The 1951 Mississippi gubernatorial election took place on November 6, 1951, in order to elect the

Governor of Mississippi The governor of Mississippi is the head of government of Mississippi and the commander-in-chief of the U.S. state, state's Mississippi National Guard, military forces. The governor has a duty to enforce state laws, and the power to either appro ...

. Incumbent Democrat

Fielding L. Wright Fielding Lewis Wright (May 16, 1895May 4, 1956) was an American politician who served as the 25th lieutenant governor and 49th and 50th governor of Mississippi. During the 1948 presidential election he served as the vice presidential nominee ...

was term-limited, and could not run for reelection to a second full term. As was common at the time, the Democratic candidate ran unopposed in the general election; therefore the Democratic primary was the real contest, and winning the primary was considered

tantamount to election A safe seat is an electoral district which is regarded as fully secure, for either a certain political party, or the incumbent representative personally or a combination of both. With such seats, there is very little chance of a seat changing h ...

Democratic primary

No candidate received a majority in the Democratic primary, which featured seven contenders, so a runoff was held between the top two candidates. The runoff election was won by former Governor Hugh L. White, who defeated lawyer

Paul B. Johnson Jr. Paul Burney Johnson Jr. (January 23, 1916October 14, 1985) was an American attorney and Democratic politician from Mississippi, serving as the 54th governor from January 1964 until January 1968. He was a son of former Mississippi Governor Paul ...

, son of former Governor Paul B. Johnson Sr.

Results

Runoff

General election

In the general election, White ran unopposed.

Results

References

1951 Events January * January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950). * January 9 – The Government of the Uni ...

gubernatorial A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the type of political region or polity, a ''governor'' ma ...

Mississippi Mississippi ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the s ...

November 1951 in the United States {{Mississippi-election-stub