Following the 1946 Senate election in [[Mississippi]] where [[segregation]]ist demagogue [[Theodore Bilbo]] intimidated and threatened blacks, most of whom then were not then voters, Senate Republicans, who just gained a bare majority in the election cycle, moved to block him from being seated.<ref>[https://www.senate.gov/about/origins-foundations/electing-appointing-senators/contested-senate-elections/126Theodore_Bilbo.htm The Election Case of Theodore G. Bilbo of Mississippi (1947)]. ''senate.gov''. Retrieved February 19, 2021.</ref> Ellender defended the racist [[voter suppression]] and attempted to dismiss the charges, and gridlock ensued. Bilbo, suffering from oral cancer after decades of inciting violence and promoting bigotry, never returned to the Senate and died in August 1947. | Following the 1946 Senate election in [[Mississippi]] where [[segregation]]ist demagogue [[Theodore Bilbo]] intimidated and threatened blacks, most of whom then were not then voters, Senate Republicans, who just gained a bare majority in the election cycle, moved to block him from being seated.<ref>[https://www.senate.gov/about/origins-foundations/electing-appointing-senators/contested-senate-elections/126Theodore_Bilbo.htm The Election Case of Theodore G. Bilbo of Mississippi (1947)]. ''senate.gov''. Retrieved February 19, 2021.</ref> Ellender defended the racist [[voter suppression]] and attempted to dismiss the charges, and gridlock ensued. Bilbo, suffering from oral cancer after decades of inciting violence and promoting bigotry, never returned to the Senate and died in August 1947. |