Southern Democrats
Southern Democrats are members of the U.S. Democratic Party who reside in the American South.
In the 19th century, Southern Democrats comprised whites in the South who believed in Jeffersonian democracy. In the 1850s they defended slavery in the United States, and promoted its expansion into the West against northern Free Soil opposition. The United States presidential election, 1860 formalized the split, and brought war. After Reconstruction ended in the late 1870s they controlled all the Southern states and disenfranchised blacks (who were Republicans). The "Solid South" gave nearly all its electoral votes to Democrats in presidential elections. Republicans seldom were elected to office outside some Appalachian mountain districts.
Antebellum
The title of Democrat has its beginnings in the South, going back to the founding of the Democratic-Republican Party in 1793 by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. It held to small government principles and distrusted the national government. Foreign policy was a major issue. After being the dominant party in U.S. politics from 1800 to 1829, the Democratic-Republicans split into two factions by 1828: the federalist National Republicans, and the Democrats. The Democrats and Whigs were evenly balanced in the 1830s and 1840s. However, by the 1850s, the Whigs disintegrated. Other opposition parties emerged but the Democrats were dominant. Northern Democrats were in serious opposition to Southern Democrats on the issue of slavery; Northern Democrats, led by Stephen Douglas, believed in Popular Sovereignty—letting the people of the territories vote on slavery. The conservative Southern Democrats, reflecting the views of the late John C. Calhoun, insisted slavery was national.
The Democrats controlled the national government 1852-60. Presidents Pierce and Buchanan were friendly to Southern interests. In the North, the newly formed anti-slavery Republican Party came to power, and dominated the electoral college. In the 1860 presidential election, the Republicans nominated Abraham Lincoln, but the divide among Democrats led to the nomination of two candidates: John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky represented Southern Democrats, and Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois represented Northern Democrats. But the Republicans had a majority of the electoral vote regardless of how the opposition split or joined together and Abraham Lincoln was elected.
American Civil War and post-Reconstruction
After the election of Abraham Lincoln, Southern Democrats led the charge to secede from the Union and form the Confederate States of America. The Congress was dominated by Republicans, save for Andrew Johnson of Tennessee, the only senator from a state in rebellion to reject secession. The Border States of Kentucky, Maryland, and Missouri were torn by political turmoil. Kentucky and Missouri were both governed by pro-secessionist Southern Democratic Governors who vehemently rejected Lincoln's call for 75,000 troops. Kentucky and Missouri both held secession conventions and seceded while under Federal occupation. Southern Democrats in Maryland faced a Unionist Governor Thomas Holliday Hicks and the Union Army. Armed with the suspension of habeas corpus and Union troops, Governor Hicks was able to stop Maryland's secession movement. Maryland was the only state south of the Mason–Dixon line whose governor affirmed Lincoln's call for 75,000 troops.
After secession, the Democratic vote in the North split between the War Democrats and the Peace Democrats and Copperheads. The War Democrats voted for Lincoln in 1864, and he had one—Andrew Johnson—on his ticket. In the South during Reconstruction the white Republican element, called "Scalawags" became smaller and smaller as more and more joined the Democrats. In the North most War Democrats returned to the Democracy, and when the "Panic of 1873" hit, the GOP was blamed and the Democrats gained control of the House of Representatives in 1874. The Democrats emphasized that since Jefferson and Jackson they had been the party of states rights, which added to their appeal in the white South.
At the beginning of the 20th century the Democrats, led by the dominant Southern wing, had a strong representation in Congress. They won both houses in 1912 and elected Woodrow Wilson, A New Jersey academic with deep Southern roots and a strong base among the Southern middle class. The GOP regained Congress in 1918.
From 1921 until 1930, the Democrats, despite universal dominance in most of the South, were relegated to second place status in national politics, controlling no branch of the federal government. In 1928 several Southern states dallied with voting Republican in supporting Herbert Hoover over Al Smith, but the behavior was short lived as the Stock Market Crash of 1929 returned Republicans to disfavor throughout the South. Nationally, Republicans lost Congress in 1930 and the White House in 1932 by huge margins. By this time, too, the Democratic Party leadership began to change its tone somewhat on racial politics. With the Great Depression gripping the nation, and with the lives of most Americans disrupted, the assisting of African-Americans in American society was seen as necessary by the new government.
New Deal and after
During the 1930s, as the New Deal began to move Democrats as a whole to the left in economic policy, Southern Democrats were mostly supportive, although by the late 1930s there was a growing conservative faction. Both factions supported Roosevelt's foreign policies. By 1948 the protection of segregation led Democrats in the Deep South to reject Truman and run a third party ticket of Dixiecrats in the 1948 election. After 1964, Southern Democrats lost major battles to the civil rights movement. Federal laws ended segregation and restrictions on black voters.
After World War II, during the civil rights movement, Democrats in the South initially still voted loyally with their party. After the signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the old argument that all whites had to stick together to prevent civil rights legislation lost its force because the legislation had now been passed. More and more whites began to vote Republican, especially in the suburbs and growing cities. Newcomers from the North were mostly Republican; they were now joined by conservatives and wealthy Southern whites, while liberal whites and poor whites, especially in rural areas, remained with the Democratic Party.[1]
The New Deal program of Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) generally united the party factions for over three decades, since Southerners, like Northern urban populations, were hit particularly hard and generally benefited from the massive governmental relief program. FDR was adept at holding white Southerners in the coalition[2] while simultaneously beginning the erosion of Black voters away from their then-characteristic Republican preferences. The Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s catalyzed the end of this Democratic Party coalition of interests by magnetizing Black voters to the Democratic label and simultaneously ending White control of the Democratic Party apparatus.[3] A series of court decisions, rendering primary elections as public instead of private events administered by the parties, essentially freed the Southern region to change more toward the two-party behavior of most of the rest of the nation.
In the presidential elections of 1952 and 1956 Republican nominee Dwight David Eisenhower, a popular World War II general, won several Southern states, thus breaking some white Southerners away from their Democratic Party pattern. The passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was a significant event in converting the Deep South to the Republican Party; in that year most Senatorial Republicans supported the Act (most of the opposition came from Southern Democrats), but the Republican Party nominated for the Presidency Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater, who had opposed it. From the end of the Civil War to 1960 Democrats had solid control over the southern states in presidential elections, hence the term "Solid South" to describe the states' Democratic preference. After the passage of this Act, however, their willingness to support Republicans on a presidential level increased demonstrably. Goldwater won many of the "Solid South" states over Democratic candidate Lyndon Johnson, himself a Texan, and with many this Republican support continued and seeped down the ballot to congressional, state, and ultimately local levels. A further significant item of legislation was the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which targeted for preclearance by the U.S. Department of Justice any election-law change in areas where African-American voting participation was lower than the norm (most but not all of these areas were in the South); the effect of the Voting Rights Act on southern elections was profound, including the by-product that some White Southerners perceived it as meddling while Black voters universally appreciated it. The trend toward acceptance of Republican identification among Southern White voters was bolstered in the next two elections by Richard Nixon.
Denouncing the forced busing policy that was used to enforce school desegregation,[4] Richard Nixon courted conservative Southern whites with what is called the Southern Strategy, though his speechwriter Jeffrey Hart claimed that his campaign rhetoric was actually a "Border State Strategy" and accused the press of being "very lazy" when they called it a "Southern Strategy".[5] In the 1971 Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education ruling, the power of the federal government to enforce forced busing was strengthened when the Supreme Court ruled that the federal courts had the discretion to include busing as a desegregation tool to achieve racial balance. Some southern Democrats became Republicans at the national level, while remaining with their old party in state and local politics throughout the 1970s and 1980s. Of the known Dixiecrats, only three switched parties becoming Republicans: Strom Thurmond, Jesse Helms and Mills E. Godwind, Jr. In the 1974 Milliken v. Bradley decision, however, the ability to use forced busing as a political tactic was greatly diminished when the U.S. Supreme Court placed an important limitation on Swann and ruled that students could only be bused across district lines if evidence of de jure segregation across multiple school districts existed.
In 1976, former Georgia governor Jimmy Carter won every Southern state except Oklahoma and Virginia in his successful campaign to win the Presidency as a Democrat, but his support among White voters in the South evaporated amid their disappointment that he was not the yearned-for reincarnation of Democratic conservatism as well as ongoing economic problems. In 1980 Republican presidential nominee Ronald Reagan won overwhelmingly in most of the South.[6]
Losing the South
In 1980, the Southern Strategy would see fruition when Ronald Reagan announced that he supported states rights and that welfare abuse justified the need for it.[7] Lee Atwater, who served Reagan's chief strategist in the Southern states, claimed that by 1968, a vast majority of southern whites had learned to accept that racial slurs like "nigger" were very offensive and that mentioning "states rights" and reasons for its justification had now become the best way to use the politically valuable race card and appeal to southern white voters.[8] Later Republican candidates were accused of using racial appeals similar to Reagan. For example, George H.W. Bush faced accusations of racism with the Willie Horton ads, while Newt Gingrich faced similar criticism in 2012 by calling Barack Obama a food-stamp president.
The South became fertile ground for the GOP, which conversely was becoming more conservative as the Democrats were becoming more liberal. Democratic incumbents, however, still held sway over voters in many states, especially in Deep South. Although Republicans won most presidential elections in Southern states starting in 1964, Democrats controlled nearly every Southern state legislature until the mid-1990s and had a moderate (although not huge) amount of members in state legislatures until 2010. In fact, until 2002, Democrats still had much control over Southern politics. It wasn't until the 1990s that Democratic control began to implode, starting with the elections of 1994, in which Republicans gained control of both houses of Congress, through the rest of the decade. By the mid-1990s, however, the political value of the race card was evaporating and many Republicans began to court African Americans by playing on their vast dedication to Christian conservatism.[9]
Republicans first dominated presidential elections in the South, then controlled Southern gubernatorial and U.S. Congress elections, then took control of elections to several state legislatures and came to be competitive in or even to control local offices in the South. Southern Democrats of today who vote for the Democratic ticket are mostly urban liberals. Rural residents tend to vote for the Republican ticket, although there are sizable numbers of Conservative Democrats.
A huge portion of Representatives, Senators, and voters who were referred to as Reagan Democrats in the 1980s were conservative Southern Democrats. An Interesting exception has been Arkansas, whose state legislature has continued to be majority Democrat (having, however, given its electoral votes to the GOP in the past three Presidential elections, except in 1992 and 1996 when "favorite son" Bill Clinton was the candidate and won each time) until 2012, when Arkansas voters selected a 21-14 Republican majority in the Arkansas Senate.
Another exception is North Carolina. Despite the fact that the state has voted for Republicans in every presidential election from 1980 until 2004, the governorship (until 2012), legislature (until 2010), as well as most statewide offices, it remains in Democratic control. The North Carolina congressional delegation was heavily Democratic until 2012 when the Republicans had occasion, after the 2010 United States census, to adopt a redistricting plan of their choosing.
In 1992, Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton was elected President. Unlike Carter, however, Clinton was only able to win the southern states of Arkansas, Louisiana, Kentucky, Tennessee and Georgia. While running for President, Clinton promised to "end welfare as we have come to know it" while in office.[10] In 1996, Clinton would fulfill his campaign promise and the longtime GOP goal of major welfare reform came into fruition. After two welfare reform bills sponsored the GOP-controlled Congress were successfully vetoed by the President,[11] a compromise was eventually reached and the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act was signed into law on August 22, 1996.[10]
During Clinton's Presidency, the southern strategy shifted towards the so-called cultural war, which saw major political battles between the Religious Right and the secular Left. Southern Democrats still did and do see much support on the local level, however, and many of them are not nearly so liberal as the Democratic party as a whole. Southern general elections in which the Democrat is to the right of the Republican are still not entirely unheard of.[12]
Chapman notes a split vote among many conservative Southern Democrats in the 1970s and 1980s who supported local and statewide conservative Democrats while simultaneously voting for Republican presidential candidates.[13] This tendency of many Southern whites to vote for the Republican presidential candidate but Democrats from other offices lasted until the 2010 midterm elections. In the November 2008 elections, Democrats won 3/4 the U.S. House delegation from Mississippi, 3/4th of the U.S. House delegation from Arkansas, 5/9th of the U.S. House delegation from Tennessee, and achieved near parity in the U.S. House Delegation from Georgia and Alabama. Nearly all white Democrats in the South lost reelection in 2010, however. In the November 2010 elections, Democrats won only one U.S House seat in Alabama, Mississippi and Arkansas and two out of nine House seats in Tennessee. Arkansas later lost its one seat in 2012. Following the November 2010 elections, there was only one white Democratic representative in the Deep South (John Barrow of Georgia), and he lost reelection in 2014. Democrats lost control of the North Carolina and Alabama legislatures in 2010, the Louisiana and Mississippi legislatures in 2011 and the Arkansas legislature in 2012. In 2014, the last damage occurred when Democrats lost 3 U.S. senate seats in the South (in West Virginia, North Carolina, Arkansas, and Louisiana) that they had previously held.
Notable modern and former Southern Democrats
- Huey P. Long, former Louisiana governor and former U.S. Senator[14][15]
- Ross Barnett, former governor of Mississippi [16]
- Earl Long, former three-term Louisiana governor[17]
- Lloyd Bentsen, former Representative and former U.S. Senator from Texas, former Secretary of the Treasury, and Democratic candidate for Vice President in 1988[18]
- Jefferson Davis, former Representative and former U.S. Senator from Mississippi, President of Confederacy[19]
- James O. Eastland, former U.S. Senator from Mississippi[20]
- John R. Edwards, former U.S. Senator from North Carolina, 2004 Democratic Vice Presidential nominee, Democratic presidential candidate in 2004 and 2008.[21][22]
- D. Robert Graham, former U.S. Senator from Florida and former Governor of Florida[23][24]
- Richard Russell, former Georgia governor and former U.S. Senator from Georgia[25][26]
- Lawton Chiles, former U.S. Senator from Florida and former Governor of Florida[27][28]
- Estes Kefauver, former Representative, former U.S. Senator from Tennessee and 1956 Democratic Vice Presidential nominee[29]
- Lyndon B. Johnson, former U.S. Representative and former Senator from Texas, Vice President of the United States (1961–1963), and President of the United States (1963–1969)[30]
- Jimmy Carter, former Governor of Georgia and President of the United States (1977–1981)[31]
- Bill Clinton, former Governor of Arkansas and President of the United States (1993–2001)[32][33]
- Al Gore, former Representative and former U.S. Senator from Tennessee, Vice President of the United States (1993–2001) and 2000 Democratic nominee for President[34][35]
- Paul Patton, former Governor of Kentucky[36]
- J. William Fulbright, former Representative from Arkansas, former U.S. Senator from Arkansas and longest-served chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee[37][38]
- Sam Rayburn, former Congressman from Texas and longest-served Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives-longest served in the House's history[39][40]
- Sam Nunn, former U.S. Senator from Georgia[41]
- Max Cleland, former U.S. Senator from Georgia[42]
- James Hovis Hodges, former Governor of South Carolina[43]
- Fritz Hollings, former U.S. Senator from South Carolina, former Governor of South Carolina, 1984 U.S. Presidential candidate[44][45]
- Steny Hoyer, House Minority Whip, former House Majority Leader, Member of the U.S House of Representatives from Maryland's 5th District[46]
- Olin D. Johnston, former U.S. Senator from South Carolina and former Governor of South Carolina[47][48]
- James F. Byrnes, former U.S. Secretary of State, former Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, former Representative, former U.S. Senator, former Governor of South Carolina[49][50]
- John Stennis, former U.S. Senator from Mississippi[51]
- John McClellan, former Representative and former U.S. Senator from Arkansas[52]
- Spessard Holland, former U.S. Senator from Florida and former Governor of Florida[53][54]
- Reubin Askew, former Governor of Florida and 1984 U.S. Presidential candidate[55]
- Phil Bredesen, former Governor of Tennessee[56]
- Kathleen Blanco, former Governor of Louisiana[57]
- Roy Barnes, former Governor of Georgia[58]
- John Barrow, former U.S. Representative from Georgia[59]
- Blanche Lincoln, former Representative and former U.S. Senator from Arkansas[60]
- Mark Pryor, former U.S. Senator from Arkansas[61]
- David Pryor, former Representative, former U.S. Senator from Arkansas and former Governor of Arkansas[62][63]
- Dale Bumpers, former U.S. Senator from Arkansas and former Governor of Arkansas[64][65]
- Alben Barkley, former Representative, former U.S. Senator from Kentucky and former U.S. Vice President[66]
- Travis Childers, former U.S. representative from Mississippi[67]
- J. Bennett Johnston, former U.S. Senator from Louisiana[68]
- Mary Landrieu, former U.S. Senator from Louisiana[69]
- John Breaux, former Representative and former U.S. Senator from Louisiana[70]
- Edwin Edwards, former Representative and former Governor of Louisiana[71][72]
- Zell B. Miller, former U.S. Senator from Georgia and former Georgia governor[73][74]
- Terry Sanford, former U.S. Senator and former Governor from North Carolina[75][76]
- Kay Hagan, former U.S. Senator from North Carolina[77]
- Richard Shelby, former Representative, current U.S. Senator from Alabama (Democrat until 1994, now Republican)[78]
- J. Strom Thurmond, former U.S. Senator from South Carolina and former Governor of South Carolina (Democrat until 1964, then Republican until death), States' Right candidate (Dixiecrat) for President in 1948[79][80][81]
- Mark R. Warner, Current U.S. Senator from Virginia, former Virginia governor[82][83]
- Douglas Wilder, former Virginia Governor, first African-American ever elected Governor in the U.S., tried to go for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1991, but eventually withdrew in 1992[84]
- Ralph Yarborough, former U.S. Senator from Texas[85]
- Sonny Perdue, former Governor of Georgia (was once a Democrat, now Republican)[86][87]
- Robert Byrd, former Representative, former U.S. Senator from West Virginia, former Exalted Cyclops of the Ku Klux Klan,[88] presidential candidate, 1976[89][90]
- Bill Nelson, former Representative, current U.S. Senator from Florida[91]
- Howell Heflin, former senator from Alabama[92]
- Mike Beebe, former Governor of Arkansas[93]
- George C. Wallace, former governor of Alabama, American Independent Party candidate for President in 1968, ran for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1972 and 1976[94]
- Lester Maddox, former governor of Georgia[95]
- Joseph Manchin III, former governor of West Virginia, current U.S. Senator from West Virginia, and former Southern Governors' Association chairman[96][97][98]
- Wendell Ford, former Governor and former Senator from Kentucky[99][100]
- Martin O'Malley, former Governor of Maryland [101]
- A.B. "Happy" Chandler, former Governor and former Senator from Kentucky[102][103]
- Steve Beshear, former Governor of Kentucky[104]
- Martha Layne Collins, former Governor of Kentucky and chair of the 1984 Democratic National Convention[105]
- Jim Webb, former U.S. Senator from Virginia and Secretary of the Navy
- Ben Chandler, former Attorney General of Kentucky and former Congressman from Kentucky[106]
- Lawrence Patton McDonald, Former Representative from Georgia[107]
- Tim Kaine, former Governor of Virginia, former Chairman of the DNC, current U.S. Senator from Virginia[108][109][110]
Further reading
- Barone, Michael, and others. The Almanac of American Politics 1976: The Senators, the Representatives and the Governors: Their Records and Election Results, Their States and Districts (1975-2013); new edition every 2 years; detailed political profile of every governor and member of Congress, as well as state and district politics
- Bullock III, Charles S. and Mark J. Rozell, eds. The Oxford Handbook of Southern Politics (2012)
- Key, V. O. Southern Politics in State and Nation (1951), famous classic
- Rae, Nicol C. Southern Democrats (Oxford University Press, 1994)
- Richter, William L. Historical Dictionary of the Old South (2005)
- Shafer, Byron E. The End of Southern Exceptionalism: Class, Race, and Partisan Change in the Postwar South (2006) excerpt and text search
- Twyman, Robert W. and David C. Roller, eds. Encyclopedia of Southern History LSU Press (1979).
- Woodard, J. David. The New Southern Politics (2006)
See also
- Blue Dog Democrats
- Boll weevil (politics)
- Conservative Democrat
- Democrat In Name Only
- Democratic Party history
- Democratic Party
- Dixiecrat
- Ku Klux Klan
- Yellow dog Democrats
References
- ↑ Byron E. Shafer and Richard Johnston, The End of Southern Exceptionalism: Class, Race, and Partisan Change in the Postwar South (2009) p 173-4
- ↑ As in declining to invite African-American Jesse Owens, hero of the 1936 Olympics, to the White House.
- ↑ Until the 1960s the Democratic Party primaries were tantamount to election in most of the South and, being restricted largely to caucasians, were openly called White primaries.
- ↑ Lawrence J McAndrews (Summer 1998). "The Politics of Principle: Richard Nixon". The Journal of Negro History 83 (3): 187. doi:10.2307/2649015. Retrieved November 27, 2013.
- ↑ Hart, Jeffrey (2006-02-09). The Making of the American Conservative Mind (television). Hanover, New Hampshire: C-SPAN.
- ↑ South of the Mason–Dixon line Carter won just 34 votes--his own Georgia, plus Delaware, Maryland, and District of Columbia.
- ↑ Greenberg, David (November 20, 2007). "Dog-Whistling Dixie: When Reagan said "states' rights," he was talking about race.". Slate. Archived from the original on November 27, 2013.
- ↑ Branch, Taylor (1999). Pillar of Fire: America in the King Years 1963-65. New York: Simon & Schuster. p. 242. ISBN 0-684-80819-6. OCLC 37909869.
- ↑ African-American voting trends Facts on File.com
- 1 2 Vobejda, Barbara (August 22, 1996). "Clinton Signs Welfare Bill Amid Division". Washington Post. Retrieved 2013-11-21.
- ↑ Why blacks love Bill Clinton - interview with DeWayne Wickham, Salon.com, Suzy Hansen, published February 22, 2002, accessed October 21, 2013.
- ↑ See, e.g., United States Senate election in Tennessee, 2012. Tennessee is, however, one of the few Southern states which lacks runoff party primaries.
- ↑ Roger Chapman, Culture Wars: An Encyclopedia (2010) vol 1 Page 136
- ↑ "Louisiana Governor Huey Pierce Long". nga.org. National Governors Association. 7 October 2011.
- ↑ "LONG, Huey Pierce, (1893 - 1935)". bioguide.congress.gov. Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. 8 October 2011.
- ↑ "Ross Barnett, Segregationist, Dies; Governor of Mississippi in 1960's". The New York Times. November 7, 1987".
- ↑ "Louisiana Governor Earl Kemp Long". nga.org. National Governors Association. 7 October 2011.
- ↑ "BENTSEN, Lloyd Millard, Jr., (1921 - 2006)". bioguide.congress.gov. Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. 8 October 2011.
- ↑ "DAVIS, Jefferson, (1808 - 1889)". bioguide.congress.gov. Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. 9 October 2011.
- ↑ "EASTLAND, James Oliver, (1904 - 1986)". bioguide.congress.gov. Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. 8 October 2011.
- ↑ "EDWARDS, John, (1953 - )". bioguide.congress.gov. Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. 8 October 2011.
- ↑ "John Edwards (D-N.C.)". boston.com. Boston Globe. 8 October 2011.
- ↑ "Florida Governor Daniel Robert Graham". nga.org. National Governors Association. 8 October 2011.
- ↑ "GRAHAM, Daniel Robert (Bob), (1936 - )". bioguide.congress.gov. Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. 8 October 2011.
- ↑ "Georgia Governor Richard Brevard Russell". nga.org. National Governors Association. 9 October 2011.
- ↑ "RUSSELL, Richard Brevard, Jr., (1897 - 1971)". bioguide.congress.gov. Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. 9 October 2011.
- ↑ "Florida Governor Lawton Chiles". nga.org. National Governors Association. 9 October 2011.
- ↑ "CHILES, Lawton Mainor, Jr., (1930 - 1998)". bioguide.congress.gov. Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. 9 October 2011.
- ↑ "KEFAUVER, Carey Estes, (1903 - 1963)". bioguide.congress.gov. Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. 9 October 2011.
- ↑ "JOHNSON, Lyndon Baines, (1908 - 1973)". bioguide.congress.gov. Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. 9 October 2011.
- ↑ "Georgia Governor Jimmy Earl Carter Jr.". nga.org. National Governors Association. 9 October 2011.
- ↑ "Arkansas Governor William Jefferson Clinton". nga.org. National Governors Association. 9 October 2011.
- ↑ "William J. Clinton". whitehouse.gov. The White House. 9 October 2011.
- ↑ "GORE, Albert Arnold, Jr., (1948 - )". bioguide.congress.gov. Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. 9 October 2011.
- ↑ "Albert A. Gore, Jr., 45th Vice President (1993-2001)". senate.gov. U.S. Senate. 9 October 2011.
- ↑ "Kentucky Governor Paul E. Patton". nga.org. National Governors Association. 9 October 2011.
- ↑ "FULBRIGHT, James William, (1905 - 1995)". bioguide.congress.gov. Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. 9 October 2011.
- ↑ "Carl M. Marcy". senate.gov. U.S. Senate. 9 October 2011.
- ↑ "RAYBURN, Samuel Taliaferro, (1882 - 1961)". bioguide.congress.gov. Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. 9 October 2011.
- ↑ "Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn of Texas". house.gov. U.S. House of Representatives. 9 October 2011.
- ↑ "NUNN, Samuel Augustus, (1938 - )". bioguide.congress.gov. Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. 9 October 2011.
- ↑ "CLELAND, Joseph Maxwell (Max), (1942 - )". bioguide.congress.gov. Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. 9 October 2011.
- ↑ "South Carolina Governor Jim Hodges". nga.org. National Governors Association. 8 October 2011.
- ↑ "South Carolina Governor Ernest Frederick Hollings". nga.org. National Governors Association. 8 October 2011.
- ↑ "HOLLINGS, Ernest Frederick, (1922 - )". bioguide.congress.gov. Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. 8 October 2011.
- ↑ "Rep. Steny Hoyer". baltimoresun.com. Baltimore Sun. 8 October 2011.
- ↑ "South Carolina Governor Olin De Witt Talmadge Johnston". nga.org. National Governors Association. 8 October 2011.
- ↑ "JOHNSTON, Olin DeWitt Talmadge, (1896 - 1965)". bioguide.congress.gov. Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. 8 October 2011.
- ↑ "South Carolina Governor James Francis Byrnes". nga.org. National Governors Association. 8 October 2011.
- ↑ "BYRNES, James Francis, (1882 - 1972)". bioguide.congress.gov. Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. 8 October 2011.
- ↑ "STENNIS, John Cornelius, (1901 - 1995)". bioguide.congress.gov. Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. 8 October 2011.
- ↑ "McCLELLAN, John Little, (1896 - 1977)". bioguide.congress.gov. Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. 8 October 2011.
- ↑ "HOLLAND, Spessard Lindsey, (1892 - 1971)". bioguide.congress.gov. Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. 8 October 2011.
- ↑ "Florida Governor Spessard Lindsey Holland". nga.org. National Governors Association. 8 October 2011.
- ↑ "Florida Governor Reubin O'Donovan Askew". nga.org. National Governors Association. 8 October 2011.
- ↑ "Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen". nga.org. National Governors Association. 8 October 2011.
- ↑ "Louisiana Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco". nga.org. National Governors Association. 8 October 2011.
- ↑ "Georgia Governor Roy E. Barnes". nga.org. National Governors Association. 8 October 2011.
- ↑ "Barrow, John, (1955 - )". bioguide.congress.gov. Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. 9 October 2011.
- ↑ "LINCOLN, Blanche Lambert, (1960 - )". bioguide.congress.gov. Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. 8 October 2011.
- ↑ "PRYOR, Mark, (1963 - )". bioguide.congress.gov. Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. 8 October 2011.
- ↑ "PRYOR, David Hampton, (1934 - )". bioguide.congress.gov. Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. 8 October 2011.
- ↑ "Arkansas Governor David Hampton Pryor". nga.org. National Governors Association. 8 October 2011.
- ↑ "BUMPERS, Dale, (1925 - )". bioguide.congress.gov. Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. 9 October 2011.
- ↑ "Arkansas Governor Dale Bumpers". nga.org. National Governors Association. 9 October 2011.
- ↑ "BARKLEY, Alben William, (1877 - 1956)". bioguide.congress.gov. Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. 9 October 2011.
- ↑ "CHILDERS, Travis W., (1958 - )". bioguide.congress.gov. Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. 9 October 2011.
- ↑ "JOHNSTON, John Bennett, Jr., (1932 - )". bioguide.congress.gov. Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. 9 October 2011.
- ↑ "LANDRIEU, Mary L., (1955 - )". bioguide.congress.gov. Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. 9 October 2011.
- ↑ "BREAUX, John Berlinger, (1944 - )". bioguide.congress.gov. Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. 9 October 2011.
- ↑ "EDWARDS, Edwin Washington, (1927 - )". bioguide.congress.gov. Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. 9 October 2011.
- ↑ "Louisiana Governor Edwin Washington Edwards". nga.org. National Governors Association. 9 October 2011.
- ↑ "MILLER, Zell Bryan, (1932 - )". bioguide.congress.gov. Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. 9 October 2011.
- ↑ "Georgia Governor Zell Miller". nga.org. National Governors Association. 9 October 2011.
- ↑ "SANFORD, (James) Terry, (1917 - 1998)". bioguide.congress.gov. Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. 9 October 2011.
- ↑ "North Carolina Governor James Terry Sanford". nga.org. National Governors Association. 9 October 2011.
- ↑ "HAGAN, Kay, (1953 - )". bioguide.congress.gov. Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. 9 October 2011.
- ↑ "SHELBY, Richard C., (1934 - )". bioguide.congress.gov. Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. 9 October 2011.
- ↑ "THURMOND, James Strom, (1902 - 2003)". bioguide.congress.gov. Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. 9 October 2011.
- ↑ "South Carolina Governor James Strom Thurmond". nga.org. National Governors Association. 9 October 2011.
- ↑ "Meet the Dixiecrats". pbs.org. PBS. 9 October 2011.
- ↑ "Virginia Governor Mark R. Warner". nga.org. National Governors Association. 9 October 2011.
- ↑ "WARNER, Mark, (1954 - )". bioguide.congress.gov. U.S. Congress. 9 October 2011.
- ↑ "Virginia Governor L. Douglas Wilder". nga.org. National Governors Association. 9 October 2011.
- ↑ "YARBOROUGH, Ralph Webster, (1903 - 1996)". bioguide.congress.gov. U.S. Congress. 9 October 2011.
- ↑ "Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue". nga.org. National Governors Association. 9 October 2011.
- ↑ "Georgia goes Republican The rain fell". Economist. 7 November 2002. Retrieved 9 October 2011.
- ↑ "A Senator's Shame". washingtonpost.com.
- ↑ "BYRD, Robert Carlyle, (1917 - 2010)". bioguide.congress.gov. U.S. Congress. 9 October 2011.
- ↑ "1976 Presidential Campaign". 4president.org. 4President Corporation. 9 October 2011.
- ↑ "NELSON, Clarence William (Bill), (1942 - )". bioguide.congress.gov. U.S. Congress. 9 October 2011.
- ↑ "HEFLIN, Howell Thomas, (1921 - 2005)". bioguide.congress.gov. U.S. Congress. 9 October 2011.
- ↑ "Arkansas Governor Mike Beebe". nga.org. National Governors Association. 9 October 2011.
- ↑ "Alabama Governor George Corley Wallace". nga.org. National Governors Association. 9 October 2011.
- ↑ "Georgia Governor Lester Garfield Maddox". nga.org. National Governors Association. 9 October 2011.
- ↑ "West Virginia Governor Joe Manchin III". nga.org. National Governors Association. 9 October 2011.
- ↑ "MANCHIN, Joe, III, (1947 - )". bioguide.congress.gov. U.S. Congress. 9 October 2011.
- ↑ "Roster of Past Chairmen". southerngovernors.org. Southern Governors' Association. 9 October 2011.
- ↑ "Kentucky Governor Wendell Hampton Ford". nga.org. National Governors Association. 9 October 2011.
- ↑ "FORD, Wendell Hampton, (1924 - )". bioguide.congress.gov. U.S. Congress. 9 October 2011.
- ↑ "MD-Martin O'Malley". Southern Governors Association.
- ↑ "Kentucky Governor Albert Benjamin Chandler". nga.org. National Governors Association. 9 October 2011.
- ↑ "CHANDLER, Albert Benjamin (Happy), (1898 - 1991)". bioguide.congress.gov. U.S. Congress. 9 October 2011.
- ↑ "Kentucky Governor Steven L. Beshear". nga.org. National Governors Association. 9 October 2011.
- ↑ "Kentucky Governor Martha Layne Collins". nga.org. National Governors Association. 9 October 2011.
- ↑ "CHANDLER, A. B. (Ben), (1959 - )". bioguide.congress.gov. U.S. Congress. 9 October 2011.
- ↑ "McDONALD, Lawrence Patton, (1935 - 1983)". bioguide.congress.gov. U.S. Congress. 9 October 2011.
- ↑ "Debbie Wasserman Schultz Elected DNC Chair". Huffington Post. 4 May 2011. Retrieved 7 October 2011.
- ↑ "Virginia Governor Tim Kaine". nga.org. National Governors Association. 9 October 2011.
- ↑ Errin Haines (6 December 2012). "Va. Sen.-elect Tim Kaine reaches out, across aisle to fellow freshman Ted Cruz of Texas". washingtonpost.com. Retrieved 29 December 2012.