Tuesday, November 8, 1966: U.S. elections

Alabama: Lurleen Wallace

     A triumphant Lurleen Wallace reigned unchallenged as Alabama's first woman governor-elect today while her husband took a fresh look at the 1968 presidential campaign. A landslide of straight-ticket Democratic votes touched off by Gov. George Wallace's previously proven popularity swept his wife into office as his successor and crushed the strongest Republican threat in Alabama in almost a century. -- Associated Press: @

* Summary (Encyclopedia of Alabama): @

* Summary (Alabama Department of Archives and History): @

Alabama: Jim Clark

     Wilson Baker, a veteran law enforcement officer who disagreed with the mass arrest of Negroes in Selma during the Civil Rights struggle in 1965, has finally won his race for sheriff. Baker defeated the present sheriff, James G. Clark, in Tuesday's election despite a write-in campaign which brought Clark thousands of votes. -- Associated Press: @

Alabama: Lowndes County Freedom Organization

     White incumbents in Lowndes County turned back the challenge of seven "black power candidates yesterday. ... Interest was centered on Hayneville and Lowndes County, where Stokely Carmichael first launched his "black power" drive under the emblem of the "black panther." -- Associated Press

*  Image from "The Story of the Development of an Independent Political Movement on the County Level" (Jack Minnis, 1967): @

Alabama: Lucius Amerson

     Lucius D. Amerson, a barrel-chested, soft-spoken, determined young man, was elected sheriff of Macon County this week. When he takes office in January, Amerson, a Democrat, will be Alabama's first Negro sheriff in the 20th century. -- The Southern Courier: @

* CBS News report, 1966: @

* "A New Look in Southern Sheriffs" (Ebony, May 1967): @

* "Sheriff Made History Simply by Doing His Job" (Washington Post, August 2008): @

California: Ronald Reagan

     Political newcomer Ronald Reagan today won California's governorship in a landslide that made him a national GOP political force. But he promptly denied even "favorite son" presidential hopes in 1968. -- United Press International: @

* Results (www.ourcampaigns.com): @

* "The Making Of A Governor" (KRON documentary, 1966): @
* "Reagan's 1966 Gubernatorial Campaign Turns 50: California, Conservatism, and Donald Trump" (Ryan Reft, KCET, 2016): @

Georgia: Lester Maddox

     Republican Howard H. (Bo) Callaway held a slim and uncertain lead over Democrat Lester Maddox in the Georgia governor's race as the probability mounted that neither conservative candidate will gain a required majority. The combination of a strong write-in vote for moderate Ellis Arnall, an expected late rural surge for segregationist Maddox and even the few uncounted absentee ballots apparently will throw the election into the legislature and probably the courts. -- Associated Press: @

     Note: Per state law, the election went to the General Assembly, which selected Maddox as governor on January 10, 1967. -- Digital Library of Georgia: @ 

* "Gubernatorial Election of 1966" (New Georgia Encyclopedia): @

* "1966 Election for Governor of Georgia" (Our Georgia History): @

Maryland: Spiro Agnew

     Republican Spiro T. Agnew was elected Tuesday to be governor of Maryland -- surmounting a three to one Democratic majority and the power of a slogan ("Your home is your castle; protect it") that appealed to the white backlash element. -- Associated Press: @

* Biography (U.S. Senate): @

Massachusetts: Edward Brooke

     Republican Edward W. Brooke, a Negro, was elected to the U.S. Senate Tuesday. The victory, he said, "gave the world the answer that we've been waiting for." Brooke, who becomes the first Negro senator since Reconstruction, predicted throughout his campaign that there would be no white backlash. And Massachusetts voters -- 98 percent white -- made good his word, giving Brooke a solid majority giving Brooke a solid majority over Democratic former Gov. Endicott Peabody. -- United Press International: @

* Biography (U.S. House of Representatives): @

Tennessee: Howard Baker

     Howard Baker Jr., a political novice from Knoxville, soundly thrashed veteran Gov. Frank Clement to become Tennessee's first elected Republican senator. Baker built an irresistable lead as he rolled from the hills of East Tennessee, a traditional GOP stronghold, and coasted to the banks of the Mississippi to hand Clement his second defeat in a political career which spanned 14 years and three terms as governor. -- United Press International

* Biography (University of Tennessee): @

Texas: George Bush

     Houston oilman George Bush and Pampa rancher Bob Price won Congressional seats Tuesday to put Texas Republicans in the best shape since the 1964 "Lyndon Landslide," despite a sweep by Democrats of the state's other 23 seats. Bush, considered by some more liberal than his Democratic opponent, narrowly defeated the former Harris County district attorney, Frank Briscoe. Briscoe conceded, attributing the results "in part to a great wave of anti-Administration feeling." -- United Press International

* Biography (White House): @ 

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