The Evening Star (July 3, 1946)
Bilbo lead rises; chances slight for runoff
Senator holds 2,516 margin over rivals; Rankin easy winner
JACKSON, Mississippi (AP) – Sen. Bilbo gained ground on his four opponents today as belated returns piled in, and more and more it appeared that he won renomination to the Senate in yesterday’s Mississippi Democratic primary election, where Negroes voted for the first time.
There still were enough missing precincts to change the situation but the unofficial count from 1,433 of the state’s 1,701 precincts gave the outspoken advocate of white supremacy a 2,516-vote margin over the totals of his rivals.
The figures were:
Sen. Bilbo | 90,624 |
State Supreme Court Clerk Tom Q. Ellis | 55,056 |
Former Rep. Ross A. Collins | 17,439 |
Nelton T. Levins | 14,273 |
Frank Harper | 2,340 |
The trend toward the status quo swept John E. Rankin of Tupelo back into the House, where he has served since 1920.
Two other representatives also won renomination. In the fifth district, Arthur Winstead had an insurmountable edge over J. O. Hollis. Returns from 186 of 302 precincts gave Rep. Winstead 13,461 votes compared to Mr. Hollis 7,312.
Rep. William M. Colmer of the sixth district had a margin over Grover C. Doggette, 22,821 votes to 18,374, with 282 of 340 boxes counted.
McGehee in runoff
But in the big seventh district, Rep. Dan R. McGehee was forced into a runoff against John Bell Williams, one-armed war veteran. Returns from 225 of 316 precincts gave Rep. McGehee 13,183 votes, against 10,917 for Mr. Williams. Stewart C. Broom polled 3,186 votes, and C. A. Sullivan had 5,927.
Bilbo supporters saw favorable signs in the distribution of missing precincts. There were some boxes to be reported in 58 of the state’s 82 counties. Sen. Bilbo was leading in 49 of the counties with some absent returns, and Mr. Ellis in only nine.
The voting passed quietly, with no reported acts of violence connected with the attempts of Negroes to cast ballots.
Negro voting varies
The situation regarding Negro voting varied from place to place. More than 100 Negroes voted in Jackson without incident. In Bolivar County they were systematically challenged on the grounds that they had not been “in accord” with the party for the past two years, as required by law for voting in the Democratic primary. However, many were allowed to vote, their ballots being segregated pending a decision on validity by the State Central Democratic Committee.
Elsewhere in the delta, more than 100 voted at Clarksdale and a few at Greenville.
On the coast, a few voted at Biloxi and some others were turned away from the polls. Negroes voted at Gulfport, but none voted at Pass Christian, where 81 had cast ballots earlier this year in a local primary.
More than 30 voted at Meridian and a few at Laurel. Some were turned away at each place. None voted at West Point.
No estimate wax possible of the total number of Negroes who attempted to vote, who cast ballots and who were turned away. Indications were that perhaps a thousand cast ballots.
Of these, about 200 were in the all-Negro town of Mound Bayou.