Editing Unpledged elector (section)

=== Background ===
After the [[American Civil War]] and [[Reconstruction era of the United States|Reconstruction]], the Democratic Party gained an almost unbreakable dominance in the [[Southern United States]], and the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]]s, associated with [[Abraham Lincoln]] and the [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]] cause, were correspondingly unelectable there. The nationwide Democratic party became increasingly [[Liberalism|liberal]] in the early 20th century, a shift that accelerated with the election of [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]]. By contrast, the leaders of the Democratic Party in the South, although somewhat supportive of certain parts of the [[New Deal]] and other liberal Democratic economic policies, were in many other aspects [[conservatism|conservative]]. In particular, they were vehemently protective of segregation and strongly opposed to civil rights for [[African Americans]].

In several mid-20th-century elections, unpledged Democratic electors appeared on the ballots in several Southern states; in some cases they ran in opposition to electors pledged to the nationwide Democratic candidate, and in others they were the only Democratic electors that appeared on the ballot. The goal was to have electors who could act as [[kingmaker]]s in a close election, extracting concessions that would favor conservative Southern Democrats in exchange for their votes.