1958_Alabama_gubernatorial_election
The 1958 Alabama gubernatorial election was held on November 4, 1958. Incumbent Democrat Jim Folsom was term limited and could not seek a second consecutive term.
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 County results Patterson: 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% >90% | |||||||||||||||||
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At this time Alabama was a de facto one-party state. Because of this, every Democratic Party nominee was considered safe for election. The real contest for governor took place during the primary.
Popular incumbent Governor Jim Folsom, a racial moderate, was barred from running for reelection, as Governors could not succeed themselves at the time. Therefore, the Democratic primary was an open contest.
Candidates
- Laurie C. Battle, U.S. Representative
- John G. Crommelin, retired Rear Admiral
- W. E. Dodd
- Shearen Elebash
- Jimmy Faulkner, former State Senator and former Mayor of Bay Minette
- James Gulatte
- Karl Harrison
- George C. Hawkins, State Representative
- C. C. Owen
- John Malcolm Patterson, Attorney General
- Shorty Price
- A. W. Todd, Commissioner of Agriculture and Industries
- Billy Walker
- George Wallace, Third Judicial Circuit Judge and former State Representative
The two front-runners, Patterson and Wallace, held deeply different positions on racial segregation issues. While Patterson, known primarily as crime-fighting attorney general, ran on a very segregationist platform and accepted an official endorsement from the Ku Klux Klan, Wallace, a close ally of Folsom, refused to cooperate with the KKK and was endorsed by the NAACP.
After the election, aide Seymore Trammell recalled Wallace saying, "Seymore, you know why I lost that governor's race? ... I was outniggered by John Patterson. And I'll tell you here and now, I will never be outniggered again."<ref group="note">Carter (1996, p. 2) notes that Wallace later denied a similar quotation that appeared in a 1968 biography by Marshall Frady: "'Well boys,' he said tightly as he snuffed out his cigar, 'no other son-of-a-bitch will ever out-nigger me again.'" Riechers, Maggie (March–April 2000). "Racism to Redemption: The Path of George Wallace". Humanities. 21 (2). Archived from the original on December 10, 2017. Retrieved May 25, 2006.
Primary results
Primaries were held on June 3, 1958.
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | John Malcolm Patterson | 196,859 | 31.82 | |
| Democratic | George Wallace | 162,435 | 26.26 | |
| Democratic | Jimmy Faulkner | 91,512 | 14.79 | |
| Democratic | A. W. Todd | 59,240 | 9.58 | |
| Democratic | Laurie C. Battle | 38,955 | 6.30 | |
| Democratic | George C. Hawkins | 24,332 | 3.93 | |
| Democratic | C. C. Owen | 15,270 | 2.47 | |
| Democratic | Karl Harrison | 12,488 | 2.02 | |
| Democratic | Billy Walker | 7,963 | 1.29 | |
| Democratic | W. E. Dodd | 4,753 | 0.77 | |
| Democratic | John G. Crommelin | 2,245 | 0.36 | |
| Democratic | Shearen Elebash | 1,177 | 0.19 | |
| Democratic | James Gulatte | 798 | 0.13 | |
| Democratic | Shorty Price | 655 | 0.11 | |
| Total votes | 618,682 | 100.00 | ||
Runoff
Because none of the candidates won a majority, a runoff was held on June 24, 1958, in order to determine which candidate received the nomination.
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | John Malcolm Patterson | 315,353 | 55.74 | |
| Democratic | George Wallace | 250,451 | 44.27 | |
| Total votes | 565,804 | 100 | ||
William Longshore, a former Republican Party nominee for the U.S. House of Representatives from the 9th district (lost, winning 34.12% votes) won the gubernatorial nomination unopposed.
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | John Malcolm Patterson | 234,583 | 88.22 | +14.85% | |
| Republican | William Longshore | 30,415 | 11.44 | -15.19% | |
| Independent | William Jackson | 903 | 0.34 | N/A | |
| Majority | 204,168 | ||||
| Turnout | 265,901 | 76.78 | |||
| Democratic hold | |||||
After his defeat, George Wallace, who was a racial moderate, modified his public position in order to gain the white support necessary to win the next election.