywhere from 57% to 80% of the vote. The only positive points for Democrats was their dominance in the 2nd congressional district, with Congressman Thompson winning 67% of the vote, plus a narrower than expected victory margin for Republicans in the presidential race. Romney won only 55.3% of the vote to Obama's 43.8%, a margin that might be attributed to a heavier than expected Democratic voter turnout. Indeed, the narrow 4% edge of Republicans over Democrats in exit polls failed to exceed the 4% party edge among all adult Mississippians.

The 2014 U.S. senate campaign (as with the Nunnelee and Palazzo congressional renominations in 2012, when both Republican incumbents had to fight off spirited Tea Party challengers) suggested that the "real" contests were now within the dominant Republican party rather than in the November general election. Seventy-seven-year-old Thad Cochran, who had been in the senate for 36 years, faced state senator Chris McDaniel, a conservative leader and a Tea Party favorite. Cochran's campaign pledged continued use of "his status as a top member of the Appropriations Committee to support federal projects such as military bases, university research and agricultural projects in Mississippi," while McDaniel blasted Cochran's allegedly liberal votes and labeled him as a "senator who's been in Washington so long, he's forgotten his Mississippi conservative values" (Pettus 2014a, 2014b). Aggressively campaigning across the state, McDaniel shocked the political establishment by leading the first primary with 49.5% of the vote to Cochran's 49.0% with a minor candidate forcing a runoff race. Cochran supporters quickly became energized, with the aging senator personally campaigning across the state, with Republican establishment leaders urging a Cochran vote to help ensure a GOP-controlled senate, and with many African American leaders praising Cochran’s support for some programs that benefitted minorities. One kiss of death for the spunky challenger was that his call for cuts in education prompted pleas for Cochran's reelection on the part of the chairmen of all three of the state's public education bodies (elementary and secondary, community colleges, and universities). The Cochran forces reversed their initial first primary deficit with a narrow 51% runoff victory, prompting a bitter McDaniel to spend months in court challenges over allegedly illegal Democratic crossover votes in the GOP runoff. Continuing the GOP monopoly of both U.S. senate seats starting in 1988, Cochran easily bested Democratic former congressman Travis Childers, whose supporters had hoped in vain for a McDaniel GOP upset, as polls had shown a tossup or even Childers victory if he had faced the Tea Party favorite (exit poll: http://www.cnn.com/election/2014/results/state/MS/senate).

The 2015 state elections underscored the dominant position of Republicans, as the GOP once again swept all statewide offices (except attorney general), and gained a 60% supermajority in both legislative chambers. Governor Bryant successfully embraced the popular issue of economic development, as he attended business openings and expansions throughout the state, including in the northern cities of Baldwyn, Burnsville, Columbus, Ecru, Guntown, New Albany, Pontotoc, Starkville, Verona, and West Point. Other Republicans were also positively associated with non-divisive issues, with Treasurer Fitch touting her office's provision of on-line resources teaching financial literacy to schoolchildren, Secretary of State Hosemann promoting election reform measures and publicizing ten photo identifications permissible under the state voter ID law, and Insurance Commissioner Chaney being praised for working to ensure that all residents would have access to insurance exchanges under Obamacare. Fitch and Chaney were reelected without any Democratic opponent, while all other incumbent Republican statewide officers achieved landslides of over 60% of the vote. Attorney General and Democrat Jim Hood won a 55% reelection victory, but Democratic futility elsewhere was reflected in their gubernatorial nominee, Robert Gray, being a truck driver, who admitted that he had been too busy to even vote in the party primary. Gray presumably won because his name was listed first on the ballot, and his two opponents also lacked name visibility and any previous elected office experience and were women. One of the strongest "Democratic" candidates was Elvis impersonator and a former Republican state senator, Tim Johnson, who unsuccessfully ran for lieutenant governor. Republican state leaders were also successful in convincing voters to shoot down Initiative 42 which would have required funding for an "adequate and efficient" public school system, as GOP leaders feared cuts to other state agencies including higher education and opposed the transfer of legislative power to the state courts (who would have been entrusted with enforcing this initiative).

As in other southern states, Democrats in 2018 offered very viable candidates for the state's most prominent offices. House Minority Leader and 11-year state legislative veteran David Baria, seeking to unseat Senator Roger Wicker, backed such populist issues that helped the "working poor" as Medicaid expansion (Harris 2018). Wicker was active in constituency service, backing health care measures such as telehealth services and CHIP, new Army helicopters built in Lowndes county, and an increase in the Navy fleet (advocated from his seat on the Armed Services Committee)(Wicker 2018). His accessibility and service to all Mississippians prompted former Democratic gubernatorial candidate John Arthur Eaves Jr. to host a fundraiser for him, praising his willingness to "meet and listen," as his doors were always open "for me and a lot of Mississippians who have needed help" (Pender 2018). Wicker's campaign also stressed his conservatism and his support for President Trump, as shown by headlines in a newspaper ad: "Conservative Leadership for Mississippi & the Nation... Senator Roger Wicker & President Donald Trump... Working to Make America Great Again!" (Daily Journal, Tupelo, June 3, 2018, p. 6A) With Republicans outnumbering Democrats by 50-36%, and Trump approvers outnumbering disapprovers by 59-40%, Wicker won a 58.5% landslide reelection to 39.5% for Baria (https://www.cnn.com/election/2018/exit-polls/mississippi/senate).

Democrats in 2018 offered an even stronger candidate in the Senate special election (necessitated by Cochran's resignation), former Congressman Mike Espy, an African American who had also served as President Clinton's first Agriculture Secretary. Praising Senator Cochran's work for all Mississippians, Espy stressed that "his only loyalty is 'Mississippi first' over any party or person" (Ramseth and Pender, 2018). He also pledged to "work to correct the stereotypes and attract companies and jobs to Mississippi" (Pettus 2018a). His campaign attracted such national Democratic figures as New Jersey Senator Cory Booker, who argued that southern Democrats "put people first, before party," and "that's what Mike Espy is going to do" (Pettus 2018b). However, when California Senator Kamala Harris at a Jackson Democratic women's breakfast proclaimed that "racism, anti-Semitism, sexism, homophobia, these issues are real in this country," the spokeswoman for the interim Senator shot back, "This race is not about identity politics, it's about conservative versus liberal" (Amy 2018).

Republicans in the 2018 special election were initially split between the interim Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith, the state Agriculture Commissioner appointed by Governor Bryant, and conservative state senator Chris McDaniel, who had forced Cochran into a runoff primary in 2014. Blasting party switcher Hyde-Smith as a "life-long Democrat" who had voted in the 2008 Democratic presidential primary, McDaniel proclaimed his "love" for the Republican platform, but asked "what good is a platform if you don't have fighters to fight for it" (Bedillion 2018a). Governor Bryant offered an effective defense of Hyde-Smith, calling her a "rock-solid conservative," consistently rated by BIPEC as a "business champion," who had "carried the banner for the Republican Party in two statewide elections for agriculture commissioner," and who had "co-chaired the Trump Agriculture Policy Advisory Council" (Bryant 2018). President Trump in late August tweeted his "complete and total Endorsement" for Hyde-Smith, praising how she "is helping me create Jobs, loves our Vets and fights for our conservative judges" (Pettus 2018c). In an early October rally in Southaven, President Trump reiterated that "a vote for Cindy is a vote for me and 'Make America Great Again'," while "a vote for Espy is a vote for the Democratic agenda, for open borders, and for radical socialism" (Bedillion 2018b). After making the runoff election with 41.3% of the vote to 40.9% for Espy and 16.4% for McDaniel, Hyde-Smith was boosted by a second visit from Trump, who warned a Tupelo rally that "Espy would 'vote in total lockstep' with Chuck Schumer, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, and the 'legendary Maxine Waters'" (Colvin 2018). Joining Trump on Air Force One was South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, who added, "when Kavanaugh needed your senator, she was there" (Bedillion 2018c). (Indeed, Hyde-Smith had been filmed sitting right behind Maine GOP senator Susan Collins when the undecided Maine senator publicly announced her decisive support for the judge.) Hyde-Smith also projected a "down-home" image, running an ad "showing her in blue jeans and boots at her family's cattle auction" and relating cattle ranching to service in Washington as she picked up a shovel, "You can't be afraid to put your boots on and clean up the mess" (Pettus 2018d). She also aggressively took on constituency service, presenting a $100,000 USDA grant to Mississippi State University, and being appointed to Cochran's important Appropriations and Agriculture Committees. A couple of missteps did however give Democrats an opening to accuse the Republican of racial insensitivity and urging voter suppression, as Hyde-Smith joked in Tupelo that she so respected a supporter that "If he invited me to a public hanging, I'd be on the front row," and joked to a few students at Mississippi State University that "there's a lot of liberal folks in those other schools who that maybe we don't want to vote" (Pettus and Beaumont 2018, 1st quote; Phillips 2018, 2nd quote). Upon winning the runoff with 53.6% of the vote, Hyde-Smith graciously pledged: "no matter who you voted for today, I'm going to always represent every Mississippian" (Pettus 2018e).

NEED TO UPDATE MISSISSIPPI LECTURES WITH 2019 STATE ELECTIONS, AND 2020 ELECTIONS UPCOMINIG. Republicans won all statewide offices in 2019, even the attorney general position, as incumbent Democrat Jim Hood lost the governorship to Republican Tate Reeves.

Mississippi Legislative Politics in a GOP-Dominated Era

By 2012, party caucuses were clearly operating to choose the party and institutional leadership, but both chambers reinstituted bipartisanship in appointing committee chairs. Floor votes gave Republicans the two top positions of House speaker and speaker pro tempore, and Democrats illustrated their party’s biracial nature by electing one white as House Democratic leader and one black as House Democratic deputy leader. The Senate elected Republican Terry Brown president pro tempore, who joined the GOP lieutenant governor. Retaining the bipartisan tradition of the state senate, Lieutenant Governor Reeves appointed 10 African American Democrats and 5 white Democrats as standing committee chairs to join the 23 GOP committee chairs, a partisan division of chairmanships nearly identical to the party split in the entire membership. House Speaker Philip Gunn restored the bipartisan tradition of the House that had been shattered four years earlier, appointing 8 black Democrats and 2 white Democrats as standing committee chairs to join the 30 GOP chairs. Furthermore, Democrats were tapped to chair some substantively important committees, such as the Corrections, Economic Development, Highways and Transportation, Housing, one of the two Judiciary committees, and the Municipalities committees in the Senate, and the Agriculture, Corrections, Energy, Municipalities, and Transportation committees in the House (Shaffer and Breaux chapter in Bullock and Rozell, 2014: p. 109; 2012-2016 Mississippi Official and Statistical Register, Secretary of State of Mississippi).

The 2013 state legislative session illustrated how governing Republicans today offer some diversity of ideas and some willingness to be pragmatic and to compromise. Speaker Gunn with local lawmakers went on an “Ideas Tour” by holding nine forums across the state just before the session, and listening to average Mississippians’ concerns and ideas about state public policies. The Senate reluctantly bowed to the House’s greater concern over a broad charter schools bill by accepting the House’s more limited and narrowly passed charter schools bill. A House committee chaired and dominated by Republicans killed a bill establishing a state committee that could attempt to “neutralize” allegedly unconstitutional federal laws such as Obamacare and anti-gun measures, as the chairman explained that the measure lacked support in the full House after being compared to a state Sovereignty Commission that sought to defend segregation decades ago (Pettus 2013a). Governor Bryant withdrew the nomination of an anti-abortion activist to the state Board of Health after the press disputed whether she met a geographic distribution requirement of state law, and after a Republican committee chairman publicly noted that some senators were concerned that she might be a “one-issue person” who was “not well-informed on other public health issues” (Pettus 2013b). A Republican-led and dominated Senate committee rejected the House Speaker’s nominee to the state Board of Education after one GOP committee member (a former public school administrator) expressed concern over the nominee’s home-schooling of his own children, and even a GOP supporter expressed concern over his board membership on a “conservative-leaning” Center which had opposed state-funded preschool programs (a program successfully enacted by the legislator)(Amy 2013). On the other hand, one triumph of partisan divisiveness was the legislature’s failure during the regular session to fund even the existing Medicaid program, as the two parties’ leaders were bitterly divided over the expense and wisdom of expanding the program to the working poor under Obamacare. Yet even on the issue of health care Republicans were hardly united, as Insurance Commissioner Chaney attempted to set up a state-run insurance exchange to avoid a federal takeover, while Governor Bryant feared even that concession to Obamacare’s legitimacy and successfully torpedoed the Chaney plan (Shaffer and Breaux chapter in Bullock and Rozell, 2014).

The 2014 state legislative session illustrated a pragmatic approach involving compromises on some major education issues. With GOP House Speaker Gunn favoring an across-the-board first year raise for a multi-year teacher pay raise given the state's low salaries and the absence of a reliable way of measuring teacher performance, Governor Bryant favoring merit pay raises, and House Democrats favoring a more rapid raise (without a performance requirement), the legislature passed and the governor signed the state senate plan (backed by GOP lieutenant governor Reeves and Senate Education committee chair Republican Tollison) providing for a 2-year across-the-board raise, even higher starting salaries, and the possibility of teacher bonuses based on a proposed school performance plan (Harrison 2014a, 2014b; Daily Journal 2014). Carey Wright became the state's first female permanent state education superintendent by a 46-6 senate vote after Education Committee chair Tollison praised her experience in high-performing school districts, her focus on improving student achievement, and her being from out-of-state, while some Senate Conservative Coalition Republicans blasted her backing of Common Core and of state-funded prekindergarten as a federal education takeover and an usurping of parental responsibility (Amy 2014a). Eleven House Republicans voted with Democrats to kill a special education voucher proposal that was a pilot program limited to institutions approved by the state Education Department (and excluding home-schooling), after the Parents Campaign argued that it would take state funds away from the underfunded public school system, and Democratic state representative Baria called it a "slippery slope" that could lead to vouchers awarded to other groups (Amy 2014c, Harrison 2014d).

The 2014 legislative session also saw conservative enactments on some divisive social issues that avoided ideological extremes. A Religious Freedom Restoration Act that prevents state and local governments from putting a substantial burden on religious practices (similar to a federal law used by Hobby Lobby against Obamacare contraception requirement) became law after removing sections covering private business actions opposed by the Mississippi Economic Council (MEC) as possibly interfering with businesses' nondiscrimination policies (the ACLU and the gay rights Human Rights Campaign nevertheless opposed the final bill) (Harrison 2014c; Pettus 2014a). A near party-line vote enacted a law that required welfare recipients (in TANF) to complete a questionnaire to determine possible drug use, which could then result in a drug test and entrance into a 2 month drug treatment program, with Governor Bryant arguing that the program sought to help dependent and addicted families to "better provide for their children," and a GOP lawmaker pointing out that the program's impact was limited as it did not apply to food stamps provided by the SNAP program (Holloway 2014). A bill banning abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy became law, with exceptions in the cases of permanent physical damage or death of the mother, and for certain fetal abnormalities, but a Democratic amendment providing a rape and incest exception was voted down (Amy 2014b). Three bills enacted on near party-line votes and supported by BIPEC (Business and Industry Political Education Committee) outlawed union demonstrations from blocking business entrances, prohibited union use of coercion to grow its membership, and prohibited local governments from requiring use of union labor (Chandler 2014). Democrats once again failed to expand Medicaid to the working poor, this time on a 64-52 House vote (Pettus 2014b). In a more moderate vein, the governor signed a criminal justice reform bill that overwhelmingly passed both legislative chambers that resulted from a task force consisting of judges, prosecutors, defense attorneys, and legislators (who had worked with groups such as Pew Charitable Trusts), which expanded use of drug courts and lowered sentences involving small drug amounts in order to reduce recidivism and lower prison costs (Pender and Gates 2014).

Bipartisanship took a hit after the 2015 elections, particularly in the state house, starting with controversy over two contested legislative elections. While the senate voted overwhelmingly to uphold a Democrat's narrow victory, the house cast a near party-line vote to unseat a Democrat in favor of a GOP challenger on a legal technicality over disputed voter affidavit ballots (Gates 2016). With a resulting 60% supermajority of GOP lawmakers for the first time ever, GOP House Speaker Gunn reduced Democrats to chairing only two committees (African American Democrats chaired the Energy, and Youth and Family Affairs Committees), while Republicans ended up chairing 42 committees (including joint committees). Gunn announced that "we are advancing a conservative agenda" and that these committee chairs had bought into that agenda (Gates and Pender 2016a, 1). The Lieutenant Governor retained a more bipartisan approach to committee chairmanships, as African American Democrats chaired 8 committees, white Democrats 5, and Republicans 25. African American Democrats received such desirable committee assignments as Corrections, Economic Development, Highways and Transportation, Housing, and Labor. The minority Democratic Party in the House once again selected a biracial leadership team as minority leader and assistant minority leader. Minority leader David Baria stressed that his party believed in "protecting the working man" and the "rights of individuals" (Harrison 2016a, 6A). House Democrats on three occasions during the 2016 legislative session using delaying tactics to protest Republican actions, first over a judicial redistricting bill that would have reduced the African American presence in the most Democratic of the three Supreme Court districts, secondly over giving control of the Jackson airport to a regional board, and finally in a special session (called to balance the budget) over a just enacted GOP-led tax cut and budget cuts (Pender 2016a).

The more partisan 2016 state legislature ended up cutting business and individual income taxes by $415 million over a 12-year period with Republican leaders arguing that the cuts would make the state more business-friendly, thereby growing the economy and producing more jobs. Prominent Democrats, including Attorney General Hood, blasted the cuts as ignoring "the health, education, and public safety" needs of the state (Hood 2016: 13A). While the tax cutting effort was clearly led by the Republican Lieutenant Governor and the Governor, the legislative votes were not completely party-line, as 8 senate Democrats and 7 House Democrats crossed party lines, as did 7 House Republicans. The more narrowly divided House finally acceded to the tax cut measure only after it was assured that the Lieutenant Governor would support a $250 bond bill for the state's public colleges, universities, and its MDA economic development agency (Pender, Royals, and Gates 2016). Another controversial GOP measure enacted was HB1523- a "Religious Freedom" bill that permitted government workers and businesses to deny services to gays based on their religious values. Much of the state's business community, including the powerful Mississippi Economic Council and the Mississippi Manufacturer's Association had opposed the bill, arguing that it violated most business' own corporate policies and might harm state economic development efforts, and the ACLU and Human Rights Campaign promptly denounced the measure (Gates and Pender 2016b). Put on hold by a federal judge and with Attorney General Hood refusing to appeal this decision, Republicans vowed to continue the judicial fight with volunteer lawyers.

Other conservative legislation also advanced during the 2016 session, though with more bipartisan compromise and a more limited scope. Given the concerns expressed by Democrats and public education forces, especially strong in the House, the senate agreed to the House position to only permit children to cross school district lines to attend charter schools if their school district's performance was rated C, D, or F. Inability to cross district lines limited Mississippi to only 2 charter schools (both in Jackson), yet even this modest expansion of charter schools faced some senate GOP concerns, as 7 Republican senators were absent for the vote and 4 opposed the measure (Pender 2016b). A private school voucher measure that had passed the House Education Committee died after being double-referred by the Speaker to the House Appropriations Committee, where that committee chair let it die believing that the measure did not have enough support on the floor (Harrison 2016b). Instead, the legislature slightly expanded the state's small voucher program for special needs children by making it easier for them to qualify for it. The governor also signed a legislative Church Protection Act that permitted each church to establish a security program whereby designated church members would attend a firearm safety program and receive legal liability protection for using their firearm in church in pursuance of their official duties. A House measure would have permitted a religious or philosophical exemption of childhood vaccination requirements as well as easing out-of-state physician exemptions, but this measure died in the Senate Education Committee after GOP chairman Tollison explained that he listened to the health concerns of doctors and parents; Mississippi remains the number one state in the nation in childhood vaccination coverage. Finally, the governor signed a ban on a second semester abortion procedure called "dilation and evacuation" except in rare health cases, but the owner of the state's sole abortion clinic claimed they generally didn't use the procedure (Amy 2016).

UPDATE STATE LEGISLATURE SECTION WITH CURRENT LEGISLATIVE SESSION. Bipartisanship is evident in terms of committee chairs, and emergency coronavirus legislation.

WEEK TEN-
LOUISIANA- THE EDWIN EDWARDS LEGACY

THE HUEY LONG LEGACY

With most African Americans removed from the voting electorate, whites in the Democratic primary in the early-to-mid 1900s were able to divide along progressive-conservative lines. The most prominent leader of the progressives was Huey P. Long, whose relatives and allies dominated Louisiana politics until the end of the century. Long, who had been born to a lower income family living in the north Louisiana town of Winnfield, decried the concentration of 65% of the nation’s wealth into the hands of only 2% of Americans, and proposed programs that would share the wealth (Kane 1941: 89 quote, 39). Elected to the state utility regulation board in 1918, he compelled the telephone and electric companies to reduce their rates, and strove to prevent the big oil companies from squeezing out their smaller independent competitors (Kane 1941: 50; Key 1949: 158). Elected governor in 1928, Long championed programs that provided free textbooks to all school children, built highways and free bridges, and created charity hospitals for the poor, paying for these programs by raising taxes on such businesses as the oil and natural gas industry (Kane 1941: 63, 81, 141, 142).

Needless to say, conservative business interests, who had politically dominated the state and had kept taxes down, opposed Long’s policies. V.O. Key (1949: 159) lists these powerful conservative interests as the mercantile, financial, and shipping interests of New Orleans, the sugar growers, cotton planters, lumber industry, big oil companies, the railroads, and the gas and electric utilities. They were joined by the large newspapers that defended the dominant economic interests, each of which was blasted by Long with his one-word term lyingnewspaper (Key 1949: 163, 1st quote; Kane 1941: 74, 2nd quote). To counter the economic power of these interests, Long and some of his successors were accused of enriching themselves or their campaigns by assessing the salaries of public employees, or granting gambling or oil production concessions to their political allies (Key 1949: 163). Huey Long exercised so much power as governor, directing legislative allies how he wanted them to vote and vetoing the appropriations of programs and agencies of political opponents, that one newspaper depicted him as a dictator in the mold of a Mussolini or a Napoleon (Kane 1941: 64, 65, 68). Becoming the first Louisiana governor to be impeached by the state house, Long was acquitted by the state senate, and promoted to the U.S. senate by the people of Louisiana after his gubernatorial term (Kane 1941: 70-76). He continued to wield extraordinary power over Louisiana politics and was assassinated in 1935 by a man who feared that a state dictatorship existed and whose friends and relatives had suffered retaliation at the hands of Long. His bodyguards promptly retaliated by pumping 61 bullets into the fallen assassin (Kane 1941: 134-135).

EDWIN EDWARDS GOVERNS WITH A BIRACIAL COALITION

As the Second Reconstruction began to transform Louisiana society and the race issue became less salient to whites, Louisiana Democrats were successful in creating a governing biracial coalition of working-class whites, Cajuns (Canadian French Catholic immigrants), and the vast majority of the sizable African American population. The leader of this coalition for much of the last three decades of the 20th century was four-term governor Edwin Edwards. Edwards, a French-speaking Catholic from south Louisiana and the first governor of Cajun descent in the century, came from a humble background as the son of a tenant farmer. Growing up during the Great Depression, his hero was Franklin D. Roosevelt, and he praised governmental programs that provided him bus service, electricity, a free school lunch, and school books, as well as the butter, beans, flour, and other staples that kept his family alive (Bridges 1994: 198 quote, 199). Edwin Edwards was especially known for being a witty and charismatic campaigner (Lamis 1990: 110). When reporters at the start of his first reelection campaign asked him whether he would be able to keep his New Year resolution to stop gambling, Edwards joked: The odds are eight to five (Bass and DeVries 1977: 175). Responding to stories about his alleged womanizing during his third successful gubernatorial election campaign, the handsome Edwards quipped that the only way he could lose the election was if he was caught in bed with a dead girl or a live boy (Bridges 1994: 200).

In his first election as governor in 1971, Edwards ran with a moderate conservative roll call voting record earned as a Congressman representing the district in southwest Louisiana, and was forced to survive tough battles for the Democratic nomination and then the general election (Barone, Ujifusa, and Matthews 1972: 311). In the Democratic runoff primary Edwards, with strong support from Cajun country in south Louisiana and heavy black support, narrowly defeated state senator Bennett Johnson from North Louisiana. He then faced a strong, articulate GOP challenger David Treen, a New Orleans suburbanite who had unsuccessfully run for Congress. Facing a conservative Republican opponent who blasted the Medicare program and upheld an uncompromising social, economic, and philosophical conservatism, Edwards was able to portray himself as a moderate liberal (Lamis 1990: 110). Though Edwards held his Republican opponent to 43% of the vote, the victorious Democrat was able to garner only 47% of the white vote. This election heralded the rise of a modern Republican party in Louisiana that posed a serious challenge to the governing Democrats (Bass and DeVries 1977: 172). Angered at the unfairness of Democrats having to wage three major campaigns (in the first primary, runoff, and then general election) while Republicans would typically waltz to nomination without opposition, Edwards convinced the nearly all-Democratic state legislature to create a unique open primary system. In such a system, all candidates of all parties would run in one primary, and if none received a popular vote majority, the two top candidates regardless of party would be in the runoff. Hence, even Republicans would be forced to do battle in a competitive primary before earning the chance to compete in a two-person runoff election.

Edwards in his first term as governor pursued a mix of progressive and reform policies. In a progressive vein, he raised the oil and gas severance tax while eliminating the sales tax on food and medicine, increased support for vocational-technical education and the education of the handicapped, granted pay raises to teachers and state employees, and appointed a black press secretary. He also increased spending on such infrastructure as roads, ports, bridges, and hospitals. One prominent racial moderate explained that unlike crafty politicians such as former governor McKeithen who would use the race issue for their own political purposes, for the racially moderate Edwards, really in his heart, race means nothing to him… If you’re black and doing your job or he likes you, he’s got no problem (Bass and DeVries 1977: 167-168 quote; 172-173; Bridges 1994: 199; Parent and Perry 2007: 119). As a reformer, Edwards reduced the patronage system, and cleaned up the scandal-ridden Revenue Department. His popularity was such that he faced no Republican opposition in his 1975 reelection bid, and easily dispatched five Democratic opponents in the first primary. Yet hints of corruption had already surfaced, including allegations of the sale of government appointments to campaign contributors, stories of Edwards holding stock in a company that planned to build an office building by drawing tenants that might be attracted by influence of the governor, and charges that the wife of Edwards had received free rent in Washington from an architect friend who potentially could do business with state government (Bass and DeVries 1977: 175).

Republicans elected their first governor since Reconstruction in 1979, Congressman David Treen, thanks to bitter divisions among the Democratic candidates and the Democrat making the runoff having a reputation as a "liberal." In a field with five prominent Democrats, Treen narrowly led the first primary, while "liberal" Public Service Commission chairman, Louis Lambert, who had become famous for tirelessly fighting utility rate increases, came in third in the unofficial vote (after the lieutenant governor). The official vote placed Lambert narrowly in second place, leading the bitter lieutenant governor to claim that the election was "stolen from me" (Lamis 1990: 116). Lambert was so unpopular among these prominent losing Democrats that all four endorsed Republican Treen in the two-man runoff election. Pointing to Treen's congressional roll call record, the "populist" Lambert blasted his GOP opponent as a "heartless conservative" who voted against the sick and elderly, prompting another disgruntled Democratic gubernatorial hopeful, the secretary of state, to brand Lambert as "lying Louie" (Lamis 1990: 116). Despite being backed by outgoing Governor Edwards (constitutionally barred from a third consecutive term), labor unions, and African Americans, Lambert lost a cliffhanger to Treen, who benefited from his business support and his great popularity in his suburban New Orleans congressional district.

Democrats quickly resurrected their biracial governing coalition in the 1983 election, when Edwards (who four years earlier had been constitutionally barred from seeking a third consecutive term) unseated Governor David Treen (the first GOP governor since Reconstruction) in a landslide. The well-funded Edwards skillfully played on public dissatisfaction with the economic problems plaguing the state, ushered in by the 1982 national recession. Blasting Treen as an inept, do-nothing governor, Edwards described the Republican governor as having a lack of anything between your ears, and of being so slow, it takes him an hour and one-half to watch Sixty Minutes (Lamis 1990: 118, 1st quote; Renwick, Parent, and Wardlaw 1999: 285, 2nd quote). Treen touted his black appointments to state government and tried to contrast his own integrity with the Edwards image of corruption, but was swamped by the Democrats powerful biracial coalition of whites with modest incomes and of blacks, and by the public perception of being a failed leader in this economic crisis (Parent 1988: 212; Parent and Perry 2003: 128; Parent and Perry 2007: 135).

Democrats retained the governorship in the 1987 election by showing how they were such a broad tent party that they could replace their own tainted incumbent governor with a moderate conservative alternative. Governor Edwards was plagued by budget problems caused by an economic downturn, plus fallout from a massive tax increase. His deathblow was the corruption issue, reflected in Edwards having been the target of thirteen federal investigations, and tried twice (finally acquitted) for the indictment of allegedly illegally using his influence in selling permits to hospitals and nursing homes (Renwick, Parent, and Wardlaw 1999: 285-286). In a crowded field smelling blood, a telegenic challenger, a moderate conservative congressman from North Louisiana, Buddy Roemer, effectively used television ads and numerous newspaper endorsements to amass a first primary lead over Edwards with the Republican candidate placing a distant third (Hadley 1991: 76). Reeling from this rebuke by the voters, Edwards graciously withdrew from the race, making a runoff election between the two Democrats unnecessary.

The governing Democratic party was further assisted by the hapless Republicans in the last race of Bennett Johnston as U.S. Senator in 1990. David Duke had resigned from the Ku Klux Klan to create the National Association for the Advancement of White People (Bridges 1994: 54). After two unsuccessful state senate campaigns running as a conservative Democrat, Duke went on to file as a Republican in a special 1989 election for the state house in the overwhelmingly white Metairie suburb of New Orleans, and managed to eke out a 51% victory (Bridges 1994: 56, 80). To the consternation of Republican party and public officials, the next year he entered the U.S. senate race as a Republican. Hoping to end this agony by delivering the incumbent Democrat a first primary majority, Republican officials prevailed upon the mainstream Republican candidate, Ben Bagert, Jr. to drop out of the race. Johnston did indeed win the first primary outright, but that Duke received 44% of the total vote and 59% of the white vote shocked most Americans (Bridges 1994: 191-193). Duke had convinced many white voters that he had abandoned his extremist past and was now merely a right-wing populist, as he opposed affirmative action and minority set-aside programs as discrimination against whites, and called for welfare recipients to be tested for drugs and to work for their welfare checks (Bridges 1994: 177). One poll confirmed that Duke had attracted voters with his conservative positions on racial issues, such as minority set-asides and government aid to minorities. The winning issue, though, was that more voters felt comfortable with Johnston (Renwick, Parent, and Wardlaw 1999: 288-289).

The last hurrah of the Edwin Edwards years for Democrats was the 1991 gubernatorial election. Democrat Buddy Roemer, who had been a moderate conservative congressman, as governor unsuccessfully sought to shift state taxes from the sales tax to the more progressive income tax, and had his veto of a strict anti-abortion law overturned. Facing declining popularity, Roemer pronounced himself an economic conservative but a social liberal, and switched parties. His conversion to the GOP did not convince conservative Congressman Clyde Holloway, who had served his central Louisiana district since 1986 as a Republican, to withdraw from the race. Neither did it deter David Duke, buoyed by his strong showing the previous year, from entering the fray as a Republican. And Edwin Edwards was just itching for a rematch with the man who had beaten him four years earlier, claiming that he was on a mission to prove that Roemer was lying about me and that he could not do what he said he was going to do (Renwick, Parent, and Wardlaw 1999: 291 quote, 290).

Edwards narrowly led the first primary with 34% of the vote to 32% for Duke, setting up the race from hell between the crook and the bigot (Bridges 1994: 194 1st quote; 217 other quotes). With Louisiana political and economic leaders terrified that a victory by Duke would produce a massive national boycott by lucrative conventions and businesses (considering where to locate), bumper stickers backing Edwards jokingly urged: Vote for the Crook. It’s Important! (Bridges 1994: 220-221, 232 quote). In a televised debate, Edwards effectively compared his own record of public service with the controversial Duke: While David Duke was burning crosses and scaring people, I was building hospitals to heal them. When he was parading around in a Nazi uniform to intimidate our citizens, I was in a National Guard uniform bringing relief to flood and hurricane victims (Bridges 1994: 229). Needless to say, Edwards won his fourth and final term as governor with a sizable 61% of the vote, as one poll found that fully 60% of voters believed that the racial views of Duke had not changed since his days with the KKK and that an overwhelming 91% of those voters ended up backing Edwards (Rose and Esolen 1992: 229-230). The Edwards era in Louisiana politics ended with his retirement from public life after serving this last term, his subsequent indictment and conviction for a federal crime, and his commitment to a federal prison.

Edwards served 10 years in federal prison, convicted of receiving bribes of over one million dollars pertaining to the prison system and casino licenses. While in jail in 2011 when he was 84 years old, he married 33-year-old Trina. In 2013 his son was born, Eli Wallace. In 2014, he ran for a U.S. House seat in south central Louisiana that was one-third black and with a retiring incumbent; he led the first primary, but lost the runoff to a Republican.

Governors and U.S. Senators and Their Parties in Modern Louisiana

	Democrats			Republicans
	Governors	Senators	Senators	Governors	Senators	Senators
1970	McKeithen	Ellender	Long
1971	Edwards*	Ellender	Long
1972	Edwards	Johnston*	Long
1974	Edwards	Johnston	Long*
1975	Edwards*	Johnston	Long
1976	Edwards	Johnston	Long
1978	Edwards	Johnston*	Long
1979		Johnston	Long	Treen*
1980		Johnston	Long*	Treen
1982		Johnston	Long	Treen
1983	Edwards*	Johnston	Long
1984	Edwards	Johnston*	Long
1986	Edwards	Johnston	Breaux*
1987	Roemer*	Johnston	Breaux
1988	Roemer	Johnston	Breaux
1990		Johnston*	Breaux	Roemer+
1991	Edwards*	Johnston	Breaux
1992	Edwards	Johnston	Breaux*
1994	Edwards	Johnston	Breaux
1995		Johnston	Breaux	Foster*
1996		Landrieu*	Breaux	Foster
1998		Landrieu	Breaux*	Foster
1999		Landrieu	Breaux	Foster*
2000		Landrieu	Breaux	Foster
2002		Landrieu*	Breaux	Foster
2003	Blanco*	Landrieu	Breaux
2004	Blanco	Landrieu				Vitter*
2006	Blanco	Landrieu				Vitter
2007		Landrieu		Jindal*		Vitter
2008		Landrieu*		Jindal		Vitter
2010		Landrieu		Jindal		Vitter*
2011		Landrieu		Jindal*		Vitter
2012		Landrieu		Jindal		Vitter
2014				Jindal	Cassidy*	Vitter
2015	J.B. Edwards*				Cassidy	Vitter
2016	J.B. Edwards				Cassidy	Kennedy*
2018	J.B. Edwards				Cassidy	Kennedy
2019	J.B. Edwards*				Cassidy	Kennedy

Note: Cell entries indicate the governors and U.S. Senators elected in or serving during the years listed at the left. In Louisiana, governors are elected in the odd-numbered year before a presidential election, so those years are included in this table.

* Indicates that the officeholder was elected in that year.

+ Roemer switched parties in early 1991.

EMERGENCE OF A MORE COMPETITIVE TWO-PARTY STATE

The first gubernatorial race of the post-Edwards era (in 1995) saw a runoff election between white Democrat-turned-Republican state senator, Mike Foster, who offered an ideologically inclusive program, and liberal African American Democratic congressman Cleo Fields. As a former Democratic state senator from Cajunland in south Louisiana, Republican Mike Foster was able to attract some Democratic support. A millionaire businessman who was pro-business, pro-life, and pro-guns, Foster campaigned as a populist by wearing a cap of a welder cap and by backing an initiative and referendum measure that would allow voters to directly place proposed laws and constitutional amendments on the ballot (Renwick, Parent, and Wardlaw 1999: 294-295; Parent and Perry 2003: 120). Democrat Cleo Fields, a bright lawyer and the youngest person ever elected to the state senate, had been elected in 1992 to represent the state second majority black congressional district, a gerrymandered Z-shaped district that included Baton Rouge, finally struck down by federal judges and prompting Field to retire in 1996 (Duncan and Lawrence 1997: 617). One of the state two African American congressmen, Fields had compiled a roll call record that was over 90% liberal (Duncan and Lawrence 1995: 560-561). Democrats were also hamstrung by the preceding bitter open primary during which fellow Democrat Mary Landrieu, the state treasurer whose father Moon Landrieu had been a racial moderate as mayor of New Orleans, had claimed that Fields could not win the runoff election. Fields accused her of playing the race card … by raising the issue that a black candidate could not win, and Landrieu declined to endorse her fellow Democrat after the primary because of unfair racial tactics allegedly used by the Fields camp (Renwick, Parent, and Wardlaw 1999: 295 first quote; p. 296 second quote). The combination of the ideological inclusiveness of Foster, the liberalism of Fields, and the Democratic party split produced a landslide for the Republican. As governor, Republican Mike Foster focused on such non-controversial and popular programs as education improvements and efforts to attract new businesses, enacting such measures as tort reform and education reform (Knuckey and Hadley 2002: 79-80). Democrats in the 1999 election turned to the sole remaining African American congressman, William Jefferson, who like Fields also sported a liberal roll call voting record (Duncan and Nutting 1999: 574). Campaigning as a reform-minded conservative from Cajun country with a disarming good-ol-boy patter, Foster won the first primary outright with a landslide reelection vote (Knuckey and Hadley 2002: 79).

Both parties, particularly Democrats, appeared to learn their lessons of how a blind commitment to ideological purity or extremism merely helps the other party win elections. Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu, won reelection in 2002 as someone more concerned with representing her state than with being a blind party loyalist. Her image was reinforced by her support for the Bush tax cut, her frequent votes against a majority of her own party senators, and by her delivering federal dollars to programs that helped Louisiana, such as funds for conservation projects and for school districts having many poor children (Hawkings and Nutting 2003: 430-431). The pragmatic Landrieu record as a first-term senator included crafting a compromise that protected development of a missile defense system, fighting for a farm relief bill that helped Louisiana farmers hurt by a drought, and backing an early childhood development initiative that would ensure that all preschoolers were prepared to enter school (Mikulski et al., 2000: 226-228). Competing in the 2002 runoff election one month after the national midterm elections, Landrieu may have been unwittingly helped by President Bush, who campaigned in Louisiana for the GOP candidate, State Elections Commissioner Suzanne Terrell. The Bush interest in a Louisiana election may have reinforced the impression that unlike the incumbent, the GOP challenger might act in the Senate as a blind party loyalist rather than as someone who had the best interests of the state at heart. This concern was especially salient to voters given the Landrieu claim that Terrell supported a secret White House deal that would cripple the state sugar cane industry by doubling sugar imports from Mexico. Landrieu also benefited from Democratic voters being mobilized by automated telephone messages made by President Clinton and by Congressional Black Caucus members who campaigned for her in black churches (Knuckey, Day, and Hadley 2005: 66). Landrieu was then reelected in 2008 over state Treasurer and recent party-switcher, John Kennedy. One Landrieu television ad explained that she was not looking for Democratic solutions or Republican solutions but for solutions that work for Louisiana problems, and recounted her successful fights for federal sharing of revenue from mineral exploration in offshore waters and for funds for a state defense contractor (Anderson 2008a). Her Republican opponent, meanwhile, desperately backtracked after being accused of siding with a conservative Oklahoma senator who single-handedly derailed a bill that sought to provide $1.1 billion in disaster aid to farmers in Louisiana and other states affected by recent natural disasters (Moller 2008). The first GOP governor since Reconstruction, Dave Treen, proceeded to endorse Landrieu as someone who is respected by Republicans and Democrats in the Senate, who has always worked across the (political) aisle to get the job done for Louisiana (Anderson 2008b). To add insult to injury, the national GOP pulled the plug on its financial support for Kennedy, as it desperately sought to prop up its vulnerable incumbents in other states in a year that promised to be a Democratic 1994 tsunami (Barrow 2008). With Democrats outnumbering Republicans by 42-38% among exit poll voters and Landrieu winning 51% of the votes of Independents and 63% of moderates, as well as winning majorities among the two-thirds of voters who cited the economy or Iraq as the most important issue of the campaign, the incumbent won a 53% reelection victory (http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/results/polls/#val=LAS01p1).

Experience with the unique problems of Louisiana also seemed to help Democrats in the 2003 governor race, when Kathleen Blanco, who had served the state for twenty years as state representative, public service commissioner, and finally lieutenant governor, defeated in the runoff election the son of immigrants from India, Bobby Jindal, who had never served in elected office but had served in appointive positions in health departments in the state and federal governments (Koszczuk and Stern 2005: 443). Jindal may have also been hurt by a perception that he was too conservative for voters, as Blanco blasted him for opposing abortion in every case, even when the life of the mother was at stake, and accused him of hurting low income patients when he had cut costs while serving as head of the state health department (Knuckey, Day, and Hadley 2005: 67). Hurricane Katrina, which devastated New Orleans, a Democratic stronghold, seemed to breathe even more life into the once-weak Republican Party. A 2007 poll confirmed 2004 exit polls that the numbers of identifiers of the two major parties was now relatively equal (Scott 2007). Democrats failed to even offer a major gubernatorial candidate in 2007, as Governor Blanco, whose leadership during and after the hurricane was found wanting by many voters, declined to seek reelection, and former U.S. senator John Breaux declined to run because of a dispute over his legal residency. Elected and reelected to represent the New Orleans suburban Metairie congressional district, Republican Bobby Jindal skillfully built on his 48% showing in the previous gubernatorial election by spending weekends traveling across the state and giving speeches even before officially renewing his gubernatorial candidacy, especially focusing on conservative north Louisiana where he had been weak four years earlier (Moller 2007a). A bizarre state Democratic attack ad that charged that Jindal had insulted Protestants when ten years ago he had written in a Catholic journal about his soul-searching as a young man transitioning from the Hindu faith of his parents to his current deeply religious Roman Catholic faith seemed to backfire, as a prominent Protestant leader concluded that he appreciated his honesty, his transparency and his vigorous faith (Moller 2007b). Republican Jindal breezed to victory with 54% of the vote to 29% for two Democratic opponents (a state senator and a New Orleans businessman) and 17% for other candidates. In addition to reelecting the GOP secretary of state and insurance commissioner, Republicans also picked up the position of treasurer through a party switch (before the election) and the agriculture commissioner position after the incumbent Democrat withdrew from the runoff election, leaving Democrats with only two statewide offices (lieutenant governor and attorney general). In his 2011 reelection bid, Jindall faced four no-name Democrats- a lawyer, a special education teacher, a high school teacher, and a victim advocacy group member- who combined achieved only 28% of the vote to the 66% Jindall landslide (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisiana_gubernatorial_election,_2011). The sole Democratic statewide elected officer, the attorney general, had switched to the Republican Party in February, and he and five other Republicans swept the sub gubernatorial statewide elected offices in the blanket primary. In addition to retaining control of the state house of representatives, Republicans gained control of the state senate for the first time since Reconstruction after a March 2011 special election, and easily kept control in the general election (http://staticresults.sos.la.gov/).

The GOP elected their first U.S. Senator in Louisiana history in 2004, when Democrats split their efforts and energy among four Democratic candidates and Republicans unified behind two-term state representative and three-term Congressman David Vitter, a Rhodes Scholar and graduate of Harvard and Oxford Universities (Koszczuk and Stern 2005: 441-442). Vitter, a conservative representing a part of East Louisiana that included the New Orleans suburb of Metairie, won the first primary outright, outdistancing second place finisher Chris John, a moderate Democratic congressman representing the southwest district (Hawkings and Nutting 2003: 444). Vitter effectively introduced himself to voters with "several warm personal-introduction television spots," and also promised to fight for their right to buy cheaper American-made prescription drugs imported from other countries (Parent and Perry 2007: 130). The victorious Republican also benefited from his strong grassroots organization in every parish and his great popularity in his suburban New Orleans congressional district. The clincher for Vitter was President Bush's coattails, as Bush not only won a landslide 57% of the state vote, but also a growing number of voters cast a straight ticket ballot for the President and his party’s senate candidate (Knuckey, Day, and Hadley 2005: 76-77).

The national GOP tsunami in 2014 completed the Republican sweep of major offices in Louisiana, as Democratic U.S. Senator Landrieu who had previously on three occasions been able to narrowly win election, finally went down to defeat in the runoff primary (a December runoff necessitated after a Tea Party favorite and retired Air Force colonel held conservative Republican congressman Bill Cassidy to 41% in the first primary to Landrieu's 42%). Though the state remained sufficiently competitive that Republicans outnumbered Democrats among voters by only 1%, fully 59% of voters disapproved of President Obama's job performance and 57% believed that Landrieu agreed with Obama too often (CNN exit poll for first open primary). Cassidy proceeded to nationalize the campaign in an anti-illegal immigration ad that concluded with: "Remember: Mary Landrieu, Barack Obama, 97 percent. I'll stand up to Obama" (Schwarz 2014). Landrieu did not distance herself from the President when trying to mobilize black voters, as her chief of staff was caught by a hidden-camera video telling a roomful of African American supporters that the senator's reelection was vital to the Obama agenda: "She will go on to support Barrack Obama 97 percent of the time" (Hohmann 2014). Meanwhile, the sole remaining Deep South Democratic senator received precious little support from the national party, as the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee anticipating defeat in the runoff pulled its ads after the first primary, and the great majority of Senate Democrats voted down the Keystone oil pipeline project favored by the state's oil and gas industry. Cassidy's 56% runoff total suggested that as expected he had indeed won over 90% of the first primary Tea Party candidate voters.

The 2015 elections saw a Democratic comeback for Governor, but Republican retention of every other statewide office as well as of both state legislative chambers. Democratic gubernatorial candidate John Bel Edwards' noteworthy career had included graduation on the Dean's List at West Point Military Academy, service as an Army Ranger, and state House service as the Veterans Affairs Committee chair and as House Democratic caucus chair. Republicans were burdened by an outgoing governor hurt by a budget deficit that necessitated both tax increases and budget cuts, and a divisive first primary where one GOP loser remained neutral in the runoff and the other backed the Democrat. Surviving Republican, Senator David Vitter, already tarred by the "escort" scandal, was blasted by an Edwards ad accusing the Republican of skipping a 2001 House vote honoring troops killed in a Desert Storm missile strike but being on the phone with the escort service 39 minutes later, with the ad concluding: "David Vitter chose prostitutes over patriots." (O'Donoghue 2015) As governor, one of Edwards' first acts was to expand Medicaid to the working poor under the Obamacare federal program.

Republicans surged back in 2016 to easily hold Vitter's senate seat with former Democrat John Kennedy. Kennedy had significant statewide name visibility, having been elected as state treasurer five times beginning in 1999, and having run two unsuccessful U.S. senate races and one failing gubernatorial race. His opponent in the runoff election was Democrat Foster Campbell, the public service commissioner for the 5th district, who had lost three races for U.S. house and one race for governor. Republican president elect Trump and vice president elect Pence both visited Louisiana to campaign for Kennedy, while the Democratic senatorial campaign committee declined to fund any advertising for their party's candidate. Kennedy's ads were most notable for pledging to work with Trump and blasting Campbell for supporting Obamacare (Robillard 2016).

The 2019 state elections maintained the status quo, as Governor Bel Edwards won reelection with 51% of the vote, while Republicans swept all other statewide offices and won about two-thirds of the seats in the state legislature. With a 56% job approval rating, the non-ideological Edwards, who had signed a tough anti-abortion bill and supported gun owner rights, boasted his ability to work in a bipartisan manner with the GOP controlled state legislature. During his term, he balanced the state budget by raising the sales tax to deal with the fiscal crisis that he had inherited, expanded Medicaid under Obamacare, and signed a criminal justice reform bill that reduced the prison population. Republicans were bitterly divided in the first blanket primary, as millionaire businessman Eddie Rispone, touting himself as the true “outsider” and Trump supporter, edged GOP Congressman and party establishment candidate Ralph Abraham out of the runoff election. Though the losing Abraham then endorsed Rispone, his son-in-law donated to the governor’s campaign and about 10% of Rispone’s supporters ended up voting for Edwards in the runoff election. Edwards also won about one-third of the white vote overall, and benefitted from aggressive get-out-the-vote drives in the black community waged by the Democratic Party and by New Orleans political operatives connected with Urban League organizations and historically black private colleges (Craig, 2019; Webster, 2019; Bridges 2019).

In 2020 Republican Senator Cassidy is up for re-election. He starts with an approval rating that is about 20% greater than his disapproval rating. Given the Republican voting orientation of modern Louisiana, most political observers have the seat rated as safe Republican.

WEEK ELEVEN: TEXAS- REPUBLICAN HEGEMONY ROUTS LIBERAL DEMOCRATS

Liberal Democrats Capture Democratic Party

Republicans scored their first major breakthrough with the election of John Tower to the U.S. senate in a special election in 1961 to fill the vacancy caused by the Lyndon Johnson assumption of the Vice Presidency. Tower, an attractive 35-year-old professor who had studied at the prestigious London School of Economics and who was the son of a Methodist minister, had won a respectable 41% of the vote the year before when running against Senator Johnson. Johnson in 1960 had been burdened by running on the liberal Kennedy presidential ticket, as well as by relying on a special legislative act that permitted him to run simultaneously for Vice President and for reelection to the senate (Bass and DeVries 1977: 321; Lamis 1990: 195). With name recognition from his previous race, Tower in the 1961 special election led a field of more than 70 candidates and narrowly upset, with 51% in the runoff election, interim Democratic Senator William A. Blakely. Blakely, variously described as a dull, plodding, oil-rich conservative, a reactionary, and a Dallas oil man generally considered even more conservative than Tower, was anathema to Texas liberals (Lamis 1990: 195, 1st quote; Weeks 1972: 223, 2nd quote; Barone, Ujifusa, and Matthews 1972: 777, 3rd quote; Thielemann and Elliott 2005: 231). Angered at repeatedly losing Democratic primary contests to conservatives, enough liberal Democrats supported Tower in the runoff election to give him his narrow runoff victory (Lamis 1990: 195; Bass and DeVries 1977: 321). The Republican Tower more easily won reelection in 1966 with 56% of the vote, defeating another conservative Democrat, state attorney general Waggoner Carr, an associate of Governor Connally, who managed to alienate the state Mexican-American population as well as its liberals (Lamis 1990: 196; Barone, Ujifusa, and Matthews 1972: 777, 781; Bass and DeVries 1977: 315). Liberals Democrats had also been alienated in 1961 by Blakley opposing during senate hearings the first black nominated to a cabinet position, and in 1966 by the Carr service as Texas house speaker when all the segregation bills of 1957 were slammed through the legislature (Richards 2002: 223-224). Therefore, many liberal Democrats had stayed home or voted for Republican Tower in both elections, hoping that conservative Democrats would leave the party and become Republicans, thus making Texas a true two-party state (Cox 2001: 174).

Indeed, in the face of the growing Republican threat, conservative Democrats initially asserted even more influence within their party by unseating liberal Senator Yarborough in the 1970 Democratic primary. Conservative Houston millionaire Lloyd Bentsen, backed by former Governor Connally, blasted Yarborough for opposing the Vietnam War, as he ran ads showing the anti-war riots outside of the national Democratic convention in Chicago that insinuated that the incumbent senator was in some way responsible for the rioting. He also blasted Yarborough for voting against the President Nixon nomination of conservative southerner Harold Carswell to the U.S. Supreme Court, and accused the incumbent of opposing prayer in the public schools and of favoring forced busing to ensure school integration. Securing the Democratic nomination with 53% of the vote, Bentsen skillfully shifted back towards the political center, blasting Nixon administration economic policies for causing high inflation and unemployment, and regaining the support of labor, African Americans, and Mexican Americans as he rolled to a 53% popular vote victory over Republican George Herbert Walker Bush, now a two-time loser in Texas senate campaigns (Bass and DeVries 1977: 313; Lamis 1990: 198, 199; Cox 2001: 260, 262; Barone, Ujifusa, and Matthews 1972: 778, 781). Having seen the election of a conservative Republican, John Tower, to the other state U.S. senate seat and saddled with an electorally vulnerable liberal incumbent, Texas Democrats adroitly dumped him in favor of a reputed conservative, thereby neutralizing the issue of ideology that a conservative such as Bush could have otherwise exploited (Davidson 1990: 30-31).

Bentsen maintained a strict moderate position with relatively equal scores from both the ACA and ADA groups (except in his reelection year of 1976 when his scores became moderate conservative) (Barone, Ujifusa, and Matthews 1975: 814-815; Barone, Ujifusa, and Matthews 1977: 811-812). Moderate Lloyd Bentsen was easily reelected in 1976, avoiding a primary challenge from the left, and going on to a 57% popular vote victory over moderate conservative but environmentally concerned GOP congressman Alan Steelman (Lamis 1990: 203; Barone, Ujifusa, and Matthews 1975: 824). Interestingly enough, while some southern Democratic senators were veering off to the left, Bentsen retained his moderate voting record throughout the 1970s and 1980s, maintaining roughly equal liberal ADA and conservative ACA/ACU scores, and breezing to two more landslide reelections (Ehrenhalt 1983: 1443; Duncan 1991: 1414). Bentsen was also aided by a public image of being more conservative than his moderate record indicated, as political observers would often refer to his perceived conservatism or to his moderate to moderately-conservative nature (Feigert and Todd 1997: 201 1st quote; Thielemann and Elliott 2005: 233 2nd quote). Bentsen also benefited from rave reviews of his senate work attesting to his being a problem solver with a first-rate mind and the willingness, discipline, and capacity for hard work (Bass and DeVries 1977: 313).

While moderate-to-conservative Democrats were still winning the governorship and one U.S. senate seat, the Texas Democratic Party began to veer towards the ideological left. In 1972, liberals narrowly carried the state Democratic delegation for George McGovern over George Wallace, increased their numbers on the state party executive committee from 0 to 25 out of 62 members, and won all three new seats on the Democratic National Committee (DNC)(Davidson 1990: 173-174). In 1976, the state delegation to the national convention was regarded as the most liberal ever, and liberals and moderates captured a majority of the state Democratic executive committee and five of the state seven seats on the DNC (Davidson 1990: 176, 190, 195). At the 1978 state party convention, liberals and moderates won roughly two-thirds of the seats on the state executive committee, and the Democratic gubernatorial nominee backed a moderate liberal as state party chairman, Billy Goldberg (Davidson 1990: 176, 196).

Liberals scored a temporary breakthrough in the gubernatorial contest of 1978, when the leader of Texas’s conservative Democrats, Governor Dolph Briscoe, was narrowly unseated in the gubernatorial primary by moderate-to-progressive state attorney general John Hill, a consumer and environmental issues advocate whose wealth came as a plaintiffs’ lawyer who sued corporations (Lamis 1990: 203 1st quote; Thielemann and Elliott 2005: 232 2nd quote; Bass and DeVries 1977: 320 3rd quote, 319). Republicans nominated former deputy secretary of defense during President Nixon administration, William Bill Clements, a millionaire oil-drilling contractor. Clements proceeded to use over $4 million of his own money in his $7 million campaign to play on the public anti-politician mood by selling himself as a successful businessman, a contrast to the liberal professional politician Hill (Lamis 1990: 203). With Briscoe supporters still angry at the primary defeat of their candidate, and Hill supporters failing to reach out to them after the primary to seek their support, Briscoe ended up throwing his support to Republican Clements. In fact, his own views were closer to the conservatism of Clements than they were to the views of the Democratic nominee (Lamis 1990: 203; Thielemann and Elliott 2005: 232). Winning 50% of the vote to 49% for Hill, Clements became the first GOP governor in Texas since 1874, an historic first for the party rivaling Senator Tower, who had become the first GOP U.S. senator from Texas since 1877.

A partisan seesaw for governor began. In 1990 Democrats regained the governorship with Treasurer Ann Richards. A rising star in national feminist circles who had overcome alcoholism, a painful divorce, and breaking into the ‘good ol’ boys club’ of Texas politics, Richards was also known for her speech at the 1988 Democratic convention mocking GOP presidential candidate George Herbert Walker Bush gaffes and wealth by joking that Poor George, he can’t help it, he was born with a silver foot in his mouth (Murray and Attlesey 1999: 310 quotes; Richards 2002: 244-245). Millionaire Republican gubernatorial candidate Clayton Williams attempted to project an image of a folksy, straight-talking, homespun cowboy blasting the Democratic legislature as being controlled by liberals and socialists (Lamis 1990: 320, first two quotes; Davidson 1990: 265, last quote). Republican Williams proved to be the real foot-in-mouth candidate as he joked to reporters shut in at his ranch by bad weather that such weather was like rape, if it’s inevitable, just relax and enjoy it, and later admitted to boyhood visits to prostitution houses on the Mexican border (Murray and Attlesey 1999: 310 quote, 312). Such visits were part of the fun of growing up in West Texas, the only place you got serviced then, and a part of his world where you talk about the bull servicing the cow (Murray and Attlesey 1999: 312). With Democrat Richards receiving 61% of the votes of women, she became the first woman governor in Texas history elected in her own right without benefiting from her husband being governor, winning 50% of the total vote to 47% for the Republican (Murray and Attlesey 1999: 313-314).

As governor, Ann Richards took such liberal actions as opposing a bill requiring parental consent for teenagers to receive abortions, vetoing a concealed weapons bill strongly backed by the NRA, and appointing more blacks and women to state commissions and boards than any previous governor. She also backed NAFTA, worked to bring and keep industry in the state, and dealt with a budget shortfall by enacting a state lottery and signing a corporate income tax bill (Murray and Attlesey 1999: 323; Ivins and Dubose 2000: 92). Richards also showed her partisan nature even in presidential politics by mocking President Bush during the 1992 campaign (Feigert and Todd 1994: 173). Richards and the legislature also dealt with the problem of unequal funding across school districts by enacting a controversial Robin Hood law that took from the rich districts to give to the poor districts (Ivins and Dubose 2000: 22).

As Republicans became increasingly competitive with Democrats during the 1980s, the state Democratic Party appeared to shift even more towards the left. Half of the state delegation to the 1980 national Democratic convention had voted for the national health insurance platform plank of Teddy Kennedy, suggesting an even split in the delegation between liberals and non-liberals (Davidson 1990: 176). The state party platform adopted in 1982 was regarded by one knowledgeable observer as the most liberal in Texas history (Davidson 1990: 177). Even the state legislature was undergoing some ideological change. Though moderate Democrats held a plurality in both chambers, liberals outnumbered conservatives among Democrats in both houses (Davidson 1990: 219). Republicans also made electoral gains among Texas voters in the 1980s because the Democrats nationally were viewed as too liberal, too pro-labor union, too accepting of gays and lesbians and feminists, and too supportive of big government and high taxes, who nominated as presidential candidates such out-of-the-mainstream liberals as Carter, Mondale, and Dukakis (Murray and Attlesey 1999: 307).

Governors and U.S. Senators and Their Parties in Modern Texas

	Democrats			Republicans
	Governors	Senators	Senators	Governors	Senators	Senators
1970	Smith*		Bentsen*		Tower
1972	Briscoe*		Bentsen		Tower*
1974	Briscoe*		Bentsen		Tower
1976	Briscoe		Bentsen*		Tower
1978			Bentsen	Clements*	Tower*
1980			Bentsen	Clements	Tower
1982	White*		Bentsen*		Tower
1984	White		Bentsen		Gramm*
1986			Bentsen	Clements*	Gramm
1988			Bentsen*	Clements	Gramm
1990	Richards*		Bentsen		Gramm*
1992	Richards		Bentsen		Gramm
1993	Richards				Gramm	Hutchison+
1994				Bush*	Gramm	Hutchison*
1996				Bush	Gramm*	Hutchison
1998				Bush*	Gramm	Hutchison
2000				Perry+	Gramm	Hutchison*
2002				Perry*	Cornyn*	Hutchison
2004				Perry	Cornyn	Hutchison
2006				Perry*	Cornyn	Hutchison*
2008				Perry	Cornyn*	Hutchison
2010				Perry*	Cornyn	Hutchison
2012				Perry	Cornyn	Cruz*
2014				Abbott*	Cornyn*	Cruz
2016				Abbott	Cornyn	Cruz
2018				Abbott*	Cornyn	Cruz*

Note: Cell entries indicate the governors and U.S. Senators elected in or serving during the years listed at the left.

* Indicates that the officeholder was elected in that year.

+ Kay Bailey Hutchison won a special election in 1993 after Bentsen’s resignation to become Treasury Secretary.

+ Lieutenant Governor Rick Perry became governor in 2000 after Bush’s resignation to assume the presidency.

Republican Hegemony Over Modern Texas

Republicans now began to win statewide offices below the governorship, as in 1990 Kay Bailey Hutchison won the treasurer position vacated by Ann Richards, and state representative Rick Perry upset populist agriculture commissioner Jim Hightower (Murray and Attlesey 1999: 314). Hutchison had a particularly compelling life story as a Republican woman, as fresh out of law school she had personally suffered discrimination by large law firms not wanting to hire a woman who might leave the firm to start a family. As a Texas state legislator, she had championed causes not usually associated with hard-core conservatives, such as greater privacy for rape victims in the trial process (Mikulski et al. 2000: 21, 52). In 1992 the steady rise in the numbers of GOP state legislators even reached a post-Reconstruction high to constitute roughly 40% of each chamber. Senator Lloyd Bentsen resigned in 1993 to become Treasury Secretary for President Clinton gave Republicans their first major opening of the decade. In a special election with twenty-three candidates, GOP state Treasurer Kay Bailey Hutchison and Democratic interim U.S. senator Robert Krueger, a railroad commissioner and former congressman, made the runoff. Hutchison converted a virtual tie in the first primary into a smashing 67% landslide in the runoff election. The Republican was benefited by the activism of GOP women’s clubs across the state, by low voter turnout, by such unpopular Clinton policies as tax hikes and a proposal to permit gays in the military, and by the weakness of Krueger as a candidate, reflected in his self-deprecating television ads (Murray and Attlesey 1999: 321-322). Senator Hutchison won easily reelections, as her conservative voting record (with conservative ACA scores pretty consistently exceeding 80 and liberal ADA scores almost always below 10) was tempered by a moderate image. As Senator she worked in a bipartisan manner as she fought for improved IRAs for married homemakers, a federal anti-stalking law, protecting the states tobacco lawsuit settlements from federal confiscation, improved health care benefits for veterans, and federal grants benefiting constituents of all races (Mikulski et al. 2000: 18, 126-127, 209). She rose to the fifth ranking Republican leader as vice chair of the GOP Conference, whereupon she took the lead in showing that conservatism can have a friendly face as she reached out to varied groups with ‘summits’ on issues affecting women and Hispanics (Koszczuk and Stern 2005: 967). She also authored a book about women pioneers in numerous fields.

Republicans in 1994 also won the governorship, despite increasing job growth in Texas that boosted the Ann Richards reelection hopes. The GOP rallied behind the candidacy of George W. Bush, who was popular in Republican circles as son of the former President and as part owner of the Texas Rangers baseball team. Bush skillfully exploited the liberal record of Richards, as he supported the concealed weapons bill and the parental notification of teenagers’ abortions bill that Richards had opposed. Bush also projected a likeable image as a compassionate conservative on education matters, as he criticized a school funding equalization plan that had hurt some wealthy suburban districts and argued that all of the proceeds of the lottery enacted by Governor Richards and the legislature should go to enhancing education funding (Murray and Attlesey 1999: 323, 325-327; Thielemann and Elliott 2005: 238 quote). On the issues of crime and welfare, Bush claimed that juvenile crime is out of control, and promised to get tough with welfare recipients by cutting off the additional benefits provided for any extra child that a woman gave birth to (Ivins and Dubose 2000: 93 quote, 95). Bush was also a very personable candidate, speaking a little Spanish before Mexican American audiences and projecting a non-threatening, affable, well-mannered impression to voters (Ivins and Dubose 2000: 91 quote, 19). The Democrat Richards was especially doomed by her inability to hold the urban Anglo women against Bush (Richards 2002: 246). The Bush 54% popular vote victory was the highest winning margin for a Texas governor in twenty years.

As governor, the compassionate conservative Bush appointed Mexican Americans to high level positions, including Al Gonzales to the state Supreme Court, promoted accountability in education through promoting charter schools and testing students, and sponsored tax cuts in two legislative sessions (Feigert and Todd 2002: 199; Lamare, Polinard, and Wrinkle 2003: 269-270; Ivins and Dubose 2000: 205). Bush also backed such pro-business policies as tort reform, which capped punitive damages levied against companies harming people and required that lawsuits be filed in the hometowns of corporations, and loosening environmental regulations that were believed to be a burden to companies (Ivins and Dubose 2000: 152, 177, 196). Getting tough on crime, Bush signed laws providing for stiffer sentences for possession of a small amount of cocaine and for possessing drugs near a school or school bus, urged a legislative rewrite of the juvenile justice code that tripled the state juvenile prison population, and vetoed a bill requiring that each county set up an indigent defender program (Ivins and Dubose 2000: 231, 236, 247).

More importantly, Governor Bush gained a reputation for working across party lines in the state legislature, as he reached out to the Democratic lieutenant governor and Democratic house speaker and even shared credit for policy accomplishments (Thielemann and Elliott 2005: 239 1st two quotes, 235 last quote). Bush was popular among lawmakers because of his amiable, up-close-and-personal style, as he invited nearly every lawmaker to have dinner at the governor’s mansion or to meet with him personally and even referred to them by their nicknames (Ivins and Dubose 2000: 157 quote, 90). Endorsed even by such a prominent Democrat as the lieutenant governor, Bush cruised to reelection in 1998 with 68% of the vote to 31% for Democratic land commissioner, Gary Mauro. Spending heavily on a campaign in the Spanish-language media and with a campaign slogan of Together we can, Bush managed to even attract 49% of the Hispanic vote and 27% of the African American vote (Ivins and Dubose 2000: 282 quote, 13, 280; Lamare, Polinard, and Wrinkle 2003: 278; Thielemann and Elliott 2005: 239; Duncan and Nutting 1999: 1282). Even more historic and shocking was that Republicans swept all statewide elective offices, electing agriculture commissioner Rick Perry as lieutenant governor and also electing Republicans as attorney general, comptroller, agriculture commissioner, and land commissioner (Lamare, Polinard, and Wrinkle 2003: 274). Leading such an historic GOP breakthrough in such a traditionally Democratic state put Governor Bush in the driver’s seat for the GOP upcoming presidential nomination.

Lieutenant governor Rick Perry assumed the governorship when George W. Bush immediately resigned after winning the presidency. Perry went on to win the governorship in his own right in the 2002 elections with 58% of the vote over Democrat Tony Sanchez. Sanchez, a Mexican-American millionaire businessman from Laredo, was reportedly hurt by his lack of campaign experience, his inadequate knowledge of state issues, a party primary battle that was so bitter that the runner up ended up campaigning for the GOP governor, by a failed savings and loan scandal in his past, and by claims that he was not a real Democrat because of his past campaign donations to George Bush and his appointment by Bush to the University of Texas Board of Regents (Cooley and Lutz, 2002). Sanchez did, however, win the endorsement of the Houston Gay and Lesbian Political Caucus Political Action Committee by reportedly supporting domestic-partner benefits, an Employment Non-Discrimination Act, and an education bill banning discrimination based upon sexual orientation in Texas schools, and opposing bills that would outlaw gay and lesbian parenting and foster parenting (Bagby 2002).

Another GOP victory in 2002 was their capture of a majority of seats in the state house, giving them control of both legislative chambers. The GOP governor and Republican-controlled legislature proceeded to institute an historic mid-decade redistricting of U.S. House seats to better reflect voters’ partisan sentiments. Their bold power play so angered Democratic lawmakers that three legislative special sessions were required, after over fifty House Democrats fled to Ardmore, Oklahoma during the regular session to deny the chamber a quorum and eleven of the twelve senate Democrats took off for Albuquerque during the second special session (Lamare, Polinard, Wenzel, and Wrinkle 2007: 293-294). Republican fortunes immediately improved after the redistricting, as the GOP went from controlling 47% of the states U.S. house seats before the 2004 elections to controlling 66% of them after the elections, reaching a more equitable 59% mark after the 2006 national GOP debacle. Meanwhile, as governor, Perry appointed Hispanics to high-level positions in state government (Thielemann and Elliott 2005: 240). He also dealt with a state budget shortfall without raising taxes, enacted stricter requirements that cut the number of children served by the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and backed a ban on same-sex marriages and a stricter anti-abortion measure (Fikac 2006).

Yet another triumph for Texas Republicans was to fill the vacant Phil Gramm U.S. senate seat in 2002 with GOP state attorney general John Cornyn, who defeated former Dallas mayor Ron Kirk, a charismatic and politically centrist African American by a 55%-43% vote margin (Koszczuk and Stern 2005: 970). Cornyn, a former district court judge and state supreme court justice, was benefited by his conservative credentials and his allegiance to Bush (Koszczuk and Stern 2005: 970). A pro-business advocate of limited government, Cornyn has maintained a conservative voting record in the senate, and has led efforts to enact constitutional amendments banning gay marriage and flag burning (Koszczuk and Stern 2005: 969-970). He easily won reelection in 2008, outspending his Democratic opponent, a state representative by a 3-1 margin, as national Democrats financially abandoned their candidate to focus on more competitive races in other states (Robison 2008).

Republicans continued their romp in 2006, as they not only reelected Senator Hutchison in a landslide, but also reelected Governor Perry and swept the other five statewide executive offices containing single executives (as well as the only statewide race for one of the three railroad commissioners), which included two races without incumbents running. With a sagging popularity, Perry found himself facing two Independents as well as a Democrat, all exploiting public discontent with the political situation. They included state comptroller and Republican Carole Keeton Strayhorn, who promised to place a high priority on public education funding and to expand the CHIP healthy children program, and who blasted Perry for making cuts in both areas (Chron.com 2006). The other independent was comedian Kinky Friedman, who mocked the political experience of his opponents by reminding audiences that the letters ticks in the word politics stood for blood-sucking parasites, but soon found himself on the defensive for the racial slur of referring to Hurricane Katrina evacuees in Houston as crackheads and thugs who had raised the crime rate (Ratcliffe and Robison 2006). Democrats offered Chris Bell, a man who had a record of losing bids for the state legislature and for mayor of Houston, who after only one term had been redistricted out of his U.S. House district by the GOP-controlled legislature, but who was idolized by partisan Democrats for filing a successful ethics complaint against GOP U.S. House leader Tom Delay (Ratcliffe 2006). With Independents splitting relatively equally among the four candidates and with about 70% of the identifiers of the two major parties backing their party candidates, the 39% share of the popular vote that Perry received compared to the 30% for Bell mirrored the 9% edge that Republicans held over Democrats in the exit polls (http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2006/pages/results/states/TX/G/00/epolls.0.html).

Democratic futility reached a new high in 2010, as the party once again lost the governorship, despite offering a respected nominee who hoped to benefit from a bitter GOP primary battle. Projecting a more moderate conservative image with endorsements from such Washington establishment Republicans as former President George Herbert Walker Bush, GOP primary challenger Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison was nevertheless easily bested by Sarah Palin-endorsed Governor Rick Perry, with Perry relentlessly railing against every decision in Washington such as the bank bailouts and the economic stimulus law (McKinley 2010). Perry then beat respected 6-year Houston mayor Bill White, despite his endorsement by the newspaper Houston Chronicle, which blasted the incumbent for cronyism, refusing to debate or to meet with newspaper editorial boards, and blamed him for the state low high school graduation rate and rising college tuitions (Houston Chronicle 2010). With Republicans outnumbering Democrats among exit poll voters 39% to 28% and conservatives outnumbering liberals by 51% to 14%, the 90% support that Perry earned among Republicans and 81% support among conservatives was decisive (White received 94% and 85% backing of Democrats and liberals, respectively.) (http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2010/results/polls/#val=TXG00p1). Further demonstrating the Republican dominance of 21st century Texas, the GOP achieved an historic high level of control of the U.S. House delegation, and control of over 60% of the seats in both chambers of the state legislature.

Republicans did equally well in 2012, with landslide victories for Romney and GOP senate nominee Ted Cruz, and retention of over 60% of the U.S. House seats and state senate and house seats. Backed by the Tea Party, Ted Cruz, the son of a Cuban immigrant and the former Texas Solicitor General, first knocked off Lieutenant Governor Dewhurst in the party primary, and then used his 20-1 spending advantage to easily best Democratic attorney and former state legislator Paul Sadler (FoxNews.com 2012).

Republican dominance continued in 2014 as they re-elected Senator Cornyn and elected attorney general Greg Abbott as governor with landslide margins. Beginning in 1996 Republicans had won every gubernatorial and U.S. senate race with at least 55% of the vote. The GOP was also advantaged by Obama's unpopularity (64% disapproval in Texas) and by their usual modern party identification advantage among voters (CNN exit poll showed 38% were Republicans and 27% Democrats). Democrats proceeded to nominate as governor Wendy Davis, a twice divorced state senator who had become a hero to feminists by leading an 11-hour filibuster against a law providing for more restrictions on abortion clinics. Davis then found herself defending her TV ad that accused Abbott (confined to a wheelchair after a tree fell on him while jogging) of hypocrisy for opposing medical malpractice lawsuits while personally winning his own partial paralysis case (Bobic 2014). Meanwhile, Abbott boasted an ambitious Hispanic outreach effort, never failing to mention that his Mexican-American wife Cecilia was poised to become the first Hispanic first lady of Texas, and won 44% of the Latino vote (Hoppe 2014). The Democratic sacrificial lamb in the senate race was a wealthy Dallas dentist, whose political claim to fame was losing a Democratic U.S. house nomination two years earlier. Leaving nothing to chance, Republican Senator Cornyn granted interviews to Spanish language media, translated his campaign material and advertisements into Spanish, and proceeded to garner 48% of the Latino vote (Kofler 2014).

Republican hegemony persisted during the 2016 election year with some warning clouds on the horizon. The GOP continued to retain at least 63% of the seats in the U.S. House and in both state legislative chambers. While Republican Trump did carry the state, his modest 55% of the major two-party vote was the lowest for a Republican since the 1990s, however.

Republicans continued to dominate elections in 2018, but Democrats made a strong showing in the U.S. Senate, holding the GOP incumbent to only 51% of the vote. Facing conservative Senator Ted Cruz, Democrats nominated Congressman Beto O'Rourke, a 4th generation Irish American who had held monthly town hall meetings and bragged about working across the aisle as a member of the Armed Services and Veterans Affairs committees. O'Rourke "campaigned apart from party labels," was "hustling in small towns across the state with a come-one-come-all message," attracted "unmatched" "late fundraising," and benefitted from an aggressive grassroots campaign with "tens of thousands of calls" made and "doors knocked" (Elliott 2018). CNN exit polls found O'Rourke with a +10% favorable over unfavorable rating, versus Cruz's +2% favorable advantage rating, and the Democrat attracted half of Independents and 65% of moderates. The Republican 4-point advantage in party identification (exit polls showed 38% Republicans and 34% Democrats) was decisive as Cruz won 91% of Republicans and the liberal O'Rourke captured 92% of Democrats. Republican governor Greg Abbott won reelection more easily, beating Democrat Lupe Valdez, a former sheriff seeking to become the state's first openly gay and Latina governor. Her low campaign budget resulted in zero television ads (Weber 2018). Abbott's popularity was reflected in his being able to win 55% of Independents and 42% of Latino's (CNN exit poll).

In 2020, Republican Senator Cornyn in a February poll had an 8-point lead over Democrat M.J. Hegar, who faces a May Democratic runoff election. So this year may be a repeat of the close senate election two years ago.

WEEK TWELVE: NORTH CAROLINA

Republican James Helms and Democrat Jim Hunt dominated North Carolina politics for the last three decades of the 20th century. Helms served 30 years in the U.S. senate, while Hunt served as governor for 4, four-year terms.

Governors and U.S. Senators and Their Parties in Modern North Carolina

	Democrats			Republicans
	Governors	Senators	Senators	Governors	Senators	Senators
1970	Scott	Jordan	Ervin
1972			Ervin	Holshouser*	Helms*
1974			Morgan*	Holshouser	Helms
1976	Hunt*		Morgan		Helms
1978	Hunt		Morgan		Helms*
1980	Hunt*				Helms	East*
1982	Hunt				Helms	East
1984				Martin*	Helms*	East
1986			Sanford*	Martin	Helms
1988			Sanford	Martin*	Helms
1990			Sanford	Martin	Helms*
1992	Hunt*				Helms	Faircloth*
1994	Hunt				Helms	Faircloth
1996	Hunt*				Helms*	Faircloth
1998	Hunt		Edwards*		Helms
2000	Easley*		Edwards		Helms
2002	Easley		Edwards		Dole*
2004	Easley*				Dole	Burr*
2006	Easley				Dole	Burr
2008	Perdue*	Hagan*				Burr
2010	Perdue	Hagan				Burr*
2012		Hagan		McCrory*		Burr
2014				McCrory	Tillis*	Burr
2016	Cooper*				Tillis	Burr*
2018	Cooper				Tillis	Burr

Note: Cell entries indicate the governors and U.S. Senators elected in or serving during the years listed at the left.

* Indicates that the officeholder was elected in that year.

Jesse Helms- Conservative Ideologue

North Carolina Republicans in 1972 won their first U.S. senate race since Reconstruction with conservative radio and television commentator Jesse Helms. A division among Democrats helped the GOP, as Congressman Nick Galifianakis of Greek ancestry upset 76-year old Senator B. Everett Jordan in the primary. Galifianakis was viewed as the more liberal Democrat, as he had reputedly favored national health care, had come to oppose the Vietnam War before Senator Jordan, and his overall roll call record was more liberal than the moderate conservative record of Jordan (Barone, Ujifusa, and Matthews 1972: 583, 586, 591, 592; Lamis 1990: 135). Republican Helms was viewed as an economic traditionalist who favored limited government, few business regulations, low taxes, and a balanced federal budget, and who was popular with business. Helms expanded his popular appeal beyond economics by embracing a social traditionalism that included opposition to court-ordered busing and world communism, and support for national defense spending. With a campaign slogan of He’s one of us, Helms proceeded to defeat his Greek-American opponent by 54% of the vote, after repeatedly trying to link Galifianakis with liberal Democratic presidential candidate George McGovern, a wise strategy given the 71% popular vote sweep by Nixon of the state (Luebke 1990: 26). In the process, Helms accused his Democratic opponent of being soft on drug abuse and a profligate spender and favoring amnesty for Vietnam draft evaders, and implied that Galifianakis was namby-pamby on forced busing and extravagant federal spending (Lamis 1990: 135).

Building a national reputation as an outspoken conservative, Helms entered his first 1978 reelection with a massive $7 million war chest. Democrats were again a divided party with the more liberal candidate, state insurance commissioner John Ingram upsetting Charlotte banker and son of former governor Luther Hodges in the primary. As Ingram stressed his record of opposition to insurance rate increases to paint himself as a populist who cared about the average worker, Helms combined his strong support in the business community with his image of being a Christian gentleman who was working for you in Washington to win reelection with 54.5% of the vote (Lamis 1990: 140 quote; 139). Indeed, political observers indicate that Senator Helms was viewed by thousands of North Carolinians as a champion of small-town values such as fiscal constraint, free enterprise, and other verities learned at the knees of parents, and acknowledge that his senate office ran a crackerjack constituent services operation that has helped thousands of Tar Heel residents (Christensen and Fleer 1999: 83). Helms also generally had strong support from the textile and tobacco industries, did well with the blue-collar, gun-rack vote, and was also strong in the historically Democratic eastern portion of the state and among Christian evangelicals who opposed abortion (Christensen and Fleer 1999: 84 quote, 83; Barone, Ujifusa, and Matthews 1979: 646).

In his 1984 reelection bid, Helms wasted little time taking advantage of the national Democratic nomination of northern liberal Walter Mondale as their presidential candidate, blasting the Democratic governor as, Jim Hunt-a Mondale liberal in many ads (Luebke 1990: 147). Helms proceeded to paint a picture of his opponent Hunt as being soft on abortion, blacks, and Christianity, as well as being a tax-and-spend liberal (Luebke 1990: 140). One GOP television ad listed the numerous labor union contributions by name and amount given to Hunt, and closed with the slogan, Look for the union label (Luebke 1990: 85). The conservative Helms warned his campaign supporters that numerous liberal national groups were trying to defeat him, including the homosexuals, labor unions, those militant feminists, all of them (Luebke 1990: 131). Hunt countered by reciting his own conservative views, such as support for the death penalty, prayer in public schools, and defense spending, but as governor he had supported a state fund that paid for abortions for poor women (Luebke 1990: 143). Furthermore, while Helms had opposed a federal Martin Luther King holiday, Governor Hunt had met in the office of the governor with liberal civil rights activist Jesse Jackson, prompting the Helms campaign to distribute a picture of the two Democrats meeting together (Luebke 1990: 141). The Helms effort to nationalize the election may indeed have paid off, as President Reagan swept North Carolina with 62% of the vote, and state pre-election polls had shown a strong linkage between voter assessment of the job performance of Reagan and their support for Helms (Fleer, Lowery, and Prysby 1988: 106). Helms may also have been advantaged by his folksy demeanor when meeting constituents and attending campaign rallies, leading many to view him as gentlemanly, courteous, and humorous, and by his stress on his senate seniority and his support for the state agricultural industry (Luebke 1990: 131 quote, 132; Lamis 1990: 251). The Republican senator nevertheless won reelection with only 52% of the vote, reflecting his controversial image and how competitive two-party politics had become in North Carolina.

The 1990s saw Senator Jesse Helms reelected twice over Harvey Gantt, each time with only 53% of the vote. Gantt, a respected MIT trained architect and city planner, had been the first African American to attend Clemson University, and had twice been elected mayor of majority white Charlotte. In both the 1990 and 1996 elections, Gantt had won less than 57% of the vote in the Democratic primary by beating white moderates who were viewed by even some liberals as more electable- a small-town district attorney Mike Easley in 1990 and businessman Charlie Sanders in 1996 (Christensen and Fleer 1999: 84).

Helms most clearly raised the race issue in 1990 by charging that Gantt had used his minority racial status to get a television station license, and by running a television commercial that showed two white hands crumbling an employment application with the announcer claiming that the white had lost the job to a less qualified black merely because of a racial quota (Christensen and Fleer 1999: 81, 84). Helms ad makers were also accused of darkening the on-screen image of his African American opponent and of slowing his voice, evoking an image among some viewers of a stupid black (Jamieson 1992: 96 quotes, 95). Gantt, who was indeed pro-choice and anti-death penalty, was also blasted by the staunch conservative Helms as being an extreme liberal, who supported abortion and was backed by gay and lesbian political groups (Duncan 1991: 1087 quote, 1088). The controversial Helms ads appeared to be most effective in pushing undecided white men with lower education levels into the Republican camp (Luebke 1998: 183, 187; Jamieson 1992: 99-100).

Both Helms and Gantt made more efforts to conduct a less ideologically oriented campaign in 1996. Helms put out more press releases, granted more interviews with the media, and often appeared in the state with nationally known GOP leaders, and his television ads stressed his position as a senior statesman and chair of the important Foreign Relations Committee (Christensen and Fleer 1999: 86; Duncan and Lawrence 1997: 1059). Helms ads were also specific to each of the media markets in North Carolina, as he recounted what federal help he had brought to Charlotte, Winston-Salem, and the Research Triangle (Luebke 1998: 235). Gantt called for a return to traditional values such as hard work and classroom discipline, backed welfare reform, and wanted to eliminate parole for violent criminals, while also criticizing Helms for cutting popular programs like education and Medicare (Christensen and Fleer 1999: 86). The 75-year-old Helms nevertheless could not resist some raising of the ideology issue, accusing Gantt of being more liberal than Bill Clinton and charging that Gantt supported such gay rights causes as same-sex marriage and permitting gay teachers in the classroom (Prysby 1997: 173 quote; Christensen and Fleer 1999: 85). The Christian Coalition also got into the act with a voter guide that depicted Gantt with a darkened face and accused him of being for homosexual rights (Luebke 1998: 233). The 5% popular vote victory of Republican presidential candidate Dole over Clinton may have contributed to the narrow 53% vote of Helms, as voting patterns in both contests were very similar with both Republicans winning over 80% of the white conservative vote and attracting over one-fifth of white Democrats (Prysby 1997: 171, 174).

James Hunt- Successful Modern Democratic Governor

Most noteworthy was the Democratic recapture of the governorship in 1976 with Jim Hunt, a modernizer who had been elected lieutenant governor four years earlier with a county-by-county personal network of supporters and by sharing traditionalist values on social issues by being a non-drinker and opposing abortion (Luebke 1990: 28-29). His father, who had worked for the U.S. Agriculture Department during the 1930s, had been a populist-leaning New Dealer who had inculcated in him the idea of the FDR Democrats, portraying the party as the friend of poor farmers and workers (Luebke 1998: 32 quote; Grimsley 2002: 27). His parents had also instilled in him good Christian values which included long hours of hard work on the family farm and abstaining from using alcohol and tobacco products (Grimsley 2002: 33 quote, 34). An outstanding campaigner based on his long experience in state politics as a campaign worker for gubernatorial hopefuls, Hunt had won the lieutenant governorship by effectively appealing to conservatives on morality and crime while retaining liberal constituencies by emphasizing race, gender, and education issues (Grimsley 2002: 144).

Hunt assembled an ideologically inclusive biracial coalition in his first gubernatorial campaign with his liberal views on civil rights and support for the Equal Rights Amendment for women, his conservative law-and-order approach to locking up the criminals and his personal abstention from alcohol, and his pro-business backing of business investment and recruitment of more higher wage jobs (Luebke 1990: 29). The 66% landslide Hunt victory swamped Republican human resources secretary under GOP governor Holshouser, David Flaherty (Lamis 1990: 138). With a similar broad coalition ranging from business to the AFL-CIO, Hunt won reelection in 1980 (after a gubernatorial succession amendment was adopted) with 62% of the vote over Republican I. Beverly Lake, whose segregationist father had unsuccessfully sought the Democratic gubernatorial nomination in 1960 and 1964 (Luebke 1990: 31).

As governor, the centrist Hunt was skilled at retaining the support of his broad coalition of corporate CEOs and labor leaders, and liberal urban blacks and conservative rural whites (Christensen and Fleer 1999: 83). Liberals praised his speeches urging racial harmony, his appointments of blacks to important state positions including judgeships, and his stress on improving public education which included reducing class sizes and establishing minimum graduation standards for high school seniors. Conservatives liked his tough law-and-order stances, such as his refusal to pardon the prominent Wilmington Ten (civil rights activists convicted of a 1971 firebombing) and his backing for uniform criminal sentencing. Residents of diverse ideological views praised his work for economic development, which resulted in more highway construction and increased support for recruiting high wage employers to the state (Lamis 1990: 138-139; Luebke 1990: 30, 113).

Democrats also dominated the office of governor in the last decade of the 20th century, electing Jim Hunt to a third and fourth term. Backed by state business leaders and major banks, Hunt in 1992 won a 53% to 45% victory over GOP Lieutenant Governor Jim Gardner, a businessman hurt by allegations of business failures and non-payment of business debts (Christensen and Fleer 1999: 92; Prysby 1994: 144). In his third term, Governor Hunt continued to stress increased funding for education including his pre-school program Smart Start. After the 1994 GOP landslide that gave Republicans control of the state house of representatives, the pragmatic Democrat dismayed some liberals by backing welfare reform, a large tax cut, and punitive anti-crime measures (Luebke 1998: 42 quote; Prysby 1997: 176; Prysby 2003a: 163). Hunt also expanded the use of tax credits as investment subsidies to lure new businesses to all counties in the state, not merely to the most economically distressed areas (Luebke 1998: 103).

In 1996 the popular and moderate Hunt, benefiting from an economic boom, won reelection with 56% of the vote to 43% for state legislator Robin Hayes. Hayes was a religious right candidate who was so socially conservative that he had blasted his own party primary opponent for supporting the pro-choice Planned Parenthood organization (Prysby 1997: 176; Christensen and Fleer 1999: 93; Prysby 2003a: 163). Hunt also appeared to benefit from a GOP legislative action that shutdown state government after Republicans opposed funding bills for teacher salaries and school construction, leading the governor to call a special legislative session to enact a revised budget, and permitting the governor and legislative Democrats to campaign as opponents of Republicans who wanted to cut popular state programs (Luebke 1998: 215-216). The political moderation of Hunt was rewarded by exit polls showing him drawing 67% of the votes of self-styled moderates and 50% of the votes of whites, and Democrats regained some state house and senate seats that they had lost in the 1994 national GOP landslide (Prysby 2007: 169; Luebke 1998: 216). The year after his last reelection, Hunt won legislative approval for his Excellent Schools Act, which provided significant teacher pay raises as well as even higher raises for those teachers with master’s degrees or who passed the national teacher certification examination. He also backed a conservative measure that would place low-performing schools, measured by changes in test scores of students, under state government control with the principals of schools subject to replacement (Luebke 1998: 69).

A Competitive Two-Party 21st Century

Republicans proceeded to pick up both U.S. senate seats, vacated by Republican Helms in 2002 and Democrat Edwards in 2004. In the 2002 race, Republicans nominated Elizabeth Dole, a Duke University graduate and wife of 1996 GOP presidential candidate Bob Dole, whose long political resume included serving as national Secretary of Transportation and of Labor, while Democrats chose Erskine Bowles, whose claim to fame was serving as Chief of Staff for President Clinton. As Bowles was preoccupied winning a tough nomination battle, Dole toured all of the state counties and won over many locals with her folksy tone (Hawkings and Nutting 2003: 745). Dole also related to the special economic needs of the state, as she proposed higher federal payments to tobacco growers, a pro-trade program that would guarantee American workers a level playing field, and a state job creation plan based on tax cuts and reduced business regulations. Dole won the election with 54% of the vote, and proceeded to compile the usual conservative voting record for a southern Republican, though she gained seats on the Armed Services and Banking committees that permitted her to protect the state military bases and important financial interests of Charlotte (Hawkings and Nutting 2003: 745; Koszczuk and Stern 2005: 755-756).

Democrat Bowles lost again in the 2004 senate race, as five-term congressman Richard Burr, another conservative Republican, won 52% of the vote (Hawkings and Nutting 2003: 754). Burr found it easy to relate to constituents as a college football-playing son of a Presbyterian minister who liked to chauffeur himself and roll up his sleeves for jobs such as scooping ice cream on the campaign trail (Koszczuk and Stern 2005: 757). The Republican also popularized a take this job and try it campaign technique, where he would work alongside his constituents as they worked at their own jobs (Koszczuk and Stern 2005: 758). During the campaign, Burr not only boasted of his role as congressman in enacting a tobacco buyout plan that provided billions of dollars to tobacco farmers in the state, but also touted his conservative philosophy, blasting his Bowles ties to Bill Clinton and benefiting from President Bush visits on his behalf (Prysby 2005: 193; Koszczuk and Stern 2005: 758). The victory by Burr was presumably enhanced by the 56% Bush reelection victory in North Carolina, as the patterns of their support among demographic groups were very similar. Democrats Bowles and John Kerry won only 30% and 27% respectively of the white vote, and only 21% and 18% of self-identified conservatives (Prysby 2005: 189, 191, 194). In his term in the Senate, Burr compiled the usual conservative voting record for a North Carolina Republican, tempered by his record of protecting the interests of his state medical and drug industries and tobacco farmers (Koszczuk and Stern 2005: 757-758; Hawkings and Nutting 2003: 753; also see websites: http://www.adaction.org/ and http://www.conservative.org/congress-ratings/).

The 2008 national Democratic landslide was a good year for Democrats in North Carolina, as they retained the governorship, upset senate incumbent Dole, and saw Obama narrowly carry the state. Dole began her reelection campaign with Democrats and the major state newspaper calling her a backbencher, and a silent senator who had accomplished little for the state (Barrett 2008a). A hilarious national Democratic ad took a swipe at her age, alleged ineffectiveness, and loyalty to the unpopular President Bush, with two elderly men on rocking chairs arguing over whether the 72 year old Dole was 92 or 93 in her effectiveness ranking and in her vote loyalty to Bush proposals (Barrett 2008b). Democratic challenger Kay Hagan, a 10-year state senate veteran proceeded to relate to voters by describing herself as a working mom who would carpool her kids to soccer practice, and stressed the performance issue by boasting her three-time rating as one of the ten most effective state senators by a non-partisan research center (see website: http://www.kayhagan.com/about/about-kay). Hagan received timely support from popular former Democratic governor Jim Hunt, who blasted the worst mess in Washington since the Great Depression, and derided Dole as a nice woman, but I have never seen anyone go to Washington and do as little as she's done (Shaw 2008). Meanwhile, Dole continued to stumble, airing an ad accusing the Sunday school teacher and Presbyterian elder Hagan of taking godless money because of a fundraiser held for her by a member of a Secular group (Zagaroli 2008). With Democratic identifiers outnumbering Republicans among exit poll voters 42-31% and with Hagan beating Dole by a nearly two-to-one margin among moderates, the soccer mom challenger proceeded to polish off the consummate Washington insider (website: http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/results/polls/#val=NCS01p1). Democrats also elected their two-term lieutenant governor, Beverly Perdue, as the first female governor in North Carolina history. Outspending GOP Charlotte mayor Pat McCrory by a three-to-one margin (Johnson 2008), Perdue like Hagan also won moderates handily and was greatly benefitted by the Democratic party advantage among voters (http://edition.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/results/polls/#NCG00p1).

Republicans came roaring back in the 2010 elections, reelecting their one U.S. Senator and gaining control of both state legislative chambers for the first time in over one hundred years. Senator Richard Burr gained reelection by using his massive campaign war chest to run positive television ads (featuring children and college students talking about how government affected their future) across the state, while Democratic challenger Secretary of State Elaine Marshall lacked funds to adequately get her message out as the national Democratic party desperately directed its funds towards its endangered incumbents in other states (Christensen 2010). Political observers attributed the GOP takeover of the state legislature to Democratic misfortune of having control of both the state and federal government during a time of voter discontent and high unemployment, plus a high level of campaign-related spending by business and outside groups attacking Democrats (Bonner and Biesecker 2010)

The 2012 election year was good for Republicans, as they won the governorship, narrowly carried the state for Romney, and reached new highs of controlling roughly two thirds of U.S. House and state legislative seats, though Democrats continued to hold six of the nine sub gubernatorial statewide offices. Former Charlotte mayor and narrow gubernatorial loser from 2008 Pat McCrory, benefitted from the weak economy and a big spending advantage to defeat Lieutenant Governor Walter Dalton. McCrory won 59% support among the 59% of exit poll voters who cited the economy as the most important issue facing the nation, as well as won 62% among Independents (website: http://www.cnn.com/election/2012/results/state/NC/governor).

The 2014 elections illustrated how competitive North Carolina was in terms of major party competition, as the parties differed by only 1% in terms of strength among voters (36% were Democrats and 35% Republicans) and the U.S. senate race was decided by 1.5% of the vote. Appealing to the 56% of voters who disapproved of Obama's job performance, businessman and state house speaker Republican Thom Tillis blasted President Obama and Democratic senator Kay Hagan: "Whether it's the IRS scandal, Benghazi, NSA, the Secret Service, it just really raises a question about this president's ability to lead... People can only absorb so much, so you really have to focus on her failure with jobs and economy, her failure on the safety and security issues" (Roarty 2014). Hagan fired back, blaming house speaker Tillis for "cutting income tax rates to benefit the wealthy, slashing public education funding and refusing to expand Medicaid to the working poor" (Robertson 2014). In this blitz of negative campaigning, the Republican had the edge and narrowly won the election, as 52% of voters believed that Hagan agreed with Obama too often, while only 42% felt that Tillis was too conservative (CNN exit poll).

The 2016 elections reinforced the competitive nature of modern North Carolina elections with the two major parties splitting the gubernatorial and senate elections. Democrats offered strong challengers to the two GOP incumbents. Their gubernatorial hopeful was four-term state attorney general Roy Cooper, who had also previously been a state legislator for fourteen years. The Democratic senate hopeful was Deborah Ross, a former state house member for ten years. One controversial issue in the governor's race was HB2, the bathroom bill, which prevented local governments from enacting anti-discrimination ordinances that permitted people to use public bathrooms based on their gender identity (rather than their biological gender stated on their birth certificates), which was signed into law by GOP governor McCrory. Democrat Cooper called the bill a "national embarrassment" and as attorney general refused to defend it in court (Stracqualursi 2016). With fully 65% of state voters opposing HB2 and 64% of them voting for Cooper, the Democrat narrowly unseated the Republican. Democrats were also advantaged by outnumbering Republicans 35% to 31% among voters (http://www.cnn.com/election/results/exit-polls/north-carolina/governor). Republicans were able to narrowly hang onto their senate seat, however. Though Democrat Ross tried to tie Senator Burr to the controversial Trump and the HB2 state issue, the Democrat had limited name visibility and was blasted by Burr for her support for the state ACLU chapter (Associated Press 2016b).

The 2020 elections show how this state has become more competitive, as Democratic Governor Roy Cooper in a May poll had a 15-point lead over Republican Lieutenant Governor Dan Forest. Furthermore, Republican Senator Thom Tillis is in a virtual tie with former state senator and Army Reservist with three tours in Iraq and Afghanistan Cal Cunningham.

WEEK THIRTEEN: TENNESSEE, MODERATE DEMOCRATS, MODERN REPUBLICANS

Tennessee is an intensely competitive two-party state, and both parties in the post-Second Reconstruction Era have boasted successful officeholders. Tennessee unlike other southern states, was represented by racially liberal Democrats in the U.S. Senate during the early days of the civil rights movement.

Governors and U.S. Senators and Their Parties in Modern Tennessee

	Democrats			Republicans
	Governors	Senators	Senators	Governors	Senators	Senators
1970				Dunn*	Brock*	Baker
1972				Dunn	Brock	Baker*
1974	Blanton*				Brock	Baker
1976	Blanton	Sasser*				Baker
1978		Sasser		Alexander*		Baker*
1980		Sasser		Alexander		Baker
1982		Sasser*		Alexander*		Baker
1984		Sasser	Gore*	Alexander
1986	McWherter*	Sasser	Gore
1988	McWherter	Sasser*	Gore
1990	McWherter*	Sasser	Gore*
1992	McWherter	Sasser	Gore
1993	McWherter	Sasser	Mathews+
1994				Sundquist*	Frist*	Thompson+
1996				Sundquist	Frist	Thompson*
1998				Sundquist*	Frist	Thompson
2000				Sundquist	Frist*	Thompson
2002	Bredesen*				Frist	Alexander*
2004	Bredesen				Frist	Alexander
2006	Bredesen*				Corker*	Alexander
2008	Bredesen				Corker	Alexander*
2010				Haslam*	Corker	Alexander
2012				Haslam	Corker*	Alexander
2014				Haslam*	Corker	Alexander*
2016				Haslam	Corker	Alexander
2018				Lee*	Blackburn*	Alexander

Note: Cell entries indicate the governors and U.S. Senators elected in or serving during the years listed at the left.

* Indicates that the officeholder was elected in that year.

+ Harlan Mathews was appointed in 1993 after Gore resigned to become Vice President.

+ Fred Thompson was elected in 1994 in a special election to fill Gore/Mathews’ seat.

A History of Successful Modern Democrats

The more progressive, anti-Crump faction of the Democratic Party achieved more success in U.S. senate rather than gubernatorial elections, starting in 1948. That year, 5-term congressman Estes Kefauver, a supporter of the New Deal, was elected to the senate with the votes of blacks, liberals, labor, small farmers, and lower income urban whites (Bass and DeVries 1977: 290). Blasted by Democratic Party organization boss Crump who likened him to a pet coon who used cunning to deceive people, and who accused him of being a darling of the Communists, Kefauver proceeded to campaign with a coonskin cap, the honorable badge of the pioneer, and proudly conceded that if he was a pet coon, he was not Crump’s pet coon (Key 1949: 58). A folksy campaigner known among constituents as old Estes, Kefauver had the support of the common man, who valued his honesty and courage (Bass and DeVries 1977: 291). Senator Kefauver was both a liberal and a maverick willing to take on the political powers. His liberal nature was evident in his support for civil rights and refusal to sign the 1956 segregationist Southern Manifesto, his support for the United Nations, and his opposition to communist witch hunter U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy (Bass and DeVries 1977: 290-291). His independent maverick nature was evident in his chairing of a special senate committee to investigate organized crime in America, a committee that he aggressively led despite discovering a linkage between many big city Democratic machines and organized crime, thereby demonstrating an independence from blind party loyalty that cost him the Democratic presidential nomination in 1952 (Keech and Matthews 1977: 43-44). This dominant personality of Kefauver propelled him to two reelections despite opponents who launched vicious campaigns heavy with racism and the message that he somehow was a Communist sympathizer, and he finally died in 1963 (Bass and DeVries 1977: 291).

In 1952 the anti-Crump faction was successful in unseating 82-year old Senator Kenneth McKeller, a junior partner of the Crump machine, with populist Congressman Al Gore Sr. (Key 1949: 63, 1st quote; Bass and DeVries 1977: 288, 2nd quote). Gore saw himself as a fighter for the little man as he backed liberal New Deal and Great Society programs, such as Social Security, Medicare, federal education and antipoverty programs, and the TVA and Appalachia programs (Bass and DeVries 1977: 295). More controversial among his white constituents, he opposed the Southern Manifesto and the Vietnam War, came to favor civil rights measures, and voted against two southern conservative nominations of President Nixon to the U.S. Supreme Court (Bass and DeVries 1977: 291, 295). Re-elected twice to the Senate, Gore Sr., the father of Democratic presidential candidate in 2000 Al Gore, was finally unseated by a Republican in 1970. Democratic U.S. Senator Al Gore Sr. was involuntarily retired from political life by the voters in 1970 after three terms in office, as he was upset by 51-47% of the vote by conservative Republican Congressman Bill Brock. The liberal Gore had backed civil rights and opposed the Vietnam War and the nomination of two southerners to the Supreme Court, as well as opposed President Nixon’s anti-ballistic missile system. Gore barely survived his own party primary, winning only 51% of the vote over a challenge from the former press secretary of the Crump faction governor. General election challenger Brock was a Chattanooga businessman who had been drawn into GOP campaign politics by the Eisenhower and Nixon presidential bids and been elected in 1962 to represent East Tennessee third congressional district. The GOP congressman was so conservative that he had even voted against the Appalachian program and Medicare, and he proceeded to accuse Gore of being too liberal and out of step with Tennessee on the issues of race, busing, the Vietnam War, gun control, and school prayer. Indeed, Brock supporters would even refer to Gore as being the third senator from Massachusetts, a devastating and prophetic charge since in two years Massachusetts would become the only state in the nation to support liberal Democratic presidential candidate George McGovern (Barone, Ujifusa, and Matthews 1972: 757 quote, 756; Bass and DeVries 1977: 296-297; Lamis 1990: 168; Nelson 2007: 193).

The son of Gore helped Democrats pick up the state second U.S. senate seat in 1984. Four-term moderate liberal congressman Al Gore Jr. won a landslide 61% of the vote to 34% for Republican state senator Victor Ashe (Ehrenhalt 1983: 1425). Unable to entice a stronger candidate to challenge the son of a prominent former U.S. senator in a state where voters exhibited a deferential attitude toward ‘an established elite’, Republicans were unable to even find a willing congressman, and ended up offered a state senator who lacked a statewide reputation (Nelson 2007: 200). The Republican sacrificial cow repeatedly sought to link Gore to liberal national Democrats such as Ted Kennedy and the 1984 Democratic presidential candidate Walter Mondale, while heir-apparent Gore talked about his efforts as a congressman to solve the problems of the people in Tennessee (Lamis 1990: 259). Depicting himself as a raging moderate and keeping a healthy distance from the national ticket, Gore recited his House work on baby formula nutritional standards, arms control, and toxic waste cleanup, and pointed out that President Reagan had signed three bills that he had cosponsored, including one strengthening penalties on repeat criminal offenders (Ashford and Locker 1999: 199 quotes; Duncan 1991: 1384). For the next six years as senator, Gore maintained a moderate liberal voting record, and held annual open meetings for constituents in every county (Duncan 1991: 1385; Ashford and Locker 1999: 203). In his reelection race in 1990, Republicans were only able to put up a former economics instructor who raised less than $12,000 compared to the over $2 million war chest for Gore, and Gore swept every county on the way to a 68% vote total to 30% for his opponent (Ashford and Locker 1999: 204). One anomaly to his ability to connect with average Tennesseans was his vigorous campaigning in thirty states for the Dukakis presidential ticket two years earlier, a ticket that won only 42% of the vote in Tennessee (Brodsky and Swansbrough 1991: 207).

Democrats won back the governorship in 1986 with a folksy conservative state house speaker and 18-year legislative veteran from rural west Tennessee, Ned McWherter, who defeated former governor Winfield Dunn with 54% of the vote (Ashford and Locker 1999: 196). McWherter as house speaker had established a reputation as a fiscal conservative, as he and his Finance Committee chairman ensured that budgets were balanced without gimmicks and on-time, as well as discouraging excessive use of bond bills by requiring that first year debt service be paid up-front, and strengthening the state pension fund by limiting special interest legislation (Lyons, Scheb, and Stair 2001: 67). The wily Democrat had spent the previous eight years amassing political IOUs by making speaking engagements across the state and by supporting numerous Democratic candidates. The year before the election McWherter began amassing a campaign war chest to discourage strong opponents, and visiting every county in the state to build a campaign organization (Lyons, Scheb, and Stair 2001: 242).

McWherter consequently had no trouble preempting any GOP effort to tag him as a liberal. Indeed, his conservative image was burnished by having to defeat in the Democratic primary a progressive, labor Democrat Richard Fulton and a wealthy liberal Jane Eskind, the latter having ties to the African American Harold Ford Memphis organization (Ashford and Locker 1999: 196, all 3 quotes). Furthermore, his traditional southern folksiness demeanor and He’s one of us campaign slogan played well among rural whites (Ashford and Locker 1999: 197). Democrats were so eager to regain the office of governor that they even organized a unity bus tour with McWherter accompanied by both of the Democrats that he had defeated in the primary, along with both U.S. senators and Congressman Harold Ford, with Ford and Eskind even escorting him around various black churches in Memphis (Ashford and Locker 1999: 196-197). Republican Dunn suffered such campaign setbacks as reports that he had legally paid no federal income tax in two years, news that he was a member of an exclusive country club, and political fallout from his refusal when governor to support a medical school in east Tennessee (Lamis 1990: 291; Swansbrough and Brodsky 1988: 79; Ashford and Locker 1999: 196).

Ned McWherter in his first term as governor built more prisons, provided more housing and health care for the poor, reduced government waste and increased efficiency, built more roads, and improved teacher pay (Ashford and Locker 1999: 199, 201-202). He accomplished the difficult balancing act of pleasing conservatives and the business community while receiving backing from the state teacher association and organized labor (Ashford and Locker 1999: 201, 219-220). Facing a GOP first term state representative who had declared bankruptcy a decade ago and whose radio station had failed to file corporate tax returns for four years, McWherter outspent his opponent 7-to-1 and won a landslide 61% to 37% for Republican Dwight Henry (Ashford and Locker 1999: 202-203). In his second term as governor, McWherter backed a half-cent sales tax increase to fund a major education reform program that included smaller class sizes, more assistance to small school districts, and greater use of technology in the classroom (Lyons, Scheb, and Stair 2001: 300-303; Ashford and Locker 1999: 204-205). He also developed an innovative TennCare program that reduced the number of medically uninsured Tennesseans by expanding state coverage to the working poor and mandating a system of managed care (Lyons, Scheb, and Stair 2001: 320-322). The two-term governorship of McWherter is also known for a tremendous expansion of prison construction and for directing new industry to rural areas with high unemployment rates, as well as a half-hearted and unsuccessful effort to institute a state income tax (Lyons, Scheb, and Stair 2001: 120, 342, 368).

In the 2002 race to replace the term-limited governor, Democrat Phil Bredesen edged out with 51% of the vote 4-term conservative Republican congressman Van Hilleary who garnered 48% (Hawkings and Nutting 2003: 926; Nutting and Stern 2001: 939). Many Tennesseans regarded the businessman Bredesen as conservative-leaning, since he had opposed the outgoing governor Sundquist proposed income tax (Swansbrough and Brodsky 2005: 204 quote; Nelson 2007: 207). In his eight years as the mayor of Nashville, Bredesen had led the city to a best places in America to live, work, and raise a family national rating, and his local tax hike was credited with improving public education by permitting the hiring of more teachers and the building of new schools (see website: http://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/imagegallery.php?EntryID=B121). The Democrat was also helped by public dissatisfaction with the outgoing Republican governor and his inability to resolve the state’s continuing budget crisis and by the strong negative public reaction against Sundquist’s decision to support a state income tax as a possible solution (Swansbrough and Brodsky 2005: 221). Indeed, state government faced the worst financial condition since the Great Depression, as teachers and state employees went years without pay raises, colleges went years with no funding increases, and the state bond rating was downgraded by financial leaders on Wall Street (Lyons, Scheb, and Stair 2001: 372-373). In the first Bredesen term as governor, he established strong ethics rules for the executive branch, raised teacher salaries, and preserved health care for children in the under-funded Medicaid program (Democratic governors website accessed in 2006).

Democrats easily reelected Phil Bredesen as governor in 2006 over state senator Jim Bryson. In endorsing the popular Democratic governor, the newspaper Tennessean credited Bredesen with turning the state economy around from the dark days when residents were threatened with a possible income tax, and with attracting new industry such as the North American headquarters of Nissan. It also praised the necessary cuts that he had made in the state health plan for the poor, TennCare, and his creation of a new health plan called Cover Tennessee (tennessean.com, 2006). Exit polls showed that the popular Democratic incumbent had created such a non-divisive, non-ideological image of his performance that he was able to win two-thirds of the votes of whites, half of self-identified conservatives, and even 42% backing among Republican identifiers (http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2006/pages/results/states/TN/G/00/epolls.0.html, accessed November 26, 2006). Bredesen won reelection with an impressive 69% of the vote to only 30% for the Republican challenger (http://www.tennessee.gov/sos/election/index.htm).

Modern, Successful Republicans

In the 1966 general election, Republicans elected their first U.S. senator since Reconstruction, East Tennessee attorney Howard Baker, a traditional mountain Republican whose father had served in Congress and whose father-in-law was U.S. Senate Minority Leader Everett Dirksen from Illinois. The mild mannered and soft-spoken Baker was a racial moderate and economic conservative, who possessed a first-class intellect and personal honesty that went with his boyish good looks and charm (Bass and DeVries 1977: 293). Many voters saw the attractive Baker as a new, fresh face on the scene, compared to Clement, who came over as a tarnished, old-line politician (Barone, Ujifusa, and Matthews 1972: 756). Republicans also benefited from a white backlash against the increasing identification of the Democratic Party with civil rights. Indeed, the 56% popular vote victory by Baker included a two-thirds vote margin in lower income white areas in West Tennessee (Lamis 1990: 166).

As senator, Baker compiled a moderate conservative voting record and left office so respected that his colleagues had voted him Majority Leader when the 1980 Reagan landslide swept in a GOP-controlled senate. Examples of his integrity and his progressive exceptions to his basic conservatism included his support for a 1967 fair housing bill and for extending the Voting Rights Act in 1970, and his role in helping to bring down GOP President Nixon during the Watergate scandal by constantly asking as a member of the Senate Watergate Committee, What did the president know, and when did he know it? (Ehrenhalt 1983: 1402 quote, 1403-1404). Baker won a landslide reelection with 62% of the vote in 1972 over moderate conservative Democratic congressman Ray Blanton, a George Wallace supporter, and with his racially moderate record the Republican senator attracted over one-third of the vote among urban blacks (Lamis 1990: 165, 167, 169; Barone, Ujifusa, and Matthews 1972: 771). Baker won his second and last reelection in 1978 with 56% of the vote to 40% for Nashville liberal Jane Erskine, as the move towards the right by Erskine by criticizing Baker supporting the Panama Canal Treaty proposed by President Carter failed to reduce the great popularity among voters that Baker enjoyed (Lamis 1990: 173; Ehrenhalt 1983: 1404 quote). In addition to his Watergate committee service and Majority Leadership position, Baker had earlier won national recognition by being elected Senate Minority Republican Leader by his peers in 1977 and by unsuccessfully challenging Ronald Reagan for the party nomination for President three years later.

The 1970s was a period of growing Republicanism, reflected in the easy gubernatorial victory by Lamar Alexander with 56% of the vote in 1978 and his landslide reelection four years later with 60%. Democrats in 1978 were hamstrung by a bitter primary that produced a wealthy banker nominee, Jake Butcher, whose rapid acquisition of money and lavish campaign spending caused some public suspicion (Lamis 1990: 174). Democrats were also hurt by widespread public revulsion with the scandal-plagued Blanton administration, where allegations against the outgoing Democratic governor even included the selling of pardons to violent criminals (Nelson 2007: 198). Alexander quickly abandoned his country-club image of four years earlier as he cast himself as a working man, and became most known for donning a red and black checked shirt and proceeding to walk 1,000 miles across Tennessee as he met and listened to average people (Lamis 1990: 174). After several staff members were convicted of selling pardons and the state Parole Board began issuing questionable pardons in the last days that Blanton was in office, Democratic legislative leaders rushed to swear in Alexander three days early (see Website: http://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/imagegallery.php?EntryID=B049; Lyons, Scheb, and Stair 2001: 338).

As governor, Alexander got enacted the largest sales tax increase in state history to fund his Better Schools initiatives, which raised elementary and secondary teacher salaries and also significantly increased funding for higher education. His Master Teacher program took on the powerful teachers’ lobby by providing for the evaluation of teacher performance, so that additional raises could be provided to the top teachers (Lyons, Scheb, and Stair 2001: 270-271, 367). Making industrial recruitment a real priority, Alexander used all of the state resources to develop attractive bids to offer companies to locate in Tennessee, and was able to score such coups as new Nissan and General Motors Saturn plants (Lyons, Scheb, and Stair 2001: 114-115). The Republican chief executive also promoted tourism by publicizing the heritages of localities, established centers and chairs of excellence in higher education, and enacted road building and prison construction programs (Ashford and Locker 1999: 201, 204; see website: http://tennesseeencyclopedia.net). In his 1982 landslide reelection, Alexander defeated Democratic mayor of Knoxville, Randy Tyree, who had proudly proclaimed that Democrats were the party of such luminaries as Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry Truman, and John Kennedy, Presidents who had given to average citizens Social Security, Medicare, and education aid. Tyree contrasted these Democratic supporters of the common man with Republicans, whom he accused of cutting these very same programs and ushering in a recession with high unemployment. The Republican governor wisely shied away from potentially unpopular national issues and instead talked about state issues and his accomplishments as governor, such as landing the Nissan plant and developing a technology corridor near Oak Ridge (Lamis 1990: 175-177).

Popular former governor Lamar Alexander went on in 2002 to be elected to the U.S. senate. He retained the seat of retiring Republican Senator Fred Thompson, winning 54% of the vote to 44% for moderate liberal 7-term Democratic congressman Bob Clement (Nutting and Stern 2001: 941). Alexander had been known as the Education Governor, and he had gone on to the prestigious appointive positions of President of the University of Tennessee and then Secretary of Education under the first President Bush. As senator, Alexander pledged to fight for charter schools and for new money for school vouchers for low and middle-income families (Hawkings and Nutting 2003: 930-931). His roll call voting record is conservative, like that of other southern Republicans (Koszczuk and Stern 2005: 945). Alexander proceeded to win a landslide 2-1 reelection in 2008 over the former state Democratic party chairman, Bob Tuke.

The 2006 senate race, when Republicans elected Bob Corker, a wealthy real estate developer and former mayor of Chattanooga, was more controversial. His Democratic opponent was African American congressman, Harold Ford Jr., who had been elected in 1996 to the same seat held by his father for 22 years. Ford was a moderate liberal who sought to avoid the Liberal tag by highlighting his conservative and religious values, such as his opposition to gay rights, partial birth abortion, and illegal immigration (York, 2006). The Republican National Committee nevertheless ran a devastating ad that painted Ford as a liberal, as a string of respectable white citizens mocked his alleged liberal record by saying such things as, Terrorists need their privacy, When I die, Harold Ford will let me pay taxes again, Ford’s right, I do have too many guns, and I’d love to pay higher marriage taxes. Most controversial in possibly injecting race into the campaign was the inclusion of a bare shouldered attractive white female who bragged, I met Harold at the Playboy party, and who ended the ad by winking into the camera and saying, Harold, call me. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PjK1Ar4ksvY&feature=related, accessed April 5, 2011). While at first evasive about the charge that he had attended a Playboy Super Bowl Party, the handsome young black congressman finally quipped, I was there. I like football, and I like girls (de la Cruz, 2006). Meanwhile, Corker desperately sought to divorce himself from the anti-Republican sentiment sweeping the nation because of the seemingly endless war in Iraq, as the Republican businessman stressed that he was an accomplished, experienced Tennessean who would take Tennessee values to Washington (Locker 2006: A4). Exit polls showed both candidates winning over 90% of the identifiers of their respective parties and splitting the Independents, so the slightly greater number of Republican than Democratic voters (38% versus 34%) proved the difference in helping Republicans keep this senate seat (http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2006/pages/results/states/TN/S/01/epolls.0.html; accessed November 26, 2006). Corker won an easy 2 to 1 landslide reelection in 2012 over Democrat Mark Clayton, the Vice President of a conservative advocacy group based out of Virginia which had sought to restrict the teaching of gay issues in state public schools. The Tennessee Democratic Party had promptly disavowed Clayton as being associated with a known hate group as classified by the Southern Poverty Law Center (Camia 2012).

The competitive nature of modern Tennessee elections, where two-term governorships had alternated between the two parties four times since 1978, was evident once again in the 2010 elections, as GOP Knoxville mayor, Bill Haslam, easily defeated the son of former governor McWherter, who was a lawyer and businessman. In addition to stressing his governmental experience, Haslam's folksy ads often emphasized his genial style, with one ad featuring a local restaurant owner praising the hard work of the mayor but joking that Haslam would occasionally sneak a piece of chocolate pie, with the ad slogan concluding that I just like him (Sisk 2010). The Tennessean newspaper endorsed Haslam, praising his seven years of public service balancing budgets, his listening tour visiting all of the counties, his ability to work with Democrats and Independents as well as Republicans, and his commitment to building on the education improvements of his Democratic gubernatorial predecessor (The Tennessean 2010). This year of the national GOP landslide also saw Republicans achieving historic highs of winning over 60% of the seats in both state legislative chambers and 78% of the U.S. house seats.

The 2012 election, however, suggested that Tennessee was moving into the GOP camp in a big way, as Republicans won landslide victories in the presidency and in Senator Corker's reelection bid, retained their overwhelming control of U.S. house seats, and achieved historic highs of controlling over 70% of the seats in each chamber of the state legislature. Corker's over 2 to 1 landslide win over Democrat Mark Clayton, the Vice President of a conservative advocacy group based out of Virginia which had sought to restrict the teaching of gay issues in the state's public schools, came after the Tennessee Democratic Party disavowed Clayton as being "associated with a known hate group" as classified by the Southern Poverty Law Center (Camia 2012).

The 2014 elections, held during a national GOP tsunami, marked another good year for Republicans, as the party reelected Senator Alexander and Governor Haslam with over 65% of the vote. Alexander was known for his bipartisan approach, maintaining a conservative voting record while still supporting universal health care access and the development of low-carbon energy sources, and as a member of the powerful Appropriations Committee he had brought much federal money to the TVA, Oak Ridge and to the state generally in the areas of science and technology education and research. Governor Haslam touted his record of "making Tennessee the No. 1 location in the Southeast for high quality jobs," of a balanced budget every year, keeping taxes and state debt low, and nearly doubling the state savings account, while enacting Tennessee Promise in the 2014 legislative session, which ensured high school graduates a higher education certificate or degree "free of charge and with a personal mentor" (http://www.tn.gov/governor/about.shtml). Facing these incumbents, Democrats offered a 65-year-old trial lawyer in the senate race, and in the gubernatorial race retiree Charlie Brown, a self-described "redneck hillbilly" who wanted to "put this state first," and who so opposed the governor's actions that he wrote a newspaper letter saying, "I understand that the governor has reinstated the electric chair to take care of the prison on death row. After what he has done to my friends in Knox county, I would like to strap his butt to the chair and give him about half the jolt" (Cass 2014).

The 2016 elections reaffirmed that Republicans were now the dominant party in Tennessee. Not only did Trump easily carry the state, but his 64% of the two-party vote was among the three highest totals in the South (equal to GOP wins in Alabama and Arkansas). Furthermore, Republicans retained their overwhelming advantages in the U.S. House delegation and both state legislative chambers, retaining at least three-fourths of the seats in each institution.

Republicans maintained their dominance in 2018, winning the open Senate and gubernatorial elections fairly easily, largely because of the large GOP party advantage among voters (44% of exit poll voters were Republicans, and only 25% Democrats). Tea Party favorite and frequent Fox interviewee U.S. House member Marsha Blackburn called herself a "hardcore, card-carrying Tennessee conservative," backing Trump's border wall, the Kavanaugh nomination, tax cuts, gun rights, and opposing abortion (Mattise 2018). Nationalizing the Senate election, she blasted former governor Democrat Phil Bredesen for backing Obama and Hillary Clinton, and welcomed Trump and Mike Pence three times each to the state to campaign for her (as well as five U.S. Senators, including southerners Rubio, Graham, Cotton, and Tillis). Conservative businessman and political newcomer Bill Lee visited all 95 counties in the state twice in his RV on his "Believe in Tennessee" tour. Feeling "called to serve," he kept "his campaign positive" and pledged to "be the governor of every Tennessean" as he easily bested the Democratic former two-term Nashville mayor Karl Dean (Allison 2018).

The 2020 senate seat of Republican Lamar Alexander is vacant, and the primaries are not until August, but most political observers as of May rated the seat as Safe Republican.

WEEKS FOURTEEN-FIFTEEN: ARKANSAS- THREE DEMOCRATIC TITANS

Democratic Titans Bumpers, Pryor, and Clinton Dominate Arkansas

The first Democratic titan to restore Democrats to their usual hegemonic rule over state politics was Dale Bumpers, a practicing attorney and civic leader from the small town of Charleston near the Ouachita Mountains in west central Arkansas (Bass and DeVries 1977: 94). In his runoff primary victory over former governor Faubus and in his general election landslide over Rockefeller, the attractive and unflappable newcomer Bumpers painted a portrait of himself as a young, honest, and vigorous advocate of improvement in state government (Yates 1972: 292). Especially in comparison to the former segregationist governor Faubus, who still sought to exploit the race issue by claiming that Bumpers lack of concern over court-ordered busing to achieve desegregation would prompt federal judges to impose it, Bumpers was viewed by many political observers as articulate, intelligent, and forward-looking (quote in Blair and Barth 2005: 68; Lamis 1990: 122-123). As governor, Bumpers reorganized state government and created a cabinet by consolidating sixty state agencies into thirteen, and raised the state income tax and made it more progressive in order to raise teachers’ salaries and expand public colleges. Bumpers also established a consumer protection agency, instituted civil service exams for state jobs, and improved care for the elderly, handicapped, and mentally retarded (See Website: http://www.oldstatehouse.com/exhibits/virtual/governors/the_new_south/bumpers.asp). A superb storyteller who educated and preached to his audiences, Bumpers was overwhelmingly reelected in 1972 (Blair and Barth 2005: 343).

Bumpers stunned political observers in 1974 by upsetting the veteran incumbent J. William Fulbright in the Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate by a whopping 65% of the vote, as stylistic differences between the two men proved decisive. The aloof intellectual and aristocrat Fulbright, whose expertise in foreign policy seemed far removed from the concerns of state voters, was sometimes perceived as having an arrogant and most holier than thou attitude (Bass and DeVries 1977: 95). Bumpers, whose drawl is almost Western, decried rising inflation by telling personal anecdotes in a language that factory workers and hardscrabble farmers could understand, and then denounced the profits of the big oil companies with such passion in his voice that his pleas recalled the ancestral poverty of the hills (Bass and DeVries 1977: 96). Though easily defeating the Republican in November, who drew only 15% of the vote, Bumpers faced a more formidable GOP challenger in his 1980 reelection. Bill Clark was a conservative Little Rock businessman, who proceeded to blast the Democrat as a liberal who had voted against prayer in the public schools and for the Panama Canal Treaty giving the canal back to Panama by the end of the century. Bumpers, whose voting record did indeed garner higher ratings from the liberal ADA than from the conservative ACA, adroitly moved towards the political center, voting against a labor law reform bill supported by organized labor and criticizing liberals like Senator Ted Kennedy for throwing new government programs at problems (Barone, Ujifusa, and Matthews 1977: 39; Barone and Ujifusa 1981: 52; Lamis 1990: 128). Bumpers won reelection with 59% of the vote.

The 1980s and 1990s saw Bumpers voting record in the Senate take a decidedly liberal turn, as the liberal ADA typically rated him over 80% correct while the conservative ACU usually rated him below a 20 (Duncan 1989: 71; Duncan and Lawrence 1997: 68). Indeed, Bumpers had opposed such weapons systems as the B-1 Bomber, the MX Missile and the Reagan Strategic Defense Initiative, as well as opposed balanced budget and school prayer amendments (Blair 1991: 144). Yet Bumpers won 62% of the vote in his 1986 reelection over GOP former U.S. attorney, Asa Hutchinson, by stressing the specific federal projects he helped bring to the state over the years as well as the 100 days he spends at home each year, and skillfully explaining that he had opposed Reagan tax cuts because of their fiscal irresponsibility and the deficits that they would cause (Lamis 1990: 285). Bumpers won his final reelection in 1992 over former president of the state Southern Baptist Convention, Mike Huckabee, with an equally impressive 60% of the vote. Though the Republican stressed his conservative populism that included support for term limits, expanded use of the death penalty, and a renewal of traditional moral values, Bumpers was advantaged by such non-ideological issues as the disclosure that the highest paid campaign staffer for Huckabee was his wife, and by voter backlash against attacks on progress made by Arkansas, attacks made by national Republican figures backing the reelection of Bush over Arkansas native Bill Clinton (Barth, Blair, and Dumas 1999: 173).

The next Democratic titan waiting in the wings was former Congressman David Pryor, whose career also included being a practicing attorney, publisher, and state representative. In Congress, he had built up a moderate voting record that earned him two successive reelections without opposition, and he had gained notoriety by working anonymously as a nursing home attendant on weekends to expose abuses to the elderly in nursing homes (Barone, Ujifusa, and Matthews 1972: 39-40). Pryor won the governorship in 1974 after being nominated by a 51% majority over segregationist former governor Orval Faubus and another Democrat, and then winning a 66% landslide over Republican Ken Coon, former executive secretary for the state GOP, after prominent and wealthy businessmen threw their support to the Democratic nominee (Bass and DeVries 1977: 97; Lamis 1990: 125; Barone, Ujifusa, and Matthews 1975: 38). As governor, Pryor strove to attract high wage industries to the state, appointed an historic number of blacks and women to state offices, and was a fiscal conservative who held spending down (Bass and DeVries 1977: 98; Fenno 1996: 293; see Website http://www.oldstatehouse.com/exhibits/virtual/governors/). Pryor was so popular among voters that he won 83% of the vote in his 1976 reelection over a virtually unknown Republican, Leon Griffith, a plumber and building contractor (Lamis 1990: 125).

As did former governor Bumpers, Governor Pryor went on to multiple terms in the U.S. Senate. In 1978 after Senator McClellan retired, Pryor defeated first-term congressman and former state attorney general Jim Guy Tucker in the Democratic primary runoff with 55% of the vote, after accusing Tucker of being the candidate of organized labor and other special interests, and then held Republican Thomas Kelly to only 16% of the total general election vote (Barone and Ujifusa 1981: 50-53; Fenno 1996: 314). Pryor, whose voting record varied in his first term between moderate and moderately liberal with some conservative positions on issues like food stamps, flag desecration, and a balanced budget, was reelected senator in 1984, defeating three-term conservative Republican congressman Ed Bethune with 57% of the vote (Ehrenhalt 1983: 82; Ehrenhalt 1985: 76; Fenno 1996: 303). The GOP challenger had futilely charged that the centrist Pryor was part of the old liberal Democratic coalition that always spent too much and collected too much in taxes (Lamis 1990: 256). Meanwhile, Senator Pryor had been campaigning tirelessly for a year before the election with his person-to-person tours throughout the state (Lamis 1990: 256). With the campaign slogan Pryor Puts Arkansas First, the Democratic incumbent responded to the charge that he had failed to support Reagan policies by pointing out that he dealt with issues that affect Arkansas and Arkansas people, and that his opponent’s rigid ideology overrides compassion and gets in the way of representing real people with problems (Fenno 1996: quotes on 317; 319).

The great popularity of Pryor in Arkansas was reflected in his winning his last reelection to the senate in 1990 without any opposition. His roll call record in the 1990s proceeded to move more towards the liberal to moderate liberal ideological pole (Duncan and Lawrence 1995: 66). Some of his major accomplishments as senator, though, were above ideology, as he fought waste in federal governmental use of outside consultants, enacted a Taxpayer Bill of Rights, and defended the Rural Electrification Administration which benefited Arkansas (Fenno 1996: 295, 299, 300). Pryor truly appeared to like people and to show a genuine interest in whatever is on the minds of his constituents so that voters regarded him as one of us and trusted him (Fenno 1996: quotes on 283; 62, 286). State reporters described him as personable, folksy, unassuming, and a real nice guy, who was decent, never made enemies, and who knew many constituents on a first name basis (Fenno 1996: quotes on 284; 286-287). Indeed, Senator Pryor was so humble and accessible that he could sometimes be found early in the morning serving as receptionist and catching the early phone calls (Fenno 1996: 288).

The third Democratic titan was Bill Clinton, whose political career started as state attorney general in 1977, where he earned an image as being pro-consumer and anti-utility (Allen and Portis 1992: 50). Blasted by his opponents as a liberal on social issues such as gun control and the rights of women, Clinton portrayed himself as a new South compromise progressive candidates, and proceeded to win 60% of the vote in the 1978 Democratic gubernatorial primary and 63% of the general election vote over A. Lynn Lowe, the state GOP chairman (quote in Allen and Portis 1992: 52; Lamis 1990: 126). Clinton was narrowly unseated in 1980 by businessman Frank White, who blasted the Democrat for raising car tag fees and for permitting fellow Democrat and President Jimmy Carter to locate Cuban refugees at Fort Chafee, where on two occasions the dissatisfied undesirables that Castro had expelled had frightened local residents by rioting and fleeing the camp (Allen and Portis 1992: 66-68). Attacked for being too young, too liberal and too big for his britches by Republican White, Clinton was also viewed by many voters as arrogant, aloof, inaccessible, or egotistical (first quote in Allen and Portis 1992: 69; second quote in Lamis 1990: 127). Frank White as governor became most known for signing a bill that required the teaching of scientific creationism whenever evolution was taught, a measure that was quickly ruled unconstitutional by a federal court (Blair and Barth 2005: 7).

The Comeback Kid, as Clinton has often been called, bounced back in 1982 to unseat Frank White with a comfortable 55% vote, as the chastened ex-governor apologized for being out of touch with voters and for raising car tags, blasted the incumbent Republican for high unemployment and rising utility rates, and benefited from thousands of passionate campaign volunteers (Lamis 1990: 128-129; Blair and Barth 2005: 56). Returning to the governorship, Clinton convinced the legislature to raise taxes for several educational programs, such as teacher raises, an 8th grade student competency test, lower class sizes and a longer school year, and accountability through teacher testing (Allen and Portis 1992: 88, 90, 92, 97). Despite the state education association opposition to the teacher testing provision, Clinton won reelection in 1984 with 63% of the vote over Republican Woody Freeman, a contractor who had never run for public office (Lamis 1990: 257). In 1986 Clinton was easily reelected to a newly-established four-year term as governor over GOP former governor Frank White, who had unsuccessfully fought to delay implementation of the allegedly expensive improved education standards that the governor had fought for and who had claimed that school consolidation in rural areas would kill the towns (Blair and Barth 2005: 317).

The greatest strengths of Clinton were his charisma, and his ability to personally connect with people. Clinton reportedly would show up at every fish fry, at every Democratic party event, at every bake sale and shake every hand until he’d shaken them all (Barth, Blair, and Dumas 1999: 180). He also made a special personal appeal to African Americans, attending their churches, visiting their homes, and attending their organizational dinners. His operatives also used black churches to maintain support for Governor Clinton (Barth, Blair, and Dumas 1999: 167, 175). As Clinton went into his last reelection campaign of 1990, Democrats benefited from the willingness of successful businessman and ex-congressman and state attorney general Jim Guy Tucker to run for lieutenant governor instead of challenging the party incumbent governor. Republicans though suffered a bitter primary featuring two former Democrats. Moderate 3-term congressman Tommy Robinson ended up losing to businessman Sheffield Nelson, a civic leader and former executive officer of Arkansas Louisiana Gas Company, in what became a personal feud over a financial deal involving a friend of both men (Barth, Blair, and Dumas 1999: 168, 170; Duncan 1989: 80). Proclaiming that Ten Years is Enough, Republican Nelson went on to blast Clinton as a tax-and-spend liberal whose expensive education proposals had failed to raise the state teacher salaries and other education indicators off of the national bottom tier (Barth, Blair and Dumas 1999: 170; Allen and Portis 1992: 139). Clinton nevertheless won his last reelection with a 57.5% vote, though it was his lowest victory margin since 1982. The last major accomplishments of Clinton as governor included a tax increase for education, which included teacher pay raises, requiring kindergartens statewide, enhanced preschool opportunities, and a scholarship program (Blair and Barth 2005: 317-318).

Governors and U.S. Senators and Their Parties in Modern Arkansas

	Democrats			Republicans
	Governors	Senators	Senators	Governors	Senators	Senators
1970	Bumpers*	McClellan	Fulbright
1972	Bumpers*	McClellan*	Fulbright
1974	D. Pryor*	McClellan	Bumpers*
1976	D. Pryor*	McClellan	Bumpers
1978	Clinton*	D. Pryor*	Bumpers
1980		D. Pryor	Bumpers*	White*
1982	Clinton*	D. Pryor	Bumpers
1984	Clinton*	D. Pryor*	Bumpers
1986	Clinton*	D. Pryor	Bumpers*
1988	Clinton	D. Pryor	Bumpers
1990	Clinton*	D. Pryor*	Bumpers
1992	Tucker+	D. Pryor	Bumpers*
1994	Tucker*	D. Pryor	Bumpers
1996			Bumpers	Huckabee+	Hutchinson*
1998			Lincoln*	Huckabee*	Hutchinson
2000			Lincoln	Huckabee	Hutchinson
2002		M. Pryor*	Lincoln	Huckabee*
2004		M. Pryor	Lincoln*	Huckabee
2006	Beebe*	M. Pryor	Lincoln
2008	Beebe	M. Pryor*	Lincoln
2010	Beebe*	M. Pryor				Boozman*
2012	Beebe	M. Pryor				Boozman
2014				Hutchinson*	Cotton*	Boozman
2016				Hutchinson	Cotton	Boozman*
2018				Hutchinson*	Cotton	Boozman

Note: Cell entries indicate the governors and U.S. Senators elected in or serving during the years listed at the left.

* Indicates that the officeholder was elected in that year.

+ Lieutenant Governor Jim Guy Tucker became governor in 1992 after Clinton was elected President.

+ Lieutenant Governor Mike Huckabee became governor in 1996 after Tucker’s resignation after conviction of a felony.

Titans of Today in Both Parties

Warning shocks of the coming GOP earthquake began with the resignation of Clinton as governor to assume the Presidency, whereupon Lieutenant Governor Jim Guy Tucker became governor. Waiting in the wings was Republican Mike Huckabee, just off of a respectable though losing campaign against Senator Dale Bumpers. In a July 1993 special election for lieutenant governor, Huckabee narrowly edged out lawyer and Democratic party activist Nate Coulter with 51% of the vote. The 33-year-old Democratic novice had less name recognition than Huckabee, and the small turnout special election saw heavier turnout by loyal Republicans and religious elements attracted by the past leadership of the state Southern Baptist Convention by Huckabee. Democrat Coulter erred by taking the black vote for granted, created sympathy for Huckabee by attacking his wife being on the campaign payroll, and failed to get the support of Tucker since the governor feared that Coulter might challenge his own position. Huckabee also ran the reformist campaign of a rural populist who was an outsider who would clean-up-the-system and empower the people, who was running against a Democratic political machine that catered to the special interests (Barth, Blair, and Dumas 1999: quoted on 177; 176).

Republicans gained further hope when Lieutenant Governor Huckabee won reelection in 1994 with a landslide 59% of the vote over Democratic state senator Charlie Cole Chaffin. As Huckabee ads promised to fight crime and pursue bipartisanship in state government, his Democratic challenger ran short of campaign money and evoked grins over an ad that had her holding a shotgun while promising criminal control, not gun control (Barth, Blair, and Dumas 1999: 179). Tucker, viewed as a competent manager of state government who had kept peace with major interest groups, was elected governor with a landslide 60% of the vote, though an ad by his GOP opponent attacking his ethics which showed the face of Tucker in a witness box and closed with the sound of a jail door slamming was eerily prophetic (Barth, Blair, and Dumas 1999: 180). Before the earthquake hit, though, Tucker as governor passed numerous juvenile crime measures, and continued the Clinton focus on education by increasing funding for education below fourth grade and requiring that students pass an exam before graduating from high school (Blair and Barth 2005: 160, 319).

The earthquake hit in late May 1996 when a federal jury found Governor Tucker guilty of two felony counts involving mail fraud and a conspiracy to deceive federal regulators in the Whitewater financial affair (Barth, Blair, and Dumas 1999: 183). After first promising to resign, Tucker then changed his mind, provoking an outcry of public rage. After Lieutenant Governor Huckabee threatened to call the legislature into session to begin impeachment proceedings, Tucker finally resigned and Huckabee became governor (Barth, Blair, and Dumas 1999: 184). Republicans fared well in the 1998 gubernatorial race, where Mike Huckabee was elected governor with a landslide 60% of the vote to 39% for Democratic Harvard-educated lawyer Bill Bristow. Outspending the challenger by a 3-to-1 margin, the Republican governor benefited from a high public approval rating, because of public sympathy for the difficult situation under which he had become governor and because of his centrist policies (Wekkin 2003: 196-197). As governor, Huckabee had promoted the state business-friendly climate to business newspaper writers in a New York trip, and had honored the 40th anniversary of the Little Rock Central High fiasco by renouncing what had happened as evil and simply wrong and then joining President Clinton in escorting the Little Rock Nine into the school (Blair and Barth 2005: quote on 1, 176).

Huckabee might be viewed as the first real Republican Titan, as one political scientist described him as almost a Republican clone of Bill Clinton, who is a glib, gregarious former pastor of a very large Baptist congregation, with people skills, centrist tendencies, and even good luck reminiscent of Clinton (Wekkin 2003: 196). Other political observers have compared the Republican to President Reagan as a ’big-picture’ politician who has a consistent clarity of ‘vision’ not muddled by details and a masterful ability to communicate in all media (Blair and Barth 2005: 75). His social conservatism includes support for gun rights and opposition to abortion and gay rights (Blair and Barth 2005: 339). His extensive use of the media to promote his gubernatorial programs included a monthly radio call-in program broadcast statewide, an educational television call-in program, public service announcements, a sophisticated website, and three published books (Blair and Barth 2005: 179).

The first full term of Huckabee as governor demonstrated his pragmatic and ideologically inclusive nature. His accomplishments included convening an important economic development conference, enacting a public health program funded by the tobacco company lawsuit settlement and an interstate highway repair spending program, as well as improving education through enhanced student testing and such public school options as charter schools (Blair and Barth 2005: 5, 166, 321). Though Huckabee touted his accomplishments of job growth, rising education test scores, and the ARKids health care program, negative press reports over budget shortfalls, cuts in some Medicaid procedures, cost overruns for the state computer system, and ethics investigations produced a tight race in 2002 (Blair and Barth 2005: 348). Huckabee pulled out a reelection with 53% of the vote after a last-minute infusion of cash from the Republican Governors Association, which permitted him to outspend 7-term Democratic state treasurer Jimmie Lou Fisher by $1 million. He also targeted his campaign messages, stressing his African American appointments to black voters and on Christian radio programs accusing his Democratic challenger of being unclear on the gay rights issue of civil unions (Blair and Barth 2005: 350). His second full term saw him advocating improved prisoner rehabilitation, a tax increase to preserve social services, and school district consolidation in order to provide students with a richer curriculum (Blair and Barth 2005: 328, 339).

Democrats also benefited from the rise of a potential titan, Mark Pryor, son of the legendary David Pryor. Pryor was viewed as a moderate attorney general, where he had blocked telemarketing calls and sued the tobacco companies for smoking-related health problems (Blair and Barth 2005: 351; Koszczuk and Stern 2005: 56). Challenging the reelection of first-term GOP Senator Hutchinson in 2002, Pryor blasted the conservative incumbent for voting against such popular programs as education, prescription drugs, the minimum wage, and Social Security, and in one television ad the Democrat raised the plaque from the senate desk of his father that pledged that Arkansas Comes First (quote in Blair and Barth 2005: 351; Nutting and Stern 2001: 49). Already weakened by a well-publicized divorce and remarriage to a former staffer, the campaign of Hutchinson seemed to confirm the Pryor charges that he cared more about Washington than Arkansas when he brought in President Bush and other administration officials to campaign for him (Blair and Barth 2005: 352). Countering GOP claims that the challenger was liberal on abortion and gun control, Pryor ran an ad of himself hunting and state Democrats sent four mailings to those holding hunting and fishing licenses stressing his love of hunting and his support for the 2nd amendment (Blair and Barth 2005: 352). Pryor unseated the Republican incumbent with a respectable 54% of the vote.

In the Senate Mark Pryor has combined a moderate liberal voting record with a record of being a deficit hawk, opposing partial birth abortion, and supporting criminalizing injury to the fetus in the course of a crime against a woman (Koszczuk and Stern 2005: 55-56). Laying further claim to the title of future Democratic titan, Mark Pryor has been described as eminently likable with mannerisms that looked so much like his father, and having an ability to perform amazingly well when talking directly to the television camera (Blair and Barth 2005: 351). Also reflecting the legendary love of his father for people, Mark Pryor has taken the position that People matter more than political parties and conceded that both parties can offer some good ideas (Blair and Barth 2005: 101). After one term Pryor was so popular that the hapless Republicans failed to even field a candidate against him, so in 2008 he won his first reelection with 80% of the vote against a minor party (Green) candidate.

The 2006 campaign to replace the term limited governor Huckabee yielded the ruling Democratic Party another potential Titan. Emerging victorious was Attorney General Mike Beebe, a man of humble origins who was born in a tar-paper shack, to a single mother and a father whom he never met or talked to (Blomeley 2006). Unopposed in every election during his twenty years in the state senate, Beebe was known for being a consensus builder who understood the nuts and bolts of government and who would bring people together, rather than being an ideologue or a flamethrower (Blomeley 2006). Beebe won 55.5% of the vote to 40.8% for Republican Asa Hutchinson, a former congressman and federal administrator in Homeland Security and the Drug Enforcement Administration, who had advocated killing the state sales tax on groceries and who opposed the consolidation of rural schools and wanted to give them flexibility from the state mandated 38 core courses. Endorsing Beebe as a pragmatic, even-tempered, knowledgeable and forward-looking candidate deeply rooted in his community and his state, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette newspaper proceeded to blast Hutchinson for allegedly opening the way to tear down all the educational standards that this state has finally started to make meaningful (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette 2006). Campaigning in Arkansas the weekend before the election, former President Clinton praised Beebe, who favored expanding pre-school and providing more job training and more need-based scholarships, as a man who won’t need on-the-job training who was more qualified to be governor than I was when you first elected me. Clinton also blasted Hutchinson as a Washington Republican, and depicted the election as a battle between common sense and common good against special-interest ideological extremism (Blomeley and Kellams 2006, quotes in this and preceding sentence). Governor Beebe easily won reelection in 2010, as he distanced himself from the national Democratic party and stressed his work to bring new jobs to Arkansas, resulting in a state unemployment rate lower than the national average. Sweeping every region of the state, Beebe won the support of 59% of Independents and 79% of moderates, and even won 47% of the votes of self-identified conservatives (http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2010/results/polls/#val=ARG00p1).

The 2010 elections were a wake-up call to Arkansas Democrats that they were no longer the undisputed ruling party of the state, as Republicans knocked off U.S. Senator Blanche Lincoln and gained historic highs of three of the four U.S. house districts, half of the sub gubernatorial statewide offices, and over forty percent of state legislative seats. Incensed that Senator Lincoln was not liberal enough (she was rated by the ADA as liberal only 80% and 95% of the time in 2008 and 2009, and was rated conservative by the ACU a whopping 8% and 24% of the time), liberals such as the AFL-CIO labor union fought to deny her renomination, dragging her into a runoff primary with the party lieutenant governor who held her to a razor-thin 52% victory (Greenhouse 2010). The resulting genuine liberal-conservative November battle with the sole GOP Congressman in the state, John Boozman, saw incumbent Lincoln trounced in a landslide. Exit polls of voters found that 62% disapproved of President Obama's job performance, 61% believed that the federal government was doing too much, and that 53% believed that Lincoln was too liberal, and Republican Boozman won 83%, 77%, and 90% of the vote among these groups (http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2010/results/polls/#ARS01p1). The 2012 elections were also historical for Republicans, as they narrowly gained control of both chambers of the state legislature for the first time, while gaining control of all of the state U.S. house seats, and providing a landslide margin for Romney.

The 2014 elections completed the reversal of the historic Democratic dominance of Arkansas that had started at least four years earlier. With President Obama having a 68% disapproval rating and with the Democratic party advantage in the state disappearing (33% of exit poll voters were Republicans while 28% were Democrats), Republicans won the governorship, their second U.S. senate seat, and all six sub gubernatorial statewide offices. Desperately fighting to save his seat, Senator Mark Pryor ran an ad featuring his father, popular former governor and senator David Pryor, who defended his son's support for Obamacare by citing his son's own battle with insurance companies when he had had cancer. After Pryor attacked his opponent, Republican congressman Tom Cotton for having a "sense of entitlement" to the Senate job for having served in Iraq and Afghanistan in the Army, the 37-year-old Cotton ran a playful ad of himself standing at attention in front of his Drill Sergeant, George Norton, who had "taught me how to be a soldier: Accountability, humility, and putting the unit before yourself. That training stuck" (Camia 2014). In the gubernatorial race, Democratic former congressman Mike Ross faced Republican former congressman and former Drug Enforcement Administrator under President Bush, Asa Hutchinson. Hutchinson appeared to learn from successful Democratic governors the importance of stressing state issues in gubernatorial races, as at campaign stops across the state he repeatedly stressed creating jobs, making public education more relevant to the employment marketplace, boosting tourism, criminal justice reform, and even winter road conditions (Dooley 2014). Independents broke for both Republicans, with Cotton winning 62% and Hutchinson 58% of them.

The 2016 election underscored the new era of GOP strength in Arkansas politics, as U.S. senator John Boozman won a landslide reelection over Democrat Conner Eldridge, a U.S. Attorney making his first bid for elected office. Blasting the Democrat as someone who would enable “a third term of Barack Obama” by increasing the size of the federal government, Boozman had admitted that both major party presidential candidates were flawed, and after victory stressed the "need to come together and find common ground to address the problems we face,” such as regulatory burdens on business, healthcare costs and national security concerns (Pettit 2016).

Republicans in 2018 continued to dominate state elections, reelecting Governor Hutchinson in a landslide and reelecting an all-GOP slate of statewide officers for the first time. Hutchinson touted his accomplishments of a $150 million tax cut and requiring that public high schools offer computer science classes, and pledged a new highway plan plus a teacher pay raise. Working with both parties in the legislature, he also defended keeping the expansion of Medicaid under Obamacare but adding a work requirement to it (Associated Press 2018). His Democratic opponent was an executive director of a national non-profit focused on improving public education, but he lacked any public office experience.

The 2020 senate re-election bid of Republican Tom Cotton is rated as a Safe Republican seat, as the lone Democratic candidate dropped out. This race shows how overwhelmingly Republican the state has become in recent years.

WEEK FIFTEEN CONTINUED: FLORIDA- A NATIONAL SWING STATE

Florida has had a history of candidates running very individualistic campaigns that focused on themselves rather than their political party. Today, the state is a tossup in national elections.

Governors and U.S. Senators and Their Parties in Modern Florida

	Democrats			Republicans
	Governors	Senators	Senators	Governors	Senators	Senators
1970	Askew*	Chiles*				Gurney
1972	Askew	Chiles				Gurney
1974	Askew*	Chiles	Stone*
1976	Askew	Chiles*	Stone
1978	Graham*	Chiles	Stone
1980	Graham	Chiles				Hawkins*
1982	Graham*	Chiles*				Hawkins
1984	Graham	Chiles				Hawkins
1986		Chiles	Graham*	B. Martinez*
1988			Graham	B. Martinez	Mack*
1990	Chiles*		Graham		Mack
1992	Chiles		Graham*		Mack
1994	Chiles*		Graham		Mack*
1996	Chiles		Graham		Mack
1998			Graham*	Bush*	Mack
2000		Nelson*	Graham	Bush
2002		Nelson	Graham	Bush*
2004		Nelson		Bush		M. Martinez*
2006		Nelson*		Crist*		M. Martinez
2008		Nelson		Crist		M. Martinez
2010		Nelson		Scott*		Rubio*
2012		Nelson*		Scott		Rubio
2014		Nelson		Scott*		Rubio
2016		Nelson		Scott		Rubio*
2018				DeSantis*	Scott*	Rubio

Note: Cell entries indicate the governors and U.S. Senators elected in or serving during the years listed at the left.

* Indicates that the officeholder was elected in that year.

Successful Democratic Officeholders

A Democratic fresh face in 1970 who was able to exploit the individualistic culture of Florida politics with an appealing campaign image was the nominee for an open U.S. senate seat, state senator Lawton Chiles. Chiles proceeded to gain name recognition and an image as a man of the people by walking 1,033 miles across the state and talking with Floridians about their everyday concerns (Kallina 1993: 193 quote; Colburn and deHaven-Smith 1999: 133; Dauer 1972: 160). Chiles was a small-town state lawmaker who was backed by outgoing conservative U.S. Senator and former governor Spessard Holland (Colburn and deHaven-Smith 1999: 133; Barone, Ujifusa, and Matthews 1972: 139). Advantaged by Democrats being the majority party of Floridians and many people merely voting their party identifications, and winning big in the historically Democratic black belt areas of North Florida, Chiles went on to win a respectable 54% of the vote (Lamis 1990: 185).

As senator, Lawton Chiles pursued a moderate course of action throughout his three terms in office, achieving conservative ACA scores that were nearly as high as his liberal ADA scores (Ehrenhalt 1983: 287; Ehrenhalt 1987: 287). Chiles remained in close contact with his constituents during his first term, spending about one-fourth of his time back home. He also retained his man of the people image, accepting no campaign contributions larger than $10 in his 1976 reelection campaign (Ehrenhalt 1987: 287). With his popularity discouraging serious opponents, he won 63% of the vote over conservative physician John Grady, a Republican who had been a third-party candidate two years earlier (Ehrenhalt 1987: 287). Chiles likewise won a 62% landslide reelection in 1982 over state senator Van B. Poole. Once again the moderate Democrat deflected the liberal label by limiting his campaign contributions to the modest sum of $100 or less, and national Republican Party efforts to financially support his GOP challenger actually seemed to help Chiles by giving him the image of a populist battling the fat cats (Ehrenhalt 1987: 287 quote; Lamis 1990: 187, 190). Furthermore, candidate debates showed that Chiles was the much more knowledgeable candidate on the issues (Ehrenhalt 1987: 287).

Democrats won back the governorship in 1990 with one of their living legends, as the popular retired U.S. senator Lawton Chiles reentered political life to wrest the governorship from the Republican incumbent. Governor Martinez was wounded by his support for an alcoholic beverage tax that became known as the ‘Governor Bob’ beer tax, and he lost the support of many female voters by attempting (unsuccessfully) to enact harsh restrictions on abortions (Carver and Fiedler 1999: 349 quote, 350). Chiles was helped by his selection of the well respected and qualified Buddy MacKay as his lieutenant governor running mate, by his domination of the debates, and by his limiting the campaign donations that he would accept to $100, as he coasted to a landslide unseating of the incumbent with 57% of the popular vote (Carver and Fiedler 1999: 349-350).

Chiles entered his 1994 reelection race handicapped by a recession that produced some painful state budget cuts, as well as by the national surge towards the GOP. He had also angered some African Americans by vetoing a civil rights bill that would have provided victims of racial discrimination punitive damages, claiming that the bill would only benefit trial lawyers (Tauber 2005: 53; see website: http://www.afn.org/~sun/elect/nulawled.htm). To challenge Chiles, Republicans nominated one of the sons of former president George Herbert Walker Bush, Jeb, who was also a party activist who had served as the commerce secretary of former governor Martinez. Bush proceeded to drop the racial ball, as when he was asked what he would do for the black community he quipped, probably nothing (Tauber 2005: 53). Trailing in the polls, Chiles proceeded during a debate to seek rural support by calling himself an old he-coon and claiming to speak Cracker (Colburn and deHaven-Smith 1999: 72). The veteran Democrat also lashed out at Bush for his alleged shady business practices, which included a busted real estate deal that required a savings and loan bailout (Carver and Fiedler 1999: 353 quote, 354). When the Bush camp ran an ad featuring the mother of a murdered girl blaming the governor for a delay in imposing the death penalty on the convicted killer, Chiles in a debate explained that he had as governor executed eight men, that he gave the last command before they pull the switch, and that he was ashamed that Bush would use the loss of a mother in an ad like this (Carver and Fiedler 1999: 355). Chiles was also aided by a ballot measure that would have legalized casino gambling, which drew more senior citizens and blacks to the polls, and he pulled out a narrow 51% reelection victory in a bleak year nationally for Democrats (Carver and Fiedler 1999: 355).

The historically dominant Democratic Party came up with another winning strategy to hold the governorship in 1978 after the two terms of Democrat Askew. Blasted in the Democratic primary by the state attorney general as a liberal former state senator, Miami businessman and lawyer Bob Graham proceeded to win a primary upset by appealing to everyday voters by working on one hundred different jobs over one hundred days, including such positions as bellhop, waiter, hospital orderly, stable boy, and steelworker (Colburn and deHaven-Smith 1999: 135 1st quote; Colburn and Scher 1980: 87 2nd quote; Lamis 1990: 188). Democrats quickly unified with the primary loser endorsing Graham, while Republicans were so split that the primary loser refused to endorse gubernatorial nominee and former senate campaign loser Jack Eckerd (Colburn and Scher 1980: 90). The down-to-earth campaign style of Graham, plus his selection of a veteran North Florida lawmaker with an image of a good ol’ boy as lieutenant governor (in Florida, these top two positions run on the same ticket, much like the U.S. President and Vice President), produced a 56% popular vote victory, as the Democratic team did well in traditionally Democratic North Florida, heavily Democratic South Florida, among blacks, and among blue-collar whites in large cities (Lamis 1990: 188 quote, 189).

As governor, Bob Graham was most known for such environmental initiatives as promotional campaigns designed to save the Everglades and the coastline of the state. He regarded himself also as the Education Governor, and attracted legislative support for education by linking it to economic development (Colburn and deHaven-Smith 1999: 68). He got a bill passed the legislature that taxed corporate income earned outside of the state with the increased revenue earmarked for improving education (Tauber 2005: 65). The ideologically inclusive Graham also pursued some conservative policies, such as economy in the spending of tax dollars, enforcement of the state death penalty law, and waging a war against illegal drug trafficking (Colburn and Scher 1980: 187, 266; Ehrenhalt 1987: 289). Graham won reelection in 1982 with a landslide 65% of the vote over conservative congressman L.A. (Skip) Bafalis, as he again ran television commercials depicting his working at various blue-collar jobs (Lamis 1990: 190; Barone and Ujifusa 1981: 232).

Democrats in 1986 unseated one-term U.S. senator Paula Hawkins with popular two-term governor Bob Graham. The popular Graham led the race throughout, inoculated himself against any charge of liberalism by running an ad that showed him in a state police helicopter seeking to locate drug smugglers, and blasted the job performance of Hawkins as lacking in any initiative in trying to set the senate policy agenda (Lamis 1990: 293; Ehrenhalt 1987: 289). Hawkins was hurt by her image of being a senate lightweight and of being too eccentric, her campaign was delayed as she recovered from back surgery, and she made two controversial statements that seemed to question the patriotism of both Mexican Americans and her opponent (Ehrenhalt 1987: 289). Graham went on to an impressive 55% popular vote victory, putting together the same geographically and ideologically diverse coalition of the liberal southeast and the rural north that had elected Chiles to the senate and Askew and himself to the governorship (Colburn and deHaven-Smith 1999: 72).

Bob Graham in his first U.S. senate term earned a moderate liberal voting record, as he balanced his liberal-leaning voting tendencies with support for the Gulf War, for the death penalty, and for some anti-communist measures pertaining to Nicaragua and Cuba (Duncan 1993: 320, 322). He was easily reelected in 1992 with 65% of the vote over former U.S. congressman Bill Grant, a moderate Democrat before switching to the GOP and then losing his house seat (Duncan 1989: 298). Even Grant conceded that the popular Graham was the best politician in the state, and that he was sincere, and the Republican challenger was outspent by a 12-1 margin and relegated to driving his own Jeep Wagoneer to campaign across the state (Carver and Fiedler 1999: 351 quotes, 352; Duncan 1993: 322). Likewise, Graham coasted to re-election in 1998, winning 62.5% of the vote over state senator Charles Crist (Duncan and Nutting 1999: 282, 284). An interesting commentary on the leftward drift of southern Democrats, though, was that his senate voting record after his first reelection drifted to the left. For the ten-year period from 1993 through 2002, this veteran Democratic senator posted a liberal record on seven occasions and a moderate liberal record on only three occasions (Hawkings and Nutting 2003: 217).

The seesaw in alternations of party wins in elections for important offices continued with split outcomes for open U.S. senate seats in the early years of the 21st century. Democrats won in 2000, electing state treasurer-insurance commissioner and former congressman Bill Nelson with 51% of the vote to 46% for former congressman Bill McCollum. Nelson had compiled a moderate voting record in congress, and as insurance commissioner he had fought to hold down homeowner insurance rates after Hurricane Andrew, as well as helped to obtain a settlement for African Americans overcharged for life insurance and burial insurance policies (Koszczuk and Stern 2005: 224; Tauber and Hulbary 2002: 164). The crafty Democrat proceeded to brand his Republican opponent as too far to the right for Florida, since McCollum as a congressman had amassed a consistently conservative voting record and he had served as a prosecutor in the partisan impeachment effort against President Clinton (Koszczuk and Stern 2005: 224 quote; Duncan and Nutting 1999: 310).

As senator Nelson veered to the left, typically receiving liberal ADA scores of about 80 and conservative ACU scores of about 20. He voted to extend a ban on assault weapons and to limit the size of the Bush tax cut, as well as voted against a constitutional amendment outlawing same-sex marriage, against a ban on partial birth abortion, and against criminalizing harm to the fetus in an attack on the mother (Koszczuk and Stern 2005: 224). He nevertheless won reelection in 2006 with a landslide 60% of the vote, once again benefiting from the GOP nomination of a candidate viewed as too conservative for most Floridians, this time Katherine Harris, who won only 38% of voters. Harris, the controversial secretary of state during the disputed 2000 presidential race in Florida, was elected to congress in 2002 and had compiled a conservative voting record (Koszczuk and Stern 2005: 252). Indeed, Republican leaders in Florida had desperately tried to find a candidate to challenge her nomination bid, fearing that her erratic behavior and irrational tirades to the press would spell defeat in November, though Harris refused to bow out, insisting that God wants her to be a senator (Chait 2006: 14). Upon nomination Harris proceeded to alienate everyone except the Christian Right when she proclaimed that: If you’re not electing Christians then in essence you are going to legislate sin (Wheeler 2006). Praised in a prominent newspaper endorsement for his lifetime of public service and for being a middle of the road incumbent who doesn’t blindly vote the party line, Nelson proceeded to win reelection by racking up the votes of 55% of whites, 68% of Independents, 70% of moderates, and even 32% of conservatives (quotes in Tallahassee.com, 2006a; exit polls in http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2006/pages/results/states/FL/S/01/epolls.0.html)

The 2012 election year illustrated how competitive Florida politics had become, as Democrats reelected Senator Bill Nelson and narrowly carried the state for Obama, while Republicans retained overwhelming control of the U.S. House delegation and both chambers of the state legislature (though with slightly reduced margins). Emphasizing his moderate reputation and his desire to end the bitter ideological divide between the parties in Washington, Nelson defeated conservative congressman Connie Mack who sought to link the incumbent with President Obama and his health care law (Klas and Sanders 2012). The bipartisan message of Nelson won him 61% of moderates and 57% of Independents in exit polls, and not only did Democrats outnumber Republicans among voters by a narrow 35-33% margin, but Nelson won a greater share of his party identifiers than did Mack (92% versus 83%)(see website: http://elections.nytimes.com/2012/results/senate/exit-polls?state=fl).

Recent Republican Officeholders

The second try was the charm for Jeb Bush, who won the governorship for the Republicans in 1998 with a convincing 55% of the vote over Democratic lieutenant governor Buddy MacKay. Bush offered a conservative platform that sought to reduce taxes, downsize government, reform schools, and implement a conservative social agenda (Colburn and deHaven-Smith 1999: 73). He nevertheless increased his share of the African American vote to 14% and won 60% of the Latino vote, as the Republican portrayed himself as more supportive of minority issues than he had been four year earlier (Tauber and Hulbary 2002: 150). Democrats themselves dropped the ball on one key minority issue, as state House Democrats the year before had deposed the African American minority leader in favor of a white, allegedly because of the his liberalism and weakness in fund-raising, prompting a Black Caucus walkout of the Democratic caucus and resulting in three African American lawmakers endorsing Bush over MacKay (Tauber 2005: 54; Tauber and Hulbary 2002: 150; Carver and Fiedler 1999: 374).

As governor, Jeb Bush proceeded to implement his conservative agenda. He announced his One Florida executive order that ended the state practice of granting preferences to minorities in job hiring, promotions, and the awarding of state contracts. This order also ended the use of affirmative action for admissions into Florida higher education institutions, replacing it with guaranteed admissions for graduates in the top one-fifth of each high school, prompting protests led by African Americans outside of the governor’s mansion and the state capitol (Tauber and Hulbary 2002: 150-151). Bush also signed into law a private school voucher program, a tax cut on stocks and bonds investment returns, and a three-strikes law providing for life imprisonment for conviction of a third felony (Tauber 2005: 64, 66).

The popular Bush won reelection in 2002 with a slightly larger 56% of the vote over lawyer and novice candidate Bill McBride. Democrats were hurt by election irregularities in the disputed party primary, where Janet Reno, former attorney general of President Clinton and a favorite of liberals, suffered a razor-thin defeat to the former Marine, Bill McBride. Republicans also won the offices of attorney general and agriculture commissioner, which along with the only other office still elected statewide, the new chief financial officer position that combined the comptroller and treasurer and was held by a Republican, gave the GOP a sweep of statewide elected officials (see website: http://election.dos.state.fl.us/index.html). Republican numbers in the state legislature and U.S. House also kept growing so that after the 2004 elections the GOP controlled about two-thirds of state legislative seats and 18 of the 25 U.S. House districts, numbers reduced after the 2006 national GOP disaster (Table 14-2).

Republicans were able to retain the governorship in 2006 with attorney general Charlie Crist. Crist benefited from the popularity of outgoing governor Bush, a popularity fueled by Bush legislative successes of annual tax cuts, cuts in state government jobs and in wasteful spending, tort reform and child welfare reform, Medicaid innovations relying on private competition, and a high job creation rate and a low 3.3% unemployment rate (Strassel 2006). Endorsed by a prominent newspaper, Crist benefited from his reputation of being an independent thinker rather than a blind party loyalist, as he broke with the national GOP by supporting civil unions, stem cell research, the abortion status quo, and even the re-enfranchisement of felons (Tallahassee.com, 2006b). Indeed, Crist was so committed to elevating the interests of Floridians over those of Washington Republicans that he snubbed the President by deciding to campaign elsewhere when Bush made a campaign visit to Florida the day before the election, leaving the President to be greeted by his brother the governor and by the electorally hopeless Katherine Harris (cnn.com, 2006). Crist proceeded to win 52% of the vote to 45% for liberal Democratic Congressman Jim Davis, as the Republican won 18% of the black vote and 14% of Democrats while splitting the Hispanic, moderate, and independent vote with Davis (Koszczuk and Stern 2005: 248; exit poll results in http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2006/pages/results/states/FL/G/00/epolls.0.html). Democrats took some solace in breaking the GOP monopoly of cabinet offices by winning the chief financial officer race, though Republicans retained the offices of attorney general and agriculture commissioner.

The national GOP landslide year of 2010 was also good to Republicans in Florida, as they retained open seats for governor and the U.S. senate despite a split party in both contests. Despite a bitter gubernatorial primary struggle with the state attorney general, Bill McCollum, GOP victor and health care business executive Rick Scott managed to eke out a narrow win over Democratic Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink. Facing 12% unemployment and the second highest foreclosure rate in the nation, Floridians preferred the businessman Scott outsider image (Bauerlein, 2010). With 54% of exit poll voters very worried about economic conditions and 44% of voters believing that their family financial situation had become worse, the 68% and 63% support for Scott among these two groups helped the GOP hold the statehouse vacated by Charlie Crist (http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2010/results/polls/#val=FLG00p1).

Meanwhile, Republicans also managed to hold on to the Mel Martinez senate seat, despite having two Republicans in the race, as governor Crist belatedly decided to run as an Independent given the strength of the conservative, tea party favorite Marco Rubio, a Cuban American and a former state House speaker. In the three-way general election, Rubio won 49% of the vote to 30% for Crist, relegating the Democrat, liberal African American congressman Kendrick Meek, to a third place showing of 20%. Thirty six percent of exit poll voters were Republicans and 39% were conservatives, and Rubio won the votes of 87% and 82% of these groups. Though Democrats also comprised 36% of voters, they split their votes pretty evenly between Meek and Crist. Rubio did well among the middle of the electorate, winning 51% of Independents and his share of 36% of moderates (http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2010/results/polls/#FLS01p1).

The 2014 gubernatorial election once again illustrated how modern Florida had become a real tossup state in terms of major statewide elections. Both parties offered heavy hitters with Democrats nominating former governor and Republican-turned-Independent-turned Democrat Charlie Crist seeking to upend Republican governor Rick Scott. CNN exit polls showed that Crist (with 51% favorable to 44% unfavorable ratings) was more personally popular than Scott (44% favorable to 53% unfavorable), but President Obama was as unpopular in Florida as he was nationally (57% disapproval rating). Perhaps the decisive factor given that identifiers of both parties voted about 90% for their party's candidate and that Independents split almost evenly between them was that unlike 2012 Republicans had a 4% edge over Democrats among voters (35% versus 31%). Some political observers also attributed the Republican victory to a superior ground game and to heavy late spending on TV ads that increased GOP turnout, as the embattled incumbent pumped nearly $13 million of his own money into the race (Smith and Caputo 2014).

The 2016 elections reinforced how competitive Florida was in statewide races. Trump won the state with only 50.6% of the two-party vote, and incumbent GOP Senator Rubio was reelected with only 54% of the two-party vote. After the national GOP begged Rubio to seek reelection after his failed GOP presidential bid, Rubio distanced himself from the divisive presidential race by explaining that, "This election is a disturbing choice between someone that I disagree with on many things and someone who I disagree with on virtually everything" (King 2016). While Democrat two-term congressman Patrick Murphy billed himself as a "problem-solver able to work across the aisle" who had "formed the bipartisan United Solutions Caucus," the negativism that state voters held towards Hillary Clinton exerted a slightly greater effect on the vote than did Trump's unpopularity (https://www.murphyforflorida.com/about-patrick/). Fully 88% of those with unfavorable attitudes toward Clinton backed Rubio, compared to 85% of those favorable towards the Democratic presidential nominee who backed Murphy, and Clinton's negatives outpolled her positives with 53% of voters negative towards her and only 43% positive. Rubio also retained some personal popularity, gaining 52% support among Independents and retaining 48% of the Latino vote. The virtual partisan tossup in modern Florida was illustrated by Republicans outnumbering Democrats by only 1% among voters (33% versus 32%)(http://www.cnn.com/election/results/exit-polls/florida/senate). Republicans retained their strong margins in both chambers of the state legislature, however, and despite suffering a net loss of one U.S. House seat nevertheless retained 59% of the state's congressional seats.

The 2018 elections illustrated how Florida had become a partisan tossup, as Republicans won the governorship and a senate seat with less than 1% of the vote, and Democrats came within one seat of gaining a majority of the state's U.S. House delegation. Backing tax cuts and Trump's Supreme Court choices while opposing Obamacare, GOP governor Rick Scott relied on his personal fortune to unseat Senator Bill Nelson with the theme that the Democrat was "an ineffective and tired career politician who has been in Washington for too long." (Contorno et al., 2018). Iraq veteran Ron DeSantis, a Tea Party backed Congressman endorsed by President Trump, was elected governor over Tallahassee mayor Andrew Gillum, an African American. The Republican urged voters to not "monkey this up" (the state's good economy) by voting for Gillum, whose support for Medicaid expansion, Bernie Sanders' Medicare for All plan, and $1 billion in more education spending would raise taxes and cost the state jobs (Mahoney 2018). Both Democratic candidates were strong enough to carry about 55% of Independents and 61% of moderates, though both Republicans carried about 45% of Latinos, and the 4% GOP party id edge among voters was decisive as each party voted at least 91% for its party's senate and gubernatorial nominees (CNN exit poll). Florida elected (running on the ticket with Republican DeSantis) its first Latina Lieutenant Governor, Jeanette Nunez, the Speaker Pro Tempore of the state House, who had been born in Miami to Cuban parents. Democrats elected one statewide official, Nikki Fried, a South Florida attorney, as Agriculture Commissioner. Fried attributed her victory to a non-partisan campaign that stressed gun control, increased access to medical marijuana, and the public desire "to let some women into office" (Gross 2018).

WEEK SIXTEEN-
VIRGINIA- LIBERAL DEMOCRATS REPLACED BY PRAGMATIC DEMOCRATS

The Aristocratic Democratic Machine of Harry Byrd

The Democratic Party machine of U.S. Senator Harry Byrd, a machine that was clearly associated with conservative policies, dominated Virginia politics in the first half of the 20th century. Harry Byrd had quit school to help run his father’s nearly bankrupt newspaper business, and was soon putting in 18-hour workdays working in that business and in two others (Heinemann 1996: 6, 9). These teenage experiences instilled in him the political philosophy that the role of government was simply to provide an environment in which individual opportunity might flourish so that self-reliant people like himself could create personal wealth with minimal taxation and government regulation (Heinemann 1996: 10). Having served a brief stint on the Winchester City Council, Byrd was elected to the state senate in 1915, pledging to run state government with the same efficiency and economy as any private business (Heinemann 1996: 17). The son of a former state house speaker and the nephew of a political boss, state senator Byrd was elected state Democratic Party chairman in 1922. His spearheading the defeat of a bond measure for state highways, thereby enshrining a pay-as-you-go mentality into state public policies propelled him to election as governor in 1925 (Heinemann 1996: 42).

As governor, Byrd continued his conservative philosophy of opposing bonded indebtedness in favor of a pay-as-you-go philosophy for building highways, promoted government economy and efficiency by reorganizing and consolidating state government, and publicly campaigned for a constitutional amendment that reduced the number of elective state offices to only three (Heinemann 1996: 60-61). As a U.S. Senator from 1933 until 1965, the conservative Byrd initially backed President Roosevelt New Deal programs because of the dire emergency of the Great Depression. He soon began to fight against such government handouts that corrupted his philosophy of self-help, and to rail against the New Dealers, Communists, the CIO-PAC (Heinemann 1996: 176 1st two quotes; Key 1949: 34 3rd quote).

The Byrd Democratic machine promoted the interests of banks and retailing businesses and the wealthier citizens, exercised restraint in the expansion of services, such as education, public health, and welfare and was strongest in rural areas, particularly in the south and tidewater areas that had sizable black populations and an agricultural economy (Key 1949: 27 quote; 33; Eisenberg 1972: 44). Typical of Byrd machine governors was Bill Tuck, who after being elected in 1945 proceeded to denounce public employee unions, to induct utility workers who had gone on strike into the state militia, to enact a Right to Work law that outlawed compulsory union membership, and to enact a law permitting state government to seize the strike-plagued utilities (Atkinson 2006a: 23). Typical of state legislative policy during the Byrd era was a 1950 law the required that state budget surpluses be refunded to the taxpayer (Atkinson 2006a: 43). The anti-organization faction of the Democratic Party constituted the liberal wing of the party, favoring improved public services in education and other social service programs, supporting national Democratic leaders, and drawing support from voters in urban areas, blue-collar workers in the tidewater area, and voters generally in the western and southwestern counties of agricultural protest, traditional Republicanism, and mining and manufacturing industries (Key 1949: 28 quote, 30-31; Eisenberg 1972: 45).

The Byrd machine consistently controlled the governorship from 1925 until the 1960s, largely because of the hands-on leadership style that Byrd had established as boss of the state Democratic political machine and had maintained while in the U.S. Senate. He comfortably mingled with local officials, relishing meals with them and talk of such daily matters as the weather and farm prices, and then kept in direct contact with them through his many letters and energetic campaigning at election time. Byrd also cultivated friends in the business and journalism communities, the latter impressed by his numerous press releases. His leadership style was to reward with praise, jobs, roads, and legislation rather than to punish (Heinemann 1996: 46 all quotes in paragraph). The Byrd machine was also maintained by the central position of Byrd functionary E.R. Combs, who as clerk of the state senate and chair of the state compensation board influenced the determination of salaries and expenses to county officials and legislative selection of circuit judges, judges who appointed the local electoral boards (Key 1949: 20-22). The issue of civil rights, made salient by the 1954 Brown desegregation decision, soon added even more strains on the Democratic machine. Viewing the race issue as one that would help the organization to maintain its political domination, U.S. Senator Byrd pushed a policy of massive resistance and Governor Stanley reluctantly agreed to it (Heinemann 1996: 329 quote; Eisenberg 1972: 51).

Governors and U.S. Senators and Their Parties in Modern Virginia

	Democrats			Republicans
	Governors	Senators	Senators	Governors	Senators	Senators
1969		Byrd	Spong	Holton*
1970		Byrd*+	Spong	Holton
1972		Byrd		Holton		Scott*
1973		Byrd		Godwin*		Scott
1974		Byrd		Godwin		Scott
1976		Byrd*+		Godwin		Scott
1977		Byrd		Dalton*		Scott
1978		Byrd		Dalton		Warner*
1980		Byrd		Dalton		Warner
1981	Robb*	Byrd				Warner
1982	Robb				Trible*	Warner
1984	Robb				Trible	Warner*
1985	Baliles*				Trible	Warner
1986	Baliles				Trible	Warner
1988	Baliles	Robb*				Warner
1989	Wilder*	Robb				Warner
1990	Wilder	Robb				Warner*
1992	Wilder	Robb				Warner
1993		Robb		Allen*		Warner
1994		Robb*		Allen		Warner
1996		Robb		Allen		Warner*
1997		Robb		Gilmore*		Warner
1998		Robb		Gilmore		Warner
2000				Gilmore	Allen*	Warner
2001	M. Warner*				Allen	Warner
2002	M. Warner				Allen	Warner*
2004	M. Warner				Allen	Warner
2005	Kaine*				Allen	Warner
2006	Kaine	Webb*				Warner
2008	Kaine	Webb	M. Warner*
2009		Webb	M. Warner	McDonnell*
2010		Webb	M. Warner	McDonnell
2012		Kaine*	M. Warner	McDonnell
2013	McAuliffe*	Kaine	M. Warner
2014	McAuliffe	Kaine	M. Warner*
2016	McAuliffe	Kaine	M. Warner
2017	Northam*	Kaine	M. Warner
2018	Northam	Kaine*	M. Warner

Note: Cell entries indicate the governors and U.S. Senators elected in or serving during the years listed at the left. In Virginia, governors are elected in the odd-numbered year after a presidential election, so those years are included in this table.

* Indicates that the officeholder was elected in that year.

+ Harry Byrd was re-elected in 1970 and 1976 as an Independent, but he caucused with Senate Democrats.

Democratic Melt-Down of the 1970s

The final deathblow for the Byrd organization was the 1969 Democratic primary for statewide offices, when the moderate and liberal factions of the party not only backed anti-organization candidates for lieutenant governor and attorney general (the only two offices in Virginia other than governor elected statewide), but also delivered them two-thirds of the primary vote over organization candidates (Eisenberg 1972: 76-78). Liberal leader and anti-organization man Henry Howell made the gubernatorial runoff with a non-organization moderate candidate William Battle, son of a former governor. The moderate Battle had been an ambassador in the Kennedy administration and had campaigned for the upset by William Spong of the senator in 1966 backed by the organization (Atkinson 2006a: 207). Howell, an attorney and state senator, had fought for the consumer against the electric, telephone, and automobile insurance companies, had exposed abuses at black mental hospitals, had opposed closing the schools as a way of resisting integration, and had unsuccessfully taken on organization-leader Senator Byrd in the 1952 Democratic primary (Bass and DeVries 1977: 356-357; Eisenberg 1972: 75). Running as a people’s candidate who pledged to Keep the Big Boys Honest, Howell proceeded to run a series of shouting, arm-waving television commercials attacking special interests, prompting political opponents to tag him Howling Henry (Bass and DeVries 1977: 357). Battle narrowly won the Democratic gubernatorial runoff primary with 52% of the vote after Governor Godwin endorsed him, an endorsement that angered supporters of Howell, who were further alienated by a snub when Howell was not seated at the head table or even introduced at an October unity dinner (Bass and DeVries 1977: 353-354).

Republicans benefited from Democratic disunity and the attractive candidacy of moderate Linwood Holton, and elected their first governor since Reconstruction. With a good organization, skillful use of the media, an endorsement from the AFL-CIO, an ability to win 37% of the black vote, backing from conservative Byrd Democrats, and a time for a change slogan, Republican Holton won 53% of the vote to 45% for Battle (Eisenberg 1972: 79 quote, 80; Bass and DeVries 1977: 353; Morris and Bradley 1994: 277; Atkinson 2006a: 214). A mountain Republican whose father had shown his hatred for bigotry by voting for Catholic Al Smith in the 1928 presidential election, Governor Holton declared that the era of defiance is behind us and pledged an aristocracy of ability, regardless of race (Bass and DeVries 1977: 358 quote, 359). He proceeded to appoint the first black to the staff of the governor, expanded job opportunities for blacks in state government and in the private sector, enacted the first open housing law in the South, and gained national recognition for personally escorting his daughter to a largely black school in the midst of an emotional desegregation controversy (Bass and DeVries 1977: 358-359; Atkinson 2006a: 232).

Liberal Democrats flexed their muscles even further and announced that state representative George Rawlings, whose nomination to a congressional seat had helped to elect a Republican in 1966, would challenge Senator Byrd for renomination to the Senate in 1970. Fearing that he might not even be able to win the nomination of a party trending to the left, Byrd promptly announced that he would run as an Independent. The now Independent Byrd was reelected with 54% of the vote to 31% for Rawlings and 15% for a weak Republican candidate. Byrd was endorsed by former Governor Godwin, backed by much of the state business community, had the tacit support of President Nixon, and won over many George Wallace voters, but he lost the black vote. He continued to caucus with Senate Democrats, who permitted him to keep his committee assignments and seniority. Abandonment of Byrd by the state Democratic Party sent a message to many conservative Democrats that they were no longer welcome in the party. Former governor Godwin switched to the Republican Party in 1973, and many conservative Democrats followed his move (Bass and DeVries 1977: 354-355; Lamis 1990: 152-153; Atkinson 2006a: 249). As a reelected U.S. senator, Harry Byrd continued to maintain a conservative voting record. Republicans did not even run a candidate against him in his last reelection in 1976, when Byrd ran again as an Independent, this time winning 57% of the vote to 38% for Democratic retired admiral Elmo Zumwalt (Barone and Ujifusa 1981: 1123, 1124).

With growing conservative disillusionment with the Democratic Party, fueled by national Democrats denying such moderate conservatives as former governor Godwin a seat at the 1972 state convention and proceeding to elect articulate and outspoken black women as national committeewoman and state vice-chairman, even a moderate like U.S. Senator William Spong became a political casualty (Bass and DeVries 1977: 366 quote; Barone, Ujifusa, and Matthews 1972: 837; Atkinson 2006a: 285). Republican William Scott, a conservative who had been elected to congress from the 8th district after a liberal had upset the conservative incumbent in the 1966 Democratic primary, defeated the Democratic senator in his 1972 reelection bid by a 51-46% vote margin (Barone, Ujifusa, and Matthews 1972: 851). Taking advantage of the unpopularity of liberal Democratic presidential nominee McGovern in Virginia, which produced a Nixon landslide of 69% of the two-party vote, Scott became the first GOP U.S. Senator from Virginia since Reconstruction, after accusing the Democratic senate incumbent of supporting busing, gun control, and George McGovern (Lamis 1990: 154; Atkinson 2006a: 289-291). As a senator, Scott continued his conservative voting record, illustrating a growing ideological divide in the state GOP between conservatives and the more moderate and progressive faction led by Governor Holton (Barone, Ujifusa, and Matthews 1977: 868).

Virginia Democrats responded to their growing disarray and capture by liberal elements by temporarily abandoning the party primary in favor of the convention for nominating its candidates. For a vacant lieutenant governorship in 1971, Democrats nominated a moderate who sought conservative support and Republicans chose a supporter of Governor Holton, prompting liberal Democrat Henry Howell to run as an Independent. The liberal Howell was elected with 40% of the vote to 37% for the Democrat and 23% for the Republican (Lamis 1990: 153). In total disarray, Democrats did not even offer a gubernatorial candidate in 1973, leaving the field to Democrat-turned-Republican former governor Mills Godwin and to Independent Henry Howell. While Howell called for replacing the sales tax on food with taxes targeting the affluent, and tried to assemble a populist coalition of blacks, liberals, and blue-collar whites, Godwin blasted him as a candidate of radicals and labor leaders and accused him of supporting forced busing to achieve racial integration in the schools. Godwin, winning big in some suburbs and in southern counties still influenced by the old Byrd machine, only narrowly defeated Howell with 51% of the vote, despite being backed by popular governor Holton and such moderate Democrats as 1969 gubernatorial loser William Battle (Lamis 1990: 155; Atkinson 2006a: 237, 314-315).

Democrats continued their 1970s shutout of major offices by losing the 1977 governorship. John Dalton, a mountain Republican whose father had opposed the Byrd machine, had been elected lieutenant governor in 1973, and won 56% of the vote for governor four years later to easily defeat Henry Howell (Barone, Ujifusa, and Matthews 1979: 889, 893). Howell had returned to the Democratic party, and backed by such intense Democratic activists as members of the AFL-CIO, the state education association, and the most prominent state African American organization, he upset the moderate Attorney General Andrew Miller in the Democratic gubernatorial primary (Atkinson 2006a: 367, 371). Conservative Democrats and independents, including prominent Byrd machine associates and forty-nine current and former Democratic state lawmakers, promptly backed Republican Dalton, and the popular departing governor Mills Godwin actively campaigned to defeat the liberal Democrat (Lamis 1990: 156 quote; Atkinson 2006a: 373, 381). As governor, Dalton was most known for fiscal conservatism and slowing the growth of government by cutting the number of state government employees. His record on race relations was mixed. While he backed a settlement of the state higher education desegregation lawsuit that included racial goals in enrollment, he also vetoed a Martin Luther King state holiday (Atkinson 2006b: 14, 23, 41).

Democrats made their last futile effort of the 1970s by abandoning the primary in 1978 and for years afterwards, in favor of a nominating convention to choose a candidate for the U.S. senate seat vacated by Republican Senator Scott (Atkinson 2006a: 412). Democrats chose moderate former attorney general Andrew Miller, who had lost the party gubernatorial primary to Howell the previous year. Virginia Republicans, who had always used a convention, at first nominated conservative former state party chair Richard Obenshain, but after his death in a plane crash the GOP state committee settled on former Navy Secretary John Warner. Miller made an admirable effort to unify the Democratic party, as he boasted the support of organized labor, Henry Howell supporters, and even some conservatives who had been segregationists (Lamis 1990: 157; McGlennon 1988: 59). Warner benefited from his non-partisan Washington experience as former Navy Secretary, the notoriety of his famous actress wife Elizabeth Taylor, a spending advantage thanks to business support and his own wealth, support from conservatives such as former governor Godwin and former Democratic senator Byrd, and the state GOP sophisticated voter identification and turnout operation, to pull out a razor thin 50.2% of the vote (Atkinson 2006a: 398, 428, 436, 437, 441 quote).

Democratic Comeback in the 1980s and Today

Democrats made their political comeback by rejecting the liberalism of the Henry Howell wing of their party and pursuing a more centrist strategy that attracted a biracial coalition around ideologically diverse issues. In 1981 they nominated Lieutenant Governor Charles Chuck Robb for governor, along with two moderates for the positions of attorney general and lieutenant governor, and ended up sweeping all three offices (McGlennon 1988: 61). Robb, son-in-law of former President Lyndon Johnson and a former Marine, embraced the Byrd machine mantle of fiscal conservatism. Yet he also held progressive views on race and social issues, and pledged to help the poor and elderly by repealing the state sales tax on food (Rozell 2003: 139 quote; Lamis 1990: 158). Robb was also vouched for by the lone African American in the state senate, Doug Wilder, a favorite of organized labor and liberals (Atkinson 2006b: 7). Robb was so zealous in assembling a broad, ideologically inclusive coalition that he even reached out to old-time segregationist and anti-union Democratic officials. The Republicans were now the party harmed by intra-party divisions, as some conservatives were upset over Coleman, who as state attorney general had backed such progressive measures as a higher education desegregation lawsuit settlement that included racial goals (Atkinson 2006b: 21-23, 36-37). As governor, Robb used the same ideologically inclusive strategy to govern, as he had to campaign. He pleased liberals by increasing spending on education, raising teacher salaries, fully funding the state elementary and secondary education Standards of Quality program, and appointing the first African American to the state supreme court. Conservatives appreciated his fiscal conservatism, reflected in his ability to balance the state budget without raising taxes (Atkinson 2006b: 44 quote, 45). Indeed, Chuck Robb had been such a popular governor that one poll in 1988 had him leading retiring Republican senator Trible. Serving as a Washington D.C. lawyer after his gubernatorial term, Robb had sought to move the national Democratic Party more towards the center by co-founding the centrist Democratic Leadership Council and by promoting the creation of Super Tuesday, a day when most southern states would hold primaries simultaneously to select delegates to attend the national party convention, thereby creating a Southern Primary that would hopefully help to produce a more moderate or conservative presidential nominee. Employing a ten-to-one spending advantage over his politically inexperienced Republican opponent, Maurice Dawkins, a 67-year-old African American minister, Robb in 1988 breezed to a 71% landslide senate victory (Sabato 1991: 237-239, 243; Duncan 1989: 1538-1539; Rozell 2003: 141).

Democratic staying power was proven in the 1985 gubernatorial race, when Democratic Attorney General Gerald Baliles defeated Republican Wyatt Durrette with an impressive 55% of the vote. Baliles closely linked himself with the popular administration of Governor Robb, which had benefited from a period of economic prosperity, and like Robb he ran as a fiscal conservative with a progressive orientation on social and race issues (Lamis 1990: 289-290; Rozell 2003: 140; Atkinson 2006b: 68). Meanwhile, Republicans were once again the bitterly divided party, only this time it was the moderates who were unable to defeat conservative candidates for governor or lieutenant governor (Atkinson 2006b: 56 quote, 57). Indeed, even former GOP governor Linwood Holton declined to support the Republican ticket, hoping that Virginia would make history by electing African American Democrat Doug Wilder as lieutenant governor (Atkinson 2006b: 60). Republicans compounded their problems when the state press accused them of arousing racial passions when former Governor Godwin accused the Democratic gubernatorial nominee of supporting the record of state senator Doug Wilder, which included attempted repeal of the state song, Carry Me Back to Ole Virginny (Atkinson 2006b: 65 1st quote; 64 2nd quote). As governor, Democrat Baliles increased spending on transportation by backing a sales tax increase, promoted economic development by leading a record eight foreign trade missions, and backed increased spending on such social welfare programs as mental health, indigent healthcare, and child care services (Atkinson 2006b: 75 quote, 70). Democrats swept all three executive elected offices for the second consecutive election, and made history by electing the first African American to any statewide, non-judicial office in the South since Reconstruction, L. Douglas Wilder as lieutenant governor, and the first woman in Virginia to any statewide office, Mary Sue Terry as attorney general (Lamis 1990: 288-290). As in the case of the two African Americans elected to statewide offices in modern Georgia, Wilder avoided the liberal label, and stressed his non-ideological accomplishments during his life of public service. Wilder also sought out many white voters when traveling to small towns and rural areas across the state, and even ran television ads in rural areas featuring a rotund white sheriff with a thick accent who strongly endorsed his candidacy (Rozell 2007: 147). Wilder also preempted Republicans from using the liberal label against him by immediately charging that using such a term to describe his record would constitute a racial code word (Atkinson 2006b: 62 quote, 63).

Democrats won the governorship for the third time in a row in 1989. Doug Wilder benefited from his political experience, having served 16 years in the state senate and four years as lieutenant governor, and was nominated without opposition, while Marshall Coleman waged a negative campaign in barely edging out by 2% of the vote former U.S. senator Trible for the Republican party nomination (Atkinson 2006b: 96 quote; Edds and Morris 1999: 141-142; Lamis 1990: 317; Menifield, Shaffer, and Brassell 2005: 174). Stressing that the election was all about Leadership and experience, the moderate Wilder positioned himself as a fiscal conservative who opposed any sales tax increase, and as someone who was tough on crime and who supported the death penalty (Lamis 1990: 318 quote; Morris and Bradley 1994: 278; Atkinson 2006b: 71, 74, 94). Wilder also appeared to benefit from the doctrinaire conservatism of his GOP opponent, as the Democrat criticized Coleman’s opposition to abortion even in the cases of rape and incest (Edds and Morris 1999: 140). A Wilder television ad explained his support for the right to choose to have an abortion in the context of Virginia’s strong tradition of freedom and individual liberty and his desire to keep the politicians out of your personal life (Edds and Morris 1999: 141). Benefited by a strong state economy and the support of Governors Robb and Baliles, Wilder won an estimated 41% of the white vote with a nonracial campaign in which he ran not as a black politician, but as a politician who happened to be black, yet he still benefited from a black turnout rate 8% higher than that of whites. The razor thin win of Wilder with only 50.1% of the vote was nevertheless less impressive than his 52% vote victory for lieutenant governor (Morris and Bradley 1994: 278; Atkinson 2006b: 93).

Democrats won back the governor in 2001 after two Republican governors. Democrat Mark Warner stressed his conservative values as a cautious businessman, who would not raise broad-based taxes, would uphold the traditional family, would protect the right to bear arms, and would only veto new restrictions on abortion instead of repealing existing ones. Warner reached out to rural areas with extensive personal campaigning, running an ad with a bluegrass song that hailed him as a good ol boy from up in Nova-ville, and organizing a Sportsmen for Warner group (Sabato 2001: 7 quote, 6). Republican Attorney General Mark Earley, a staunch conservative, survived a bitter nomination battle with Lieutenant Governor John Hager, and proceeded to lose moderate and liberal Republican support to Warner as well as losing businessmen who had backed Hager (Atkinson 2006b: 269-270). Going negative and accusing the Democrats of having the most liberal ticket in Virginia history, Earley was nevertheless outgunned by a two-to-one spending disadvantage, partly due to the multi-millionaire Democrat spending some of his own fortune on his campaign, and the Republican also faced a disadvantage in editorial endorsements (Sabato 2001: 8 quote, 10; Rozell 2007: 155). Democrats were also helped by Warner promising to retain the popular conservative programs enacted by the two previous GOP governors, and by a split within the GOP between conservatives who wanted to continue the car tag relief program and moderate senators who feared the loss of revenue because of an economic downturn (Atkinson 2006b: 255, 269-270). Warner won the governorship with 52% of the vote to 47% for Earley, and Richmond Mayor Tim Kaine regained the lieutenant governorship for the Democrats (Sabato 2001: 13). As governor, Mark Warner faced a serious budget shortfall by first imposing deep spending cuts and then two years later working with legislative Republicans to enact a $1.4 billion tax hike program. This prudent approach to the economic crisis gave him an image of a statesman, and support from the broad, independent middle of the state electorate (Atkinson 2006b: 281 quote, 278). Naming him as Public Official of the Year in 2004, Governing magazine praised how Warner had managed state government, which had preserved the state triple-A credit rating and permitted some targeted investments into important education priorities (Atkinson 2006b: 283 quote, 280). Warner went on to be elected to the U.S. senate in 2008, beating former Republican governor Jim Gilmore, whose main accomplishment had been slashing the car tag tax. Many law enforcement officials endorsed Warner for the senate, blasting Gilmore's tax cuts that had ravaged public safety in Virginia by cutting anti-crime funding (Schapiro 2008). Mark Warner, proceeded to take credit for dealing with the Gilmore mess that he had inherited, as governor Warner had erased a budget deficit, ended partisan bickering and left the state rated as the best managed state and best state for business in the nation (Whitley 2007). Voters evidently agreed, as two-thirds of Independents and three-fourths of moderates backed Warner as he went on to win a nearly two-to-one victory over the outclassed Republican (http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/results/polls/#val=VAS01p1).

In 2005 Democrats retained the governorship with Lieutenant Governor Tim Kaine beating GOP Attorney General Jerry Kilgore by a 52-46% vote margin, though the competitiveness of state elections was reflected in Republican Bill Bolling being elected lieutenant governor by a margin of only 1.2% of the vote and GOP Bob McDonnell elected as attorney general by only 323 votes among over 1.9 million votes cast. Kaine, the son-in-law of former GOP governor Linwood Holton, ran as a moderate and tied himself to the popular outgoing Democratic governor Mark Warner, who vouched for Kaine’s character and solidarity with the Warner agenda and bipartisan approach, while the Republican was backed by President Bush and Senator Allen (Atkinson 2006b: 288; Whitley 2005). Both candidates focused on education with Kaine backing expanding the state preschool kindergarten program and Kilgore favoring a tax break for parents to buy school supplies. As both campaigns turned nasty, Kilgore accused the Democrat of being a liberal who as a civil rights lawyer had fought against the death penalty, while Kaine responded that he would enforce the state death penalty because it’s ‘the law’ (Whitley 2005). Working with the legislature, as governor in his first year Kaine dramatically increased funding for K-12 education (Governor Kaine website). Kaine went on to the U.S. senate in 2012, replacing retiring Democratic senator Jim Webb. Democrat Kaine ran as a moderate who would strive for compromises with Republicans, as he suggested a middle-ground that would raise taxes only on those making over $500,000, and even ran a positive ad about former President Bush (Grant 2012). With Democrats outnumbering Republicans 39-32% among exit poll voters, Obama carrying the state, and partisans and Obama-Romney voters being over 90% likely to vote for the same party in the senate race, Kaine defeated former governor and senator, George Allen (website: http://www.cnn.com/election/2012/results/state/VA/senate).

The story of retiring Democratic senator Jim Webb was also an interesting one, as he had unseated a Republican Senator, George Allen. Webb, a former Marine whose Vietnam service had earned him several medals, was a former Republican who had served as Assistant Secretary of Defense in the Reagan Administration. In his 2006 senate campaign, he had ran an ad where President Reagan at a 1985 Naval Academy commencement address had praised his service, and he also wore his the combat boots of his son on the campaign trail to honor his continuing the family military tradition by serving in Iraq (Boyer 2006; Richmond Times-Dispatch 2006). Webb had played on public dissatisfaction with the Iraqi war and other problems facing the nation, as he blasted President Bush for incompetence for hindering our ability to fight international terror, and called for the election of a new team in Congress, a Democratic Congress, which would provide a new direction in Iraq (Whitley 2006). Meanwhile, an overconfident Allen, touted by some Republicans as a likely presidential hopeful, ribbed a Webb staffer of Asian-Indian descent who was filming him at a campaign rally: This fellow here, over here, with the yellow shirt … Macaca, or whatever his name is, he’s with my opponent… So, welcome, let’s give a welcome to Macaca here. Welcome to America, and the real world of Virginia (Boyer 2006). Allen suddenly found himself on the defensive against charges of racism, as he denied any awareness that the word macaca was a racial slur used by whites in some French-colonized African nations to refer to a type of monkey, a macaque. The embattled Republican also found himself rejecting charges that as a college football player decades ago, he had used the N word to describe blacks (Stallsmith 2006). In pulling off a narrow upset with 49.6% of the vote to 49.2% for the incumbent, exit polls found Democrat Webb winning the votes of 56% of Independents, 60% of self-identified moderates, and even 42% of whites (http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2006/pages/results/states/VA/S/01/epolls.0.html).

The 2013 state elections saw Democrats winning back the governorship. Former Democratic National Committee chair Terry McAuliffe blasted Republican Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, backed by Christian conservatives and tea party activists, for his uncompromising and faith-based conservative positions on abortion and same sex marriage (Fisher 2013). With Democrats outnumbering Republicans among exit poll voters by a 37% to 32% margin and being even more united behind their party candidate (95% versus 92% for Republican loyalty), McAuliffe won a narrow 48% vote to 45% for the Republican (see website: http://www.nytimes.com/projects/elections/2013/general/virginia/exit-polls.html).

The 2014 national GOP tsunami was so strong that it nearly upended popular U.S. senator and former governor Democrat Mark Warner. With 58% of voters disapproving of President Obama's job performance and with the parties tied in party identification (at 36% each of exit poll voters), only Warner's greater popularity over former RNC chair Ed Gillespie's saved him (Warner had a 56% favorable, 42% unfavorable rating, compared to Gillespie's 48-47% ratings in a CNN exit poll). Winning by less than 1% of the vote, the shaken Warner reinforced his bipartisan reputation by pledging to "end the gridlock and get back to work" and to "work with anyone, Republican or Democrat," to "get the Senate back in the business of solving problems and not simply scoring political points" (Vozzella, Olivo, Portnoy 2014).

The 2016 election year was yet another good year for Virginia Democrats, as Virginia was the only southern state that backed Clinton for president. Democrats outnumbered Republicans by 40% to 33% among voters, 54% of voters approved of Obama's job performance as President (only 45% disapproved), and conservatives outnumbered liberals by only 7% (33% vs. 26%), and all of these categories voted for President in the expected partisan direction (92% of Democrats backed Clinton, for example). Though Republicans retained control of the state's U.S. House delegation, Democrats did pickup one seat to narrow the gap (http://www.cnn.com/election/results/exit-polls/virginia/president).

The Democratic state victories in 2017 confirmed that Virginia has now become a Democratic leaning state, as Democrats won all three statewide contests and made impressive gains in the state house. Democratic gubernatorial candidate Ralph S. Northam had much connection to the state. Born in Virginia and having attended Virginia Military Institute and Eastern Virginia Medical School, Northam had served 8 years in the Army in the Medical Corps, 6 years in the Virginia state senate, and was completing his term as the state's Lieutenant Governor. Republican gubernatorial hopeful Ed Gillespie had more of a national focus, having been a previous Chair of the Republican National Committee and a Counselor to President Bush, though he had run a close senate race in 2014. While the Republican in paid ads sought to exploit divisive cultural issues by supporting Confederate monuments and blasting the Democratic governor-lieutenant governor team for restoring voting rights to thousands of convicted felons, Northam wisely ducked any ideological "liberal" label. Having voted twice for President Bush, and described as "a moderate by inclination," Northam pledged to sign any law banning sanctuary cities, and to defer to local authorities on the fate of Confederate statues (Martin 2017). The new Democratic advantage in the state was reflected in exit polls showing that 41% of voters were Democratic and only 30% Republican, with each candidate getting at least 95% of their party's supporters and Independents splitting fairly evenly. Northam also received 77% of the vote of those caring about the single most important issue (health care), and won 64% of moderates and even 42% of whites. Reflecting the possible weighing of state versus national level associations, outgoing Democratic Governor McAuliffe had a 54% approval rating among voters versus a mere 40% approval rating for President Trump (https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2017/local/virginia-politics/governor-exit-polls/?utm_term=.b30ba7f80680). Not only did Northam win a convincing 54-45% victory, but Democrats swept the two other statewide offices, which included the election of African American Justin Fairfax, a former assistant U.S. Attorney, as lieutenant governor. Democrats also made gains in the state house, winning 49 seats to the GOP 51.

Democrats had another good year in 2018, reelecting first-term Senator Tim Kaine and gaining easy control of the state's U.S. House delegation. Democrats outnumbered Republicans among exit poll voters by 38-31%, and President Trump had only a 43% approval rating (57% disapprove), problems for the GOP as about 90% of people voted consistent with their partisanship and views of Trump. Senator Kaine stressed "jobs, health care, education, and 'a Virginia that works for all'". Republican Corey Stewart, a county supervisors board chairman, "ran on hard-line opposition to illegal immigration and support for the Trump agenda" (Moomaw 2018, all quotes). Kaine ended up winning 53% of Independents, 69% of moderates, and even 42% of whites (https://www.cnn.com/election/2018/exit-polls).

Democrats made further gains in the 2019 state elections, winning back majority control of both state legislative chambers, making Virginia the only southern state where Democrats controlled even one state legislative chamber. Despite allegations involving all three statewide elected Democratic officials, with the governor and attorney general accused of wearing blackface in college and the lieutenant governor accused of rape in college, Democratic legislative candidates successfully pushed such issues as health care (Medicaid expansion, Medicare for all) and gun control (to deal with mass shootings) and outspent Republicans thanks to donations from such liberal interest groups as a gun control group (Wilson 2019).

In 2020 Democratic Senator Mark Warner is running for re-election, the party primaries are in June, and his seat is rated as Safe Democratic.

SOUTHERN POLITICS NOTES

WEEKS ONE-TWO THE SOUTH IN A NATIONAL CONTEXT

POLITICAL PARTY ERAS

PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS IN THE SOUTH

PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS AT THE NATIONAL LEVEL (forces affecting Americans across the nation, not just in the South)

THE MODERN SOUTH, A REPUBLICAN BASTION

Please note that all of the sources for these class notes are on-line here.

WEEK THREE- THE OLD SOUTH- RACIAL SEGREGATION AND WHITE SUPREMACY

MISSISSIPPI AS A PRIME EXAMPLE

DISCRIMINATORY VOTING DEVICES ACROSS THE REGION

WEEK FOUR- THE SECOND RECONSTRUCTION: SOME PERSONAL ACCOUNTS

WEEK FIVE- SOUTH CAROLINA- THE STROM THURMOND LEGACY

Strom Thurmond party switch starts GOP gains

Republican Rise and Eventual Dominance

WEEK SIX- GEORGIA- DEMOCRATIC HEGEMONY MELTDOWN

A Post-Second Reconstruction Biracial Ruling Democratic Party

Democratic Meltdown Ushers in GOP Era

WEEK SEVEN- ALABAMA, THE GEORGE WALLACE LEGACY

THE GEORGE WALLACE YEARS

REPUBLICANS MAKE BIG GAINS IN POST-WALLACE ERA

WEEK EIGHT- MIDTERM EXAM, CURRENT EVENTS DISCUSSION

WEEK NINE- MISSISSIPPI, MODERN MATURE REPUBLICANISM

FIRST REPUBLICAN BREAKTHROUGHS

THE KIRK FORDICE YEARS

REPUBLICAN DOMINANCE ESTABLISHED

WEEK TEN- LOUISIANA- THE EDWIN EDWARDS LEGACY

THE HUEY LONG LEGACY

EDWIN EDWARDS GOVERNS WITH A BIRACIAL COALITION

EMERGENCE OF A MORE COMPETITIVE TWO-PARTY STATE

WEEK ELEVEN: TEXAS- REPUBLICAN HEGEMONY ROUTS LIBERAL DEMOCRATS

Liberal Democrats Capture Democratic Party

Republican Hegemony Over Modern Texas

WEEK TWELVE: NORTH CAROLINA

Jesse Helms- Conservative Ideologue

James Hunt- Successful Modern Democratic Governor

A Competitive Two-Party 21st Century

WEEK THIRTEEN: TENNESSEE, MODERATE DEMOCRATS, MODERN REPUBLICANS

A History of Successful Modern Democrats

Modern, Successful Republicans

WEEKS FOURTEEN-FIFTEEN: ARKANSAS- THREE DEMOCRATIC TITANS

Democratic Titans Bumpers, Pryor, and Clinton Dominate Arkansas

Titans of Today in Both Parties

WEEK FIFTEEN CONTINUED: FLORIDA- A NATIONAL SWING STATE

Successful Democratic Officeholders

Recent Republican Officeholders

WEEK SIXTEEN- VIRGINIA- LIBERAL DEMOCRATS REPLACED BY PRAGMATIC DEMOCRATS

The Aristocratic Democratic Machine of Harry Byrd

Democratic Melt-Down of the 1970s

Democratic Comeback in the 1980s and Today

WEEKS ONE-TWO
THE SOUTH IN A NATIONAL CONTEXT

WEEK FIVE-
SOUTH CAROLINA- THE STROM THURMOND LEGACY

WEEK SIX-
GEORGIA- DEMOCRATIC HEGEMONY MELTDOWN

WEEK TEN-
LOUISIANA- THE EDWIN EDWARDS LEGACY

WEEK SIXTEEN-
VIRGINIA- LIBERAL DEMOCRATS REPLACED BY PRAGMATIC DEMOCRATS