Jump to content

1974 Georgia gubernatorial election

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

1974 Georgia gubernatorial election

← 1970 November 5, 1974 1978 →
 
Nominee George Busbee Ronnie Thompson
Party Democratic Republican
Popular vote 646,777 289,113
Percentage 69.1% 30.9%

County results
Busbee:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%      >90%
Thompson:      50–60%

Governor before election

Jimmy Carter
Democratic

Elected Governor

George Busbee
Democratic

The 1974 Georgia gubernatorial election was held on November 5, 1974. Under Georgia's constitution at the time, incumbent Democratic governor Jimmy Carter was ineligible to serve a second consecutive term. He was elected President of the United States in the 1976 presidential election. George Busbee was elected as the 77th Governor of Georgia.

Democratic nomination

[edit]

Candidates

[edit]

Nominee

[edit]

Eliminated in runoff

[edit]

Eliminated in primary

[edit]

Democratic primary election results

[edit]
Democratic primary results[1]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Lester Maddox 310,384 36.32
Democratic George Busbee 177,977 20.83
Democratic Bert Lance 147,026 17.20
Democratic David H. Gambrell 66,000 7.72
Democratic George T. Smith 43,196 5.05
Democratic Harry C. Jackson 42,121 4.93
Democratic Robert A. Rowan 31,696 3.71
Democratic Ronnie Thompson 23,933 2.80
Democratic B. J. Parker 4,650 0.54
Democratic Bud Herrin 3,419 0.40
Democratic Thomas J. Irwin 2,224 0.26
Democratic Jennings Thompson 1,987 0.23

Democratic runoff results

[edit]
Democratic runoff results[2]
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic George Busbee 551,106 59.86
Democratic Lester Maddox 369,608 40.14

Republican nomination

[edit]

Candidates

[edit]

Nominee

[edit]

Eliminated in runoff

[edit]
  • Harold Dye, army veteran

Eliminated in primary

[edit]

Republican primary election results

[edit]
Republican primary results[3]
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Ronnie Thompson 19,691 41.00
Republican Harold Dye 10,912 22.72
Republican George Lankford 8,618 17.95
Republican Harry Geisinger 6,078 12.66
Republican Bill Coolidge 2,723 5.67

Republican runoff results

[edit]
Republican runoff results[4]
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Ronnie Thompson 22,211 50.62
Republican Harold Dye 21,669 49.38

General election results

[edit]

In a year marred for the Republicans by Richard Nixon's resignation just three months earlier, alongside the continued domination of Georgia by the Democratic Party and Thompson's dividing of the GOP (a move which inspired many prominent figures in the Georgia party to refrain from openly supporting him), Busbee was elected in a landslide. Douglas and Clayton County were the only two counties where Thompson won the most votes.[5] Two years later, a revision of the Georgia Constitution was done that included a rule to allow a Governor to be elected to a second consecutive term. Subsequently, Busbee ran for Governor again four years later. Zell Miller was elected as lieutenant governor, serving for 16 years. As of 2022, this is the last time that Clayton County voted for the Republican candidate for governor.

Georgia gubernatorial election, 1974[6]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Democratic George Busbee 646,777 69.07%
Republican Ronnie Thompson 289,113 30.87%
Democratic hold Swing

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Our Campaigns - GA Governor - D Primary Race - Aug 13, 1974". Our Campaigns.
  2. ^ "Our Campaigns - GA Governor - D Runoff Race - Sep 03, 1974". Our Campaigns.
  3. ^ "Our%20Campaigns%20-%20GA%20Governor%20-%20R%20Primary%20Race%20-%20Aug%2013,%201974". Our Campaigns.
  4. ^ "Our Campaigns - GA Governor - R Runoff Race - Sep 03, 1974". Our Campaigns.
  5. ^ 1974 Gubernatorial General Election Results - Georgia
  6. ^ "1974 Gubernatorial General Election Results - Georgia".