Mississippi gubernatorial election, 1963
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County results
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The 1963 Mississippi gubernatorial election took place on November 5, 1963, in order to elect the Governor of Mississippi. Incumbent Democrat Ross Barnett was term-limited, and could not run for reelection to a second term.
No candidate received a majority in the Democratic primary, which featured 4 contenders, so a runoff was held between the top two candidates. The runoff election was won by Lieutenant Governor Paul B. Johnson Jr., the son of former governor Paul B. Johnson Sr., who defeated former governor James P. Coleman.
As was common at the time, the Democratic primary had higher turnout than the general election, as it was a given the Democrat would win.
For the first time since 1947 and only the third time since 1877, the Republicans put up a candidate for governor. Rubel Phillips, a former Democratic public service commissioner, switched parties to challenge Johnson.
Both candidates used country musicians in their campaigns. Phillips declared himself a "redneck", and the Republicans sang to the tune of "Reuben, Reuben", the refrain, "Rubel, Rubel, We're all rebels, Fighting for our native land, Against the Kennedy carpetbaggers, Bobby, Jack, and all the clan." The Democrats used a song composed by Houston Davis of Jackson: "Rubel, Rubel, little Rubel, Poor misguided Democrat, when it comes to the final test, The GOP will leave you flat. ..."
Phillips said he spent $500,000 on the first gubernatorial campaign. Democrats claimed that the New York City investment banker Nelson Trimble Levings, who owned a plantation in Mississippi and had opposed Senator Bilbo in the 1946 Democratic primary, was dispatching Rockefeller cash to Phillips, a point the GOP denied.
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