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United States Senate election in Mississippi, 1978

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← 1972
  
November 5, 1978

267,302
  
187,541

45.3%
  
31.8%

Start date
  
November 5, 1978

Maurice Dantin
  
Charles Evers

187,541
  
133,646

31.8%
  
22.6%

United States Senate election in Mississippi, 1978 httpsuploadwikimediaorgwikipediacommonsthu

The 1978 United States Senate election in Mississippi was held on November 5, 1978. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator James Eastland decided to retire. Republican Thad Cochran won the open seat.

Contents

Democratic

  • Maurice Dantin, former District Attorney

    • Independent

  • Charles Evers, Mayor of Fayette

    • Republican

  • Thad Cochran, U.S. Congressman

    • Campaign

    Evers was the first African American elected since the Reconstruction era to be mayor in any Mississippi city in 1969. He ran as an independent, and as a result his campaign divided the Democrats and allowed Cochran to win the senate seat with a 45 percent plurality. This made him the first Republican to win a statewide election in Mississippi in a century. Eastland resigned on December 27, 1978 to give Cochran a seniority advantage over new incoming senators.

    References

    United States Senate election in Mississippi, 1978 Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA