Once Democratic Solid South slowly changed hands

In holding their own Tuesday, South Carolina Republicans bucked the national trend.

John McCain's winning percentage here fell below that of President Bush in 2004, but the state remained solidly red against a tide of presidential blue.

Although Barack Obama's smashing presidential primary victory in South Carolina provided momentum for the Democratic nomination, neither he nor running mate Joe Biden made a single visit here for the general election.

Until 1948 the state had been a mainstay in the Democratic Solid South, the outcome of which stretches back to the Compromise of 1877.

In deciding the outcome of the 1876 presidential election, South Carolina Democrats, led by contested gubernatorial candidate Wade Hampton III, joined two other Southern states to award all 20 of their electoral votes to Republican Rutherford B. Hayes.

That gave Hayes the presidency by a single electoral vote over Democrat Samuel L. Tilden, after an unwritten understanding that the new Republican administration would remove all federal troops from South Carolina, Florida and Louisiana.

Their removal effectively ended the period of Reconstruction in the South, soon followed by disfranchisement of the freedmen.

For 75 years, only Tennessee in 1920 and again in 1928, joined by four other Southern states, voted Republican. When Democrats in 1928 nominated urban, Catholic, anti-prohibition New York Gov. Al Smith, South Carolina voted more than 90 percent for the Democrat.

In 1948, South Carolina Gov. Strom Thurmond dealt a psychological body blow to the "Solid South" by running regionally as a segregationist third party Dixiecrat candidate.

Republican Dwight Eisenhower, meanwhile, attracted large support throughout the region, especially in new suburban and other white middle and upper-class precincts, as well as retaining party support from clusters of black Republicans who remained loyal to the party of Abraham Lincoln.

In 1960, Gov. Fritz Hollings would provide skilled leadership navigating rough waters of racial change, but Republicans began challenging Democrats in 1966, running contested races for all congressional offices and gaining a foothold in the Legislature.

Two years later, a now Sen. Thurmond led the way for Richard Nixon to become the first Republican candidate since Hayes to receive the state's eight electoral votes. Democrats that year focused on legislative seats, ousting 17 Republicans.

In 1974, the Democratic Party imploded in a battle between traditional and reform elements. That election's long-term impact fueled more Republican growth.

Republican state Sen. James B. Edwards won election as governor after reform-minded Democratic nominee Charles "Pug" Ravenel had been judicially declared ineligible on grounds of failing to meet a state residency requirement.

Ravenel declined to endorse his defeated primary opponent, Congressman William Jennings Bryan Dorn, after his selection as party nominee by a reconvened state Democratic convention. Edwards won with 51.6 percent of the vote.

His victory gave real political power to the Republicans, with Edwards appointing party loyalists to numerous state board and commissions in positions of influence.

He also appointed to a visible position in the governor's office his party's defeated candidate for lieutenant governor, Carroll Campbell, who in 1986 was elected to the first of two terms as governor.

Campbell played a major role in persuading more than a dozen Democratic legislators to switch parties, a major step forward for Republican dominance.

Gov. Mark Sanford's 2002 victory over Democratic incumbent Gov. Jim Hodges led to full Republican political domination by 2004, including both houses of the Legislature, a congressional majority in U.S. House seats and both members of the U.S. Senate. Those majorities remain unchanged.

In retrospect, the Democratic failure in 2006 to nominate a strong candidate for governor cost them dearly. Veteran state Sen. Tommy Moore of Aiken ran a lackluster race but still got 45 percent of the vote.

Three other statewide Democratic candidates ran competitive races. Democrat Jim Rex won election as state superintendent of education by less than 500 votes.

Charleston Mayor Joe Riley hailed Obama's victory Tuesday as "something that seemed impossible a generation ago. It reaffirms we're the world's beacon of hope and opportunity and justice and fairness."

Obama's victory also gives South Carolina a direct connection to the White House through future first lady Michelle Obama. Her maternal family roots date to initial 18th century slave ancestors on an Allston family plantation in Georgetown County.

Jack Bass is a member of the Department of History at The Citadel and co-author of a forthcoming University of South Carolina book, "The Palmetto State."

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