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→Vacating the chairmanship
===Vacating the chairmanship===
===Vacating the chairmanship===
Yerger stepped down as chairman with plans to challenge Democratic U.S. Senator James Oliver Eastland (1904-1986) in the 1966 general election. In the Phillips-Johnson race, Yerger had accused Eastland of missing twenty-five of fifty-one roll call votes while Eastland was in Mississippi campaigning in 1963 for Paul Burney Johnson, Jr. (1916-1985), the Democrat running against Phillips. Eastland said that his support of Johnson was essential to protect "white rule" in Mississippi. Democratic Chairman Bidwell Adam said that Eastland had a "patriotic duty" to support the state's Democratic nominees.<ref name=eastland>"Challenging the Status Quo," p. 256.</ref> However, Prentiss Walker (1917-1998), the freshman Republican [[U.S. Representative]] from Mize,who was elected in the Goldwater sweep of Mississippi, instead ran against Eastland. Walker was the first Mississippi Republican since Reconstruction to win a U.S. House seat. Yerger therefore did not pursue an elected office but later said that Walker's senatorial candidacy was "very devastating" to the Mississippi GOP because the House seat returned to the Democrats and was held for decades by Gillespie V. "Sonny" Montgomery (1920-2006) of Meridian, who carried bipartisan support. Walker polled barely a quarter of the vote against Eastland.<ref name=eastland/>
Yerger stepped down as chairman with plans to challenge Democratic U.S. Senator James Oliver Eastland (1904-1986) in the 1966 general election. In the Phillips-Johnson race, Yerger had accused Eastland of missing twenty-five of fifty-one roll call votes while Eastland was in Mississippi campaigning in 1963 for Paul Burney Johnson, Jr. (1916-1985), the Democrat running against Phillips. Eastland said that his support of Johnson was essential to protect "white rule" in Mississippi. Democratic Chairman Bidwell Adam said that Eastland had a "patriotic duty" to support the state's Democratic nominees.<ref name=eastland>"Challenging the Status Quo," p. 256.</ref> However, Prentiss Walker (1917-1998), the freshman Republican [[U.S. Representative]] from Mize, who was elected in the Goldwater sweep of Mississippi, instead ran against Eastland. Walker was the first Mississippi Republican since [[Reconstruction]] to win a U.S. House seat. Yerger therefore did not pursue an elected office but later said that Walker's senatorial candidacy was "very devastating" to the Mississippi GOP because the House seat returned to the Democrats and was held for decades by Gillespie V. "Sonny" Montgomery (1920-2006) of Meridian, who carried bipartisan support. Walker polled barely a quarter of the vote against Eastland.<ref name=eastland/>
Yerger was succeeded as chairman by Clarke Reed, a businessman from Greenville in Washington County, who also served ten years in the post.
Yerger was succeeded as chairman by Clarke Reed, a businessman from Greenville in Washington County, who also served ten years in the post.