United States Senate election in South Carolina, 1962

The 1962 South Carolina United States Senate election was held on November 6, 1962 to select the U.S. Senator

United States Senate

The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...

from the state of South Carolina

South Carolina

South Carolina is a state in the Deep South of the United States that borders Georgia to the south, North Carolina to the north, and the Atlantic Ocean to the east. Originally part of the Province of Carolina, the Province of South Carolina was one of the 13 colonies that declared independence...

. Incumbent Democratic

Democratic Party (United States)

The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

Senator Olin D. Johnston

Olin D. Johnston

Olin DeWitt Talmadge Johnston was a Democratic Party politician from the US state of South Carolina. He served as the 98th Governor of South Carolina, 1935–1939 and 1943–1945, and represented the state in the United States Senate from 1945 until his death in 1965.-Early Life, Military Involvement,...

defeated Governor

Governor of South Carolina

The Governor of the State of South Carolina is the head of state for the State of South Carolina. Under the South Carolina Constitution, the Governor is also the head of government, serving as the chief executive of the South Carolina executive branch. The Governor is the ex officio...

Fritz Hollings

Ernest Hollings

Ernest Frederick "Fritz" Hollings served as a Democratic United States Senator from South Carolina from 1966 to 2005, as well as the 106th Governor of South Carolina and Lt. Governor . He served 38 years and 55 days in the Senate, which makes him the 8th-longest-serving Senator in history...

in the Democratic primary and Republican

Republican Party (United States)

The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...

W. D. Workman, Jr.

William Douglas Workman, Jr. , was a conservative journalist and a pioneer in the development of the modern South Carolina Republican Party. He carried his party's banner as an unsuccessful candidate for the U.S. Senate in 1962 and for the governorship in 1982.Workman was born in Greenwood to Mr....

in the general election.

Democratic primary

The South Carolina Democratic Party

South Carolina Democratic Party

The South Carolina Democratic Party is the South Carolina affiliate of the United States Democratic Party. The Democratic party thrived during the Second Party System between 1832 and the mid-1850s and was one of the causes of the collapse of the Whig Party....

held their primary

Primary election

A primary election is an election in which party members or voters select candidates for a subsequent election. Primary elections are one means by which a political party nominates candidates for the next general election....

on June 12, 1962. Olin D. Johnston

Olin D. Johnston

, the incumbent Senator

United States Senate

, faced stiff competition from Governor

Governor of South Carolina

Fritz Hollings

Ernest Hollings

who argued that Johnston was too liberal and not representative of South Carolina interests. Johnston merely told the voters that he was doing what he thought was best for the agriculture and textile workers of the state. Hollings was decisively defeated by Johnston because Johnston used his position as Post Office and Civil Service Committee to build 40 new post offices in the state and thus demonstrate the pull he had in Washington

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

to bring home the bacon.

Republican primary

W. D. Workman, Jr.

, a correspondent for the News and Courier
The Post and Courier
Charleston's The Post and Courier is one of the oldest daily newspapers in the South and the eighth oldest newspaper still in publication in the United States. It is published in Charleston, South Carolina. It traces its ancestry to three newspapers, the Charleston Courier, founded in 1803, the...

, faced no opposition from South Carolina Republicans

South Carolina Republican Party

The South Carolina Republican Party and the South Carolina Democratic Party are the two major political parties within the U.S. state of South Carolina...

and avoided a primary election

Primary election

General election campaign

Both Johnston and Workman supported segregation

Racial segregation

Racial segregation is the separation of humans into racial groups in daily life. It may apply to activities such as eating in a restaurant, drinking from a water fountain, using a public toilet, attending school, going to the movies, or in the rental or purchase of a home...

, so the campaign centered around the economic issues of the state. Workman tried to persuade the voters that Johnston's policies were socialist and that he was too closely aligned with the Kennedy

John F. Kennedy

John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy , often referred to by his initials JFK, was the 35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until his assassination in 1963....

administration. Johnston was a consistent supporter of socialized health care proposals and Workman was able to win considerable support from the medical establishment. However, the state's citizens were much poorer than that of the rest of the nation and Johnston's class based appeals made him a very popular figure for the downtrodden of both the white and black races. The competitive nature of this race foresaw the eventual rise of the Republican Party and that South Carolinians were growing increasingly suspicious of policies generated at the federal level.

Election results

| colspan=5 |Democratic

Democratic Party (United States)

hold
|-

Democratic primary

Republican primary

General election campaign

Election results

See also