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November 5, 1968 | |||||||||||||||||
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 County results Hollings: 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% | |||||||||||||||||
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| Elections in South Carolina |
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The 1968 South Carolina United States Senate election was held on November 5, 1968, to select the U.S. Senator from the state of South Carolina. Incumbent Democratic Senator Fritz Hollings easily defeated Republican state senator Marshall Parker in a rematch of the election two years earlier to win his second, (his first full), term.
Fritz Hollings, the incumbent Senator, easily defeated his primary opponent, John Bolt Culberson. [1]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Fritz Hollings (incumbent) | 308,016 | 78.3 | |
| Democratic | John Bolt Culberson | 84,913 | 21.7 | |
| Majority | 223,103 | 56.6 | ||
| Total votes | 392,929 | 100.0 | ||
Marshall Parker, the state senator from Oconee County in the Upstate, was persuaded by South Carolina Republicans to enter the race and he did not face a primary challenge.
After a close election loss to Fritz Hollings in 1966, the Republicans felt that Parker might have a chance at defeating Hollings by riding Nixon's coattails in the general election. However, the Republicans did not provide Parker with the financial resources to compete and he subsequently lost by a bigger margin to Hollings than two years prior.
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Fritz Hollings (incumbent) | 404,060 | 61.89% | +10.54% | |
| Republican | Marshall Parker | 248,780 | 38.11% | −10.54% | |
| No party | Write-Ins | 15 | 0.00% | N/A | |
| Majority | 155,280 | 23.78% | +21.08% | ||
| Turnout | 652,855 | 76.5% | +27.4% | ||
| Democratic hold | |||||
