Albert Watson (South Carolina) - Congressional Career

Congressional Career

In 1962, Watson first ran for South Carolina's 2nd congressional district seat. Five-term incumbent John J. Riley had died in office in 1962, and his wife Corinne Boyd Riley, had served out the remainder of her husband's term. Watson secured the Democratic nomination and then faced Floyd Spence, a fellow state representative from neighboring Lexington County who had turned Republican a few months earlier. The ensuing general election was far closer than expected, with Watson winning by only five percentage points, with crucial support from his mentor, U.S. Senator Strom Thurmond. In 1964, Watson was reelected without opposition. However, the House Democratic Caucus stripped Watson, along with Congressman John Bell Williams of Mississippi, of his seniority for supporting Barry Goldwater. Watson then resigned from Congress on February 1, 1965, and sought his former position as a Republican in a special election held on June 15, 1965. Watson won the special election with 69 percent of the vote to become the first Republican to represent South Carolina in the House since 1896, and the first to win an undisputed House election in the state since Reconstruction. He was comfortably reelected in 1966 and 1968. Watson's opposition to civil rights legislation exceeded that of most other Southern Republicans, but was normal for Southern Democrats.

In 1970, Watson won the Republican gubernatorial nomination. He then faced strong competition from the Democratic nominee, Lieutenant Governor John C. West. Watson ran television advertisements featuring scenes from riots which occurred five years earlier in Watts, Los Angeles. The spots became so controversial that the Republican mayor of Greenville, R. Cooper White, Jr., cited them in his refusal to endorse Watson. Watson's running mate was James Marvin Henderson, Sr. Official results gave West 251,151 votes (52.1 percent) to Watson's 221,236 (45.9 percent). Red Bethea of the American Independent Party polled 9,758 votes (2 percent). Watson blamed his loss on the low turnout: 482,000. Historians consider Watson's gubernatorial campaign to be the last openly segregationist campaign in South Carolina and one of the last in the South as a whole.