The 1958 Arkansas gubernatorial election was held on November 4, 1958.
Incumbent Democratic Governor Orval Faubus won election to an unprecedented third term, defeating Republican nominee George W. Johnson with 82.47% of the vote. Faubus surged in popularity after denying the Little Rock Nine entrance to Central High School with the use of the Arkansas National Guard on September 4, 1957.
Primary elections Primary elections were held on July 29, 1958. By winning over 50% of the vote, Faubus and Johnson avoided run-offs which would have been held on August 12, 1958. Prior to 1958, Republicans had nominated their candidates via convention. It was the first time a contested statewide Republican primary had ever been held in Arkansas, yet due to state law that required the parties to pay the full cost of primary elections, the GOP was only able to hold its primary in nine counties. It was not until 1995 that the legislature, facing a lawsuit from the Republicans, passed a bill for the state to pay the cost of the primaries, which was signed by Democratic Governor Jim Guy Tucker.
Democratic primary
Candidates Orval Faubus, incumbent Governor Chris Finkbeiner, businessman Lee Ward, judge
Results
Republican primary
Candidates George W. Johnson, attorney Donald D. Layne, civil engineer
Results
General election
Candidates Orval Faubus, Democratic George W. Johnson, Republican
George W. Johnson, an attorney in Greenwood, Sebastian County, deliberately abandoned the race in September 1958. He traveled to his son's home in Isle, Minnesota. He told his family, "Mr. Faubus is a fine man and I support him whole-heartedly." He genuinely and naively believed that blacks were intellectually deficient and needed their own schools.
Results
References
Bibliography