1978: Thad Cochran (R) v. Maurice Dantin (D) v. Charles Evers (I)

[RBH]

Here's a "classic" map:



The candidates..

Congressman Thad Cochran of Hinds County
Attorney Maurice Dantin of Columbia (Marion County)
Mayor Charles Evers of Fayette (Jefferson County)

Dantin was supported by allies of James Eastland. Evers brought a combo of conservative stances (opposing busing, supporting prayer in schools). And all this helped to produce this result..

Cochran - 45% (263089 votes)
Dantin - 32% (185454 votes)
Evers - 23% (135393 votes)

Cochran won 45 counties, Dantin won 25, Evers won 12.

Evers finished second in 15 counties, Cochran was second in 34 counties, and Dantin was second in 33 counties.

Cochran was third in 3 counties, Evers was third in 55 counties, Dantin was third in 24 counties.

As for the home counties..

Cochran won Hinds with 57% with 29% for Evers and 14% for Dantin
Dantin won Marion with 78% with 14% for Evers and 8% for Cochran
Evers won Jefferson with 73% with 19% for Cochran and 8% for Dantin

I'm sure that when I complete the Eastland/Carmichael 1972 map, it'll produce some interesting results, in comparison to this map.

In a year where Nixon won Mississippi with 78%, Eastland won 58-39 and picked up 71 of 82 counties. Nixon also refused to campaign for or display support for Carmichael.

And out of the 3 counties that McGovern won, Carmichael won one, and Eastland won the other two with less than 51%.

But, maybe the map in this post is a lot more interesting.

[Adlai Stevenson]

The 1972 race is interesting.  I would have assumed that Eastland would have been more popular by then; 58%-39% is a solid but not very impressive margin as Nixon was carrying Mississippi 78%-19%.  I still can't understand how Nixon did so well in the South in 1972; he must have won 90% of White voters and at least 25% of Black voters.  Its amazing that he managed to appeal both electorates at the same time. 

[RBH]

Here's the 1972 map:



The Presidential Race

In counties won by Eastland: 78-20 Nixon
In counties won by Carmichael: 81-17 Nixon

Carmichael only won one county in the 4th District, which was won by Thad Cochran. Carmichael also won only one county in the 5th district, which was won by Trent Lott. The vast majority of his county wins came in the 3rd district, represented by Sonny Montgomery, who was unopposed.

Nixon topped 80% in 32 counties, 26 of which were won by Eastland.

Nixon topped 90% in 4 counties, all of which were won by Eastland.

George County

Nixon: 3979 (93%)
McGovern: 270 (6%)

Eastland: 3235 (74%)
Carmichael: 1088 (25%)

That's high-powered ballot splitting.

(Hmm.. the CQ totals do exclude minor candidates and they have a major candidate vote total, so the state-wide percentages may be slightly off)

[RBH]

The Congressional districts from the 1972 to 1980 election were basically like this (without any divided counties):



Here's some breakdowns with those districts

1972 Senate-

1st District: 69/29 Eastland
2nd District: 63/35 Eastland
3rd District: 50/45 Eastland
4th District: 53/42 Eastland
5th District: 59/39 Eastland

1972 President-

1st District: 78/19 Nixon
2nd District: 75/22 Nixon
3rd District: 78/20 Nixon
4th District: 74/24 Nixon
5th District: 85/13 Nixon

1978 Senate-

1st District: 47 Cochran, 40 Dantin, 14 Evers
2nd District: 41 Cochran, 32 Dantin, 27 Evers
3rd District: 38 Cochran, 34 Dantin, 27 Evers
4th District: 54 Cochran, 32 Evers, 14 Dantin
5th District: 46 Cochran, 42 Dantin, 12 Evers

And the Congressmen from those Districts from 1973 to 1983

1st District: Jamie Whitten (D)
2nd District: David Bowen (D)
3rd District: Sonny Montgomery (D)
4th District: Thad Cochran (R/73-78), Jon Hinson (R/79-81), Wayne Dowdy (D/81-83)
5th District: Trent Lott (R)