15 Facts About Southern Democrats

Southern Democrats were generally much more conservative than Northern Democrats and most of them voted against the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by holding the longest filibuster in the American Senate history while Democrats in non-Southern states supported the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

Many scholars have said that Southern Democrats whites shifted to the Republican Party due to racial conservatism.

The Southern Democrats, reflecting the views of the late John C Calhoun, insisted slavery was national.

The War Southern Democrats voted for Lincoln in the 1864 election, and Lincoln had a War Democrat — Andrew Johnson — on his ticket.

The Southern Democrats emphasized that since Jefferson and Jackson they had been the party of states rights, which added to their appeal in the white South.

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In 1928 several Southern Democrats 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.

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.

Several prominent conservative Democrats switched parties to become Republicans, including Strom Thurmond, John Connally and Mills E Godwin Jr.

Southern Democrats still did and do see much support on the local level and many of them are not as progressive as the Democratic party as a whole.

That year, Southern Democrats won only one USHouse seat each in Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, South Carolina, and Arkansas, and two out of nine House seats in Tennessee, and they lost their one Arkansas seat in 2012.

Southern 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.

Additionally, in 2014, Southern Democrats lost four US Senate seats in the South that they had previously held.

However, even since 2010, Southern Democrats have not been completely shut out of power in the South.

In 2009, Southern Democrats controlled both branches of the Alabama General Assembly, the Arkansas General Assembly, the Delaware General Assembly, the Louisiana State Legislature, the Maryland General Assembly, the Mississippi Legislature, the North Carolina General Assembly, and the West Virginia Legislature, along with the Council of the District of Columbia, the Kentucky House of Representatives, and the Virginia Senate.

In 2017, Southern Democrats still controlled both branches of the Delaware General Assembly and the Maryland General Assembly, along with the Council of the District of Columbia.