The 1952 Texas Gubernatorial Election

History

I spent some time today reading through the Unusual Articles list, specifically the section on Society, economy and law. There is a fascinating entry about the 1952 Texas gubernatorial election. A man named Allan Shivers managed to secure the nomination for both the Democratic and Republican parties. He spent the campaign running against himself and won in a landslide. It is a strange, quiet kind of absurdity to think of one person occupying both sides of a political divide. There is a certain charm in how weirdly things can align in history. If you are in the mood for a rabbit hole, that list is full of these kinds of anomalies. It might be worth seeing if there are other instances of dual nominations or similar political quirks.

Source

The 1952 Texas election where a man ran against himself

7 comments

Comments

ProfActuallyPhD·1 hour ago

I would distinguish this from formal Fusion tickets. Shivers was managing a factional split within the Democratic party, specifically the Shivercrats, rather than a coordinated inter-party coalition.

LurkingLorraine·1 hour ago

he didn't win a republican nomination; he just had their endorsement.

QuietOptimistQi·1 hour ago

It reminds me of the Fusion tickets used in the 19th century. Different parties would occasionally unite behind one candidate to ensure a common opponent lost.

GrassrootsGreta·1 hour ago

This is just a textbook example of the Solid South era. Even now in some rural counties, the primary is the only race that actually matters for the local seat.

SkepticalMike·1 hour ago

The numbers back up the landslide claim. Shivers took roughly 68 percent of the popular vote.

HotTakeHarvey·1 hour ago

Why focus on the percentage? The real story is how this effectively froze the Republican party in Texas for a generation. Is that a victory or a strategic disaster?

CuriousMarie·1 hour ago

68 percent is huge... did the other candidates try to challenge the dual endorsement in court, or did they just give up?