1966 Georgia gubernatorial election

Former Governor Ernest Vandiver was considered the favorite to return to his former job (although governors could not then succeed themselves, they could run again after leaving office), but he dropped out of the race because of health problems. That opened the door for former Governor Ellis Arnall, former Lieutenant Governor Garland T. Byrd, state Senator Jimmy Carter, and two segregationist businessmen, Lester Maddox and James H. Gray, Sr., to run for the Democratic nomination.[1]

Gray, a Massachusetts native, publisher of the Albany Herald and founder of what is now Gray Television, was a former Georgia Democratic state chairman who defended segregation in his northern accent before the 1960 Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles. In the primary race, Maddox had often called upon Gray to leave the race, having said that his opponent was "going down like the Titanic". Gray remained in the race and finished fourth in the primary. He declared neutrality in the Maddox-Arnall runoff election, not openly supporting either candidate. However, one of Gray's associates, Roy V. Harris of Augusta, a member of the Georgia State Board of Regents, supported Maddox over Arnall. Gray supporters attempted to entice Maddox to leave the race with a $100,000 payment. Gray denied involvement in the scheme but would not, on Maddox's request, take a lie detector test.[2]

The Republican nominee was U.S. Representative Howard "Bo" Callaway. He was the first Republican Representative from Georgia since Reconstruction.

No other Republicans sought down-ballot constitutional offices. State Senator Holden Eugene "Gene" Sanders of DeKalb County, a moderate Republican, sought to run for lieutenant governor, but Callaway said that Sanders did not follow the proper procedures. The Republican strategy was to shun all other statewide races for fear that a full ticket would unify the Democrats. The Atlanta Journal, which ultimately endorsed Callaway, claimed that key Republicans were a clique who hoped to build the party from the governor's office. The Athens Daily News depicted traditional Georgia Republican leaders as "would-be politicians [who viewed the party as] personal property and who made no real effort to expand into a broad-based and effective political organization."[6]

Georgia gubernatorial election, 1966

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Republican	Bo Callaway	453,665	46.53%	N/A
	Democratic	Lester Maddox	450,626	46.22%	53.73
	Independent (write-in)	Ellis Arnall	69,025	7.08%	N/A

Some people were unhappy with both major nominees and took the "Go Bo" of Callaway's campaign, expanding it to "Go Bo, and take Lester with you".

Under Georgia law at the time, the Georgia General Assembly would be required to hold a contingent election if no candidate received a majority of the popular vote, with a write-in campaign for Arnall proving decisive: in the Assembly, which was dominated by Democrats, Maddox was elected on the first ballot despite losing the popular vote by 0.31%.[7]