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→1946 voter suppression, denial of Senate readmission, subsequent death
{{cquote|No man can leave the Klan. He takes an oath not to do that. Once a Ku Klux, always a Ku Klux.|||Bilbo, August 9, 1946}}
{{cquote|No man can leave the Klan. He takes an oath not to do that. Once a Ku Klux, always a Ku Klux.|||Bilbo, August 9, 1946}}
[[File:John Holmes Overton.jpg|thumb|left|[[John H. Overton]] attempted—though failed—to seat Bilbo.]]
Due to the prominent allegations garnering plentiful public attention, a Senate committee was sent to Mississippi to investigate the credible claims of Bilbo's white supremacist voter intimidation.<ref name=fleegler,pp.21-22/> Although the Republican Party gained a Senate majority in the 1946 midterm elections, the Democrats still retained a majority in the lame-duck session until the new congressional session began. As a result, the investigating committee still retained a Democratic 3–2 majority; its Democratic members were [[Allen J. Ellender]] (the chairman), Elmer Thomas, and Burnet R. Maybank, while the Republican members were conservatives [[Styles Bridges]] and [[Bourke Hickenlooper]].<ref>"Theodore G. Bilbo and the Decline of Public Racism," p. 23.</ref> When witnesses testified of fraud they observed and the assaults they endured, Ellender defended Bilbo and claimed that such violence was the result of "tradition and custom."
Due to the prominent allegations garnering plentiful public attention, a Senate committee was sent to Mississippi to investigate the credible claims of Bilbo's white supremacist voter intimidation.<ref name=fleegler,pp.21-22/> Although the Republican Party gained a Senate majority in the 1946 midterm elections, the Democrats still retained a majority in the lame-duck session until the new congressional session began. As a result, the investigating committee still retained a Democratic 3–2 majority; its Democratic members were [[Allen J. Ellender]] (the chairman), Elmer Thomas, and Burnet R. Maybank, while the Republican members were conservatives [[Styles Bridges]] and [[Bourke Hickenlooper]].<ref>"Theodore G. Bilbo and the Decline of Public Racism," p. 23.</ref> When witnesses testified of fraud they observed and the assaults they endured, Ellender defended Bilbo and claimed that such violence was the result of "tradition and custom."