1948 Georgia gubernatorial special election

1948 Georgia Democratic gubernatorial primary

← 1946 September 8, 1948 1950 →
410 county unit votes 206 unit votes needed to win
Nominee Herman Talmadge Melvin E. Thompson Party Democratic Democratic Electoral vote 312 98 Popular vote 357,865 312,035 Percentage 51.77% 45.14%
County results Talmadge:      40-50%      50-60%      60-70%      70-80%      80-90% Thompson:      40-50%      50-60%      60-70%      70-80%
Governor before election Melvin E. Thompson Democratic Elected Governor Herman Talmadge Democratic

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v t e

The 1948 Georgia gubernatorial special election took place on November 2, 1948, in order to elect the Governor of Georgia.

The Supreme Court of Georgia resolved the three governors controversy in the wake of the 1946 election by affirming lieutenant governor-elect Melvin E. Thompson's succession to the office of governor.^[1] The state constitution in effect at the time then required a special election to be held simultaneously with the next state legislative election to fill the remainder of the term.^[2]

Herman Talmadge, the son of the winner of the 1946 election, the late Eugene Talmadge,^[3] defeated Governor Thompson in the Democratic primary by a margin of 51.8% to 45.1% with three other candidates getting 3.1% of the vote^[4][5] and then proceeded to win the general election with 97.51% of the vote.

As was common at the time, the Democratic candidate ran with only token opposition in the general election so therefore the Democratic primary was the real contest, and winning the primary was considered tantamount to election.