Straight-Out Democratic Party


The first Straight-Out Democratic Party played a minor role in the U.S. presidential election of 1872. An unrelated Straightout Democrat faction of the South Carolina Democratic Party triumphed in the 1876 South Carolina gubernatorial election, and a revival played a minor role in the 1890 South Carolina gubernatorial election. The Straightout Democrat was also a newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, active between 1878 and 1879.

1872 national party

The Straight-Out Democratic Party was a conservative Southern faction that broke with the Democratic Party in the 1872 presidential election. Dissatisfied with the Democratic nominee Horace Greeley, they held a convention on 16 August in Louisville, Kentucky; 604 delegates from all states attended. The delegates nominated for President Charles O'Conor and for Vice President John Quincy Adams II.

Philosophy

In a letter accepting his nomination, Adams provided a lengthy description of the party's philosophy:
Despite O'Conor's refusal and lacking time to find a new candidate, the party ran the ticket anyway. They received 23,054 votes and no Electoral College votes.

1876 South Carolina gubernatorial election

In the 1876 gubernatorial election in South Carolina, the Straightout Democrats were an activist faction that succeeded in taking control of the party. They sometimes wore red shirts to show their support for the paramilitary white supremacist groups known as Red Shirts, who used violence and the threat of violence to prevent blacks from voting. Their candidate, Wade Hampton III, became governor, although violence made it possible.

1890 South Carolina gubernatorial election

An unsuccessful breakaway group of Democrats in the 1890 South Carolina gubernatorial election called themselves the Straightout Democrats. They wore red shirts in memory of the 1876 party.

Newspaper

The Straight-Out Democrat was the name of a newspaper published in Columbia, South Carolina, between 1878 and 1879.