6. Strom Thurmond
Election: 1948
Party: States’ Rights Democratic
Votes / Percentage: 1,175,946 / 2.41
Electoral votes / Total: 39 / 531
Running mate: Fielding L. Wright
We are continuing our list of most successful third party presidential candidates in history with Strom Thurmond, who became a presidential candidate for States’ Rights Democratic Party (Dixiecrats) in opposition to the 1964 Civil Rights Act, designed to end Jim Crow laws in the South. His party consisted of former Democrats who were unhappy with the direction in which Democratic Party was headed and opposed party’s intent to end segregation. After his unsuccessful bid for the presidency, Thurmond ran for Senate in 1956 and eventually became one of the longest serving members in the history of the Capitol Hill.
