GA: 1972 Senatorial General Election Result

[jamesyons]

New Election: 1972 Georgia Senatorial General Election Results
   
   

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Wow, Taliafero is 100% Nunn.

[Flake]

Wow, Taliafero is 100% Nunn.

It's so weird to see that Thompson, who got a respectable 46% of the vote statewide, got nunn of the vote there, also considering that all of the surrounding counties gave Thompson between 28% and 56% of the vote.

[ElectionsGuy]

Political geography was so different then. Who would've thought Clayton county would be Thompson's 2nd best county? And Hancock going Republican? Black voters had to have been Republican in this race. Rural whites in the north were just starting to turn Republican, while in the rest of the state they were strongly Democratic. Suburbs and some urban mid-sized cities that now vote Democratic were the most Republican. Its great seeing a race like this to see how the south developed politically.

[smoltchanov]

^ Not sure if a concentration of Democratic votes in few big urban (plus -  close suburbs) areas plus Black Belt is a "development" or regress. Cratering of Democrats in rural areas is remarcable though...

[VPH]

Talking about election results, I've been wondering if anybody will get to the 2014 Kansas Senate, Governor, Secretary of State, and Insurance Commissioner primaries...

[Bacon King]

This was an interesting race because Nunn openly ran as a DINO, publicly endorsing Nixon's reelection rather than McGovern. In return, Nixon made a campaign stop in Atlanta and overtly refused to endorse Fletcher Thompson. Governor Carter said "President Nixon would just as soon have Nunn in the Senate as Thompson" and there were Nixon/Nunn (and Wallace/Nunn) campaign signs spread throughout the state. Thompson, as a lifelong Republican (i.e. never a Dixiecrat) was racially very progressive - he was the first Georgia Congressman to ever nominate African Americans to attend West Point, and he was also the first to directly employ African Americans in his office. He was even endorsed by the state's only daily African-American newspaper.

Regarding the geography of the suburbs, those blue counties were pretty much the outer extent of Atlanta's suburb at the time - if you look at the counties that now comprise the outer suburbs, they have almost no votes in them

[RBH]

Wow, Taliafero is 100% Nunn.

and that's not an error in our entry. Taliferro doesn't list a vote total for Thompson in the official document (the 1971/72 Georgia Official and Statistical Register)