1974 South Carolina gubernatorial election

1974 South Carolina gubernatorial election

← 1970 November 5, 1974 1978 →

Nominee James B. Edwards W.J. Bryan Dorn Party Republican Democratic Popular vote 266,338 248,861 Percentage 50.3% 47.0%

County results Edwards:      50–60%      60–70% Dorn:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%

Governor before election John Carl West Democratic Elected Governor James B. Edwards Republican

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The 1974 South Carolina gubernatorial election was held on November 5, 1974 to select the governor of the state of South Carolina. Initially considered a longshot candidate,^[1] Republican James B. Edwards defeated Democrat W. J. Bryan Dorn with a narrow majority of the vote.

Edwards' victory made him the first Republican since Daniel Henry Chamberlain in 1874 to win a gubernatorial election in South Carolina. It was also the closest gubernatorial election in South Carolina since the disputed election of 1876.

Democratic primary[]

Existing term limit restrictions made Governor John C. West ineligible to run for reelection.^[2] The South Carolina Democratic Party held their primary for governor on July 16, 1974 . Charles D. Ravenel emerged as the winner of the runoff election, but the South Carolina Supreme Court ruled that Ravenel did not meet the five-year residency requirement in the state's constitution.^[3]

U.S. Representative W. J. Bryan Dorn was chosen in a special state convention to be the Democratic candidate in the general election for governor. Dorn, who had supported George McGovern's 1972 presidential campaign, was described by The New York Times as a "political maverick" who took a relatively liberal line on racial and religious issues.^[4]

Republican primary[]

The South Carolina Republican Party held their primary on July 16, 1974 and the contest pitted state senator James B. Edwards against former Army Chief of Staff William Westmoreland. Edwards scored an upset victory in the first Republican primary of the state and earned the right to face Dorn in the general election.

General election[]

The general election was held on November 5, 1974 and James B. Edwards defeated W.J. Bryan Dorn in what was a banner year for the Democrats in the wake of the Watergate scandal. Turnout was higher than the previous gubernatorial election because of the increasingly competitive nature of the race between the two parties.

1974 South Carolina gubernatorial election map, by percentile by county.

  65+% won by Edwards

  60%-64% won by Edwards

  55%-59% won by Edwards

  50%-54% won by Edwards

  <50% won by Edwards

  50%-54% won by Dorn

  55%-59% won by Dorn

  60%-64% won by Dorn

  65+% won by Dorn

See also[]

• Governor of South Carolina
• List of governors of South Carolina
• South Carolina gubernatorial elections

References[]

• State Election Commission (1975). South Carolina Election Report 1974. Columbia, South Carolina: The Commission. p. 36.
• "How Counties Voted". The News and Courier. 7 November 1974. p. 17A.

External links[]

• SCIway Biography of Governor James Burrows Edwards

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